This fund supports research collaborations between industry and academia with the goal of fostering basic research that has the potential for leading to products, technologies, or services for societal benefit.
Eligibility
Tenured and tenure-track faculty members in Division III (Natural Sciences) and IV (Engineering) are invited to submit proposals, limited to one proposal per faculty member.
Award
Applicants request internal Princeton funding of $100,000 for year 1, and $75,000 in year 2.
Funding for year 2 is contingent upon a 1:1 match by industry of $75,000. Please note that University funding for year 1 will not be released until the industry commitment is determined to take the form of either an unrestricted gift or a sponsored research grant and all award terms are agreed upon and an official award letter has been received and accepted by Princeton.
Therefore, successful projects will be funded with $175,000 from the University and $75,000 from industry over two years.
Note: The form of award (unrestricted corporate gift or sponsored research grant), must be agreed upon prior to the transfer of internal funds. Awards that take the form of sponsored research grants will be subject to overhead/indirect cost charges and must be approved by ORPA. If you have questions about this, please consult your departmental grants manager or Michael Hodges at [email protected].
Funding from a company in which a PI has a significant financial interest is not allowed. For the purpose of this initiative, a PI has a significant financial interest in a company if he/she has received $5,000 or more in cumulative salary or payment for services during the previous 12 months, or if the value of any equity interest possessed by a PI in the company plus cumulative salary and payment for services during the past 12 months equals or exceeds $5,000.
Reporting
Winning PIs will be required to submit a report to ODFR two years from the date when the first tranche of funding is received. The report must include a narrative describing the research performed and detailing how the grant funding was used.
Proposal Preparation Instructions
Applications should be brief, no more than two pages. Applications must include a brief budget statement.
Important: Separate from your application in InfoReady, you must email a letter of intent (LOI) between you and your proposed corporate collaborator. This letter should explain the company’s interest in your proposed work and indicate their level of commitment should the project be funded. This letter must be emailed to Michael Hodges at: m[email protected]. This letter must be received no later than Monday, February 12, 2024.
Corporate awards can have indirect cost implications for the awardee. Specifically, if Innovation Fund for Industrial Collaborations matching corporate funding is received as a gift, then overhead costs are not charged. However, if the corporate match comes to the University as a sponsored research grant, then indirect cost charges will be applied. If you have questions about this, please consult your departmental grants manager or Michael Hodges at [email protected].
Submission Information
Applications are to be submitted online using the InfoReady Review platform. To begin your application, click the Apply button at the top right of this page. You can save a draft of your proposal as you work on it and share the application with collaborators if you wish.
Review Criteria
A faculty committee will review the proposals and make funding recommendations. The reviewing committee will be composed of faculty members in the sciences and engineering from various disciplines, thus applicants should address the technical detail level of their proposal narratives accordingly. Anonymous review committee comments may be shared with applicants upon request.
Proposals will be evaluated on the quality, originality, and potential impact of the research.
Other things being equal, preference will be given to faculty members who did not receive funding in previous rounds of this competition.
Project Report
At the end of the project, awardees must submit a brief report summarizing the outcomes and impact of the award to the Office of the Dean for Research. Download the Project Report Template.
Call for Proposals
- Dates
- Proposal submission deadline: Monday, February 12, 2024
- Apply
- Application portal (log in with NetID required)
- Contact
- Coleen Burrus, Executive Director of Corporate Engagement and Foundation Relations, at [email protected]