Daugherty Endowment
The Daugherty Endowment Fund bridges pure research and product commercialization and provides a competitive opportunity to secure startup funding every year at NC State.
Daugherty Fund Boosts Research-Based Startups
The Richard L. and Marlene V. Daugherty Centennial Campus Entrepreneurial Endowment honors the retired IBM executive, who ran the company’s Research Triangle Park area operations for 23 years, and his wife. Daugherty is a trustee of the Kenan Institute at NC State and board member for the university’s Entrepreneurship Initiative. He also served as director of the Centennial Campus Partnership Office. The Kenan Institute for Engineering, Technology and Science matches the Daugherty Endowment funding each year.
The Daugherty Endowment is administered by the Centennial Campus Partnership Office. In 2016, the Daugherty Endowment joined forces with the Lulu eGames to provide a discrete track of early stage funding for startups based on university intellectual property.
Fund Impact
Learn more about the history and impact of the Daugherty Endowment
Award Info & Eligibility
About
The Daugherty Endowment Challenge allows startup companies who have licensed NC State intellectual property in the previous three years the opportunity to showcase and compete for prize money in a business plan competition.
A two-page executive summary is required for the first round of the competition, with finalists notified to write a five-page business plan for submission if they are selected to move forward to the second round.
Award Amounts
| 1st Place | $25,000 |
| 2nd Place | $15,000 |
| 3rd Place | $10,000 |
Eligibility
Past Daugherty Endowment Winners
2022
2022 eGames Winners Announced
The 2022 Daugherty Endowment awardees included next generation low-cost MRIs, cost-effective and scalable production method of probiotics for foods, and DNA-based data storage.
2021
2021 eGames Winners Announced
The 2021 Daugherty Endowment awardees included smart glass to fight climate change, electrical pulse therapy to treat inoperable tumors, and RFID chips based on breakthrough technology of AC powered logic circuits.
2020
Innovation and Creativity are Rewarded at the 2020 Lulu eGames
The 2020 Daugherty Endowment awardees included light-activated, anti-microbial products that can disinfect a wide range of pathogens, fabrics designed to prevent mosquitoes from biting, and a smoke remediation materials for use in confined spaces.
2019
2019 Lulu eGames Winners Announced
The 2019 Daugherty Endowment Awardees included a wearable band to help better measure sleep, novel, effective antibiotic treatments for serious multi-drug resistant bacterial infections, and a nondestructive testing technology to estimate the depth of embedded bridge pile foundations.
2018
2018 Lulu eGames Winners Announced
The 2018 Daugherty Endowment award winners included a technology for better asthma management, a test for early detection of canine bladder cancer, and a platform that turns spreadsheets into web applications with no coding required.
2017
Lulu eGames Winners Announced
The 2017 Daugherty Endowment award winners included an ultra-fast wireless communications technology, a lung stem cell therapy for pulmonary fibrosis, and a predictive analytics service for cloud security.
2016
Daugherty Endowment Challenge Winners Announced at Lulu eGames
The 2016 Daugherty Endowment awardees include a nanocoining technology for the creation of more functional materials, a software service that predicts and maximizes protein production for life science companies, and next-gen infrared materials and devices.