Inclusion of Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) in the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) / SBIR Technology Transfer (STTR) Program at the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC)

STTR is an integral component of the NASA SBIR/STTR program because it incorporates Research Institutions (RIs). Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) often have a low participation level in the SBIR/STTR program. This paper will provide an overview of the STTR program and show the benefits to companies for working with RIs. This paper will discuss JSC’s objective to increase awareness of the STTR program in the MSI community, as well as inclusion efforts, such as teleconference and JSC campus invites (especially regarding Historically Black Colleges and Universities), site visits to MSIs, conference and MSI “road tour” outreach, internal communication and awareness at JSC, and STTR reminders to MSIs. This paper will examine recent outreach at MSIs such as the University of Texas at El Paso and Navajo Technical University, as well as outreach to HBCUs. Additionally, the paper will examine some of the obstacles to MSI inclusion such as the large outreach community at JSC. Finally, the paper will briefly discuss returning to the topic in 2 to 3 years to review the impact of MSI outreach.