Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development — KY Innovation

Supports Kentucky companies with small business innovation matching, commercialization coaching, and regional network development.

Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development's KY Innovation is the state's entrepreneurship and high-tech startup arm, based in Frankfort and serving all 120 Kentucky counties. It sits inside the cabinet as the public-facing support system for founders, with a mission centered on startup formation, commercialization, and regional innovation growth.

Its direct grant route is the SBIR/STTR Matching Funds Program, which matches federal Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer awards on a competitive basis. Phase I projects can receive up to $100,000 and Phase II projects up to $150,000. Eligibility is limited to for-profit companies with a federal SBIR/STTR award that are based in Kentucky or willing to relocate there, and the wider KY Innovation platform also points founders toward regional innovation hubs and commercialization support.

The program runs in two windows each year, typically spring and fall, and each stays open for about eight weeks. That cadence makes KY Innovation a practical fit for companies that already have federal validation and need non-dilutive follow-on capital to move from research toward market entry. The clearest matches are deep-tech founders in biotech, medtech, energy, climate, agritech, manufacturing, materials, AI infrastructure, and hardware.