Intuitive Surgical offers funding for technology research: Deadline June 5

Intuitive Surgical offers funding for technology research grants for projects in 2016. Researchers at non-profit institutions world wide can apply. LOIs can be submitted until June 5.

Overview: The purpose of these grants is to support technology research in the field of surgical robotics, or related fields. Successful proposals will address clinically-relevant technology development. Grants will be awarded to researchers at non-profit academic institutions worldwide. Awards will be conferred on a competitive basis by submission of a grant application.

Available Grants: Applicants may apply for $10,000 to $50,000 of funding per project (US Dollars, total costs). The grant monies can be used to fund salaries, equipment, supplies and/or travel required to support the proposed research project for a period of up to one year.

Selection Process:  Applicants must first submit a Letter of Intent to propose (LOI), as detailed below. Grant LOIs will be reviewed and ranked by an internal selection committee. Those pre-proposals meeting a predetermined scoring threshold will be invited to submit a full grant application (not exceeding 10 pages, excluding bibliography and references). All invited full grant applications will be reviewed and scored based on the following criteria:

* Clarity of research goals and objectives.
* Novelty and innovation.
* Clinical relevance and value.
* Evidence of feasibility.
* Strength of evaluation methods and measures.
* Availability of required resources.

Letters of intent and full grant proposals will be handled in a confidential manner and will not be distributed beyond the grant selection committee at Intuitive Surgical. Due to the expected volume of proposals, we regret that the committee will not be able to provide detailed individualized feedback for unsuccessful proposals.

Letter of Intent Guidelines: A two-page letter of intent to propose should be submitted by all grant applicants. Submissions will consist of 5 parts:

* Summary: one or two sentence proposal overview.
* Description of Problem/Background.
* Purpose, Hypothesis and Methods of research (not more than 500 words) for the project.
* Capabilities: Indicate the identities, capabilities and credentials of investigators as well as any participating institution. Include contact information for applicant principle investigator.
* Budget: Include a rough project budget that includes estimated costs for staff, equipment, consumables, and other direct costs. Applicants can request up to $50,000 in total costs, with no more than 20% of this total constituting indirect costs.

Click here to submit a letter of intent on-line for the Technology Research Grant.

Deadlines:

* We are asking interested applicants to submit a Letter of Intent by June 5, 2015. Invitations to submit full grant applications will be sent by July 2, 2015 (this invite will include proposal guidelines and forms).
* The deadline for submitting a full, invited grant application is September 11, 2015. Only complete application packets will be considered. Awardees will be notified by October 16, 2015. Grant monies must be used to support research expenses during the 2016 calendar year.

Grant Conditions:

* Intuitive strongly encourages institutions who have not previously received funding from the company to apply.
* Multiple grants will not be funded simultaneously to any Principal Investigator.
* Multiple grants to the same institution for different principal investigators will be considered.
* Awards must be used to fund research at academic institutions. Grants are not to be used to fund for-profit activities.
* Grant monies must be used to support research expenses during the 2016 calendar year only.
* Total costs may include no more than 20% indirect costs and the total budget, including both direct costs, indirect costs and any applicable taxes, should not exceed $50,000 USD.
* In the case of technology development, IP terms and conditions may require a negotiated agreement.
* Grantees will be invited to present their work at our headquarters in Sunnyvale, CA (travel costs covered by Intuitive Surgical).
* All applicants selected to receive a grant are required to submit a one-page mid-year progress report, as well as a final status report that details study results and conclusions. If the funded project does not take place, all monies awarded will be refunded to Intuitive Surgical. If the project is terminated early then a partial refund, with an accounting of the funds expended up to the termination date, will be provided by the Principal Investigator. Any unused funds as of 31 December 2016 will be refunded to Intuitive Surgical.

To submit a letter of intent, use our on-line application process 
Click here to submit a letter of intent on-line for the Technology Research Grant.

Please email grants@intusurg.com, with questions regarding the grant process. If you do not have email access, please send a hardcopy of your letter of intent to:

Dale Bergman
Research Coordinator
Intuitive Surgical, Inc.
1266 Kifer Road
Sunnyvale, CA,
U.S.A.  94086

– See more at: http://intuitivesurgical.com/company/educational-grants/technology_grants.html#sthash.CjqcBHOH.dpuf

Andra Keay is the Managing Director of Silicon Valley Robotics, founder of Women in Robotics and is a mentor, investor and advisor to startups, accelerators and think tanks, with a strong interest in commercializing socially positive robotics and AI.

Andra Keay is the Managing Director of Silicon Valley Robotics, founder of Women in Robotics and is a mentor, investor and advisor to startups, accelerators and think tanks, with a strong interest in commercializing socially positive robotics and AI.