NUtech Ventures is launching the Innovation Advancement Fund, a proof-of-concept funding program designed to help move promising university research from the laboratory toward commercialization.
The Innovation Advancement Fund supports researchers in generating evidence to propel their innovations toward licensing, startup creation, practical application, and overall market readiness. NUtech Ventures will manage the fund with an annual allocation of $100,000 from the Office of Research and Innovation.
Additionally, the Agricultural Research Division, the College of Engineering, and the College of Arts and Sciences are providing $20,000, $10,000, and $5,000, respectively. Faculty affiliated with these units are eligible for these additional funds.
“The ultimate goal of this program is to provide critical funding at a time in a technology’s lifeline when there are few other sources,” said Cheryl Horst, executive director of NUtech Ventures.
The Innovation Advancement Fund will award five to 10 grants this year, with individual awards up to $20,000. Proposals are due by 5 p.m. Sept. 15, through NuRamp’s Internal Competitions module.
Unlike traditional research grants, Innovation Advancement Fund grants are not intended to fund new scientific discovery but to accelerate the development and validation of an existing technology. The funds will be awarded to UNL technologies that demonstrate strong commercial potential and have already been disclosed to NUtech Ventures.
Funding may be used for activities such as prototype development, data collection and analysis, technical validation and other de-risking activities — all intended to increase a technology’s commercialization readiness. By advancing an innovation’s maturity level, the funding can help make a technology more appealing to potential licensees, industry partners and startup investors.
Every year, researchers at Nebraska make new and exciting discoveries. Yet many promising technologies never reach the marketplace because they become stranded in what is commonly known as the “valley of death.”
“The Innovation Advancement Fund is designed to bridge this technology readiness gap by providing resources to innovators,” said Jeewan Jyot, director of licensing at NUtech Ventures. “With these resources, innovators can validate their technologies and reduce their commercialization risks.”
Projects may last six months to a year. Full-time faculty members are eligible to apply and serve as the principal investigator, with a team of postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and other faculty members serving as Co-PIs. Applicants must be inventors of the technology and have formally disclosed their innovation to NUtech Ventures. Additionally, principal investigators must complete NSF I-Corps training before or during the project. A PI may submit one proposal per year.
Applicants must use the required proposal template, and applications should describe the proposed project, the current technology status, the use of funding, project milestones and the commercialization strategy.
Eligible proposals will be reviewed by an Innovation Advancement Fund committee, comprised of technology managers, and intellectual property and entrepreneurship professionals. Finalists will be notified by Oct 15, with funding provided shortly thereafter.
NUtech Ventures will host office hours throughout August and early September to answer questions about the fund. These virtual office hours will be held 9 to 10 a.m. Aug. 26, and 2 to 3 p.m. Sept. 9.
Awards will be treated as recoverable expenses and reimbursed from future revenue generated by the technology, in accordance with the Board of Regents and university distribution policies.
For more information, including the proposal template, complete application instructions, and eligibility criteria, visit the NUtech Ventures website.
