UNHInnovation Fund

The UNHInnovation Fund is a competitive funding program supporting UNH faculty and researchers who are moving UNH-owned innovations closer to licensing and/or commercialization. The fund will award successful applicants a grant of $50,000 to be expended within a year.

Who Can Apply

The UNHInnovation Fund invites applications from individuals who are either (1) a UNH faculty member or (2) a researcher with a UNH faculty member willing to act as the lead applicant for the proposal.

Which Proposals Can Be Submitted

To be eligible to participate in the fund, your proposal must:

• Involve UNH-owned IP,
• Which has been disclosed to UNHInnovation,*
• With development at the pre-revenue/pre-commercialization stage

* If the innovation has not been previously disclosed to UNHInnovation, please review the innovation disclosure process webpage, complete an innovation disclosure form, and email it to unh.innovation@unh.edu no later than September 8, 2023.

If you do not have a disclosure number for your innovation, please contact your UNHInnovation Licensing Manager at unh.innovation@unh.edu.

Specifically, the proposal must include the following information:

• Description of the team and roles, if more than one individual
• Outline of the innovation
• Current innovation development stage
• Commercial applications of the innovation
• Description of commercialization efforts to date
• Project plan and anticipated outcomes
• Budget breakdown
• Additional materials to support innovation (e.g. publications)
• Any additional activities to support application (e.g. participation in iCorps, customer discovery, etc.)

Please note: The lead PI will be required to upload a PDF of their CV or resume.

Selection Process 

• Apply through InfoReady (unh.infoready4.com) by 12:00 pm (noon) ET on September 22, 2023.
• Submitted proposals will be sent to the respective College Dean for approval prior to being reviewed.
• Finalists announced on October 20, 2023.
• Finalists will have the option to submit additional information in support of their application (maximum of 5 pages) by 4:00 pm ET on October 30, 2023.
• Final presentations will take place for the Review Panel on November 7, 2023 between 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm ET. 
• Once an award or declination decision has been made, awardee(s) will be announced and PIs will be provided with feedback about their proposals.

 About InfoReady: The portal works best using the latest supported version of Chrome, Firefox, or Safari as your browser when working from a laptop or desktop PC or Mac. Compatibility with other browsers and with tablets and other mobile devices is not guaranteed. If you encounter problems logging in directly, sign on with the UNH VPN first, then access the InfoReady portal. For questions regarding using the InfoReady internal competition portal, please contact Lynnette.Hentges@unh.edu.

Review Criteria 

The Panel will evaluate the applications according to at least the following criteria:

•  Rationale:  The proposal reflects a traceable, logical, and strong process rationale on how this funding will help move the innovation towards commercialization opportunities. 

• Effort:  Demonstrated effort in development of the innovation through other funding support or previous commercialization efforts, such as customer discovery, market analysis, iCorps, etc. 

• Funding Impact:  The proposal provides justification on the impact of the use of the fund to assist in the progression and achievement of the applicant’s goals. 

• Outcome:  The innovation will have societal or economic impact and aligns with UNH’s research mission. 

• Plan:  The proposal reflects careful planning, logical, realism, and is time oriented.

• Budget:  The proposal provides justification for the budget and is within reasonable boundaries. 

Disbursement Process

The winning applicants will receive $50,000. Awardees must meet the following deliverables: 

• A brief summative report no later than 30 days after grant expiration, addressing the following topics:
  • Description of goals/milestones achieved.
  • Description of setbacks and resulting change of plans.
  • Information on broader impacts/activities to date.
  • Next steps.

• Regular check-ins with UNHInnovation Fund manager

• Consent to be featured in ongoing marketing efforts

• Participation in post-award survey

Questions?

Please join one of our info sessions or contact the UNHInnovation Fund manager, Maithili Shroff, for more information.

• Info Session 1: August 15, 2023 | 3:00 pm | Zoom | 
• Info Session 2: September 7, 2023 | 10:00 am | Zoom | 

Past Recipients

Congratulations to Dr. Christopher Hernandez and Dr. Diliang Chen, inaugural fund recipients for spring 2023!

Learn more about these awards