Many technological breakthroughs born in research laboratories never reach the market. One of the main reasons is the lack of funding to support the early steps required to transform scientific discoveries into real-world applications. These activities often fall outside the scope of traditional research funding, and due to the high risk and uncertainty involved, companies and investors are hesitant to support them. This creates a critical gap between public research funding and early-stage commercialization — commonly referred to as the “valley of death.”
To address this challenge, the InnOValley Proof-of-Concept program was launched — a pioneering initiative in Portugal, created by the Oeiras Municipality. The program was initially designed to support projects from leading research institutes based in Oeiras, namely ITQB NOVA (Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica, António Xavier) and IGC (Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência), with its first edition in 2021-2022. It has since expanded to include ITQB NOVA, INIAV (Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária e Veterinária), and NIMS (NOVA Institute for Medical Systems Biology), and is now open to any research institution with facilities in Oeiras. With a total budget of €200,000, the program supports up to four projects, each receiving up to €50,000 over a period of 12 months. In addition to supporting research institutions, the program also welcomes companies as partners in the development and validation of early-stage technologies, helping to accelerate their path to market.
This initiative reflects the Municipality’s strong commitment to valuing science, fostering innovation, and building bridges between academia and industry to ensure that knowledge generated in Oeiras translates into real impact.
InnoValley Proof-of-Concept provides funding for projects that:
- Propose new solutions to unmet needs in any of the scientific fields of IGC and ITQB NOVA,
- Have already demonstrated successful results in the research environment and need further validation;
- Have progressed beyond the stage where research funding opportunities are typically available, but capital from industry or an investment partner is unlikely to be secured at that stage,
- Already have secured IP or have freedom to operate to secure new IP through the implementation of the IOV PoC
InnoValley Proof-of-Concept Fund is particularly well-suited for postdoctoral researchers who are eager to take on a leadership role in their proposed PoC project and are willing to explore the possibility of participating in a startup that is formed to pursue the commercialization of laboratory research.
Additional benefits provided to POC Program awardees include:
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High success rate: 20% which is considerably higher than several other calls for funding, including Portuguese national funding from FCT.
- No Overheads: researchers can concentrate solely on their research and let the funding take care of itself.
- Improved Applications: with this application, each project will have the opportunity to be evaluated by an experienced panel of external evaluators, and further use their feedback and improve the chances of selection of your project upon submission to international funding agencies
- Visibility and Impact: A platform for showcasing your research and its impact, at the Awarding Ceremony
- Applicants can include one or more Partnering Research Institutes Principal Investigators or Post-Doc researchers.
- All applicants must agree to and comply with the internal rules of their affiliated institute.
- If a Post-Doctoral researcher serves as the lead applicant, it is mandatory for the respective PI to endorse this application.
- There is no limit on the number of applications allowed per research group; however, only one project can be awarded to the same research group.
Co-investigators from other organizations can be added to the application under specific conditions:
- Such co-investigators must already share ownership of prior results or agree to share or assign future rights to the Partnering Research Institutes as applicable. In these cases, a joint ownership or similar agreement must be in place, or minimum terms and conditions for joint ownership must be agreed upon in advance among institutions.
- Co-investigators from other organizations can contribute to a maximum of 10% of the project, and their associated costs are not eligible for funding from the IOV PoC.
- If an applicant leaves their institution, the award does not follow the applicant.
InnoValley shall NOT provide funding for projects:
- Which are basic research, to generate models, new ideas with no previous preliminary data, or assess the feasibility of a research project;
- If the majority of the preliminary results are not owned by
the Partnering Research Institutes;
Note: If your project had prior funding by any other source, i.e. industry sponsorship, an investment partner, or research grant support please confirm with the InnOValley office that you are eligible.
