Kentucky Science and Engineering Foundation

The Kentucky Science and Engineering Foundation (KSEF) was created under the Kentucky Innovation Act of 2000 to invest in research and development (R&D) activity to promote innovation, new product development and commercialization, and to build a pipeline of new ideas and technologies that could add value to the scientific and economic growth in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. To this end, KSEF manages four funding programs:

• Research and Development Excellence Program (RDE) - RDE's target is achieving excellence in science and engineering in Kentucky, allowing innovation and technology development in existing and emerging areas of research, by making proactive investments through a peer-reviewed competitive selection process.
  
  
• Kentucky Commercialization Fund Program (KCF) - KCF supports efforts made by faculty in the Commonwealth of Kentucky to commercialize a technology, product, or process that they have developed but not yet licensed.
  
  
• Kentucky SBIR/STTR Phase Zero and Phase Double Zero Program (PZ/DZ) - PZ/DZ funding is earmarked for Kentucky-based Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR), specifically for the development of Federal Phase I and Phase II proposals.
  
  
• Kentucky SBIR/STTR Matching Funds Program - Kentucky Matching Funds Grants are for additional work tasks and activities that support and are complementary to Federal Phase I or Federal Phase II Awards.

The ideas and technologies supported through these funding programs fall within five research focus areas: (1) Biosciences, (2) Environmental and Energy Technologies, (3) Human Health and Development, (4) Information Technology and Communications, and (5) Materials Science and Advanced Manufacturing. Read more about KSEF's economic impact.

KSEF also manages the Kentucky SBIR Resource Center, helping Kentucky innovators, entrepreneurs, and technology-oriented small businesses (i.e. 500 or fewer people) who have an innovative concept and need to advance it, translate it into a product or a technology for commercializatoin, and profit from it through SBIR/STTR.

KSEF - Advancing R&D, New Product Development and Commercialization,
and Your Partner in Kentucky SBIR

An initiative of the Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation (KSTC), KSEF is managed in partnership with the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE). KSTC is a private nonprofit enterprise founded in 1987 to enhance capacity of people, firms and organizations, to use science and technology and to effectively compete in the global market place.