Ignition Awards

The fun begins every fall on October 1 when we begin soliciting for letters of interest. See the full timeline below.

There are two classes of Ignition Award: up to $75,000 or $25,000, over one year, contingent on satisfactory progress towards proposed and accepted (by OTD) milestones. There is no overhead charge associated with Ignition Awards. Funds may be used in many ways to move an idea or technology closer to commercialization. Some examples:

• Conduct further defined research on an invention that will lead to proof of concept or prototypes;
• Undertake testing of a technology or material to obtain initial data on performance;
• Develop a more user-friendly software interface;
• Send a material out to independent third party for testing under industrial conditions;
• Conduct in vivo or animal testing of a new compound;
• Hire outside expert consultants or services to validate technology.

Funds may not be used for:

• Salaries for faculty, including summer salaries
• Basic research;
• Legal expenses to advance intellectual property protection;
• Publicity expenses (e.g., the development of marketing materials);
• Legal and other expenses of business formation and operation;
• Attendance at academic conferences;
• Purchase of computer or other unrelated equipment;
• Expenditures that are covered by other funding sources (grants or sponsored research)
• Business purposes such as market research, interviewing customers, hiring business consultants or students

We encourage you to match Ignition Awards with other funding. If you can use the Ignition Award funds to augment or to attract other commercialization funds, we would like you to show this in your proposal. If you are awarded funding from multiple sources for the same project, we will want to see budgets and milestones showing which parts of the projects will be paid for by the Ignition Award and which will be paid for by other funding sources.

Funds are awarded only to principal investigators at BU or BMC.

Ignition Award funding is intended to assist researchers bring their BU ideas to market, whether that’s via a license to a third party or a startup you create (and then license the technology to your startup).

These funds are intended for BU licensable assets which can take the form of a patent or copyright. Your idea should result in such a licensable asset and your proposal should reflect how you intend to develop that asset.*

You must have disclosed your technology to Technology Development before applying for an Ignition Award. If you have not already disclosed your technology to Technology Development, you will be required to make a disclosure prior to the review.

If your technology was invented with other researchers from outside of BU and the intellectual property is co-owned, you may still apply for funding but you must include this information in your letter of interest.

*Note: We’re not suggesting that you’ll complete the creation of that “asset” with this Ignition Award. But we do want to know that the creation of such an asset will be the result of your effort.

The BU Technology Development office runs a three-part proposal and review process. Initially you will submit a short, mandatory letter of interest to Technology Development. This is reviewed internally to ensure that your proposed project is eligible and meets the goals of the awards. Once this internal review has been completed, a group of semi-finalists will be invited to submit a full proposal to Technology Development. The full proposals will be sent to the Ignition Review Committee, which is made up of outside representatives (investors, industry) and BU academics, who will select a group of finalists. The selected finalists will be invited to present their idea and answer questions to a select group of the Committee, who will make funding recommendations to Technology Development. Technology Development oversees the entire process and approves the final recommendations. Technology Development staff do not vote on funding recommendations.

Proposals will be reviewed by the review committee using the following five criteria. All criteria are weighted equally.

• Technology Potential
• Market and Product
• Project Plan and Milestones
• Team
• Outcome and Impact

Reviewers will be asked to take the following factors into account when scoring against these criteria.

1. Technology Potential. Factors to consider in making this evaluation:
   • Invention/technology/product concept is technically/scientifically new and unique
   • Demonstrated that they have thought of how and why the invention/technology/product concept will be used in the market
   • Identified the current solutions that this new technology will compete with
   • Understanding of the competitive advantages that this technology will have over current technologies. Performance metrics identified.
2. Market and final product. Factors to consider in making this evaluation:
   • Described the value proposition for the product in the selected market (based on the needs of a customer, not just a solution to a problem)
   • Final product concept clearly differentiated from those already marketed and known to be in development
   • End user identified. PI reveals evidence as to why this user will be interested in the proposed product
   • Size of the market indicated. The market need not be big but they have to demonstrate that they know enough about the market to create a financially sustainable business or attract a buyer for the asset (even with revenues of <$1M)
3. Project Plan and Milestones. Factors to consider in making this evaluation:
   • Clearly described and realistic project plan. Clearly defined milestones with rationale for each milestone and a clean end point (goal)
   • Plan to develop a licensable BU asset (patent or copyright) is realistic
   • Achieving the milestones will make the technology more attractive to a potential partner, investor or licensee
   • Upon achieving the stated endpoint there is a plan or at least some knowledge of the next steps in commercialization and the resources needed to complete them
4. Team. Factors to consider in making this evaluation:
   • The team has demonstrated preparation for or commitment to the pursuit of commercializing this idea (i.e., programs, training, advice, mentorship either at BU or elsewhere)
   • Team is responsive to criticism and suggestion (e.g., critique and suggestions for the presentations from the proposals)
   • The necessary talent to perform the Ignition Award project has been recruited or identified
   • Post IA activities: Identified team members to carry the project forward to the next step if IA project successful
5. Outcome and Impact. Evaluate the social and/or economic impact of the award. Factors to consider in making this evaluation:
   • PI has identified a real problem that, if addressed, will bring positive impact, and has identified the type of impact the solution will have, e.g., economic (job creation); make a process more efficient; improve welfare of people or environment; save lives
   • The invention has the potential to address said problem
   • The PI has determined the next funding source or audience to advance the idea
   • The PI has identified the next funder or audience’s criteria to “write a check”

The letter of interest (LOI) is a maximum, two-page document intended to provide Technology Development with a succinct description of your proposed project. It should define the basic outline of your idea, and establish its relative merit and general objectives. LOIs that meet our criteria will advance to a full proposal invitation.

Criteria for a Letter of Interest

• PI has demonstrated commitment to commercializing the idea: e.g., identified market need, contacted or recruited industry experts, engaged in training to learn to bring an idea to market, etc.
• The project has sufficient substance (work commenced, momentum, data) to warrant Ignition funding
• The milestones are realistic
• The project is designed so that it will enable the team to raise follow-on (additional) funding
• The project has the potential to result in a licensable asset
• There are no conflicts associated with project’s the intellectual property
• The intellectual property is protectable (e.g., not published)

Download the Letter of Interest Template

LOIs must be filled out on the template and submitted by email.

Full proposals will be requested from PIs based on promising letters of interest that meet LOI selection criteria. Full proposals are limited to five pages and are intended to provide Technology Development and the Review Committee with a full description of the technology, market considerations, budget, and a concrete project plan. Selected full proposals will be invited to give an oral presentation to the Review Committee for final award consideration.

Full proposals need to be thorough but concise. Proposals will be reviewed by people with a technical, and/or legal or business background. However, they may not necessarily be familiar with your area of expertise. The proposals should be written with this consideration in mind and should enable them to assess the potential feasibility and commercial value of your technology.

When proposing to the Ignition Review Committee please be sure to address how your approach fulfills an unmet need in the marketplace, how it compares to the “gold standard” or current solution, the anticipated regulatory path or standards that will be required, and how the product will be traded in commerce (e.g., reimbursed by healthcare providers), what milestone you will achieve with the funds and the nature of the funding opportunity that awaits you upon achieving that milestone.

Download the Ignition Full Proposal Template

Full proposals must be filled out on the above template and submitted by email.

You will receive an email confirming receipt of your completed application.

Applications that are not received by the specified deadline will not be considered in that competitive round but may be re-submitted in a subsequent solicitation for consideration.

The Ignition Review Committee will select a group of finalists from submitted full proposals. The finalists will be invited to make (virtual) in-person presentations to members of the Ignition Review Committee. For this presentation you should use the template that is supplied to you by Technology Development. Following these presentations, the Committee will make funding recommendations to Technology Development.
 
When evaluating the IA presentations, the Reviewers will use the following achievements, for each of the five criteria and questions (listed in the Review Criteria of the IA website), to deliver a grade of “5” on a one to five scale.
 
Technology Potential

• Third party validation of the idea’s uniqueness
• Third party validation that it will improve upon the incumbent
• Complete list of incumbent technologies
• Quantitative data to support this technology’s superiority over incumbents

Market and Product

• Value proposition tested with customer
• Table or chart using third party data to demonstrate PI technology’s differentiation
• Voice of the user represented
• Addressable market clearly identified

Project Plan and Milestones

• Quantitative endpoint and a plan for next steps
• Patent or copyright filed
• Intended audience for follow on funding consulted and desired output of this project stated by that third party
• Successful outcome of the IA linked to a basic, clear, and well justified commercialization plan

Team

• For a startup: A technical champion (PI, doctoral student, or  postdoc) has set aside time committed to support commercialization. For a license: they’ve communicated with more than one potential licensee to understand what they would want to see in a “packaged” deal
• Team not only addressed recommendations and critiques from proposal feedback but did homework to address risks, gaps and/or third party perspective
• PI has already identified committed talent required to advance the idea upon completing this project
• Team has taken steps to lay groundwork for continuing commercialization beyond IA through concrete steps (e.g., initiated discussions with external funding sources, applied for SBIR grant, etc.)

Outcome and Impact

• PI has identified a real problem that, if addressed, will bring positive impact, and has identified the type of impact the solution will have, e.g. economic (job creation); make a process more efficient; improve welfare of people or environment; save lives
• Impact potential is validated by more than one third party
• PI has made contact (conversation or correspondence) with at least one follow-on funding source
• Contact with next funder or audience resulted in understanding their criteria (for writing a check)

Post-award requirements for award recipients are changing, and the new requirements are currently to-be-determined after discussion with Technology Development. Interested researchers with questions may contact the Technology Development team.