Awards - Fourth Round

• Fourth Round Awardees (PDF)
• Partners Involved in the Fourth Round Awards
• Fourth Round Award Distribution
• Fourth Round Applicants (PDF)
• Fourth Round Proposal Focus Areas (PDF)

Download Adobe Acrobat Reader for PDF files

Summary

111 proposals were received in the Indiana 21st Century Research & Technology Fund’s fourth round of competition. Four proposals were returned as unresponsive to the Request for Proposals, so 107 proposals underwent review. Panel and ad hoc reviewers were been assigned to these proposals. Panel review occurred in mid-November. The Fund’s Board approved 18 awards based on the outcome of the review. Fund staff then provided review feedback to applicants.

It is heartening to find, in the distribution of lead and partner institutions, evidence of a continued geographic broadening of technology and commercialization activities throughout the state. This is a primary impact of the Fund’s emphasis on the formation of partnerships. In this regard it is important to note that the commercial impact of a project is frequently captured at partner sites. This is particularly true for academic Centers of Excellence proposals/awards. The partners participating in the projects include a widening range of academic institutions. This has the effect of wider inclusion of elements of our State’s future workforce.

Proposals submitted for Round 4 were distributed (based on numbers of proposals) in the following broad areas:

Approximately 32% of Round 4 submissions are revisions or extensions of proposals considered in earlier rounds.

Biomedical applications often overlap the engineering and information technology sectors. In the broadest sense, biomedical proposals and application areas involve 36% of proposals. Thus, the three largest sectors submitting to the Round 4 competition are: Engineering, Biomedical, and Information Technologies. The growing micro/nanotechnology sector is interesting since it follows on Indiana’s increasing academic emphasis in this area. There has been a substantial increase in proposals emphasizing agriculture-related technology development and commercialization. As national software sales overtake computer hardware sales, this sector of Indiana’s IT community takes on increased importance for the State’s overall competitive advantage. Another area of great interest involves process optimization and logistics. It is clear that academic and commercial strengths in this area will become central to Indiana’s rapidly evolving “distribution” industry.