Dr. Aimee Edinger has been announced one of seven recipients of the first round of Proof of Product (POP) grants. This POP award provides up to $125,000 to move promising technologies closer to commercialization.

The POP grants program is part of UCI’s Bridging Innovation Gaps (BIG) initiative, which provides support to faculty and student entrepreneurs at critical stages along the path from research to commercialization. Three complementary programs are linked under BIG:

• POP grants
• Technical support to increase success in securing SBIR/STTR funding
• BioENGINE: Specific training and support to emerging technologies in the healthcare, biomedical device and wellness technologies industries.

Through a combination of newly allocated funds from the state legislature and philanthropy, the BIG initiative not only provides funding through POP grants for promising innovation, but also provides access to technical support and domain expertise to move projects from the lab to the marketplace for public benefit.