Center for Translational Research
Secure non-dilutive funding to translate your invention into real-world impact
The Center for Translational Research (CTR) is a campus-wide resource for both existing and aspiring university-originated startups seeking non-dilutive funding—including Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) awards—to translate their university inventions into a startup company. It provides support to university faculty, researchers and staff as well as non-university employees of startups utilizing university technology.
The center advises teams on best practices for seeking non-dilutive capital for their startup companies, provides market research and industry analysis and offers proposal editing and critique. The center aims to secure funding for the translation of university technologies, thereby bolstering the impact of the inventions made on our campus.
Questions?
We are here to help! Please contact us at vpcontact@colorado.edu.
Center Services
- Locating appropriate grant mechanisms for given technology and principal investigator
- Advising on team formation, company formation and proposal topic strategy
- Coordinating proposal preparation schedule, materials, preliminary work and market research
- Coaching research teams in customer discovery and value proposition generation
- Researching market sectors and differentiating factors of inventions
- Detailing overarching industry trends and forces
- Providing market research and industry analysis
- Aligning the draft proposal with solicitation requirements
- Copyediting the draft proposal for grammatical suggestions and edits
- Advising on proposal structure and arguments
Process for Center Services
To request support from CTR please contact us at vpcontact@colorado.edu.
A meeting is conducted between key research personnel and the center's Managing Director. The scope of support and types of services required are detailed and scheduled based on the proposal and deadlines.
The research personnel are connected with services through the center. Iterative consultations and research activities take place by both the research personnel and the center.
An SBIR/STTR proposal is crafted and submitted to a federal agency.
The research team agrees to respond to the center's followup survey detailing the experience and services provided.
Eligibility for Center Services
The center's mission is to translate CU Boulder innovations to the market through non-dilutive funding, including SBIR/STTR federal solicitations. This effort inherently involves both public (CU Boulder) and private (startup companies) entities.
- The technology being translated to the private entity must be rooted in intellectual property, which was filed by Venture Partners at CU Boulder.
- OR the SBIR/STTR award must have a sub-award contract with the university to perform substantial research activity on the CU Boulder campus.
- All research personnel must have a current Disclosure of External Professional Activities (DEPA) on file with the Office of Conflicts of Interest and Commitment.
- All inventions must be disclosed to Venture Partners at the time of the proposal submission. Then, a license is required in order to act upon the award if/when received.