This paper examines nested, multilevel innovation policies paying particular attention to U.S. federal and state small business innovation research programs. With 45 states offering a range of SBIR Outreach and SBIR Match programs specifically designed to enhance the federal SBIR program, such programs provide a useful lens for examining the nature of the multilevel innovation policy mix. The contributions of this article are twofold. First, the article provides theoretical motivation for multilevel innovation policy responses placing emphasis on positive policy responses in which state policies enhance federal policies. Second, the article provides an empirical analysis examining the multilevel factors associated with a state government response that augments the federal SBIR program. The results from this analysis indicate these state policy actions are associated with a confluence of multilevel factors driven not only from top to down federal actions, but also from bottom to up, internal state political and economic factors as well as from lateral pressures from peer states.