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Stanford
Office of Technology Licensing

About the HIT Fund

Who Should Apply

  • The fund is open to faculty, students, postdocs, and staff from any Stanford School or Institute.
  • We seek innovations that have disclosures filed with OTL, and have the potential to provide a superior solution to a significant market or customer need.

Expected Outcome

Acceleration of the transition of the Stanford technology from the lab to the marketplace through:

  • Faculty, students, postdocs, or staff incorporating a new startup focused on the intellectual property (IP)
  • An existing company licensing the technology to generate new products or solutions
  • An industrial collaborator sponsoring further application focused research to address their needs

Guidance & Connections — Customized HIT Fund Team

The fund provides resources and hands-on support in navigating the opportunities and challenges that arise in preparing for commercialization, which may include:

  • Industry-specific executives and domain experts as Advisor(s) through the award term. 
  • Connections to industry experts who can share actionable insights on key requirements, prototype building, industry standards, and manufacturing at scale. 
  • Introductions to potential partners, customers, suppliers, collaborators, investors, and advisory board members.
  • MBA Interns to help with customer discovery , identifying go-to-market approaches, and analyzing the market opportunity and competitive landscape.
  • Patent attorneys and technology licensing experts to help with patent strategy and white space mapping.
  • Friendly VCs to offer feedback on go-to-market strategy and investment pitches.
  • Business ideation sessions with Industry and domain experts to help identify promising market opportunities and go-to-market approaches.

Funding — Milestone-based, up to $250,000

The awards can be used to address the key technical or market risks. Funding can be used for activities necessary to attract collaborators and investors including:

  • Building customer prototypes
  • Conducting pilot studies
  • Materials purchases and contract manufacturing for customer samples
  • 3rd party reliability and performance validation
  • Regulatory consultants
  • Techno-economic analysis
  • Market development activities and consultants
  • Stipends and salaries for students and postdocs
  • Other pre-approved activities.

Award Tracks: Application Options

Track 1 — Advisory Support Only (no funding request)

  • Guidance, connections, and access to an MBA intern

Tip for applying: Indicate on your application which advisory resources you are requesting

Track 2 — Funding & Advisory Support

  • Monetary funding plus advisory support

Tip for applying: Indicate on your application if you'd like to be considered for a Track 1 advisory-only award if your monetary request is not granted

The 2024 application submission dates will be announced in spring 2024.

Frequently Asked Questions

Reach out to the team: TheHITfund@stanford.edu