Grants of up to $75,000 to North Carolina IHEs and research institutions for research projects and studies that support the university's capacity to license commercially promising inventions. Funding is intended to promote projects initiated for the achievement of a significant technical milestone in the evolution of a technology to a licensable commercial product or service.
The proposed project will incorporate study endpoints associated with key milestones as defined by the potential licensee or industry experienced technology commercialization adviser.
TEG projects may be performed by a local contract research organization (CRO) or conducted in the lab of the scientific PI/inventor.
Funding may be used to engage non-academic contract research providers as needed.
Eligible proposals must:
- Demonstrate that protection of licensable intellectual property (IP) has been initiated (minimally, the filing of a provisional patent application or the preliminary steps towards trade secret or copyright protection)
- Attest that the IP rights are assigned to the applicant’s institution and have not been committed through license, option or letter-of-intent to license to any third party at the time of application
- Demonstrate that a dialog with an independent potential licensee of the technology has been initiated and/or an initial review of the technology and its commercial opportunity has been provided by an independent technology development professional
- Outline a project that is designed to achieve a significant technical milestone that addresses an issue directly cited by a potential licensee as a potential obstacle to licensing
The following holds true for Technology Enhancement Grants:
- Funding supports a project for which IP protection (including a provisional patent application) has been initiated by the university
- The university Tech Transfer Office or related university commercialization partner is the applicant
- Funding covers expenditures that that are necessary for the licensing of the technology to a commercial interest
- Research funds may be directed off-campus (e.g., a local contract research company)
Examples of qualifying projects include:
- Proof-of-concept
- Lead identification or optimization
- Target validation
- Prototype development
- Demonstration of scalability
- Preliminary safety testing
- Field trial
Allowable budget requests:
- Salaries/benefits for personnel who are contributing directly to the technical project. Total salary requested for all key personnel should not exceed 50% of the total budget. If total salary requests account for more than 50% of the budget, thorough justification of the time and personnel required to complete the project must be provided in the Budget Justification section of the proposal.
- Equipment, materials, and supplies (itemize; group supplies into categories no larger than $5,000, if possible)
- Outsourced contract research
- Travel for activities directly associated with the execution of the research project
Estimated Size of Grant:
Grants are intended for a twelve-month project. The projected start date for awardees is no earlier than February 1, 2019, depending on the terms and conditions of the award.
To register and apply online:
https://ncbiotech.fluxx.io/
For questions, additional information, or to schedule a consultation, contact:
Deborah De
Senior Director, Grant Process Operations
North Carolina Biotechnology Center
Phone: 919-549-8845
Deborah_De@ncbiotech.org
North Carolina Biotechnology Center
15 T.W. Alexander Drive
P.O. Box 13547
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-3547
Phone: (919) 541-9366
