Translational Grants
UofL offers funding opportunities to help its researchers bridge the gap between lab and marketplace. We can help you secure intellectual property rights, market technologies and more.
Sidebar
The University of Louisville is one of just a few institutions nationwide to earn a suite of prestigious grant-backed translational awards — and we're the only one to receive all of them. Together, these programs help move discoveries out of the lab and into the real world. Explore UofL's unmatched record of translational research funding.
Translational Grants
Mid-South REACH
The University of Louisville is part of the Mid-South REACH Hub, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and extends across four states: Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Virginia.
The primary goal of this grant program is to accelerate the real-world impact of biomedical and health-related innovations through education, mentorship, and financial support for product development.
Innovation Corps (I-Corps)
The University of Louisville is part of the Mid-South I-Corps Hub, which is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to foster entrepreneurship and stimulate lab-based research into the business market.
The program partners innovative UofL faculty, staff and students (undergraduate and graduate) with entrepreneurial mentors to identify market opportunities for new technologies that benefit society and the economy. Support includes mentorship, networking opportunities, training, and funding and entrepreneurial training through LaunchIt. Our coaches and speakers are all seasoned founders and innovators, ready to help you understand and navigate the complexities of developing the next big thing. Learn more about our coaches, who also serve as UofL's entrepreneurs in residence, here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Innovators with an entrepreneurial interest, who want to take their lab research to the marketplace. The technologies must benefit society and the economy. Interested alumni should contact us first.
Projects can originate from student work, funded or unfunded research, or projects done with institutions or industry partners. Each project must focus on one of the STEM areas the National Science Foundation supports.
The Mid-South I-Corps program can provide up to $2,000 in total funding to teams. This funding is typically for a period of six months.
Funding can be used for prototype development; travel expenses for customer discovery; and other necessary resources that directly help get the project to the marketplace.
Teams interested in applying for support through the UofL I-Corps program must submit a proposal that outlines:
- Team background and history
- Project plan
- The problem and your solution
- Product/service concept and demonstration
- The innovation’s potential commercial impact
Proposals will be reviewed for factors including potential market impact and the time horizon until that impact occurs. For more information on applying for UofL I-Corps support, contact the program team.
Each team participates in the 8 week I-Corps curriculum, based on Stanford’s Lean LaunchPad process. This training is conducted on-site at UofL through the LaunchIt program.
Mentorship in the UofL I-Corps program focuses on:
- Commercialization of team projects;
- New start-up businesses development;
- How to create business plans suitable for review by third-party investors;
- How to make go/no-go decisions about commercialization within six months of receiving support
In 2013, NSF established the National Innovation Network™ (NIN), extending the reach of I-Corps into the developing community of grantees and increasing the impact of the program. NIN connects I-Corps grantees to a national pipeline of mentors and collaborators that helps to provide state-of-the-art tools and resources needed for start-up success and commercialization. UofL has been part of the NIN since 2015, currently as part of the Mid-South Hub.
This UofL and the Mid-South I-Corps Hub assists scientists and engineers in extending their focus beyond the laboratory to increase the economic impact of selected NSF-funded research projects. Since its inception in 2011, the national I-Corps has trained hundreds of teams, who have created hundreds of new companies.
NSF I-Corps is a partnership that encourages entrepreneurship on both a local and national level. Successful participation in the UofL I-Corps program allows you to apply for the National program for access to these mentors and additional funding!