Lab Bench to Commercialization (LB2C) Grant Program accepting 2025-26 proposals

The Penn State Eberly College of Science’s Lab Bench to Commercialization (LB2C) Grant Program is now accepting applications until Apr. 4 for its 2025-26 funding cycle.

The Eberly College of Science is committed to supporting its researchers in translating their research for society. Translation is an early part of technology transfer where scientific discoveries are aligned to tangible solutions to societal challenges. The Lab Bench to Commercialization Grant Program provides a competitive seed grant for college researchers and their collaborators to explore translation of their research, for example by testing a novel idea and generating a proof of concept. The program intends to support a culture of ideation and translational research, provide hands-on training to participants, identify adoption paths for technologies, and grow a pipeline of inventions that may lead to technology transfer.

Faculty, research staff, postdocs, and graduate students from the Eberly College of Science are eligible to apply. Teams may include non-Eberly College of Science participants. Teams that include graduate students and postdoctoral team members are highly encouraged to apply.

The LB2C Grant supports projects at a very early technology development stage that may include but are not limited to therapeutic discovery, biotechnology, devices, functional materials, software, educational tools, chemical syntheses, and algorithms for AI or Machine Learning. The proposed technology should not have been publicly disclosed (e.g. in manuscripts, abstracts, or presentations) and should not be the subject of existing patents or patent applications. At the end of the funding program, the technology may be ready for disclosure and patenting, or it may need additional development to identify a specific invention concept. 

The LB2C Grant will provide $30,000 to $70,000 to the principal investigator. In addition to funding, researchers will work with the college’s Office for Innovation, which will assist grantees in evaluating their technology towards translation, engage the assistance of the Technology Advisory Board, the Penn State IP Clinic, and the Penn State Smeal College of Business Farrell Center to evaluate use cases and milestones for the technologies, find future sources for translational funds, and create a strategy for commercialization.

 For more information and to apply, visit the Lab Bench to Commercialization Grant Program website or email Emily Kuhns, Director of the Office for Innovation.