Accelerating from Lab to Market   

In some disciplines, the path by which discovery makes an impact is through commercialization. Pre-seed grants are often the limiting step for new ideas to cross the “valley of death” between federal research funding and commercial success. The Accelerating from Lab to Market Grant aims to help to bridge this gap. The deadline is April 27th, 2023.

For guidelines or to apply -  Learn more here.  

Eligibility:

Accelerating from Lab to Market pre-seed grants can be awarded to Penn faculty for promising inventions disclosed to Penn Center for Innovation (PCI) and to Penn faculty with existing Penn spinout companies based on Penn-owned intellectual property.  Please note that awards will be given to the Penn faculty member to be spent on research in Penn facilities.

Grant Size:

Funding levels will be available from $10,000 to $50,000 but could be larger if justified (up to $200k). One goal of the seed program is to leverage this Penn investment with external partners through matching funds.

Grant Term:

• 1-2 years
• Unexpended funds must be returned.
• A no cost extension must be approved by the Vice Provost for Research.  Requests for a no cost extension should be made prior to the expiration of an award. No cost extensions will only be granted for extenuating circumstances. Extensions will not be made for longer than six months.
• A progress-to-date report including a revised budget will be required.

Funding Criteria:

Proposals will be evaluated based on:

• Scholarly merit, creativity, impact, and innovation
• Potential for commercialization
• Feasibility
• Prospects for future capital investment
• Established need for match funding from an outside investment partner.

Funding may be used for, but not limited to, translational and proof-of-concept research, prototype development, support for pre-clinical development for drug candidates, field testing, market research and validation expenses, matching funds to SBIR/STTR awarded grants, and other types of technology development funding sources.