Pre-Launch Services

Commercialization Guidance

Protect Your Innovation

The first step in seeking to commercialize an innovation developed at the university is to submit an Invention Disclosure Form (IDF) to the Office of Research Commercialization. Our team of licensing professionals will review the content and work with you to develop an intellectual property protection and commercialization strategy.

It’s important to clarify ownership and file for necessary protection before any public disclosures are made, so we recommend engaging with our team early.

Plan Your Next Steps

Once your technology has been disclosed and evaluated by our Licensing team, you can then meet with our New Ventures team to begin developing a strategy to commercialize your innovation through a new startup company.

This strategy session will include:

• The development of research milestones that will enhance the commercial viability of the innovation,
• A funding strategy to support completion of the planned milestones,
• Non-research activities that should be prioritized to move the startup forward and programs that can leveraged to complete these activities.

Startup Guidelines

University startup guidelines and policies provide guidance on launching an NC State startup company as a faculty member while protecting the integrity of NC State’s research and educational mission.

Assess the Opportunity

Market assessment is a critical activity for early-stage startup efforts to help founders and potential founders determine where opportunities exist, how big they are, and what it will take to capture them.

The New Ventures and Investments team offers several programs that assist innovators in determining the commercial potential of their innovations.

Commercialization Training

I-Corps @ NC State is a National Science Foundation-supported short course aimed at arriving at a “go” or “no-go” team decision on whether to pursue commercialization of a new technology.

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Student-Assisted Market Research

NC State’s Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization (TEC) Program matches highly motivated graduate students with university innovators and startup companies to help inform the technology’s path to market.

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Secure Commercialization Funding

Chancellor’s Innovation Fund

Ecosystem Funding

We partner with several state organizations who provide grant funding to support commercially-oriented university research.