Do we really need this? - This is a major way that academic discoveries get moved into the private sector and into the commercial space. And, in my mind, one of

Do we really need this? - This is a major way that academic discoveries get moved into the private sector and into the commercial space. And, in my mind, one of the least harmful ones when compared to corporate funding of research directly or corporations just outright buying faculty-run startups. Is there some lack of private venture capital that this is overcoming? - VC has some very specific requirements, and often has some expectations that many of the things funded through SBIR won't meet. VC money is not the be-all, end-all of small business finance. I would much rather this money be granted for research that then becomes public domain. - A bunch of my research is in the public domain. But there's a leap from basic (or even highly applied) research to an actually commercially available product in the world.