Portland State University
Office of Innovation & Industry Alliances

University Venture Development Fund
 Call for Proposals
Announced March 6, 2009; Due April 24, 2009

Objective

This Request for Proposals announces the second round of funding from the Portland State University Venture Development Fund, an effort that seeks to foster innovation, prototypes, and new university – industry connections in order to see PSU innovation achieve significant public benefit.

Background

In its broadest sense, translational research refers to a wide scope of scientific activities that constitute the first, critical steps in transforming a research discovery into an innovative commercial product or service.  Historically, translational research has been difficult to fund.  To address this funding gap, the Oregon legislature has provided state tax credits that encourage private donors to support translational research through contributions to Oregon universities.  Such contributions to PSU are collected and distributed through PSU’s University Venture Development Fund (UVDF, http://www.rsp.pdx.edu/technology_VDF.php).  Following successful kick-off of the UVDF in early October, 2007 and the first round of funding in 2008, PSU is now preparing for its second round of funding, in which grants will be awarded to PSU faculty or PSU licensees.  These grants cover, depending on the fund applied for:

• the direct costs of translational research leading to an innovation which shows high utility to commercial organizations;
• advancement of a product licensed by PSU; or
• projects to promote PSU innovation which has a high likelihood of leading to a license to organization(s) for the PSU innovation being promoted. 

The award start date for UVDF support is June 2009.

Purpose

The State of Oregon requires that UVDFs must be used to enhance the probability that research discoveries will be transformed into new products, services, and/or companies that contribute to the Oregon economy.  Successful UVDF proposals will lead to technologies that are strong candidates for business analysis and potentially new venture creation; candidates may wish to work with PSU’s Lab 2 Market program.
 
Examples of overall goals that these UVDFs may address include, but are not limited to:

• Creation of one or more utility examples based on the innovation
• Acquiring statistically meaningful proof of concept
• Creation of a prototype
• Create or extend intellectual property that will be licensed by a start-up or by an existing company.

Eligibility

The applicant:

• Is a PSU employee (non-student) with an active research program.
• If applying for the Development or Promotion fund, has filed and assigned a disclosure(s) with PSU Innovation & Industry Alliances for the innovation related to the UVDF application.
• Will submit a 1-page written report within 2 weeks of the end date of the UVDF grant that:
• Summarizes accomplishments and supporting data addressing each goal as laid out in the UVDF proposal.
• Analyzes how the potential of the innovation to launch new products or services has been enhanced as a result of the accomplishments.
• Suggests next steps that should be taken to further enhance the potential to create new products or services.
• Must submit completed applications to PSU Innovation & Industry Alliances by April 24, 2009 at the email address shown below.

Applicants who submit applications by April 10, 2009 will receive informal feedback on their application by April 17, 2009, and edits or additions can be made prior to the April 24, 2009 submission deadline.

Proposal Format

Proposals may be a maximum of two pages in length, and will adhere to the format shown on the attached application.

Application Inquiries and Submission

The Application and other inquires may be submitted electronically to Jeremy Dalton at the PSU Innovation & Industry Alliances, iia@pdx.edu. 

For questions about these grants, or Innovation & Industry Alliances, please contact Dana Bostrom, bostrom@pdx.edu