This document discusses various funding opportunities and support programs for translational research at universities, including: 1) Short proposal opportunities through the NSF I-Teams program and TechConnect workshops that provide up to $50,000 over 6 months to assess technical and commercial opportunities. 2) The NSF I-Teams program which provides up to $150,000 over 6 months to assess technical merit, feasibility, and commercial potential through more extensive 15-page proposals. 3) Support programs through universities like mentorship, masters degrees in innovation management, and technology commercialization certificates to help researchers assess commercial feasibility.

1. Translational
Research Funding
Landscape
& our support
infrastructure

2. Translational Research Funding
TechConnect
Workshop
IEI Mentorship
Program
NSF
I-Teams
Proposals
Innovation Mgmt &
Entrepreneurship
(IME) Masters
Technology
Commercialization
Certificate
SBIR/STTR
Phase I
MADV
Proposals
Fox Management
Consulting (FMC)
Program

3. Translational Research Funding
 Short (6-page) proposals
 6 months, $50k / team
 Goal: Assess Technical &
Commercial Opportunity
 15-page feasibility analysis
 6 Months, < $150k / Project
 Assess Technical Merit,
Feasibility, & Commercial
Potential
TechConnect
Workshop
IEI Mentorship
Program
NSF
I-Teams
Proposals
Innovation Mgmt &
Entrepreneurship
(IME) Masters
Technology
Commercialization
Certificate
SBIR/STTR
Phase I
MADV
Proposals
Fox Management
Consulting (FMC)
Program

4. NSF I-Teams Proposals
• I-Team Team
– Entrepreneurial Lead (EL)
– I-Corps Teams Mentor
– Principal Investigator (PI)
• Proposal (Letter of Interest)
– 1-Page Executive Summary
– Composition & roles (EL, PI, Mentor) of the team
members proposing to undertake the
– Commercialization feasibility research
– Relevant current/previous NSF awards
– Brief description of the potential commercial impact
– Brief description of the current commercialization plan

5. NSF I-Teams Proposals
• Phone Interview
– Viable commercialization  NSF conference call
– Assess team's capabilities & commitment to the program
– May be invited to submit full proposal
• Proposal
– Project Summary (1 page)
– Project Description (5 pages)
– I-Corps Team (2 page limit)
– Lineage of the Proposed Innovation (1 page limit)
– Description of the Commercial Impact (1 page limit)
– Brief description of the project plan (1 page limit)

6. NSF I-Teams Directorates
• 47.041 --- Engineering
• 47.049 --- Mathematical & Physical Sciences
• 47.050 --- Geosciences
• 47.070 --- Computer & Information Science & Engineering
• 47.074 --- Biological Sciences
• 47.075 --- Social Behavioral & Economic Sciences
• 47.076 --- Education & Human Resources
• 47.078 --- Office of Polar Programs
• 47.079 --- Office of International Science & Engineering
• 47.080 --- Office of Cyberinfrastructure
• 47.081 --- Program to Stimulate Competitive Research

7. NSF I-Teams Projects
• Bio-inspired Underwater Surveillance Vehicle (BUSV)
• Leveraging Low-Polluting Foundry Core Binders toward
Commercialization
• Commercializing the Integration of Human and Artificial
Intelligence for Large Scale Multimedia Analysis
• Mavric: Commercialization of Analog-Digital Configurable Ics
• An enzymatic method for eradicating biofilm and multidrug
resistant bacterial infections
• Secure Document Management in the Cloud
• Robust Organic Semiconductors for Optoelectronic
Applications
• Standardized MRI Interpretation for Low Back Pain Diagnosis
• The Lock Screen Query (LSQ): Using the unlock interaction on
mobile devices to gather relevant information

8. 15-20 Provisional
Patent Applications
(potentially valuable /
viable technologies)
per university per year
(x10 universities =
150-200 total)
10-15 Commercially
Interesting Techs
per university
(x10 universities =
100-150 total)
5-7 Commercially &
Technologically Strong
Techs per university
awarded seed/testing
funding
(x10 universities
= 50-70 total)
($2.5m Seed Funding / yr
≈$250k / university
≈$50k / tech)
University Tech-Transfer Office
Makes decisions about patenting
40-50 New
Discoveries per
university per year
Testing Period (1 Year)
Universities utilize internal
process to rank technologies
after feasibility testing &
prototype period into 2-3
categories or levels of
attractiveness to potential
investors
2-3 A Techs (presented)
3-5 B/C Techs (posters)
(x10 universities =
20-30 presented &
30-50 posters)
($200k / yr to promote
& run fair)
Commercial / Technological
Assessment “Fair”
Accomplished via venture and
corporate partners (possibly at
an early stage technology fair --
Maybe allow VC/Corporate
funding at this stage also)
($150k /yr to promote & run fair)
Comm/Tech Assessment (1 year)
Feasibility assessment accomplished
via university MBA / graduate level
technology commercialization
courses & programs (TechConnect)
($50k / university = $500k / yr)

9. Thank you to our partners