INNOVATION GRANTS

The TomKat Center awards Grants to initiate the commercialization process for inventions with a potentially large market impact. The grant provides the support needed to refine and enhance an innovation, systematically explore potential markets, create advanced prototypes and assess the commercial viability of specific applications. The ultimate goal is to get to the point where they can attract sufficient investment to commercialize a product and launch a spinout company and/or to license the technology to an existing company..

• The award amount will be based on the maturity of the project, a detailed budget, and clearly defined goals and deliverables.
• Proposals that are more exploratory in nature or address the preliminary feasibility of a concept will generally be limited to grants under $50,000. The grant allows the team to conduct exploratory experiments, gather data to validate a concept, and/or develop a working prototype of an invention.
• Grantees who have made significant progress toward validating the commercial viability of their invention can apply for funding at a higher level, typically around $125,000 for project durations of preferably less than 12 months.
• In exceptional cases and with strong budgetary justification higher amounts may be considered.