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Flash Grants

North Carolina Biotechnology Center

The Flash Grant program aims to identify and energize creative ideas that exhibit early indications of commercial potential. Like a flash of inspiration, Flash Grants infuse a quick jolt of funding at a critical early point when a small, targeted influx of funds can be crucial to shaping innovative research ideas into high potential life sciences technologies.

Flash Grants support short, tightly focused research projects that are designed to:

Demonstrate the disruptive potential of a life sciences technology
Prepare a technology for translational development

The cycle 3 solicitation is open to research proposals in all areas of the life sciences, except Class 1 medical devices, consumer products, or mobile apps.

Funds are available to researchers at any North Carolina university or non-profit research institute.

Amount and Period of Funding

A maximum of $30,000 may be requested for projects of up to 12 months in duration

AI Based Application Success Predictor

Success with NCBiotech funding isn’t driven solely by the scientific novelty of a project — many programs emphasize commercial relevance, economic impact, collaboration, and ecosystem development. The following predictors are consistently reflected in funded portfolios and program guidance:

1. Clear Alignment with NCBiotech’s Mission

Successful proposals align strongly with NCBiotech’s stated mission to support biotechnology innovation, commercialization, company growth, and workforce development within the state. Projects that directly contribute to economic or commercialization outcomes — in addition to scientific merit — tend to stand out. Wikipedia

Examples:

Early translational research with a clear plan for commercialization

Work that enables new biotech products or services

Initiatives tied to workforce training or industry growth

2. Demonstrated Commercial Potential or Technology Readiness

Many of NCBiotech’s programs (e.g., Flash Grants, TRGs) prioritize projects with a plausible path to market or further investment rather than purely exploratory science. Reviewers ask: Does the project advance a product, process, or innovation that stakeholders value? cas.uncg.edu

Success predictors include:

Evidence or documentation of unmet need

Metrics for technology readiness, prototyping, or validation

Identification of potential industry partners or customers

3. Strong Partnerships & Collaboration

Funds such as the Collaborative Funding Grant (CFG) explicitly require collaboration between university researchers and industry partners. Successful projects often involve multi-disciplinary teams from academia and biotech companies working together toward common goals. Kenan Institute

Why this matters:

Demonstrates real-world relevance

Shows maturity beyond basic research

Signals readiness for commercialization or scaling

4. Feasible & Well-Justified Budgets

NCBiotech expects budget requests to be directly tied to project deliverables and matched to the scale and scope of the program. For example:

Flash grants are relatively small — budgets must be tight and purposeful. cas.uncg.edu

Equipment or facility requests (Innovation Impact Grants) must show broad institutional benefit. Home

Predictor: Budgets that are realistic, clearly justified, and aligned with the planned activities.

5. Institutional and Regulatory Preparedness

Funded applicants tend to demonstrate that:

Institutional support exists (e.g., letters of support from department chairs or tech transfer offices)

Regulatory or compliance planning is addressed (e.g., human subjects, biosafety) where relevant

This reduces perceived risk and shows readiness to implement the project.

6. Potential for Follow-On Funding or Impact Scaling

Projects that build toward larger goals (e.g., future NIH/NSF funding, venture capital interest, or commercial licensing) are competitive because they extend NCBiotech’s impact. Funders view early awards as de-risking investments that unlock future capital or outcomes.

7. Broad Benefit or Ecosystem Impact

Whether it’s developing workforce pipelines, holding biotech networking events, or strengthening university cores, successful applicants articulate how the work benefits more than just the PI’s lab — e.g., multiple investigators, students, or the statewide biotech community.

🧠 Practical Tips to Improve Success

✔ Frame your project in terms of commercial impact and practical outcomes.
Articulate the problem you’re solving for industry, patients, or customers, not just the science.

✔ Show credible routes to next-stage milestones.
Even if you are at an early stage, include measurable indicators of progress and plans for follow-on support.

✔ Build meaningful partnerships.
Connect with relevant biotech companies, entrepreneurs, or tech transfer offices early.

✔ Engage your institution’s research support offices.
Letters of support and institutional team alignment improve credibility.

✔ Tailor to the specific grant type.
NCBiotech funds different activities (research, equipment, events) and each has its own expectations — follow guidelines closely.

📌 Summary of Predictors of Success

Predictor	Why It Matters
Alignment with NCBiotech mission	Core criterion for funding relevance Wikipedia
Commercial potential or translation pathway	Key for innovation and impact programs cas.uncg.edu
Partnership with industry or multiple stakeholders	Strengthens feasibility and ecosystem relevance Kenan Institute
Well-justified, feasible budget	Matches scale and improves credibility cas.uncg.edu
Institutional support & readiness	Reduces implementation risk
Clear route to next funding or impact	Enhances long-term value

Specialties

Technology Development

Eligibility Requirements

Eligible Institutions

Any North Carolina university or non-profit research organization may apply. ⊗ Companies and individuals are not eligible to apply for Flash Grants.

Principal Investigator Eligibility

At the time of submission, the Principal Investigator (PI) must hold a full-time, tenure-track, or tenured faculty appointment, or an appointment as permanent, full-time, clinical or research faculty at the applicant institution or hold an equivalent position.

⊗ Postdoctoral research fellows, adjunct faculty, and non-permanent research personnel are not eligible.

⊗ The PI may not have more than two active awards from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center at the same time.

Intellectual Property Eligibility

No prior invention disclosure, patent application, patent award, or other intellectual property filing relating to the project is required to submit a Flash Grant proposal.

For any project with an associated intellectual property filing or award [e.g., invention disclosure to a university technology transfer office or patent committee/counsel, trademark, copyright, provisional patent application, full patent application, PCT filing, or awarded patent], the technology transfer office of the applicant institution must provide a letter of support attesting that the IP rights are assigned to the institution and have not been committed through license or exclusive option to license to any third party at the time of application.

Sponsor Details

Sponsor Institute/Organizations: North Carolina Biotechnology Center

Sponsor Type: Corporate/Non-Profit

Address: 15 T.W. Alexander Drive Durham, NC 27713-2847

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