Tufts Launchpad Accelerator Announcement
Tuesday, July, 1st, 2025
Do you have a great research idea that you are hoping to commercialize as an invention? The Tufts Launchpad Accelerator program (TLA) can provide funding and business development support to help you achieve this goal. Past ideas have resulted in the development of shelf-safe smoothies and a mechanism for testing patients for Lyme Disease.
The Office of the Vice Provost for Research announced on June 16 that they will be opening the TLA program for proposals on Monday, August 25. Inventors will have until Friday, September 26 to submit their proposals.
TLA is a grant program funded by the university to address the greatest challenge in academic technology transfer, which is the funding gap between the end of federal funding of basic research and the beginning of commercial interest.
The goal of the TLA program is to provide Tufts’ faculty with the ability to advance technologies invented at Tufts towards commercialization. The TLA program will provide awardees with funding between $35,000 – $50,000 and business development support from Technology Transfer & Industry Collaboration (TTIC) to facilitate product development and technology de-risking with the ultimate goal to attract follow-on resources and generate interest in licensing from existing companies or startups.
TLA awards will be announced on Wednesday, November 12 at the Tufts FY2025 Annual Inventor Recognition Event.
This year’s program will be run in collaboration with the Tufts Auster Center for Applied Innovation Research. Filip Čučkov, Director of the Auster Center, will provide introductory workshops on NSF I-Corps Spark Program.
Contact the TLA program manager to register for preparatory programming or to ask questions.
Past Awardees