BRIDGE Fund

The University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School has established the Bridge Fund to support innovative scientific advances at UMass Chan. The BRIDGE Fund will provide funding to UMass Chan faculty and scientists whose research shows promise for commercialization and translation to a clinical application.

Guided by an external advisory board (EAB) comprised of a diverse group of industry leaders. The institution is reinvesting proceeds from previous IP asset commercialization revenues to create the fund, and to invest in the next-generation of UMass Chan innovation.

CHANGES THIS YEAR:

• The BRIDGE Fund award has been expanded to $3M/year (versus $1M before)
• Opportunity to support more UMass Chan assets in any given year (versus 4/year before)
• Opportunity to get repeat/follow-on funding (contingent on achievement of milestones & availability of funds)
• "Venture Model" versus Grant Model –
  • The dollar amount of award will be variable (unlike $250K/project before)
  • Funding will be tranched for gradual derisking/milestone achievement. Thus, this year we require that each de-risking milestone has a clear with detailed go/nogo decision criteria & budget needed per milestone.
• Quarterly follow-up by NV and periodic interaction with industry/investor EAB with awardee to cultivate investor interest for commercial uptake

If interested, please submit a Letter of intent (LOI) through our submission portal accessed on this page. Prior to the LOI submission deadline, the BRIDGE Innovation and Development office will hold a number of workshops. Due to changes in the fund format, it is strongly encouraged that at least one member of the submitting team attends a workshop. Pre-registration for workshops is required. Letters of intent will be scored by the EAB, and up to 10 applicants will be selected to present in front of the EAB. After presentations, awardees will be determined.

Criteria:

• Open to UMass Chan Medical School Faculty
• Must have IP filing (minimally an invention disclosure) with BRIDGE Innovation and Business Development Office
• Technology should not already be committed to a third party
• Submissions should be non-confidential; it should describe how milestones described would attract partners/investors
• Funding size will be based on the amount requested depending on the estimated cost of the planned experiments/milestones as well as the amount of fund available

For any questions, please email: 

Denise Karaoglu Hanzatian (denise.karaogluhanzatian@umassmed.edu)