Discovery to Product directly administers three funding opportunities that support innovators, the Draper TIF, SEED and PRIME grants. We also have relationships and connections to help projects access other sources of funding in the region and beyond. Need help deciding which grant is right for you? Scroll down for more information.
Read about the FY24 SEED awardees: Emerging technologies at UW–Madison get boost from state funds.
The Draper Technology Innovation Fund (TIF)
This fund supports the additional research often necessary to bring new concepts and inventions to the patent and licensing stage. The program goal is to help get new products and processes out of the lab and into people’s hands where they can impact change. Funds can be used to support efforts to enhance the scope or patentability of inventions and assist with their potential licensing to the commercial sector. Examples of research activities include prototype development, preparation of samples for evaluation, and application testing. D2P administers this program in partnership with the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. TIF funding is made available on a quarterly basis throughout the calendar year. The next deadline is Friday, November 15, 2024.
Piloting Research Innovation & Market Exploration (PRIME) Grant
This grant allows UW–Madison faculty, academic staff, and students with an innovative commercial opportunity to undertake research designed to overcome critical market risk milestones, validate customer acceptance, and/or generate private and public funding. The Piloting Research Innovation & Market Exploration (PRIME) grant will fund research conducted at UW–Madison and may include off-campus activities (e.g., fieldwork, pilot or market/consumer testing, market research) needed to complete the research. Research outcomes must advance the project’s commercialization journey with broader impact to advance the economy of the state of Wisconsin and beyond.
The State Economic Engagement & Development Research (SEED) Grant
This grant allows UW–Madison faculty and academic staff with ownership in a Wisconsin company to engage in innovative research designed to facilitate commercialization of their company’s technology. The State Economic Engagement & Development (SEED) research funding is designed to generate additional private and public sector support for innovator research programs that take place on the UW–Madison campus and promote technology transfer between the University and industry. The deadline for proposals for fiscal year 2026 is Friday, February 14, 2025.
I’m thankful for this funding which will enable Calimetrix to enhance the quality of cardiac MRI testing tools. It is crucial to have advanced tools such as robust phantoms to ensure quality assurance and facilitate comparison of imaging results across various MRI systems, sites, and vendors. These strategies play a vital role in enabling quantitative cardiac MRI to fully realize its potential in diagnosing and monitoring cardiovascular disease.
Scott Reeder, Professor of Radiology, UW–Madison, Calimetrix
D2P’s Draper TIFF award and WARF’s Phase I Accelerator Grant enabled me as a new professor to kickstart my research and development of the Insect Eavesdropper and leverage research progress into a >3-fold return from public grants, including a USDA NIFA Data Science for Food and Agricultural Sciences grant.
Emily Bick, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Entomology, UW–Madison, Insect Eavesdropper
I'm grateful for this SEED funding to support Pryan, Inc.’s continued development of renewable alternatives to petroleum-based chemicals.
George W. Huber, Professor of Chemical Engineering, UW–Madison, Pyran