Pathway to Commercialization

A primary tenet of K-State's land grant mission is developing and delivering technological innovation to the marketplace to enhance the wellbeing and prosperity of our global constituents. The Office of the Vice President for Research, or OVPR, is continuing to provide additional opportunities to help faculty inventors get started down this path. The Pathway to Commercialization Grant Program, or P2C, is a new collaborative program implemented by the OVPR in partnership with K-State Innovation Partners to encourage the advancement of commercially viable early stage “pre-disclosure” research by faculty at K-State.

This opportunity is open to all K-State faculty in any department, college and at any K-State campus. P2C is a competitive grant program that is intended to help faculty inventors get started down the commercialization pathway with concepts or research that have not yet yielded a technology disclosure, and which are currently purely conceptual in nature or have not yet advanced to the point of garnering other state, federal, or industry grant funding.

Successful applications will support very early stage research on technologies that have definable and/or demonstrated commercial impact and for which identification, selection, and investment by the OVPR and engagement with Innovation Partners will help set the research on a development path that can garner additional grant funding and could eventually yield disclosures of associated commercially viable intellectual property. Up to $200,000 will be distributed through this program in amounts ranging from $20,000-$50,000 per grant based on demonstrated need.

Submission, award and ongoing support

• P2C proposals are invited on any commercially relevant research topic.
• Faculty inventors will be required to submit a proposal for the work to be undertaken with the funds for consideration. Such proposals must include:
  
  • • An overview of the technology concept.
    • Statement of commercial need for the anticipated development.
    • Detailed work plan.
    • Detailed budget.
    • Timeline for completion of the directly funded work.
    • A high-level long-term development plan that indicates how the funded work can be further leveraged into other grant programs or funded activities to reach a point of relevant intellectual property disclosure.
    • Proposals may be emailed to tech.transfer@ksu.edu
• A pre-proposal meeting with the OVPR and Innovation Partners staff will be required to discuss the commercial viability of the research topic as well as to address any specific questions regarding submission criteria and the application process.
• Projects will be selected and approved at the discretion of the OVPR in collaboration with Innovation Partners leadership.
• Innovation Partners staff will be available for ongoing consultation post issuance of the grant for commercialization and intellectual property planning and engagement purposes.
• Both the OVPR and Innovation Partners will be updated on project progress on a timeline that is determined to be appropriate on a project-by-project basis.
• To set up a pre-proposal meeting or for any questions, please contact Ken Williams or Stephanie Pierce.

Timeline

• April 17: Fund announcement
• June 6: Pre-proposal meeting deadline
• July 6: Applications due
• August 3: Awards announced