Call for Proposals: 2024 Nanotechnology Entrepreneurship Challenge (NTEC)

NTEC 2024 is supported by participating sites of the NSF-funded National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI). Student-led teams can receive funding or in-kind facility access and mentorship to develop nano-enabled innovations for global sustainability challenges. NTEC awards:

Provide resources to help students use nanotechnology to solve real-world problems in society
Encourage innovation and entrepreneurship through diverse, student-led teams involved in sites of the NSF-funded National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure
Educate students on the technology transfer process and programs like NSF I-Corps
Encourage commercialization of original ideas OR IP available for license through NNCI sites

Awards

Multiple cash and in-kind awards are available and all winning teams are encouraged to participate in the Virtual NNCI NTEC Accelerator Program. Regular NTEC teams receive up to $500 and NTEC teams affiliated with minority serving institutions can apply for an NTEC Diversity Award of up to $1,000 per team. Awards are used for qualifying materials purchases and instrument time at participating NNCI sites. The number of awards will depend on the availability of funds and quality of proposals received.

Key Dates

February 11^th, 2024 (National Inventor’s Day): One-page summary due (see below)
March 4^th, 2024: Awardees announced

Eligibility

Teams must be student led, but an NNCI-affiliated faculty or staff mentor is required
Student leads must be currently enrolled at an NNCI site (undergraduate or graduate)
To apply for an NTEC Diversity Award, student leads must be enrolled as an undergraduate or graduate student at a minority serving institution OR, the leader may have participated in a research experience for undergraduates (REU) program at a participating NNCI site

Questions and Applications: Contact Dr. Matthew Hull