Start-up Overview and Submission Requirements

Teams incorporate their start-up; apply for the NIH start-up license or a license from the Clemson University Research Foundation (for their invention) and apply for seed funding. In order to complete these three activities, it will also be necessary for the team to refine their commercialization plan, development plan, regulatory strategy and provide a comprehensive view of their management team and board of advisors

Submission Requirements:

As an alternative to creating your own start-up, you may want to find a start-up that has interest in licensing the invention.  In this case, you will be required to perform the above steps together with the licensing start-up

AN ONLINE FORM WILL BE PROVIDED FOR YOU TO ATTACH THESE SUBMISSIONS; PLEASE ADHERE TO THE GUIDANCE ON ATTACHMENT NAMING CONVENTION PROVIDED IN THE ONLINE FORM

Start-up Timeline

Start-up phase:  The start-up phase will begin with the start-up launch on February 20th, 2014, the start-up deadline will be September 23rd, 2014.  The end date of the Challenge may be extended if Start-ups have not received feedback from seed funders to whom they applied
  • Start date: February 20th, 2014
  • End date: September 23rd, 2014
  • Please note: the end date may shift out if the teams have not received word back on seed funding and their NIH licensing application

Start-up Phase Steps for Challenge Teams

  1. Review the Start-up template and guidance.  More information can be found here
  2. Review potential seed funders that have agreed to participate in this Challenge; they will be posted on October 1st, 2013 and will continue to be updated throughout the Challenge
  3. As soon as you enter this portion of the Challenge we recommend that you identify which seed funding you will apply for and look at the seed funding application requirements.  In addition, we recommend that you identify NIH information requirements in their start-up license.  Finally we suggest incorporating your company. It would be wise to do these three activities in parallel
  4. Complete and submit all applications as soon as possible in this stage upon revising business plan components
  5. Identify your availability for a meeting with the inventor between 1 and 5pm ET, March 3-7th or March 31st-April 4th, 2014
  6. Submit all deliverables outlined under "submission requirements" above on September 23rd, 2014

Evaluation Process, Criteria and Guidelines

In this phase, the Office of Technology Transfer (OTT) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Clemson University Research Foundation will evaluate start-up licensing applications independently of seed funders as well as the core team and judges.  Seed funders will evaluate applications to receive dilutive/non-dilutive capital.  Below we've provided links to typical dilutive and non-dilutive capital criteria from specific organizations as well as the licensing requirements from the NIH

Criteria for Seed Funding:
License: NIH Start-Up Licensing Application Requirements

Please see "Deliverable Guidance" tab of this site for additional guidance regarding the other deliverables required in this phase, including: the commercialization plan/strategy, development plan, regulatory strategy and management team/board of advisors/board of directors