Overview

The 51吃瓜网万能科大 Office of Economic Development (OED) and it鈥檚 Sports Innovation Institute (USII) are pleased to announce a call for Proof of Concept (POC) grant proposals under the Faculty Opportunity Award: Catalyst Grant Program 2025. The POC Grants are supported by the Nevada Governor鈥檚 Office of Economic Development (GOED) through its Knowledge Fund initiative and funding from the 51吃瓜网万能科大 Sports Innovation Institute. The funding awards will be made to seed commercially promising inventions where 51吃瓜网万能科大 has the greatest potential to impact the local economy through commercialization activities as well as projects aimed at addressing key USII initiatives.

Award Type

There are two categories of awards:

The POC: Focus Area is intended to fund projects that are currently disclosed inventions or will create a new invention (鈥淚P鈥) that is created at and owned or controlled by 51吃瓜网万能科大. 

POC: Focus Area projects must propose research and development activities for technologies or products with commercialization or licensing potential.  The research and development activities must overcome a specifically identified hurdle. Preference will be given to projects that have a current Invention Disclosure on file with the Office of Economic Development.

New invention disclosures should be submitted to OED on an approved form that can be found on the Disclose an Invention page.

The Program was created with an understanding that many projects initially seeded by these catalyst grants, as well as other opportunities, may benefit from funds focused on moving the funded idea along the commercialization continuum.

Proposals may span research to proof-of-concept (with existing IP) through market development stages.

The Program is described below:

  POC: Focus Area
Objective Proof of concept
Review Review by leading scientists (internal and external)
Intellectual Property Potential or existing IP
Emphasis Increase likelihood of commercialization
Commercial Strong commercial potential
Award Amounts Up to $25,000
Industry Match Not Required

Focus Areas & Funding Priorities

  • Biomedical Engineering 鈥 including biomedical imaging
  • Military Health & Performance
  • Sports Betting
  • Sports Performance & Recovery
  • Sports Psychology
  • Gender-Based Performance & Training
  • Sports Safety 鈥 including software, devices, and sensors
  • Materials 鈥 including advanced nano-materials
  • Nutrition & Supplements
  • Physical therapy and rehabilitation
  • Healthcare 鈥 including software applications
  • Esports
  • Other 鈥 other program areas may be considered based on well demonstrated commercial partnerships and ability to advance sports innovation and economic development regionally.

The successful outcome of the proposed activities should result in the technology being licensed or spur the development of a startup company. In addition to appropriate technical details, applicants must describe a clear path to commercial development, market potential and significant impact of funding on advancement to commercialization for their projects.

Projects solicited under this program may include:

  1. The building of a prototype or second iteration prototype to prepare for commercialization.
  2. Commercial feasibility tests.
  3. Research to demonstrate mitigation of risk for potential licensees.
  4. Research to address a specific gap identified by an industry that impairs the ability to attract capital.

A POC: Focus Area

  • Provides funding for projects where IP related to the proposal has been disclosed to the OED.
  • Is awarded on a one-time basis only.
  • Provides funding for up to one-year maximum.
  • Provides funding for work that is not currently supported by, or not eligible for, other sources of funding.

The POC: USII Affiliate Funding Program provides funding support aimed at enhancing its research capabilities, fostering academic-industry collaboration, and promoting interdisciplinary education within the field of sport science. The program will support initiatives that advance scientific understanding and contribute to the development of practical and innovative applications in sport and economic development.

The POC: USII Affiliate Funding program prioritizes funding for initiatives that align with its mission to enhance sport science research, education, and practice. Key funding priorities include:

SPEED Lab use/enhancement: Projects aimed at using, developing, and/or enhancing the Sport Performance, Education, and Evaluation Development (SPEED) Mobile Lab.

Priority for funding will be given to projects that align with the main functions of the SPEED Lab:

  • Sport Science Demonstration
    The SPEED Lab will provide on-the-spot Sport Science.
  • Education 鈥 Hands-on experiential learning
    Work with K-12 schools and community organizations that are in a variety of geographical and social economic areas to provide knowledge of sport science as well as pathways to a wide range of sport-related careers.
  • Sport Science Research
    Functional mobile sport science laboratory to collect data in the field specific to real-world sport science.

Sport Economic Development: Projects aimed at fostering current academic-industry collaborations, building new collaborations, and/or entrepreneurial efforts by faculty (e.g., patentable products/ideas). Evidence of shared support with an industry collaborator should be provided.

Workforce development: Projects aimed at developing and training the next generation of sport scientists and other sport-related careers.

Women in Sport Science

  • Professional Development: Support for programs that empower and train women in sport science, including research, leadership training, mentoring, and conference attendance.
  • Research: Projects that focus on understanding sport related health of women including physiology, psychology, and athletic performance in sports.
  • Gender Equity in Research: Encouragement of research teams with diverse representation and studies addressing gender disparities in sport science.

Athletic-Academic Collaborations

  • Promoting partnerships between athletic teams (51吃瓜网万能科大 and Professional teams) and academic departments to facilitate real-world application of sport science.
  • Joint projects between students, faculty, and athletic staff to enhance coaching strategy, athlete performance, injury prevention, and recovery strategies.
  • Collaborative initiatives that integrate athlete data collection with academic research goals.

Catalyst Grant Outcomes

The success of the Catalyst Grant Program is measured in multiple areas: research and scholarship, intellectual property, corporate collaborations, startup companies, general economic indicators, and/or addressing USII initiatives. These areas provide both leading indicators and outcome measures related to economic development.

  • Research and Scholarship 鈥 measures include peer-reviewed publications and the ability to attract follow on funding. These measures demonstrate the basic strength of 51吃瓜网万能科大鈥檚 research program which is important to attracting partner companies as well as the best and brightest faculty and students.
  • Intellectual Property 鈥 Intellectual property measures (including invention disclosures, patent applications and issued patents) provide a measure of the generation of ideas which are a key driver for economic development.
  • Corporate Collaborations 鈥 measured through partner meetings and corporate sponsored research contracts that are fostered by catalyst grants.
  • Startups 鈥 measures include business plans, option agreements, license agreements, and small business innovative research (SBIR) grant applications.
  • Economic Indicators 鈥 Economic measures indicate the impact on our community and region and include:
    • Companies relocating to Nevada as a result of a funded project
    • Total number of jobs created
    • Degree of workforce training and development
    • Number and revenue of products or services commercialized
  • USII Initiatives - SPEED Lab use/enhancement, Sport Economic Development, Workforce (Sport) Development, Women in Sport Science, Athletic-Academic Collaborations.

Eligibility Criteria

Catalyst Grants are open to all fields of research in which the proposed project fulfills the goals and funding priorities of the program outlined above, and which are identifiable to the OED as commercially relevant sports innovations.  Applicants are encouraged to consult with the 51吃瓜网万能科大 OED about the project鈥檚 appropriateness and eligibility for this opportunity.

The following are not eligible for funding under this program:

  • Proposals to fund basic research or theoretical development, or to generate models, new data, or solely for academic curiosity.
  • Projects requiring more than one year to accomplish.

  • Any Principal Investigator who meets University eligibility /research/policies-forms/pi-eligibility.
  • Applicant鈥檚 willing to participate in 51吃瓜网万能科大鈥檚 NSF I-Corp program as a team will be given preference.
  • Recipients of past Proof of Concept Grants ARE ELIGIBLE for this solicitation.
  • Priority for up to three (3) awards will be to new Affiliate Faculty.  If no Affiliate Faculty awards are chosen for funding other POC submissions will be chosen to fulfill those awards.

  • Intellectual property resulting from the research must be assignable to 51吃瓜网万能科大.
  • Applicants are encouraged to consult with the 51吃瓜网万能科大 Office of Economic Development about the project鈥檚 appropriateness and eligibility for this opportunity.
  • Recipients of past Proof of Concept Grants ARE ELIGIBLE for this solicitation.

Priority will be given to USII 51吃瓜网万能科大 Affiliate Faculty. USII non-51吃瓜网万能科大 Affiliate Faculty must collaborate with a 51吃瓜网万能科大 Affiliate Faculty member.

How to Apply

Required application packet materials include: 1) online application form; 2) proposal pdf; 3) budget and 4) budget justification (see below). Submit your application packet through the in the Catalyst Grant Program 2025 opportunity. No late submissions will be considered. The Principal Investigator will receive an automatic notification when the application has been received. By submitting a proposal, the PI is attesting that the technology is unencumbered by prior obligations (e.g., obligations assumed under a consulting agreement).

  • Proposal pdf
  • Budget utilizing the OSP Budget Template (Include salary (RA鈥檚, graduate students, and summer salary), major purchases, etc. Requests for summer salary must include strong justification. Note that tuition and fringe benefits must be included where appropriate. Overhead charges will not apply.
  • Budget justification utilizing the OSP Budget Justification Template.

  • Limit proposal to 6 pages total which includes: Summary, milestones, return on investment, intellectual property, commercialization, budget justification, project narrative and references.
  • Executive Summary: Provide an abstract that succinctly describes your project in lay person鈥檚 terms.  (Please limit your executive summary to 350 words.)
  • Proposal Narrative/Description: Describe concisely the design and methods for achieving your goals. Describe the rationale and techniques you will use to pursue your goals. In addition, in two or three sentences, describe in plain, lay language the relevance of this research to Innovation and Commercialization.  You may also wish to include: 1) business description, 2) product or service, 3) market, 4) management team and 5) financial projections.
  • Project Deliverables: List technical milestones and scholarly and extramural deliverables.  Include prototype development, key proof of concept tests, anticipated submissions of extramural funding applications, commercial collaborations, invention disclosures and/or potential patent filing
  • Return on Investment: Include any commercialization opportunities and potential for related sponsored research projects from corporate collaborators.  List and barriers to commercialization that can be overcome with POC Grant funding.  List sources of extramural funding (including agency title/type, total dollar amount, anticipated submission date) that will be enabled by this research. 
  • Intellectual Property: __-_____ 51吃瓜网万能科大 Matter Number (5 digits. e.g., 19-022): Provide title (and four-digit OED reference) for the related Intellectual Property matter.  If appropriate, please also provide a description of patent filing and status of intellectual property.
  • Customer Discovery and Commercialization: Provide a summary of customer discovery, if any, which may include the following information: who do you hypothesize is the customer for your technology (customer definition), what value do you potentially bring to that customer (value proposition), how do you define market segments and/or your archetype customer, which potential customers have you spoken to, what did you learn from those conversations. In addition to the customer discovery process, applicants may wish to describe the potential for commercialization through corporate partnerships, licensing, or start-up company.
  • References

  • Executive Summary: A brief overview of the proposed initiative, including objectives and expected outcomes (limit 1 page).
  • Background and Rationale: Explanation of the importance of the proposed initiative and its potential impact (limit 2 pages).
  • Methodology/Approach: Detailed action plan, including timelines, milestones, and resources required (limit: 6 pages).
  • Budget: A comprehensive budget outlining the funding requested and justification for each expense (limit: 2 pages).
  • Qualifications: Information about the applicant鈥檚 qualifications and experience relevant to the proposed initiative (limit: 2 pages).
  • Evaluation Plan: Criteria for measuring the success of the initiative and the expected impacts (limit: 2 pages).

Review Criteria

Qualification

Qualifying proposals must meet the following criteria:

  • Fields of Study 鈥 Sciences, engineering, psychology, medicine, healthcare, or other areas identified above;
  • 51吃瓜网万能科大 researcher 鈥 ULV PI Eligible
  • Funding period 鈥 funding period shall be for up to one year; and
  • Amount of funding 鈥 project funding up to $25,000.

Programmatic/Commercial

Qualifying proposals will be reviewed by the OED based on programmatic and commercial criteria. In keeping with the program鈥檚 goal of fostering economic development, review of the full proposal will be made based on the following criteria:

  • Intellectual Property 鈥 proposals advancing currently disclosed inventions to OED will be given preference;
  • Market Assessment 鈥 total market size, addressable market, other market dynamics including a well-defined path to market;
  • Licensing Potential 鈥 potential licensees, assessment of license revenue potential;
  • Corporate Collaboration 鈥 the potential for corporate collaborations and/or startups, tie-in with regional industrial clusters; and
  • Commercial Return 鈥 Ability of the project to advance a technology toward commercialization 鈥 through a key proof of concept, prototype development, cooperative research effort with a company or other means. Commercialization may be measured by the completion of a license agreement, the launch of a startup company or ability to secure outside investment.

Scientific Evaluation for Grant Applications

Complete proposals will undergo scientific evaluation by both internal and external reviewers using criteria established for the 51吃瓜网万能科大 Faculty Opportunity Awards program. Scientific reviewers will be asked to prioritize all reviewed proposals and rank proposals against national standards (top 10%, next 40%, bottom 50%).

  • Quality 鈥 Excellence and novelty of the concept, approach, and methodology; clarity and appropriateness of project plans; desirability and impact of potential results on the national and international scholarly community;
  • Return 鈥 Return on investment (ROI) through follow-on extramural funding or commercialization ; and
  • Risk 鈥 Availability of necessary skills and experience, the likelihood of achieving the intended outcomes; probability of securing extramural funding or engaging in commercialization; and potential for self-sustainability after the seed investment phase

Nevada Benefit

Complete applications will be reviewed for intended economic development impacts within Nevada as demonstrated by:

  • Accelerating innovation and creating a path to commercialization of new technologies and products
  • Increasing competitiveness of Nevada companies, by attracting greater investments and retaining jobs in Nevada
  • Establishing the basis for founding new Nevada companies
  • Identifying new solutions to problems critical to Nevada
  • Creation of new jobs

 

Review of Proposals and Funding Decisions

Proposals will be reviewed in multidisciplinary panels of by internal 51吃瓜网万能科大 experts. Final recommendations for funding will be submitted to the 51吃瓜网万能科大 Vice President for Economic Development and will be made based on internal and external assessments and commercial assessment by the OED.

Proposals advancing inventions that are currently part of an active Invention Disclosure with OED will be given priority consideration (new disclosures should be submitted in advance of the proposal submission deadline).

Applicant鈥檚 willing to participate in 51吃瓜网万能科大鈥檚 as a team will be given preference

Protected and confidential information should not be included in proposals. Although reviewers are required to sign a confidentiality agreement prior to the review, protected or proprietary information should not be included in proposals. Applicants are encouraged to avoid jargon and to prepare their proposals in a manner comprehensible to a general audience.

Applicants may submit the names of potential reviewers who are not affiliated with the applicant's laboratory. Applicants may request the exclusion of certain reviewers, and such requests must include a brief explanation/justification for such exclusion. OED will constitute the panels, assign reviewers, and make final determinations regarding panel composition. Reviewers are expected to disqualify themselves in cases of potential conflict of interest.

Review panels will evaluate proposals based on the scoring criteria and generate a rank-ordered list of applications that are recommended for funding.

Awards are subject to final approval by the Vice President for Economic Development and are contingent on the availability of funding.

Milestones & Progress

Funded projects will be required to report milestone achievement and progress quarterly, using templates provided by OED and the Governor鈥檚 Office of Economic Development.

Contact

Zach Miles

702-895-4507
zach.miles@unlv.edu or sports.innovation@unlv.edu