NCInnovation announces its first eight research grants to seven public universities
The grants will support applied research that has already achieved proof of concept in areas from power grid efficiency to lithium processing to cancer research.
NCInnovation, a non-profit organization that helps unlock the innovative potential of North Carolina’s world-class public universities, approved $5.2 million in research funding for eight research projects at seven North Carolina public universities. The approvals mark NCInnovation’s first research grants, coming just four months after the organization received state funding.
The grants will support applied research that has already achieved proof of concept in areas from power grid efficiency to lithium processing to cancer research. Funding approval is conditioned on standard next steps, including executed grant agreements and formal notification to government partners.
“North Carolina’s public universities are home to top-notch researchers developing truly amazing technologies, from melanoma treatment to lithium processing to drinking water purification,” said Bennet Waters, NCInnovation’s Chief Executive Officer. “NCInnovation helps public university researchers advance their work through the university R&D process toward commercialization, strengthening the university-to-industry pipeline that’s central to American innovation.”
The grant approvals are the culmination of NCInnovation’s initial pilot program, which contemplated a small group of grant awardees working on research that is already fairly advanced. The pilot grants allow NCInnovation to make any procedural adjustments that might be necessary before scaling its grant program to a full statewide application process later this year.
The projects range from a new type of skin cancer therapy and new methods to track mosquitoes and honeybees to a new lithium refining process that deals with one of the key rare earth metals needed in the growing clean technology sector.
The specific projects, which are outlined here, include four to University of North Carolina (UNC) campuses — two each to faculty at UNC Charlotte and one each to UNC Greensboro and Wilmington — and one each to researchers at Appalachian State University, East Carolina University, North Carolina A&T University, and Western Carolina University.
NCInnovation received a $525 million appropriation from the state.
Like what you've read?
Forward to a friend!