Faculty Led Proof of Concept

Faculty Led POC funding is available for faculty-led projects to advance commercialization of innovative technology covered by an invention disclosure previously submitted to a Kansas institution of higher education. These awards will be made as grants with repayment obligations, to be repaid if successfully licensed by the university.

These funds are designed to act as a bridge to the next available level of substantial grants (e.g. NIH, SBIR) after an initial grant has been expended; or to fund adjacent research outside of the scope of a previous grant.

To be eligible, the applicant must:

• File an invention disclosure with the appropriate university TTO
• Have clear technical or commercial objective to be achieved with POC funding
• Be submitted through the appropriate TTO

POC funds can be used for, but not limited to, the following:

• Technical Validation
• Advanced Testing
• Prototype development
• Commercial Assessment
• Other technology-focused activities

POC funds cannot be used for:

• Salary costs of applicants or principal investigators
• Fixed overhead costs
• Previously incurred costs
• To secure other funding opportunities (e.g. matching grants)
• Research publication costs
• Costs for securing intellectual property rights (e.g. patent costs)