Funding opportunities through the Innovation Fund of KIT

Program description

The Innovation Fund is KIT's internal investment program for technology transfer projects in institutes. Together with an industrial partner, the aim is to develop scientifically sound ideas with market-relevant potential into a commercially viable product which can then be manufactured and marketed by the industrial partner. The innovation fund is financed by income from licences. The innovation fund principle is therefore based on an "intergenerational contract": Projects receive funding with the aim of generating returns for the scientists, the institutes and the innovation fund. These, in turn, can be used quickly and flexibly to support new projects.

The fund is not tied to a specific program or subject area, nor is it tied to a specific term, budget or call deadline.

The only prerequisite for an investment from the fund is the willingness of an industrial partner to participate in the project, both technically and financially, by bearing the costs he himseld incurs. The entire project costs of the institute are pre-financed by the fund and are to be refinanced after the market launch by a share in the later turnover (ROI) of the company. The higher the estimated market potential of the product idea and thus the expected ROI, the more can be invested in advance in product development.

Further information on KIT Innovation Fund can be found at www.kit-neuland.de.

 

 

Preprocessing:

TT projects aim to create innovations, i.e. to further develop a proof-of-concept of a scientific idea with or an existing prototype into a product that will be commercialized by the industrial partner.

The prerequisite is an idea in the institutes. You will be accompanied by IRM in the search for possible applications, market potential and a suitable industrial partner. Exploratory talks are held with the industrial partner to clarify whether the costs of product development are in a healthy proportion to the expected later sales after market launch and whether an accetable ROI can be generated for KIT that will at least cover the costs from the KIT Innovation Fund.

 

Proposal:

In coordination with IRM, a TT application can be submitted. It comprises approx 10 pages and should contain the following points:

  • Description of the product idea with advantages, benefits and fields of application
  • IP situation: what does the patent and know-how situation look like?
  • Market potential and analysis
  • Short introduction to the cooperation partner
  • Project planning: what effort, divided into work packages with milestones for KIT and industrial partners, is probably necessary for the planned product development and what costs must be reckoned with?
  • Return on investment after cooperation and market launch

In order to receive guidelines on how to submit an application, please get in touch with our contact person.

Depending on the amount requested from the fund, a recommendation for the application will be made by an internal IRM committee in coordination with the Presidium or by the Presidium committee. Subsequently, contract negotiations with the industrial partner will begin.

 

Approval:

Following a positive decision by the committee, contract negotiations with the industrial partner take place under the leadership of IRM,with the aim of concluding a cooperation and licensing agreement. IRM is also responsible for the financial management of the TT projects.

 

Term:

TT projects are supported by IRM. Questions regarding changing specifications, modifications, work packages or markets can be discussed and resolved directly and in agreement with the industry partner.

 

Conclusion:

The financial management during the term of the TT project is supervised by IRM. IRM also manages the ROI with the industry partner in the subsequent phase.