The UK Small Business Research Initiative

The UK has adopted aspects of the US SBIR programme which was established in 1982. The UK version of the programme, established in 2001 was titled the Small Business Research Initiative. The programme was later labelled a failure in that it did not reflect the anticipated performance in terms of participation by government departments or spending contracts of the similar programme US SBIR. At the end of 2007 improvements were made and a newly reformed version of the initiative was created. By 2008 a new UK SBRI programme was launched that mirrored more of the US SBIR programme. Responsibility to coordinate and drive the UK SBRI programme was given to Innovate UK (previously known as the Technology Strategy Board) and the then Department of Trade and Industry. This monograph describes the evolution of the UK program.