Ignite Technology Transfer Office

Commercialisation Grants

TTO Commercialisation Programme

Ruairi Friel PhD, MBA

Ignite Technology Transfer Office

NUI Galway

November 13th, 2012

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Outline

• Purpose of commercialisation grants• Range of commercialisation grants• What questions need to be addressed• Grant examples

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Purpose of Commercialisation Grants: Mind the gap

early-stage research

commercialisable technology

Funding gap

funding

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Filling the Funding Gap

• Prototyping• Proof-of-concept

– Cell culture– In vitro studies

• Small animal studies• Regulatory issues• Market validation

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Outcome of commercialisation grant

• Validation:– Proof that market/need exists– Proof that concept works– Path to market established

– Moved concept further along the value chain

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Range of commercialisation grants – third level institutes

• SFI: Technology Innovation Development Award (TIDA)• ~1 year, €100khttp://www.sfi.ie/funding/funding-calls/closed-calls/joint-sfi-ei-technology-innovation-development-award-tida-feasibility-study-2012/

• EI: Commercialisation Fund• Commercial Case Feasibility Grant

– ~4 months, €15k – desk-based study…no lab work

• Commercialisation Fund– 1-3 years, up to €350k

• http://www.enterprise-ireland.com/en/Funding-Supports/Researcher/Funding-to-Commercialise-Research/Commercialisation-Fund.html

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Range of commercialisation grants – partner with companies

• Enterprise Ireland:– Innovation Vouchers: €5-9k

https://innovationvouchers.ie

– Innovation Partnerships: €100-250khttp://www.enterprise-ireland.com/EI_Corporate/en/Research-Innovation/Companies/IPP-Brochure.pdf

• Intertrade Ireland:– Fusion programme: £16-23,250khttp://www.intertradeireland.com/fusion/academics/

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Range of commercialisation grants – partner with companies

• IRCSET– EMPOWER/ EMBARK: PhD/Post-doc– Enterprise Partnership Scheme

http://www.research.ie/scheme/enterprise-partnership-scheme

• EU– FP7 consortia– IAPP– ITN

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Other funding sources?

• Not an exhaustive list:– Other funders…– Charities…

Be creative!

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General: what questions to be addressed

• Why should your commercial project get funded?

• “We can make it for X and sell it for Y – big profits!!”– How big is the market though?

• “Company X sell it, and they’re huge”– Company X sell this and 2,000 other items

X

X

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what questions to be addressed

• Licensing or spin-out opportunity?• Is there a market need? i.e. actual need not a perceived one

– How is this validated?• How large is the market? (validation)• What’s the USP of your product compared to competitor’s?

– Price? Technical?• How innovative is your product? (patent protection? Know-how?)• Path-to-market? Regulatory issues? Manufacturing? Distribution?• Cost-to-market? Clinical trials? Manufacturing scale-up?

Market Opportunity ExistsCredibleRealistic

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How do I achieve this?

• Secondary research: market reports available?– Caution: ensure the information is specific to your market

e.g. global diagnostics market: $XBn p.a.• Primary research:

– End-users: who is your end-user?– Key Opinion Leaders (KOL)– Industry– Specialists (IP, Regulatory, manufacturing etc.)– Letters of support

NDAs!!

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Examples: EI commercial case feasibility study

• EI: commercial case feasibility study– Used to lead into a full Commercialisation Fund

application – rolling calls– Used to address lack of market knowledge, make industry

contacts, build commercial case– Applied in conjunction with TTO– Hire external consultant to perform study

– End result: report and full CF application

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EI: Commercialisation Fund

• Projects: “that address a gap or need in the market by developing innovative technologies that will ideally be ready for licensing to Irish industry or may form the basis of a new start-up in 2-5 years”

• 2-3 calls per year– Typically Feb, (Aug), Oct

• Apply via TTO and EI commercialisation specialist• Staged projects: 1-3 stages: stop/go

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EI: Commercialisation Fund

• Evaluation Process:– 2 stage process– Phase 1: internal review

• Commercial case: size of market, validation of market• Irish economic impact: opportunity, route of exploitation• Technology innovation: innovation, feasibility

– Phase 2: internal/external panel review:• Workplan, budget, management etc

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SFI: TIDA Feasibility

• Earlier stage wrt EI Commercialisation Fund• Restrictions re: eligible applicants• Aims:

– Demonstrate feasibility of an innovative idea for commercial benefit

– Develop awareness of the commercialisation process– Encourage movement from academic to enterprise

activities

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TIDA: review process

• Quality and novelty of the proposed innovation;• Potential commercial opportunities for the proposed innovation;• Significance, including usefulness of the proposed innovation; • Strategic impact of the proposed innovation;• Fit with National Research Prioritisation areas ;• Level of previous EI funding; in cases where applications are deemed to

be of equal merit, preference will be given to applicants who have not previously secured EI funding;

• Opportunities for Convergence.

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TIDA: application

• Project proposal: 5 pages– What evidence for a commercial opportunity?– What question does this proposal address?– Why is this question significant?– How will the question be addressed and what are the

expected outcomes?– Track-record of success

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• Questions?• Comments?