Foundation / Corporation
North Carolina Biotechnology Center
03/21/18 Noon
Grants of up to $75,000 to North Carolina IHEs and research institutions for research projects that support the university's capacity to license commercially promising inventions. A consultation is strongly encouraged before submitting a proposal. It is also recommended to register through the online application portal five days before submitting a proposal.
A TEG grant funds a research study designed to yield data that enhances a university’s licensing position for a commercially promising technology. The proposed project will incorporate study endpoints associated with key milestones as defined by a potential licensee or industry experienced technology development adviser.
TEG projects may be performed by a local contract research organization (CRO) or conducted in the lab of the scientific PI/inventor.
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
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:
- Funding may be used to engage non-academic contract research providers as needed.
- 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
Each proposal will be judged on the likelihood that the project will contribute toward the licensing of the technology, including but not limited to the following criteria:
- Appropriate stage of IP
- Suitability of tasks (plan) to enhance the university’s ability to license the IP
- Demonstration that a dialog with potential licensee has been initiated and/or that other independent corroboration of the commercial opportunity has been obtained
- Assurance from potential licensee that the successful completion of the studies outlined in the proposal will indeed advance the licensing discussion
GrantWatch ID#: 162510
The maximum request is $75,000 for a twelve-month project.
Grants are intended for a twelve-month project.
Proposals must be submitted by an employee of a North Carolina university or non-profit research institute who (1) works in the institution’s technology transfer office or has licensing authority on behalf of the institution, or (2) supports technology, entrepreneurial or new venture development within the applicant institution.
Neither the scientific PI nor the Tech Transfer representative may have a financial relationship with, a management or advisory role in, or a financial interest in any firms subcontracted to with this award. Any potential conflicts of interest must be disclosed in the application.
The scientific PI may have no more than two active awards from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center.
Basic or exploratory research that is not directly tied to satisfying a meaningful commercial or licensing milestone is not eligible for TEG support.
Unallowable budget requests:
- Salary/benefits for any personnel not directly responsible for executing the technical project.
- Travel expenses for conferences, business meetings, or non-project related activities
- Tuition, stipends, or other student support
- Publication costs
- Patenting costs
- Service contracts
- Indirect/overhead costs/facilities and administrative (F&A) costs
- Secretarial services
- Office supplies
To-be-named (TBD) personnel are not viewed favorably in evaluating the strength of the research team, and therefore, should be avoided if possible. This program is not intended to be a training grant for post-docs or graduate students. Salary requests for salary for TBD personnel require detailed explanation of the need for a new hire and the timelines anticipated for hiring the TBD personnel.
The Technology Enhancement Grant (TEG) program will have two proposal deadlines for Fiscal Year 2018:
- Cycle 1: Wednesday, August 16, 2017 (Noon)
- Cycle 2: Wednesday, March 21, 2018 (Noon)
A preliminary consultation between the TTO representative and NCBiotech program staff is strongly encouraged for the TEG program. Potential applicants will be asked to prepare a brief summary of their project for preliminary review prior to the consultation.
In order to submit a proposal to one of NCBiotech’s funding programs, the Principal Investigator/Project Lead for the proposal must first register for an account on the Funding Portal (see link in Contact Information below). While registrations will be processed as promptly as possible, please register at least five days before you plan to submit a proposal.
Notifications of decisions will be made by June 2018.
FAQ:
https://www.ncbiotech.org/funding/grants/grant-faq
Before starting your grant application, please review the funding source's website listed below for updates/changes/addendums/conferences/LOIs.
Register and apply online:
https://ncbiotech.fluxx.io/
For questions, more information, or to schedule a consultation, please contact:
Deborah De, Senior Director, Grant Process Operations
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
USA: North Carolina
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