

The Advanced Industries Proof of Concept Grant provides funding to help Colorado research institutions speed up applied research in advanced industries and commercialize products and services with the private sector. Projects can receive up to $150,000 in grant money. This grant award maximum can be lifted for joint proposals or projects that impact more than one advanced industry.
Projects must accelerate product or service commercialization through precommercial research and commercialization preparation. Funding cannot be used for basic research. Funding can be used to support these milestones:
Type: Grant
For: Research institutions
Amount: Up to $150,000 per project
Match: 1-to-3 (institution-to-state), cash
Industry-specific: Advanced industries
Application periods: January to March and July to September
OEDIT division: Global Business Development
A project or technology with a particular application may receive grant awards up to $150,000 unless the award cap is lifted. The award cap may be lifted for joint proposals and projects that impact more than one advanced industry.
A joint proposal can be defined as either:
The advanced industry selected must correspond to the core technology of the project. Applicants should select no more than a primary industry and secondary industry. To receive the full requested amount, all industries selected must support the application.
If advanced manufacturing, electronics, or information technology (enabling industries) are among the identified industries, the application must directly address how the enabling technology will impact the scalability, process improvement, or market adoption of the commercial product for the non-enabling technology. To receive the full requested amount, all industries selected must support the application.
To apply for the Advanced Industries Proof of Concept Grant, your project needs to:
We will prioritize projects that:
If you are a past grant recipient interested in applying for a new grant, your new grant must be for a different technology/project. Continuation projects will not be supported. You will also need to have successfully closed your previous award.
A disruptive technology is defined as a significant departure from the currently available technology in the industry. The use of an industry’s currently available technology does not constitute a significant impact. For example, the use of currently available electronics components does not constitute an impact on the electronics industry.
The technology must impact at least one of these advanced industries:
Applicants must apply through one of the following Colorado research institutions. If you are interested in conducting industry-sponsored research please contact the technology transfer offices outlined below.
You need to have dedicated money from the associated research institution that is at least one-third of the requested grant amount at the time of grant execution. For example, if you request a grant of $150,000, you need to identify $50,000 in cash from other sources. Dedicated money can be either cash:
Funds need to be traceable and committed to the execution of the project work. This includes prior written approval from the third party granting organization that the funds can be used as a match for the Advanced Industries grant. In-kind contributions do not satisfy matching requirements. Matching funds cannot be OEDIT funding or other state funding, neither directly received, nor received through a third party.
Applications are open twice a year from January to March and July to September.
All applications must be submitted using OEDIT’s online application portal. You should contact participating research institutions directly for the timing of their internal application and review process.
Some of Colorado’s research institutions receive a pre-allocated amount of funding to support proof of concept projects within their institution. These funds are awarded by the institution’s technology transfer office using an internal review process. You should contact participating research institutions directly for the timing of their internal application and review process.
The application process for the grant is:
The application includes the following sections. Some sections are scored, while other sections provide important background information that will help evaluators understand your application. Draft your application with the assumption that the reviewers have an undergraduate/master’s level education in both business and the relevant scientific discipline.
These sections are not scored:
These sections are scored and have variable weights:
The review process typically takes 10 to 12 weeks. The Advanced Industries Grant staff will communicate all relevant dates to applicants after the application deadline. People reviewing your application have an undergraduate or Master’s-level education or equivalent experience and are familiar with Colorado’s advanced industries.
Applications are reviewed in a multi-stage process:
Scored sections are evaluated on a 0 to 5 scale.
Rejected applications may be re-worked and resubmitted in the next grant cycle. There is no appeals process, but applicants can request feedback as directed in the decline notice. Reviewer names are not shared to maintain a fair and impartial grant review process.
Once an application is approved, applicants must execute a formal grant agreement with OEDIT prior to obligating or spending any grant funds. Project milestones and budgets will be defined in the agreement. Unused funds must be returned to OEDIT and the program fund.
Review the Colorado Special Provisions. The expenditure of both grant and matching funds must comply with the approved project budget. Once you have been notified of an award, you may begin spending matching funds. Grant funds may not be spent until a grant agreement has been executed, meaning it has received final signature by the State Controller or designee.
The intent of this program is to license technologies to organizations that will actively pursue commercial development of the product or technology with the majority of operations in Colorado. Therefore, in the event that a technology supported by a Proof of Concept award is licensed to an organization not commercializing, developing, manufacturing or producing products or services based upon such licensed technology in Colorado, the research institution shall reimburse OEDIT by payment of a sum equal to 20% of any gross licensing revenue resulting from such a license each year until OEDIT is reimbursed for the full amount of the award. Such reimbursements will be used to support future advanced industry grant programs and activities.
In applying for this grant, you are providing information to the State of Colorado. As the submitter, you have an obligation to carefully review all information provided to ensure it is accurate to the best of your knowledge and it does not contain any omissions, misrepresentations or factual errors. The reviewers of this application reserve the right to validate or check any information provided by the applicant, and if errors, omissions or misrepresentations are found, to modify the responses to correct for these deficiencies in evaluating the application and/or cancel any grant awards based on such deficiencies. Deliberately providing factual errors, omissions or misleading information to the State of Colorado as part of this application may be subject to penalties and sanctions as allowable by law.