One of the biggest challenges in technology transfer is demonstrating the technical and corporate viability of these technologies or research results that, when first published in scientific journals and registered for protection, are in a very early stage of development, making it difficult to spark interest in potential licensee companies or investors.

To address this difficulty, different initiatives with the purpose of financing valorisation projects have emerged in recent years, including Proofs of Concept for the maturation of research results (hereafter PoC). These programmes offer a wide variety in terms of promoters (from public, such as the administration, universities, etc. to private such as banks, foundations or investment funds), potential beneficiaries (generalists, belonging to specific organisation or sector, etc.) or technical requirements (range of funding, eligible concepts, duration, etc.).

A valorisation project should focus on carrying out the critical actions necessary to secure the involvement of a company or external agent in the technology development process and to achieve its transfer to the market.

A proof of concept is defined, in the field of research and innovation, as the validation of a technical solution to a problem, generated from a research result, in real-life conditions with the aim of increasing its potential for exploitation. The goal is to validate or advance the validation of the applicability of said solution. In other words, experimental development projects that involve the creation of prototypes, the demonstration and elaboration of pilot projects, testing and validation of products, processes and new or improved services in environments representative of real operating conditions, with the purpose of making technical improvements to products, processes or services.

Valorisation projects are geared towards the maturation of technologies (notably those protected by industrial/intellectual property rights), through demonstration or pre-competitive activities, which reduce uncertainties concerning the technical viability of the technology.

The purpose of carrying out a PoC is to favourably position the technology so that it may receive further investment in its development.

These are calls launched by public and private entities in order to provide funding for the valorisation and proof of concept of research results.  There are European, national and regional calls:

European

Horizonte Europa is the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation for 2021-2027, in which you can find different calls for funding, much like the following that are aimed at funding results:

• Proof of Concept Grants - PoC These are additional grants for researchers who have ongoing projects, or projects completed in the 12 months prior to the publication of the call, subsidised by the ERC through a Starting, Consolidator or Advanced grant.
• EIC Transition: EIC Transition projects are intended to provide continuity to the results of previous projects and are meant for individual applicants or small consortia.
• EIC Pathfinder: Grants that support the development of future technologies in their initial stage (TRL 1-4) up until Proof of Concept.

For more information contact the Internalisation Section.

National

The State Plan for Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation (PEICTI, Spanish abbreviation) established the programmes and types of calls that will be implemented in the Annual Plans. Among the actions foreseen in the State Sub-programme for knowledge transfer, the following stand out:

• Proof of Concept Projects (State Research Agency). The purpose of these grants is to finance projects that accelerate the transfer of knowledge and results produced by research projects, either in progress or recently completed, in the actions of non-oriented and oriented research projects. The grants aim to support the project in its early stages of pre-competitive development and facilitate its practical application, such as the protection of the knowledge generated, technical, commercial or social viability analyses, prototype creation, pilot scale development, end-user testing, creating a business model, or the first stages of creating a company. Projects have a maximum duration of two years and can correspond to different stages of technological maturity (TRL). There are currently no plans to call for applications for this aid in the near future.

• Public-private collaboration projects (State Research Agency) These grants aim to promote public and private collaboration in a knowledge transfer phase close to the production process and the market. The funding covers four years of activity related to the validation and pre-competitive development of new technologies, products and services.

Search for calls for funding.

Regional

Since 2017, the Valencian Community has counted on the support of the Valencian Innovation Agency (AVI, Generalitat Valenciana), which currently manages a series of calls aimed at promoting, supporting and encouraging innovation among the different actors that make up the Valencian Innovation System of the Valencian Region. Within the Call for innovation grants, managed by the AVI, the following stand out:

• Line 1. Valorisation, transfer and corporate exploitation of R+D results

It aims to finance the development of product, service or technology demonstrators based on the research results generated by the research groups of the Valencian scientific system so that they reach a sufficient degree of development to enable them to be incorporated into companies. This includes health, biomedical and public health research.

• Strategic projects for collaboration

The purpose of this programme is to support the development of large R+D+I projects in cooperation with different actors from the Valencian Innovation System, as a way of developing joint solutions to problems of common interest.

Participation may take the form of a direct participant in the project or, alternatively, as an external contracted service. In the latter case, the joint intervention of investigative bodies, it shall be at least 15 % of the eligible cost of the cooperation project.

Calls for funding from private entities

There are also private entities that announce calls for proposals to fund the maturation of research results. In the event of this type of funding, special attention must be paid to the conditions set out by the funding entity with respect to ownership and the exploitation of results.

Among this type of calls are:

• Fundación La Caixa – Caixaimpulse
• Fundación Botín - Mind the Gap

This programme was designed by the Office of the Vice-Principal for Innovation and Transfer to promote innovation and knowledge transfer from the Universitat de València to the socio-economic environment.

The main purpose of Valoritza i Transfereix is to improve the exploitation opportunities of research results generated at the UV, through their adequate national and international protection, to promote their development and maturation--valorisation process--and to facilitate their transfer to the socio-economic environment. In turn, it also aims to increase the number of invention communications and intellectual property results with commercial potential, the number of national and international patent applications, promoting the creation of new spin-offs and fostering a culture of cooperation, transfer and innovation in the university environment.

UV Teaching and Research staff, as well as contracted research staff are eligible to participate in this call. 

Proof of concept projects submitted must be based on research results generated by research groups of the Universitat de València, results that are already protected, or in the process of protection, by a property deed and that meet the following requirements:

• The communication of research results is registered in a complete and sufficient manner to manage its protection, within the period of 2 years prior to the date of publication of the call.
• The Universitat de València owns the majority portion of the research results.

The call is held every two years and is managed by the Innovation and Valorisation Section of the Transfer and Innovation Service.

Once results have evolved into sufficient state of maturity, the viability of setting up a knowledge-based enterprise or company (KBE) can be assessed. Currently there are different calls managed by both public and private entities that offer funding for the development of a business plan and support for the creation of a company, as well as carrying out the appropriate certifications and evaluations of the product or service. Such calls are usually promoted by so-called incubators, public or private, or accelerators.

For more information, please consult the following sections: “Company creation”, AgrotecUV, UVemprem. 

Before a result is submitted to a call, in addition to meeting the call’s requirements, the Innovation and Valorisation Section must be previously informed to determine whether or not the result has any prior restrictions or commitments with third parties.

Unprotected results are not eligible to participate in calls for proof of concept that require a certificate detailing the result’s protection. In order for the Universitat de València to grant this certificate, the result must be protected and registered in the university database.

If the call allows it, results that are co-owned by two entities can be submitted, however, the Innovation and Valorisation Section and all of the co-owners must be informed to make certain that all parties are in agreeance with the conditions.

Of particular importance are all those sections that regulate the ownership of both of the initial result and of the results generated in the research. Ownership of the results must be distributed in such a way that the rights of the UV and the inventors are adequately protected.

The participation should provide for the ownership and exploitation of both the result being presented and future results derived from the participation or collaboration.

You should consult the terms and conditions of the call to determine the requirements of the starting result. The result must always be previously communicated to the Universitat de València.

Yes, the participation should provide for the ownership and exploitation of both the result being presented and future results derived from the participation or collaboration. The collaboration agreement with the participating entities or the conditions of the funding entity shall establish the clauses relating to Intellectual and Industrial Property Rights, which must be reviewed by the staff of the Innovation and Valorisation Section before acquiring any commitment.