The Center for Translational Research (CTR) is a campus-wide resource for both existing and aspiring university-originated startups seeking non-dilutive funding—including Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) awards—to translate their university inventions into a startup company. It provides support to university faculty, researchers and staff as well as non-university employees of startups utilizing university technology. 

The center advises teams on best practices for seeking non-dilutive capital for their startup companies, provides market research and industry analysis and offers proposal editing and critique. The center aims to secure funding for the translation of university technologies, thereby bolstering the impact of the inventions made on our campus.

Center Services

SBIR/STTR Proposal Development and Strategy

  • Locating appropriate grant mechanisms for given technology and principal investigator
  • Advising on team formation, company formation and proposal topic strategy
  • Coordinating proposal preparation schedule, materials, preliminary work and market research

Market Research and Industry Analysis

  • Coaching research teams in customer discovery and value proposition generation
  • Researching market sectors and differentiating factors of inventions
  • Detailing overarching industry trends and forces
  • Providing market research and industry analysis

Proposal Writing Support

  • Aligning the draft proposal with solicitation requirements
  • Copyediting the draft proposal for grammatical suggestions and edits
  • Advising on proposal structure and arguments