Robert Smith

Director, SBIR/STTR

U.S. Navy and DOD Rapid Innovation Fund

Mr. Smith is the Director of the Dept. of the Navy’s (DON) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program. Mr. Smith manages numerous activities designed to assist small businesses in getting their technology fully developed, tested, and inserted into products and services used by our Naval warfighters.

Prior to his current assignment, Mr. Smith was the Director of Disruptive Technologies for the Office of Naval Research. The mission of the Disruptive Technologies program is to provide game-changing technical options for the future Navy. Mr. Smith was also the Program Manager for the DON Rapid Innovation Fund, which supports small business concerns rapidly inserting their technology solutions into acquisition programs of record.

Mr. Smith was the recipient of the 2013 DON Oreta B. Stinson Advocacy Award (formerly Small Business Advocate Award), one of the annual Navy Acquisition Excellence Awards. The award is given by DON’s Office of Small Business Programs in recognition of a non-small business professional within the DON who demonstrated direct, strong support for the DON Small Business Program, and through documented actions contributed significantly to improving the opportunity for small business success.

Mr. Smith is a retired Marine Corps officer with over 3,000 flight hours in various military aircraft, predominately in the CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter.