Accelerator Award Information
The Accelerator Awards program is intended to fund activities that will demonstrate the commercial viability of a technology in one of the state of Ohio’s key technology areas. Program funds are not early-stage, basic research funds. Rather, technologies supported by the program must already have the equivalent of a laboratory-scale proof-of-concept prior to the application. Once the Accelerator Award has been completed, the technology should have results that either prove its suitability for licensing to a startup company or demonstrate it is not commercially viable.
Use of funds
Funds must be used to perform validation activities of technologies that have already demonstrated proof-of-concept when capital from investment partners has not yet been secured. Examples of these activities include, but are not limited to: prototype development; market and customer validation; demonstration and assessment of critical failure points in subsequent development; optimization studies; and scale up pilot studies and commercialization. Program funds will be allocated to specific, measurable project milestones that are key to establishing commercial viability of the technology. Funds are available in milestone-based tranches, and successful progress is required to continue funding.
Available funding
A total of $1 million is available annually to fund a variety of projects with maximum award of up to $100,000. Because biomedical technologies are of great priority to Ohio Third Frontier and typically require greater resources, a total award for a proposal relating to a biomedical technology may be up to $150,000.
The selection committee will evaluate proposals for the appropriateness of the project budget to complete the project within a 12-month timeframe and for the reasonableness and necessity of the requested funds. Therefore, applicants are encouraged to request only the amount of funding required to achieve the specific project milestones. The typical award averages about $75,000 per project.
Funding period
The project scope must encompass activities that can be completed within a period of 12-months. See the funding dates on the main page for each cycle’s exact key dates.
Project evaluation
Predetermined milestones with key deliverables will be evaluated on a quarterly basis.
Eligibility
The Accelerator Awards program is open to all Ohio State faculty and staff who meet the eligibility guidelines.