TYDE Partnership Development Grants support high potential academic–industry research collaborations that are ready to move beyond early exploration toward pilot research or translational research.
These awards are intended to accelerate partnerships that have the potential to generate preliminary data, methodological advances, or validation studies that position the team for larger grants such as SBIR/STTRs.
Funding is awarded to the academic partner to support research activities conducted in collaboration with the industry partner.
Goals
We aim to fund project-enabling infrastructure and research costs that reduce friction for the partnership. We are unable to fund salaries or company labor.
- Data and partnership infrastructure, such as legal costs for data use agreements, IRB preparation and review fees, development of secure data transfer pipelines, and API development to connect a company platform to research infrastructure.
- Pilot research resources, such as participant recruitment costs, incentives for pilot participants, data collection costs, research software tools, and device procurement for small pilot trials.
- Partnership development activities, such as research planning workshops, travel to joint investigator meetings, grant writing support, external funding planning and preparation (e.g., SBIR/STTR, NSF Convergence Accelerator, foundation grants), and development sessions.
| Feature | Small Seed Grant | Large Seed Grant |
|---|---|---|
| Funding | $15K to support project costs and UVA personnel (e.g., graduate research assistants). Funding cannot be used to support industry partner salary. | $30K to support project costs and UVA personnel (e.g., graduate research assistants). Funding cannot be used to support industry partner salary. |
| Stage | Early stage collaboration, including pilot research. | Partnership acceleration, including pilot research. |
| Ideal Industry maturity | This funding opportunity is best suited, but not limited, to early stage startups (e.g., pre-seed, series A). | This funding opportunity is best suited, but not limited, to later stage startups (e.g. Series B+) and small companies. |
| Deliverables | Establishing a collaboration, preliminary data or other scholarly output + plan for seeking future external funding. | Preliminary data or other scholarly output + completed or engaging in the process of an external funding submission. |
| The scope of expected deliverables will be matched to the size of the award. | ||
What Does Funding Support?
Funding is designed to support activities such as:
- Pilot or feasibility studies
- Data integration and research infrastructure
- Evaluation of novel technologies or digital tools
- User experience and validation research
- Development of datasets or analytical methods
- Partnership-enabling activities (e.g., data sharing agreements, research resources, or regulatory planning)
Funds may also support student trainees, pilot participant recruitment, and technical resources required to conduct the project.
Funding is not intended to:
- Primarily provide subject-matter consultation to an industry partner
- Focus solely on product development or commercialization
- Support routine implementation of an established program without a research component
- Fund salaries or operational costs (e.g., marketing costs, buying equipment unrelated to the research) for the industry partner
Partnership Requirements & Process
All projects must include an academic partner affiliated with the University of Virginia. Funding is awarded to the UVA academic partner, who serves as the principal investigator and leads the research activities in collaboration with the industry partner.
TYDE supports only partnerships that have been established and vetted through our process. As a first step, prospective applicants are required to engage with the TYDE team to discuss their project idea, partnership readiness, and alignment with program goals.
Applicants who have a strong concept, but do not yet have an identified partner are encouraged to reach out. TYDE can help facilitate connections and identify potential academic or industry collaborators within our network.
Expected Outcomes
Teams supported through the Partnership Development Grant should aim to produce outcomes such as:
- Preliminary data supporting future grant applications
- Pilot research findings
- A defined pathway toward external funding (e.g., SBIR/STTR)
- Publications, conference presentations, or collaborative research proposals
- Establishment of sustainable academic–industry research partnerships