The TVA is open to all NYU full-time/research faculty- or researcher-led teams that are interested in commercializing STEM-based research developed at NYU across the life sciences, physical/material science, data science, computer science, and engineering fields.
About Your Team
Teams developing applications in digital health, drugs, diagnostics, medical devices, ML/AI, AR/VR, aerospace, robotics, blockchain, nanotech, photonics, electronics, and quantum computing, among other markets, should consider applying if they have:
- Identified and validated initial customer use case: Teams must be able to demonstrate that they have validated their initial customer use case through the completion of rigorous customer discovery via the NYU Tech Venture Workshop and NSF I-Corps program (or an equivalent program, such as NIH I-Corps), prior to the start of the TVA. In other words, the TVW and NSF I-Corps or NIH I-Corps programs are prerequisites to participate in the TVA, unless approved by Frank Rimalovski, Executive Director of the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute.
Beyond this, teams that apply to the program must meet the below requirements:
- Program commitment: 2+ founders or team members must be able to dedicate a significant amount of time to the venture during the program and participate in all TVA workshops and meetings. As this program is intended to provide an opportunity for a founding team to execute key activities to validate their venture’s business model, the 2+ participants must have decision making power on the team (e.g. they will have the authority to make key decisions without requiring continuous permission from founders not participating in the program).
- Team continuity: At least one (and preferably all) of the participants must have participated in the I-Corps program.
- Post-program commitment: At least one of the founders must be committed to working on the venture full time after the program concludes.
- PI support: Each project must have a full-time NYU research faculty member serving as its PI, and other team members taking part in the program must have explicit support from their PI in order to participate (we will ask for a signed letter of support from the PI prior to confirming participation of their team members in the program; grant monies may be used to financially support team members) [Extremely limited exceptions may be made for deep tech ventures with no faculty connection, but who have otherwise developed a novel and protectable scientific innovation, and otherwise meet all the other criteria]
- Buy-in: Participants must understand the requirements of the program and have an openness to customer development and the work required by the program to launch their venture. They must be committed to attending ALL sessions and doing ALL deliverables (the full $50,000 grant funding will be distributed only to teams who meet these requirements).
- Community-minded: Participants must demonstrate a willingness to help other startup teams and an interest in being part of a community during the program.
About Your Venture
In addition to the characteristics of the team, we will assess applicants based on the following components during the program selection process:
- STEM focus: Ventures must be STEM-focused “biotech, hardtech, and/or deep tech” within broad sectors such as life sciences, physical/material science, data science, computer science, and engineering.
- Defensible or protectable IP: Emerging or existing intellectual property, including copyright, patents, trade secrets/know-how; while the IP does not have to have originated while working at NYU, there will be a preference for ventures creating IP in partnership with NYU.
- Tech readiness: Ventures must have their technology developed at a technology readiness level of 4 or higher (according to NASA’s definition) prior to the start of the program; Must be able to demonstrate proof of concept.
- Scalable: The technology and initial business model have potential for large impact/scale.
- Differentiated: The technology and initial business model are highly differentiated.
Application Review Process
Upon receipt of all applications:
- Application review: The TVA program directors will review and assess each application based on the criteria listed above.
- Interviews: A subset of applicants are invited to participate in short interviews via Zoom.
- Conditional acceptance and request for additional information: A subset of applicants will be tentatively selected to participate in the program and will be asked to submit additional pieces of supplemental information prior to official acceptance, including:
- A letter of support to participate in the program from their PI (specifics to include will be sent along with the tentative acceptance);
- Additional information regarding the underlying technology to ensure it is at the correct technology readiness level for the program (level 4 or higher);
- A signed participation agreement (signed by each participating member of the team) confirming commitment to the program and consent to the program terms
- Logistics orientation: All selected participants will be required to attend a program orientation to receive information and preparatory steps on securing the $50,000 grant, avoiding conflicts of interest with NYU in their work on their venture, and maintaining coordination/compliance with NYU TOV surrounding technology disclosures and IP.
For questions, email entrepreneur@nyu.edu.