• Funding awarded: $50,000 per project
• Purpose: to support research expenses related to a CIF project
• Typical expenses: PI or senior personnel salary support, tuition expenses for student researchers, lab use fees, some equipment, materials and supplies

• Funding awarded: $46,500 per project
• Purpose: to support non-research expenses related to a CIF project to accelerate technology commercialization
• Typical expenses: Customer discovery travel, startup incorporation expenses, startup or pitch events, founder’s education, stipends for an embedded entrepreneur, regulatory consulting, etc.

Proposals should be generated using the CIF proposal template and should be no more than two pages in length, not including a title page and summary budget. Proposals should utilize a font of 10 points or larger.

Please submit an invention disclosure to the ORC for the technology related to the proposal prior to the proposal submission deadline if you have not already done so.

The two-page proposal should outline:

1. The market problem being addressed 
2. A non-technical description of the team’s solution
3. The core project team members and their capacity to move the project forward
4. Previous customer discovery work and insights from those interviews
5. Commercial intent and development pathway based on current knowledge, and identification of next steps

Applicants should consider the following:

• What is the market problem that your technology will address?
• What are the consequences of the problem (time, money, wasted resources, etc.)? Quantify where possible.
• How is the problem currently being addressed, and why is this inadequate?
• How does your solution address the outlined problem? Does it completely eliminate it, or does it only mitigate, and if so, to what degree? How will it be integrated into existing processes?
• What do you expect your solution is worth to those who are experiencing the problem?
• Have you engaged with any commercial partners? What feedback have you gotten from industry?
• What specific research milestones are you seeking to reach that are of interest to potential commercialization partners?
• How were the milestones determined? Were they requested by potential partners? Are they general industry standards?

Budget:

CIF proposals must include a high-level summary budget for use of the $96,500 award funds (this does not count towards the two-page proposal limit). Please note that indirect/F&A costs are not allowed since the funds are awarded under a ledger 7 account.

Proposals should be sent electronically to CIFprogram1@ncsu.edu prior to the proposal submission deadline.

Note: applicants will not be required to submit a PINS record at the application submission stage. Any team moving forward from the Quick Pitch Roundtable into the CIF Labs portion of the process will be required to submit a new PINS record to their department for approval.

Innovators with proposals that mee the eligibility criteria will be invited to submit a quick project pitch during the quick pitch roundtable event.

The CIF Quick Pitch Roundtable will be an event in which eligible applicants are invited to pitch their project to a group of diverse reviewers. Each team will have multiple opportunities during the event to provide a short pitch outlining the proposed CIF project and how funding will enhance the commercialization potential of the technology.

These pitches will be give to three distinct groups of reviewers:

• Investor/Commercial Lens: ORC and 2ndF staff
• Executive Leader Lens: A group of experienced, deep tech startup CEOs recruited by 2ndF
• Research/Commercialization Lens: a group of experienced, successful technical academic startup founders recruited by 2ndF

Final selections for applicant teams to move forward into CIF Labs will be made thematically based on alignment across the three evaluator groups.

Teams selected to advance will move forward into the CIF Labs programming held during the summer semester.

Innovators who are not selected to move on to CIF Labs will receive a written summary of reviewer comments.

Select semi-finalists will work with ORC and 2ndF over 10 sessions during the summer semester (mid-May to mid-September) to:

1. Identify and clearly articulate problem they are tackling and validate customer demand through extensive customer/market discovery
2. Recruit a CEO / commercial lead to complement the researcher

Weekly Requirement: Each team must dedicate at least one structured engagement per week (workshop, mentor session, or customer interviews) and provide updates to the ORC and 2ndF team.

Accountability: ORC and 2ndF reserve the right to remove teams from Labs if they fail to meet weekly engagement expectations or show insufficient commercialization intent.

Finalists completing the CIF Labs programming will be invited to make an Innovator’s Pitch presentation to the CIF Selection Committee during the Fall semester.

The Innovator’s Pitch is a commercialization-oriented presentation that outlines how the proposed project will accelerate the commercialization of the underlying technology, with a brief period for questions and answers. This is not an academic presentation of the science behind the technology. The pitch should briefly describe the technology and focus on the commercial opportunity that it represents and how the CIF funding will facilitate commercialization. Innovators work with the ORC team to prepare for the pitch.

The CIF Selection Committee consists of reviewers from external partners and NC State personnel with technology development, commercialization and entrepreneurial expertise. The CIF Selection Committee will make award recommendations to the Chancellor’s Office.

Finalist Innovators who are not selected for a CIF award will be provided with detailed written feedback from the CIF Selection Committee along with any recommended resources to support their project.

Awardee Goals:

1. Advance technology to a licensable or investable stage.
2. Secure commercial leadership and validated customer/partner traction.
3. Define a business model and clear path to capital or licensing.

Three to six awards are expected to be funded during the award cycle.

Selected awardees will receive a total of $96,500 per project, released in milestone-based tranches.

• $46,500 (2ndF: Commercialization): To fund activities that support customer traction, market entry strategy, business model development, and leadership recruitment.
• $50,000 (NC State: R&D / Technical): To fund research activities (salary, student workers, lab use fees, materials/supplies) that support development of prototypes, validation studies, etc.

Award recipients will be required to meet regularly with the ORC and 2ndF teams to review progress and prepare for industry engagement. A final report must be submitted within thirty (30) days of the award period to the CIF program manager.

CIF funding is awarded for a twelve-month period, and all funds should be expended during this one year period.

Award recipients may submit a written request for a one-time, no-cost extension of the $50,000 CIF research funding no later than month 10 of the 12-month award period. Note that no no-cost extensions are allowed for the $46,500 2ndF funding.