H.R. 5212 — SBIR/STTR Innovation Workforce Act

This section establishes fellowship and internship authority within the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program (subsection (f)) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program (subsection (n)). Under this authority, Federal agencies may provide grants or awards—directly or via third-party partnerships—to small business concerns that received SBIR or STTR Phase II awards to offer such opportunities at the undergraduate, baccalaureate, graduate, and postdoctoral levels in agency-priority fields. Agencies must conduct enhanced outreach to increase participation by women, socially disadvantaged individuals (per section 8(a)(5)), and economically disadvantaged individuals (per section 8(a)(6)(A)), and may partner with or fund nonprofit organizations with relevant expertise for this purpose. Agencies may use only (i) funds authorized under subsection (mm), if applicable, or (ii) up to 3% of funds required to be expended under paragraph (1) (i.e., the agency's SBIR or STTR extramural research budget set-aside). (As background, SBIR and STTR provide competitive grants to small businesses for high-risk R&D with commercialization potential, with Phase II supporting prototype development.)