The Blazer Bridge Fund

The Blazer Bridge Fund is intended to identify and assist in the development of promising ideas, discoveries, innovations, and/or technologies from UAB faculty and staff that have commercial potential.

Administered by HIIE, the Blazer Bridge Fund expects to fund about six projects per award round at a maximum of $50,000 per project. The funds should be used within one calendar year. Projects should be based on the inventor’s new or existing UAB intellectual property. To be eligible for the award, the inventor must submit, or have previously submitted, an intellectual property disclosure covering such IP.

The Blazer Bridge Fund is designed to support:

• Prototype or software development;
• Wages for students if allowed under departmental/UAB rules;
• Wages for consultants;
• Humanization of antibodies; and/or
• Research that leads to the enhancement of existing IP including but not limited to lead optimization, toxicity studies, etc.

Please note that salary support is restricted to $10,000 per award, and no salary support for UAB faculty and staff is allowed.

The Blazer Bridge Fund WILL NOT support:

• Target discovery or high throughput screening (HTS); or
• Basic research.

Timeline:

April 21, 2023 – Fund officially launches

May 31, 2023 – Proposals due

August 31, 2023 – Winning proposals selected by this date

September 15, 2023 – Winning proposals announced

Every proposal will receive feedback between May 31 and August 31, whether or not the proposal is selected to receive funds. The ten submissions with the most promising potential for commercialization will receive detailed feedback from a review committee made up of both internal and external reviewers, including venture capitalists and industry veterans. Reviewers will consider criteria such as:

• Proposed project outcome;
• Commercial promise;
• Development status;
• Scientific approach;
• Expertise of project team; and
• Prospects for raising additional capital.