CMI
Funding & Project Support
In This Section
Center for Medical Innovation
The Center for Medical Innovation Pathways Program offers a comprehensive suite of support, including seed funding, innovation education, technology development, business strategy resources, and access to a robust network. This integrated approach ensures that promising technologies are primed for licensing, facilitating their transition to the private sector for further development and, ultimately, delivery to patients.
CMI Proof of Concept Funding Program
The objective of the Proof of Concept funding (non-dilutive) is to identify translational research and early-stage technologies that are addressing an unmet medical need to rapidly develop them through a milestone-driven process that will generate data needed to apply for follow on funding opportunities.
Proof of Concept Awards will support applied research. Applications should focus on drug therapeutics, medical devices, digital health technologies, diagnostics that can change the standard of care, and combinations thereof, which promise substantial improvement in human health and commercial potential. Projects that focus on cancer or develop a medical device are encouraged but not required.
Cross-college and/or business collaborations are eligible for this award.
Additional Funding Opportunities
Penn State Inter-Campus Health and Medicine Research Program
The Penn State Inter-Campus Health and Medicine Research Program is a grant program that supports interdisciplinary and inter-campus research projects in health and medicine. It was established to foster collaboration and synergy among researchers from different disciplines and campuses and to leverage the diverse expertise and resources of Penn State in the Hershey and Harrisburg region.
The program aims to fund innovative and impactful research projects that address important health problems and advance the field of biomedical science. The program also seeks to enhance Penn State Harrisburg and College of Medicine’s research capacity and competitiveness and promote the translation of research findings into clinical practice and community health.
2025 Intent to Submit Deadline: TBA
Penn State Capstone Design Program
Senior Engineering and Computer Science students from Penn State Harrisburg, Penn State Behrend and Penn State Berks conduct year-long projects that address existing technical challenges. These projects culminate in presentations at the annual Capstone Design Conference. Each year, Penn State College of Medicine sponsors projects via funding through the Center for Medical Innovation. Past Capstone projects have led to market-ready digital health tools, publications, applications for internal funding mechanisms and invention disclosures.
To make the projects successful, we seek applicants who will be mentors willing to engage in the projects and dedicate 30-60 minutes per week to meet (phone, web or in-person) with students undertaking the project.
Academic Year 2025/2026 applications have closed.
Regional Funding Opportunities
Bioadvance provides funding to start-up life science companies in southeastern Pennsylvania through its $20 million Greenhouse Fund. Investments are made in therapeutics, devices, diagnostics and platform technologies focused on human health.
Ben Franklin Technology Partners offers essential funding and resources for early-stage technology companies and helps established manufacturers innovate. As a statewide network of four regional centers,it also leverages Pennsylvania’s universities and fosters collaboration among companies, investors, and government to advance technology enterprise everywhere in the Commonwealth.
BioStrategy Partners, Inc. (BioSP) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit consortium of academic medical centers and research institutes committed to the development and transfer of academic research into the marketplace.
Life Sciences Greenhouse Investments is an evergreen venture fund focused on helping early-stage companies to grow and flourish through infusions of capital at pivotal points of development.
Innovation Partnership is a consortium of economic development and business assistance organizations located throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Its goal is to help early-stage technology companies in Pennsylvania secure federal funding opportunities through SBIR/STTR Awards.
SBIR/STTR are federal awards to small businesses, not academic institutions. Awards span 11 federal agencies, including DOD, NIH and NSF.
Phase 1: up to $275,000 for 6-12 months to establish technical feasibility
Phase 2: up to $1,900,000 for 2 years to continue development efforts
SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) directly funds small businesses to develop innovative technologies with commercial potential and can provide subawards to R&D collaborators, such as research institutions.
STTR (Small Business Technology Transfer) directly funds small businesses but requires collaboration between the small businesses and research institutions to advance innovative R&D. The research institutions must receive at least 30% of the STTR award.