Process

PROGRAM ELIGIBILITY

Applied researchers at all 16 UNC System universities are eligible for grants through NCI, though private companies are not eligible to serve as the lead institution. Institutions in the North Carolina Community Colleges System are also eligible for funding; at this stage, we recommend that community colleges partner with one or more universities to pursue funding, though we anticipate future programs will target community colleges more directly as we build out the granting process.

Proposals must define a technology at a TRL of three or higher — projects with a TRL below three will not be considered for funding and will not advance past the pre-proposal stage — ensuring that only projects with demonstrable potential for commercialization and scalability are considered. NCI is committed to remaining industry agnostic and accepts applications from all technology sectors, while prioritizing projects with the highest potential for commercialization and economic impact in North Carolina.

AWARDS

Amounts

In this Request for Proposals (RFP), NCI does not currently have a set minimum or maximum award amount. We anticipate that most awards will fall within the range of $200 K – $1 M, but amounts may vary depending on the scale of the proposed project.  Grants will be awarded in tranches, provided researchers meet defined milestones, rather than as a single lump sum.

Duration

The award duration is two years, and all awardees remain eligible for future rounds of NCI grant funding, subject to performance on a previous NCI award. Funding will be released in tranches upon completion of milestones as defined in your proposal (see the Award Format section below).

Format

NCI awards are milestone-based, meaning that the proposing team will define a set of milestones as part of the proposal process and will be evaluated against those milestones. Funding will be released upon completion of the milestones specified in your proposal. The exact funding schedule remains to be determined, but in most cases, funding will be released in annual tranches upon meeting milestones. As a condition of funding, NCI requires that companies created to commercialize the resulting IP from NCI-funded projects maintain a physical presence in North Carolina for a minimum of five years to maximize economic development opportunities within the state. Companies that do not fulfill this request are subject to claw-back provisions.

Amounts

In this Request for Proposals (RFP), NCI does not currently have a set minimum or maximum award amount. We anticipate that most awards will fall within the range of $200 K – $1 M, but amounts may vary depending on the scale of the proposed project.  Grants will be awarded in tranches, provided researchers meet defined milestones, rather than as a single lump sum.

Duration

The award duration is two years, and all awardees remain eligible for future rounds of NCI grant funding, subject to performance on a previous NCI award. Funding will be released in tranches upon completion of milestones as defined in your proposal (see the Award Format section below).

Format

NCI awards are milestone-based, meaning that the proposing team will define a set of milestones as part of the proposal process and will be evaluated against those milestones. Funding will be released upon completion of the milestones specified in your proposal. The exact funding schedule remains to be determined, but in most cases, funding will be released in annual tranches upon meeting milestones. As a condition of funding, NCI requires that companies created to commercialize the resulting IP from NCI-funded projects maintain a physical presence in North Carolina for a minimum of five years to maximize economic development opportunities within the state. Companies that do not fulfill this request are subject to claw-back provisions.

DEADLINES

NCInnovation anticipates two funding cycles per year. We will accept proposals on a rolling basis, but all proposals for a given cycle/deadline will be reviewed simultaneously. Information on deadlines will be updated on the website.

The deadline for the next pre-application is May 13, 2026, at 11:59 PM ET. Applicants can expect to receive a response from NCI within one to two months of the pre-application deadline.

 Cycle 1Cycle 2

FY27 pre-application deadlines

May 13, 2026

October 14, 2026

 

For more information and to apply, visit the RFP page

REVIEW PROCESS AND CRITERIA

Pre-proposals will undergo a screening and down-selection process in which NCI staff, in collaboration with lead institutions, will determine which projects meet minimum criteria and best demonstrate strategic alignment with NCI’s regional economic development goals, geographic distribution, and available budget. 

The NCI team will perform a preliminary scoring of pre-proposals according to the review criteria. Teams whose pre-proposals are selected during this process will be invited to submit a full proposal. If the proposal is not accepted during this cycle, applicants are encouraged to work with their Regional Director to strengthen it for future cycles.

Full proposals will be reviewed simultaneously by two different groups. The first is a set of external reviewers consisting of four core reviewers who will score all received proposals and two regional reviewers, one for each NCI hub region. The second is a third-party review panel that will score the proposals according to market fit and the results of the statewide asset mapping exercise that NCI has been leading, in coordination with RTI. The NCI team will convene the reviewers at the end of these simultaneous scoring processes to reach consensus on the prioritization of proposals.

The prioritized proposals will undergo an additional internal screening to balance NCI’s funding portfolio by geographic location, available funding, and other considerations. The NCI team will submit a prioritized set of funding recommendations to the NCI Board, which will have the opportunity to approve them. Once Board approval is complete, awardees will be notified.

The evaluation criteria are all weighted equally and include the following:

  1. Team, Collaborators, and Infrastructure

  2. Significance

  3. Benefit to Region

  4. Commercialization Potential

  5. Approach and Milestones

  6. Use of Funds

  7. Risk

Reviewers are also asked to provide qualitative evaluations surrounding the use of funds and potential barriers.