Funding Criteria

• Clearly identify a large unmet need
• Have a positive impact on human health and/or patient care
• Delineate a competitive advantage and/or clinical utility
• Have defined commercializtion pathway
• Hold potential for high impact, near-term success in generating other sponsored research, creating spin-off companies, or otherwise creating new jobs in Virginia
• Be focused around Virginia's core strength areas of bioinformatics, medical informatics, point of care diagnostics, or drug discovery and delivery

Market Need

• This translational research project addresses a large unmet need and it can lead to significantly improving human health
• Medical/Life science need (clinical)
• Innovative/Breakthrough Technology
• Competitive advantage over other approaches
• Size of market

Level of Collaboration

• This project encompasses substantive real collaboration between and among Virginia research universities and industry
• There is a defined process to manage the collaboration including clear accountabilities, an internal communication plan and a methodology to declare and solve breakdowns
• The collaboration has true synergies that will ensure creative debate, innovation, and the achievement of critical mass

Scientific Merit

• Scientific and technical feasibility
• Stage of technical development
• Scientific and technical expertise/credibility
• The project technology is superior to competing approaches
• Scientific and product development milestones and timelines are clearly defined
• There is adequate evidence that resources (financial and human) are adequate to achieve the timelines

Commercialization

• There is a clear understanding of who is the targeted customer, what the unmet need is, the size of the market (patients) and what the pathway to commercialization is
• The commercialization value proposition is clear, robust, and compelling
• There is a clear collaborative pathway to transfer know-how and technology from inventors to the commercialization or industry partner

Intellectual Property

• The intellectual property portfolio and patent strategy are adequate to provide barriers to entry and to obtain freedom to operate
• The applicable technology transfer office of the universities are aligned with the goals of the project and the proposed licensing terms will not be a barrier to commercialization

Management and Leadership

• The management and scientific team have the expertise and will allocate the necessary time to achieve the goals
• If there is a gap in the management or scientific team, there is a milestone plant to recruit the talent needed

Follow On Funding and Economic Development

• The project is well positioned to attract follow on funding for the next stage of development and ultimately funding for commercialization
• Economic impact and job creation for Virginia