Venture Development Guidelines

Proposal Guidelines

  • IACUC and IRB approval must be obtained from your University prior to proposal submission if animal or human subjects will be used with GRA funds
  • Milestones and a budget update are to be reported semi-annually – due at June 30th and December 31st of each year until all funds have been spent
  • GRA may elect to pay funds in tranches based on milestones
  • Milestones may include both scientific and business tasks

When submitting the initial A proposal (in either Phase I or II), you will develop a road map for both the A and B phases. You will propose milestones, a schedule and a budget for both the A & B phase. The B phase must only be an estimate and may be revised at the time of submission of the B proposal. 

Eligible Uses of GRA Funds
Activities that reduce commercial risk and further develop the commercially relevant value proposition including but not limited to the following:

  • Prototype development
  • Technology feasibility studies
  • Market research
  • Customer discovery
  • Intellectual property assessment (prior art and freedom to operate analysis as appropriate)
  • Regulatory and reimbursement assessment
  • Fringe benefits (up to certain percentage determined by institution standard)
  • SBIR consultant
  • Post-docs

 

Prohibited Uses of GRA Funds

  • For Phases I and II, compensation of any individual who holds equity, warrants or options in a GRA-funded company
  • For Phases I and II, patent prosecution or legal expenses associated with incorporation or technology licensing
  • For Phase I, equipment purchases that would be considered capital items by the university (e.g. $5,000 or greater)
  • Proposals that seek funding to gather preliminary data for an NIH, NSF, DoD or other non-commercial grant
  • Proposals for exploratory or basic research
  • Funding for faculty hobbies with no need for dedicated, non-faculty management
  • Undergraduate or graduate student tuition 
  • Overhead including clean room fees
  • Compensated absences
  • Rent 

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