The Virginia Microelectronics Consortium (VMEC) funds annually proposals for seed and/or equipment grants from member Virginia Universities. The 2024-2025 Call for Proposals (for 2025 funding) is posted below and the submission deadline is November 8, 2024. The VMEC Industry members will evaluate the proposals. The VMEC Executive Committee at their January 2025 meeting will decide the funding level and approve proposals. Both the seed and equipment grant proposals will be combined into one evaluation pool and ranked ordered by the VMEC Industry Partners (i.e. equipment and seed grant proposals will not be separately evaluated and awarded). Approved funds will be awarded in January 2025 following the Executive Committee meeting. VMEC Equipment/Seed Grants are for a period of one year and a final report is due within one year of your project Award. The number of grants is subject to the availability of funds. PI’s may submit for a seed grant in addition to a related equipment grant. If the proposals are co-dependent (the seed grant requires the equipment grant for example) this should be clearly stated in the proposal. A PI may only submit for a maximum of one grant of each type.

Note that Seed Grants or Equipment Grants are not intended to supplement other larger proposals with the same goals, but rather should have an independent research focus. The maximum amount of the seed or equipment grant can vary from year to year at the discretion of the VMEC Executive Committee.

For more information: https://vmecteam.org/vmec-equipment-and-seed-grants/