Today the United States Senate approved an extension of several Small Business Administration programs through April 30, 2010. Without the extension, programs like Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) would have expired.

"These research initiatives are vital to our country's competitiveness and to job creation, as about 20 percent of SBIR participants say they started their company in part because of a prospective SBIR award," says Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship Chair Mary L. Landrieu. "As we seek to improve the economy and create jobs, now is not the time to let these job-creating programs slip by the wayside."

Landrieu emphasizes the need for agencies and states to collaborate in the promotion of these programs, and to encourage entrepreneurs, engineers and scientists to apply. Their work will help the country "create cutting-edge innovations for our military and new advances in healthcare and alternative energy," says Landrieu.

SBA findings say that forty-one percent of the country's high-tech workers are employed at small firms, which generate 13 to 14 times more patents per employee than large firms.

President Obama's State of the Union address this Wednesday emphasized the importance of both small businesses and innovative development to the American economy.