CCF grants support startups, critical early technology testing and market validation efforts

RICHMOND, VIRGNIA, UNITED STATES, April 18, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ -- The Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC) today announced that Carilion Medical Center has been awarded a Commonwealth Commercialization Fund (CCF) grant for $75,000. VIPC’s CCF programs have distributed over $47 million to Virginia-based startups, entrepreneurs and university-based inventors since 2012.

Carilion Medical Center is a non-profit healthcare organization based in Roanoke, Va. The principal investigator for this grant is Dr. Umar Sofi, MD, is a practicing pulmonologist and an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine in Roanoke, Va. The CCF-funded project grew from Dr. Sofi’s frustration with currently available oxygen delivery systems, which are time-consuming for healthcare providers and do not respond to a patient’s ever-changing oxygen needs. In response to this need, Dr. Sofi assembled a cross-functional team of experts from Carilion Clinic and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) to design and build an innovative oxygen delivery system. The flow-regulated nasal oxygen delivery system (FRNDS) offers significant improvements compared to legacy oxygen delivery systems.

“We appreciate the CCF grant from VIPC for FRNDS,” said Dr. Umar Sofi. “There is currently no device for high-flow oxygen that can adapt to a patient's respiratory needs. We are developing FRNDS to overcome those hurdles by measuring a patient's inspiratory flow to improve patient outcomes.”

“We are pleased to award a CCF grant to support Dr. Sofi’s commercialization efforts,” said Hina Mehta, PhD, VIPC’s Director for University Programs. “VIPC’s CCF higher education grant program plays an important role in getting funding to Virginia’s entrepreneurially-minded university researchers as they work to take innovations from lab to market. Dr. Sofi’s research has identified a significant unmet need in the respiratory care field, and he is leading a top-notch team that is committed to building and demonstrating a working prototype of FRNDS.”

CCF accepts applications and awards funding on a rolling basis to Virginia’s small businesses and university-based innovators. The CCF Higher education grant program seeks to fund high-potential Virginia-based academic research teams that are developing technologies with strong commercial potential. The grants support early technology and market validation efforts such as customer discovery, market research, business model validation, development of prototypes or a minimum viable product (MVP), customer pilots, intellectual property protection, team development, and more. For more information on funding opportunities and eligibility requirements, or to apply, visit:
www.VirginiaIPC.org

About the Commonwealth Commercialization Fund (CCF)
VIPC’s Commonwealth Commercialization Fund (CCF) was launched on July 1, 2020, to foster innovative and collaborative efforts in Virginia. Combining two legacy state programs, the Commonwealth Research Commercialization Fund (CRCF) and the Virginia Research Innovation Fund (VRIF), CCF seeks technologies with a high potential for economic development and job creation and that position the Commonwealth as a national leader in science- and technology-based research, development, and commercialization.

About Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC)
VIPC: Connecting innovators with opportunities. As the nonprofit operations arm of the Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority (VIPA), VIPC is the commercialization and seed stage economic development driver in the Commonwealth that leads funding, infrastructure, and policy initiatives to support Virginia's innovators, entrepreneurs, startups, and market development strategies. VIPC collaborates with local, regional, state, and federal partners to support the expansion and diversification of Virginia’s economy.

Programs include: Virginia Venture Partners (VVP) | VVP Fund of Funds (SSBCI) | Virginia Founders Fund (VFF) |Commonwealth Commercialization Fund (CCF) | Petersburg Founders Fund (PFF) | Smart Communities | The Virginia Smart Community Testbed | The Virginia Unmanned Systems Center | Virginia Advanced Air Mobility Alliance (VAAMA) | The Public Safety Innovation Center |Entrepreneurial Ecosystems | Regional Innovation Fund (RIF) | Federal Funding Assistance Program (FFAP) for SBIR & STTR | University Partnerships | Startup Company Mentoring & Engagement. For more information, please visit www.VirginiaIPC.org. Follow VIPC on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Angela Costello, Vice President of Communications
Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC)
angela.costello@VirginiaIPC.org
Visit us on social media:
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn