Letter from the Provost
Dear Colleagues:
It is my pleasure to announce the 2009 round of the Harvard University Technology Development Accelerator Fund. I am delighted to say that the previous rounds of the Accelerator in 2007 and 2008 were met with great enthusiasm and success. In 2008, a total of nine new projects were funded at a cumulative level of $1.51 million, and two projects were carried over from the 2007 round, receiving an extension of funding based on their promising results. In 2009, a total of $1.25 million will be allocated. Please note that the guidelines (posted on this website) have been revised.
As you know, the Accelerator is an innovative program designed to fund early stage applied and translational research with manifest commercial potential. We have every hope and expectation that Accelerator funding will help to advance funded projects to the "take off" point, where it will become possible to place them with a strong industrial partner who will continue to fund and develop the technology for commercial application and public access. Providing critical support to advance potentially important but nascent technologies has assumed greater importance than ever, given the dearth of early stage funding for such projects. Funds are allocated on an annual basis, and are available to researchers who fulfill the following core criteria: (i) have rights as a principal investigator; (ii) are employed by Harvard University; and (iii) are conducting research in the life sciences.
The Accelerator was designed to be an "evergreen" fund, meaning that a portion of future revenue and licensing proceeds generated by technologies supported by the Accelerator will be cycled back to the Fund to help sustain it, and in turn, to help sustain future innovations at Harvard in perpetuity. The Accelerator is managed by the Office of Technology Development, in consultation with an external advisory committee appointed by the Provost. Recipients are chosen based on the scientific merit and the potential for technology transfer reflected in their proposals, with the application process for the current academic year beginning immediately.
Please note that an important change has been made to this year's Guidelines with respect to projects involving medicinal chemistry, based on our experience in the first two years of the program and in consultation with the advisory committee. In brief, medicinal chemistry projects will now begin with a "pilot" phase to determine the suitability of the starting compounds for large-scale chemistry efforts. Grants in the range of $10,000-$25,000 for 3-6 months will be awarded for this activity, after which successful projects may progress to full Accelerator funding. This will help to ensure that only compounds with significant potential will subsequently receive the major investment of resources that medicinal chemistry entails. For additional details on this change and on the overall application process, please refer to the Guidelines posted on this web site.
As one of the world's leading research universities, Harvard has a special obligation to foster the development and translation of promising new technologies in order to serve the public interest and benefit society. I encourage our research community to take full advantage of this unique funding opportunity, and I look forward to the continued success of this exciting program.
Sincerely,
Steven E. Hyman