How much alike are SBIR-like programmes?

Promoting innovation in small- and medium-sized enterprises through direct grants for research and development is the main objective of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR), a programme that has inspired many countries and has grown in importance as part of their current innovation policies. In this article, we conducted a literature review to identify programmes similar to SBIR in other countries and compare them, considering key aspects of their operation, institutional setup, scope, and outcome assessments. Analysing the similarities and differences between the different programmes in eight countries addresses a gap in the literature, which has focused on the isolated analysis of programmes. In this methodological approach, we show how SBIR-like programmes, despite sharing the same main objective, undergo changes resulting from differences in the institutional and political framework, suggesting a process of translation rather than simple diffusion. Furthermore, the study illustrates how SBIR and SBIR-like programmes modify to adapt to changes in innovation policies over time.