Pitt.INC

• Pitt.INC is designed to test novel scientific hypotheses addressing unmet needs or challenges in human health and disease with a commercial endpoint.
• Awards are granted in amounts ranging up to $50K for projects with timelines no longer than one year.
• Awardees are required to actively engage with Pitt’s Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIE), regularly report on project progress, and leverage support from Pitt’s innovation and commercialization ecosystem. Communications include a project kickoff meeting, progress reports, update meetings, and a final report.
• Funded projects will have 1-2 quantifiable technical/scientific milestones designed to validate or invalidate a commercially-targeted scientific hypothesis. The final milestone-based project plan is developed in collaboration with the Pitt.INC external review panel and are approved by the Pitt.INC Board.
• Projects are expected to start within one month of the award date (pending any necessary regulatory approvals or purchasing contracts) and should have timelines no longer than 12 months. Applicants should ensure their timelines are appropriate for the proposed studies.
• Funding is managed by the Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for the Health Sciences (OSVCHS). Awardees will coordinate with OSVCHS on account administration.
• During the Pitt.INC award period, awardees agree not to pursue any third-party sponsored research opportunities to support the funded technology. Awardees in noncompliance with this condition will be required to repay the full Pitt.INC award.

• Pitt.INC is open to University members in Pitt’s Schools of the Health Sciences, including faculty, postdocs, students, and staff. Postdocs, students, and staff must identify a Pitt Schools of the Health Sciences faculty member to serve as the principal investigator.
• Projects must be in a life sciences-related field and address an unmet need or challenge in human health and/or disease.
• Funding should support the development or validation of intellectual property owned by the University.
• Funding through Pitt.INC isn’t available for projects with invention disclosures on file with Pitt’s Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIE). If your project already has an invention disclosure on file with OIE, please view other innovation funding programs that may be more suited to your project.    
• Projects must be unencumbered from other obligations that would prevent the University from moving forward with commercialization. Projects should be available for licensing and not subject to any pre-existing options, licenses, or corporate-sponsored research agreements.
• Under certain circumstances, Pitt.INC funding may be used to advance ideas developed in collaboration with another research institution. Applicants are required to identify collaborators from other institutions in their application and discuss with the OIE prior to proposal submission.
• Projects with funding from another source to complete the same work are not eligible.

• Applications are accepted on a rolling basis through Pitt InfoReady. Applicants may be asked for more information before or during the review process.
• Eligible ideas are reviewed by the Pitt.INC Board for scientific merit, commercial potential, and program fit.
• Select applications are connected to the Pitt.INC external review panel for project plan finalization.
• Final project plans and budgets are reviewed by the Pitt.INC Board, and award decisions are made.

Funds from Pitt.INC may only be used for the direct costs of the activities outlined in the approved project plan and budget.

Eligible expenses include:

• Lab supplies, research animals, prototyping supplies, fabrication or manufacturing expenses, and trial costs
• Postdoc, student, and technician salary and fringe
• Consultants, contract research organizations (CRO), and service providers. All providers are required to assign IP rights to the University prior to beginning work.
• With prior approval from OIE, travel costs related directly to meeting an approved milestone.

Ineligible expenses include:

• Faculty salary and fringe
• Overhead/indirect costs
• Tuition
• Travel
• Capital equipment
• Computer equipment
• Publication costs

• At the end of the program, awardees are required to submit an invention disclosure to Pitt’s Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIE).
• Awardees will discuss their invention disclosure with an OIE licensing manager and coordinate an intellectual property management plan.
• Awardees will be connected to the larger innovation and commercialization ecosystem that exists at the University to drive their projects towards societal impact.