The research institution partnership
We do more than check the research institution box.
Every STTR requires the small business to subcontract at least 30% of the work to a research institution, and that 30% has to be genuine R&D. We're not just a name that satisfies the requirement — a named research lead does the work, fast, with a 0% claim on your IP.
First, the bar
We're a qualified research institution.
TDIF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit qualified as a research institution under the DoD STTR program (15 U.S.C. § 638), with 100+ technology companies supported.
Our work plan is built from two qualifying buckets — technical subject-matter expertise and research project management — and written to the government's own definition of R&D (SBA STTR Policy Directive §3(dd)). Proposal and document support still happen; they live under the technical work, not as separate line items.
Basic research
“A systematic study toward greater knowledge or understanding of the subject.”
State-of-the-art reviews, first-principles analysis of the underlying science, and framing the core research questions your feasibility study has to answer — led by a named principal investigator.
Applied research
“A systematic study applying knowledge and innovation to a recognized but unmet need.”
Mapping your technology to the end user's unmet need; feasibility analysis, modeling and simulation, and a research plan that shows the approach can meet the requirement.
Development
“A systematic application of knowledge toward useful materials, devices, systems, or methods — including design, development, and improvement of prototypes and new processes.”
Design and analysis, algorithm development, materials and device characterization, and verification and validation — workshare built from technical deliverables first.
Named personnel, documented qualifications.The engineer or scientist doing the work is named in your proposal with a CV mapped to the specific tasks — carrying direct government-contracting and commercialization experience, not academic lineage. The government sees exactly who performs the R&D, and why they're qualified. Our research lead holds a PhD in electrical engineering and has run 40+ SBIR/STTR projects across roughly a dozen federal agencies.
“TDIF quickly understood our company's solution and IP needs, identifying ideal research institution partner capabilities to ensure success for our DoD customer. They provided diverse strategic options, streamlined coordination, and eliminated complexity to drive rapid progress. TDIF is an outstanding partner, and we look forward to future collaborations.”
Watch
See how the partnership works.
The fastest way to understand what TDIF does — straight from the team.
Thirty minutes. You'll know whether we're the right research institution for your topic.
How the partnership works
From topic to teamed in days.
The slowest part of an STTR is usually finding the research institution at all — emailing groups, waiting to learn whether anyone there has the interest and the bandwidth, starting over when they don't, while the submission date stays exactly where it was. You get an answer from us on the first call: either we're the right institution for your topic, or we tell you who is.
Book a call
You start the process. Thirty minutes, and you leave it knowing whether we're the right research institution for your topic.
Qualify and scope
We confirm the dual-use fit and the research approach, and assemble the skills and SMEs your topic actually needs. If we're not the right institution for it, we say so on that call.
Team — fast
A simple teaming agreement and an allocation-of-rights document, processed quickly. And when a deadline is genuinely threatening your ability to submit, subcontracting can run the same day — you can do better than that if you can help it, but we've all been there, and we won't make you feel bad about it.
Plan the research
A DoW-experienced co-PI builds a custom and compliant research plan tailored to your proposed development pipeline.
Execute and de-risk
We perform our share as an independent technical investigation — trade studies, modeling, characterization, test planning, and honest review of your approach — with substantive deliverables, drawing on a vetted network of experts and prototyping shops.
Carry it forward
A work plan built to de-risk the move to Phase II, and the same team when that funding arrives. No re-recruiting a research partner mid-program.
Then, the value
Built around the small business.
Once the bar is met, here's where the partnership pays off — the things a small business actually needs from its research institution, from people who live in the dual-use world every day.
- We do our own R&D — TDIF performs an independent technical investigation that advances your project. Real research that moves the work forward, not a name on the form.
- Signed in hours — a simple teaming + allocation-of-rights agreement, so paperwork never threatens your deadline.
- 0% claim on your IP — by design. We're a research partner, not a co-inventor or licensor.
- Flexible technical scope — we pivot as your requirements and the topic evolve.
- The right team for the work — our own experts, or a university lab we bring in when your topic calls for it.
Phase I and Phase II
From a feasibility study to a funded build.
STTR runs in phases, and they're very different animals.
Phase I
Feasibility
A quick sprint that proves the concept works. The award funds a focused study and the clock is tight — which is exactly where teaming in days instead of months decides whether you submit at all.
Phase II
The build
One to two years, and many times larger — research, development, test and evaluation that builds the prototype. The 30% research-institution requirement applies here too, so your research institution partner in Phase II is crucial to delivering it.
The honest comparison
Choosing the best research institution.
You have a real choice to make here, and it's worth making deliberately. Universities are the gold standard for deep research — decades of accumulated work in a narrow field, specialized instruments, facilities that don't exist anywhere else. If your topic turns on a particular instrument or on a research group that has spent twenty years on exactly your problem, that capability is what you need, and we'll help you get to it.
What TDIF is built for is different: dual-use technology on a submission deadline, where a small business needs a research partner that moves at its speed, takes no claim on its IP, and can start this week. And when the work calls for a specialized lab, we bring it in through us — so you get that capability under one agreement instead of running the search yourself.
For advisors, capture firms, and proposal developers
Where we sit relative to you.
Advisors, capture firms and proposal developers send us the research-institution side of their clients' STTRs. If that's you, the shape of it is simple: we are the research institution, not a second consultant.We don't touch your client relationship, your scope, or your fee, and we don't take work you're already doing.
We can also step in mid-stream — when a research institution falls through close to a deadline, we can usually scope and sign fast enough to save the submission.
Everything above this line is what we'll tell your client. That's the point of putting it on one page.
Proof
What small businesses say after the work.
“TDIF made the research institution part of Phase I easy — fast agreements, no IP hassles, and real value along the way.”
“Working with TDIF felt efficient and focused. They showed up with answers, not more problems.”
Compliance & security
TDIF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit research institution under SBA STTR rules. Our principal investigators bring active DoW program experience, and our data handling is backed by a NIST SP 800-171 self-assessment posted to SPRS, with a System Security Plan covering all 110 security requirements.
That standard is the one that matters here. CMMC is tiered: the entry tier covers Federal Contract Information and maps to the basic safeguarding requirements in FAR 52.204-21, while the tier that governs Controlled Unclassified Information is built directly on those same 110 NIST SP 800-171 requirements. If your solicitation carries a CMMC requirement, tell us on the first call and we'll tell you plainly where we stand against it.
Tell us what you're submitting, and when.
We'll tell you quickly whether we're the right research institution for your topic — and if we are, we can have the teaming agreement signed fast, within hours when your deadline requires it.