The High Impact Technology (HIT) Fund
The High Impact Technology (HIT) Fund aims to accelerate the delivery of Stanford-based innovations to the world.
We provide seed funding along with strategic and advisory support to faculty, students, postdocs, and staff to help transform innovative, advantaged, and scalable Stanford technologies into new products, services, or companies.
Purpose
- Accelerate Impact: Help accelerate the transition of technologies with the potential to have a societal or economic impact on the world’s most pressing problems, by addressing the critical technical and market risks
- Advance Education: Enable access to industry-specific advisors and domain experts, friendly VCs, patent attorneys, and MBA Interns, and provide guidance helping to enhance the team's practical, entrepreneurial, and commercialization education
How to Apply
The HIT Fund awards are for Stanford University innovators whose work has progressed towards developing solutions for scalable end use applications. The awards are intended to provide the needed funding for de-risking critical activities that enable technology transfer to industry or the formation of a start-up.
Funding must be for projects undertaken at Stanford University that have a disclosure filed with the Office of Technology Licensing. Proposals must include an active faculty member (PI) at Stanford. This is a competitive selection process and only the top-ranked proposals will be awarded.
Key Dates
Call for applications opens: Thursday, June 1, 2023
Application Q&A Session #1: Tuesday, June 6, 2023, 2-3pm PST - REGISTER NOW
Application Q&A Session #2: Friday, June 16, 2023, 2-3pm PST - REGISTER NOW
Deadline to submit an application: Saturday, July 15, 2023 (before MIDNIGHT, PST)
Finalists selected: September 5, 2023
Finalist pitches (in person): Tuesday, September 19 and Wednesday, September 20, 2023
Awards announced: September 26, 2023
Funding begins: October 2, 2023
Now accepting applications!
Download Application (.doc)Download Application (.pdf)
Learn More About the Application Process
If further help is needed with the HIT Fund application, you can schedule time with the HIT Fund team by emailing HITfund2023@stanford.edu.
HIT Fund Takes Flight
The HIT Fund was featured as OTL's FY 2022 Annual Report cover story.
Collaborate with the HIT Fund
Opportunities for domain-specific industry experts and corporates to advise, support, or collaborate with project teams.
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MBA Intern Program
Paid internships for Stanford Graduate School of Business students with experience in the physical sciences or the life sciences.
Learn moreThe HIT Fund Portfolio
Wind turbine blade manufacture
Fast-curing resin for the efficient manufacturing of high-performance recyclable wind turbine blades.
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Lithium metal battery innovation
Novel liquid electrolyte technology allows for energy dense lithium batteries, ushering in a new generation of electric vehicle batteries.
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Electrified chemical reactors
Inductive heating enables the generation of high-grade heat within a thermochemical reactor with unprecedented spatial and temporal control.
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Vertical Ga203 Power Devices
Energy efficient semiconductor switches for medium to high voltage converters in electric transportation systems and the power grid.
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Wastewater energy flexibility
A software platform for wastewater utilities that de-risks energy investments, controls energy resources, and monetizes carbon savings.
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Soft growing vine robots
Soft growing robots that can change their length, control their direction, squeeze through tight spaces, and act as a conduit.
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Wearable for knee osteoarthritis
A wearable to reduce knee osteoarthritis pain by teaching individuals to coordinate their muscles differently.
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Immersive virtual acoustic spaces
Creating immersive sonic experiences by situating participants in the acoustics of any building or physical structure in augmented and mixed reality.
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Bone and tissue regeneration
Bioactive 3D-printed medical device for significantly accelerated bone repair and regeneration.
More information coming soon.
Sustainable chemical manufacture
Developing a plasma-based technology to sustainably generate valuable industrial chemicals, such as fuels, plastics, and fertilizer.
More information coming soon.
Catalyst technology for liquid fuel
Catalyst technology to improve the efficiency and reduce the cost of systems that generate liquid fuels.
More information coming soon.
Enzymes for textile recycling
Training enzymes to break down all the plastic in old clothes, yielding high-quality raw materials to recycle into brand new clothes.
More information coming soon.