The Delaware Bioscience Center for Advanced Technology (CAT) program supports the growth of Delaware’s economy by fostering innovative research and development activities. The CAT program sponsors four grant mechanisms to attract and retain life science businesses and help to create new high-tech jobs in Delaware. CAT grants are awarded for one year (a one-time no-cost extension may be allowed).

The CAT program is currently accepting applications to three Funding Mechanisms:

• iHIT – Ideas – High-return, Innovative, Transformative
  1. Supports ideas in bioscience research that are in the development stage and promise to have a high economic return for innovative and transformative research projects.
  2. This mechanism intends to support applicants to develop novel lines of multidisciplinary research different from their ongoing research.
  3. Up to $75,000 for 1 year
• ARC – Applied Research Collaborations
  1. Supports bioscience research projects that have a collaboration between Delaware academic and business partners.
  2. Single PI proposal may request up to $100,000; multiple academic PI proposals may request up to $150,000 for 1 year
  3. Industrial Partner must provide project cost share equal to the amount of funding requested from CAT by the academic partner (1:1 match). 
• EPoC – Entrepreneurial Proof of Concept
  1. Supports proof of concept research towards establishing a new Delaware-based business by the end of the grant period.
  2. Up to $75,000 for 1 year

Full proposals are due on or before 03/01/2025 at 11:59 pm.

Eligibility
1. Principal investigators (PIs) from any Delaware academic research institutions are eligible to apply for research funding through iHIT, ARC, and EPoC (see below for more details). Eligible institutions include:

• Christiana Care Health System
• Delaware State University
• Delaware Technical Community College
• Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children
• University of Delaware

2. PIs are NOT eligible to apply for additional CAT funding if they have a current CAT grant at the time of application.

3. PIs must be eligible to serve as a PI at their home institution. Each PI can have only one active CAT award at a time.

Letter of Intent Application Information: 

A 1- to 2-page Letter of Intent (LOI) must be submitted by January 31, 2025 (11.59 pm ET) in order to be able to submit a full proposal. The letter of intent should include the following information:

• Descriptive title of proposed research
• Name, address, and phone number of the principal investigator(s)
• Names of other key personnel
• Names of participating institutions
• The funding mechanism you are applying to (iHIT, ARC, or EPoC)
• A concise description of your proposed project with sufficient detail to identify expert reviewers for your proposal
• Names, institutional affiliations, and email addresses of 3-4 potential scientific reviewers. Professional familiarity with the applicant is permitted, however, a potential reviewer should not have a significant conflict of interest

Instructions for the FULL Proposal can be found on the DBI CAT website at: DE Bioscience CAT Program