Florida High Tech Corridor

Early Stage Innovation Fund

This program supports USF researchers advancing USF technologies with strong commercial potential. ESIF funds university-based research that directly addresses a commercial barrier standing between a discovery and its market application - answering specific technical questions that must be resolved in order to accelerate commercialization through a license to an existing company or a USF start-up company. 

USF researchers may request up to $25,000 to support internal research expenses directly associated with advancing the target innovation.

Interested applications are strongly encouraged to meet with Corridor and TTO staff prior to submitting a LOI to determine if this program is a fit for their technology and goals.

Letters of Intent are accepted on a rolling basis. Submit an LOI here: https://airtable.com/shrE87zKnQ8AXP1vn

Please Note: The technology central to the submission must be disclosed to the USF Tech Transfer Office via the the USF Inventor Portal prior to Letter of Intent submission.

The review committee meets bi-monthly and invited proposals are presented to the review committee at the next available meeting.

Please review the program guidelines for more details on the updated processes and full proposal requirements.

Learn more about past awards provided through the Corridor Early-Stage Innovation Fund:

View a dashboard of all awards here 

View our archive of past award annoucements below: