CoMotion Innovation Gap Fund

CoMotion Innovation Gap Fund

Supports University of Washington researchers advancing disclosed university discoveries to practical proof-of-concept through internal grants.

UW CoMotion's Innovation Gap Fund is a University of Washington internal grant program that provides proof-of-concept funding to UW-affiliated researchers commercializing a disclosed university innovation. The program runs two cycles per year — Fall and Spring — with the Fall deadline typically falling in the first week of September and solicitations announced approximately one month before. The fund has awarded more than $18.9 million across 399 awards since 2005, supporting the creation of 114 UW spinoff companies and $6.5 billion in subsequent follow-on financing raised by alumni teams.

The Fall 2026 cycle offers awards of up to $75,000 per team, drawn from an annual pool exceeding $1.1 million co-funded by CoMotion, the Washington Research Foundation, the Population Health Initiative, and private donors. More than 50 percent of applying teams in most cycles receive a full or partial award. Eligible domains include Life Sciences, Engineering, Software/IT, and Social Impact. Only UW faculty, postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduates may apply; students and postdocs must have a UW faculty PI serving as fiscal sponsor. The technology must already be formally assigned to UW and disclosed to CoMotion before submission. Funded activities are limited to commercialization work — customer demand research, market validation, prototype creation, and beta testing — not basic research.

At least one team member must complete UW I-Corps or obtain written endorsement from a CoMotion innovation development manager before applying. Applications are submitted through the UW Community Innovation Portal. A review committee drawn from CoMotion and WRF staff, executives, and local investors evaluates proposals on market opportunity and likelihood that the award will materially advance commercial or social impact. Forty-one percent of past recipients have gone on to win federal SBIR or STTR awards, making this program a well-established on-ramp to federal non-dilutive funding for UW research teams.