Rothenberg Innovation Initiative (RI²)
Funds high-risk faculty research projects bridging early science to commercial proof-of-concept.
The Rothenberg Innovation Initiative, known as RI2, is Caltech's internal seed-funding program run by the Office of Technology Transfer and Corporate Partnerships. It backs high-risk, high-reward faculty projects that can bridge early research to proof-of-concept data for commercially useful technologies. Awards run up to $250,000 over two years, or $125,000 per year. Eligibility is limited to Caltech professorial faculty, including tenured, tenure-track, research, and teaching faculty, with one proposal per faculty member each year. The request for proposals is emailed directly by the Vice Provost for Research in February, and the 2025 cycle closed with a start date of October 1, 2025. RI2 began in 2009 as the Caltech Innovation Initiative and was renamed in 2017 after a Rothenberg family gift. The program suits faculty whose ideas are strong enough to justify internal proof-of-concept support before later-stage capital enters the picture. Its review criteria emphasize scientific merit, the significance of the problem, and commercialization potential.
No upcoming rounds verified. Cadence: Annual.