Researchers at University of Alabama at Birmingham will be able to apply for up to $35,000 in funding to support the commercialisation of their inventions.
University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has launched a $500,000 Innovation Fund that will provide gap funding to researchers hoping to move their inventions towards commercialisation and seed funding to early-stage spinouts.
The fund has been created the university’s Bill L. Harbert Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. It will be overseen by an advisory committee and start making investments from January 1.
Researchers and spinouts will be able to apply for up to $35,000 in funding to pay for areas such as prototyping, conducting life sciences experiments, undertaking market validation or completing software development.
The fund aims to reinvest proceeds and raise additional capital to expand beyond the initial $500,000 commitment. Applications will be welcomed in spring and autumn.
The funding will be awarded on a competitive basis and governed by a milestone-driven approach. UAB secured more than $6m in licences, options and royalty payments in the fiscal year 2018 on research expenditures of more than $562m.
Kathy Nugent, executive director of the Bill L. Harbert Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, said: “The Innovation Fund is designed to help address the growing challenge of lapses in funding between grants and venture investment.
“Our mission in launching the Fund is to support projects that have a high chance for impact but are unlikely to get there without gap funding and seed investment.”
