About NCTI
The National Commercialization and Translation Institute (NCTI) is a national pilot, led by the University of Central Florida and funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP) under Award No. 2631575, that moves federally funded deep-tech innovations from laboratory to market.
A persistent gap separates federally funded deep-technology research from commercial success. Many NSF SBIR/STTR Phase II/IIB awardees hold scientifically validated technologies yet lack the business infrastructure, commercialization capital, and investor access to convert that validation into commercially viable ventures. Only about one in five Phase II projects has historically produced products or services still in active use. NCTI exists to change that.
Over a two-year, $20 million pilot, NCTI competitively selects six to eight NSF SBIR/STTR Phase II/IIB deep-tech companies and delivers milestone-based, need-sized commercialization awards of $1-3.75 million each, paired with concierge-level individualized support: diagnostic triage, an Individualized Commercialization Plan, dedicated mentor teams, and curated introductions to customers, investors, industry, and national laboratories.
NCTI is also a rigorous national field study. Every stage of the program is instrumented and independently evaluated so that NSF gains the evidence it needs to decide whether to establish NCTI as a permanent national program.
NCTI advances three goals
Goal 1
Move deep-tech SBIR/STTR companies from technically de-risked to customer de-risked to investor-ready, building a portfolio of investment-grade companies with measurable economic, competitiveness, and security impact.
Goal 2
Equip the broader SBIR/STTR community — from Phase I founders to Phase II/IIB executives — with practical commercialization education and a seamless pathway across NSF’s lab-to-market programs.
Goal 3
Generate rigorous, deep-tech-specific evidence on what moves companies across the commercialization gap — for which technologies, at what cost — and deliver a transferable model for a permanent national institute.
NCTI by the numbers
One Institute, Five Objectives — Plus the Network Behind Them
NCTI organizes its work around five objectives arrayed along the SBIR/STTR journey, underpinned by a cross-cutting national network. Together they carry deep-tech companies from technically de-risked to investor-ready.
SUPPORT
Funding and Concierge Mentoring for the Pilot Cohort
Serving: six to eight competitively selected NSF SBIR/STTR Phase II/IIB deep-tech companies.
The centerpiece of NCTI. Each cohort company receives a milestone-based, need-sized Participant Commercialization Support award of $1-3.75 million covering the development and non-R&D commercialization work that research grants alone cannot fund. Awards are paired with diagnostic triage, an Individualized Commercialization Plan, dedicated mentor teams, structured checkpoint reviews at 90 days, 6 months, and 12 months, and curated introductions to customers, investors, industry, and national-laboratory resources — culminating in an annual investor showcase.
EDUCATE
Company-Building Essentials for Phase II/IIB Companies
Serving: the broader national NSF Phase II/IIB community.
Pre-recorded and interactive cohort sessions, taught by practitioners, on the essentials of building a company: entity formation, ownership, customer discovery, revenue models, raising capital, intellectual property, governance, and accounting — with peer roundtables that build a national community of deep-tech founders.
ORIENT
Commercial Awareness for Every Federally Funded Founder
Serving: Phase I founders and researchers nationwide.
A nationally distributed video series that introduces the commercialization journey early — what investors look for, how federal programs connect, and what it takes to turn validated science into a fundable company. Free, on-demand, and continuously refreshed.
CONNECT
A Seamless Pathway Across NSF Programs
Serving: companies navigating the federal commercialization pathway.
NCTI maps the commercialization continuum and coordinates with NSF I-Corps and NSF program directors so companies experience one connected pathway — from customer discovery through SBIR/STTR awards to late-stage commercialization support — rather than a maze of separate programs.
MODEL
The Research Program
Serving: NSF, policymakers, and the innovation research community.
NCTI is designed as a national field study. A registered evaluation protocol, a national longitudinal registry, and independent external evaluation by RTI International generate rigorous evidence on which interventions, in what combinations, at what funding levels, move deep-tech companies across the commercialization gap — and produce a transferable playbook for a permanent national program. See Research below.
NETWORK
The National Infrastructure Behind It All
Serving: every NCTI objective and every participating company.
A cross-cutting Network of Networks — mentors, investors, corporations, research universities, and national laboratories — that supplies the cohort with expertise, facilities, co-investment, and customers, and operates the national registry that tracks commercialization outcomes over time.
For Companies
Who is eligible
NCTI’s national open competition is open to active or recent NSF SBIR/STTR Phase II/IIB awardees with deep-technology innovations. Every eligible awardee may apply, and any meritorious company may be funded. The program deliberately targets companies with high technology readiness but low commercial and investment readiness — the post-SBIR gap where capital-intensive deep tech most often stalls.
What selected companies receive
- A milestone-based Participant Commercialization Support award of $1-3.75 million, sized to your company’s plan rather than a one-size-fits-all formula.
- Diagnostic triage across five dimensions — technical development, market validation, business formation, regulatory status, and capital readiness — producing an Individualized Commercialization Plan (ICP) co-developed with a senior program advisor.
- Individualized mentoring and a dedicated mentor team, with checkpoint reviews at 90 days, 6 months, and 12 months.
- Brokered access to industry partners, research universities, and national laboratories.
- Curated investor introductions and participation in the annual NCTI investor showcase.
How selection works
Applications include a technology overview, market assessment, team profile, and draft commercialization plan. They are evaluated in stages — administrative screening, technical review, and commercial viability assessment — against a weighted, quantitative rubric published before the competition opens. The rubric covers technology readiness, market size and urgency, team capability and coachability, demonstrated need for late-stage capital, and fit with program resources, anchored to the TRL, MRL, CRL, and IRL readiness scales. An independent Selection Board of active investors, industry experts, and entrepreneurs scores every application and interviews roughly twelve to sixteen finalists before selecting the cohort of six to eight.
Key dates
- Applications open:
- October 20, 2026
- Applications close:
- December 15, 2026
- Finalist interviews:
- January 2027
- Cohort announced:
- February 2027
Questions about eligibility or the application? Reach out to our team at ncti-information@ucf.edu.
Research
A National Field Study of Deep-Tech Commercialization
NCTI is more than a support program — it is a longitudinal national field study designed to answer a question the field has never rigorously answered: which interventions, in what combinations, delivered to which companies, at what funding levels, move de-risked technologies across the commercialization gap?
- Registered protocol. The program theory, selection rubric, research questions, and evaluation propositions are registered on the Open Science Framework before the competition opens.
- National registry. Every applicant is scored on a published rubric and enrolled in a national longitudinal registry, with follow-ups extending 12–24 months — the standing measurement infrastructure the deep-tech ecosystem has lacked.
- Independent evaluation. RTI International serves as the independent external evaluator, reporting outside program operations to the PI, the Strategic Board, and NSF.
- Methodological innovation. The evaluation combines contribution analysis, Qualitative Comparative Analysis, and LLM-assisted qualitative methods benchmarked against human analysts — advancing how small-cohort programs are studied.
- Open results. Evaluation reports, deep-tech commercialization benchmarks, public datasets, peer-reviewed publications, and a transferable playbook are shared openly, with successes and lessons learned reported with equal rigor.
News
Team
Leadership
Dr. Ivan Garibay
Principal Investigator and Project Director
Dr. Thomas P. O’Neal
Co-Principal Investigator
Dr. Michael Georgiopoulos
Co-Principal Investigator
Dr. Ronald F. Piccolo
Co-Principal Investigator
Professional Staff
NCTI’s day-to-day operations are delivered by a professional staff: an Executive Director, Commercialization Director, Education Director, Partnerships Director, and Project Manager, supported by research staff (postdoctoral associates and graduate research assistants) and administrative personnel.
Careers at NCTI
Founding Leadership Team
Help build the first institute of its kind in the nation.
The University of Central Florida (UCF) invites applications for the founding leadership team of the National Commercialization and Translation Institute (NCTI), a $20 million national pilot funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). NCTI will competitively select a national cohort of NSF Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) Phase II and IIB deep-technology companies and help them cross the commercialization “valley of death” with $16 million in milestone-based commercialization support, concierge-level individualized advising, a practitioner-taught curriculum, structured investor access, and a national network of mentors, investors, industry partners, and national laboratories, including Oak Ridge, Sandia, and Pacific Northwest.
NCTI is more than a program. It is a rigorous national field study, conducted with an independent external evaluator, whose findings will inform NSF’s decision on establishing a permanent national commercialization institute. The team we hire now will build the model the nation follows.
We are recruiting five founding positions:
- Executive Director (full-time). The institute’s operational leader: stands up the institute, supervises the professional team, chairs the funding review committee governing $16 million in milestone-based awards, and delivers the pilot’s commitments to NSF.
- Commercialization Director (full-time). The senior company-facing role: leads diagnostic triage, co-develops each company’s Individualized Commercialization Plan, matches companies to advisors and national resources, and drives every engagement toward investment-grade status.
- Project Manager (full-time). The operational backbone: runs the national competition logistics, governance operations, compliance, reporting, and research-grade data collection.
Who should apply. Operators, founders, investors, educators, and program builders with deep commercialization experience who want their next role to matter at national scale. These are hands-on, high-visibility positions working directly with deep-technology founders, investors, and federal partners.
Details. Positions are located at UCF in Orlando, Florida, are Administrative and Professional appointments, and are grant-funded and time-limited under the NSF award. Competitive salaries are commensurate with the seniority of each role. Some positions require domestic travel. UCF is an equal opportunity employer; all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any protected characteristic under applicable law.
For full position descriptions, salary details, and to apply: (Questions? Reach out to our team at ncti-information@ucf.edu)
Research Positions: Postdoctoral Associates and Graduate Research Assistants
Do science on one of the hardest open questions in innovation policy.
The University of Central Florida (UCF) invites applications for two Postdoctoral Associates (full-time, $85,000 annual base) and two Graduate Research Assistants ($36,000 annual stipend) to conduct the research program of the National Commercialization and Translation Institute (NCTI), a $20 million national pilot funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and led by Principal Investigator Dr. Ivan Garibay.
The science. NCTI is a rigorous national field study built around one overarching question: which interventions, in what combinations, delivered to which companies, at what funding levels, move de-risked deep technologies across the commercialization “valley of death”? The study enrolls every applicant from a national competition of NSF Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) Phase II/IIB companies into a standing national longitudinal registry that closes a documented federal measurement gap, and follows a funded cohort as a real-time, longitudinal multiple-case design. Five registered research questions span the determinants of investment readiness, the contribution and mechanisms of milestone-based commercialization capital paired with concierge support, heterogeneity across technology classes, methodological innovation, and deep-tech benchmarks and transferability.
The methods. The evaluation is theory-based and methodologically ambitious: contribution analysis, Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), and an emerging layer of large language model (LLM)-assisted qualitative methods, including codebook-based analysis of the longitudinal case corpus and structured AI-assisted interviewing, benchmarked against expert human analysts. The program practices open science end to end: the full protocol is pre-registered on the Open Science Framework before selection, and datasets, codebooks, open-source analysis code, and LLM coding protocols (models, versions, prompts, and human-coder agreement benchmarks) are released publicly with persistent identifiers.
The positions:
- Postdoctoral Associates (two). Instrument the national registry and lead baseline and longitudinal data collection under the registered protocol; execute the case-based, QCA, and LLM-assisted qualitative analyses; and lead peer-reviewed manuscripts, public datasets, and the transferable intervention playbook. Work directly with the PI, Co-PIs, and the independent external evaluator (RTI International).
- Graduate Research Assistants (two). Registry data collection and curation, analysis support, and longitudinal case-study documentation, with authorship opportunities on the resulting publications. Admission to a UCF graduate program is required.
Training and mentoring. Trainees join the Complex Adaptive Systems Laboratory (CASL) as their research home, develop an Individual Development Plan with the PI and Co-PIs, receive structured training in proposal development, responsible conduct of research, and responsible AI, and gain supervised mentoring and conference experience under the project’s NSF mentoring plan.
Who should apply. Researchers in innovation and entrepreneurship, economics of innovation, science and technology policy, management and organization science, computational social science, or AI-assisted research methods who want to produce publishable, policy-relevant evidence from a live national experiment. Strong qualitative, configurational, or computational methods skills are especially welcome.
Details. Positions are located at UCF in Orlando, Florida, and are grant-funded and time-limited under the NSF award. UCF is an equal opportunity employer; all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any protected characteristic under applicable law.
For full position descriptions and to apply: (position applications coming soon, please register to our mailing list to receive an announcement) · Questions? Reach out to our team at ncti-information@ucf.edu
Governance and Independent Evaluation
NCTI is governed by a Strategic Board (oversight and advice), an independent Selection Board of investors, industry experts, and entrepreneurs (cohort selection), a commercialization-support review committee (milestone verification and funding decisions), and a Partner Council of corporate and investor partners. RTI International serves as NCTI’s independent external evaluator.
Partners
A National Network of Networks
NCTI is anchored by UCF’s three active NSF TIP programs — the Accelerating Research Translation award, the Florida Semiconductor Engine, and the Southeast Hub of NSF I-Corps — and backed by committed collaborators spanning national laboratories, industry, venture capital, healthcare systems, research universities, and economic development organizations, including:
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- Defense Innovation Unit (DIU)
- DeepWork Capital
- Florida High Tech Corridor
- Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology, UC Berkeley
- Orlando Health
- Nemours Children’s Health
- Arctic Wolf
- Addition Financial
- Fairwinds Credit Union
Become a partner. NCTI is building a national bench of mentors, co-investors, corporate customers, and laboratory partners. If your organization wants to help move federally funded deep tech to market, reach out to our team at ncti-information@ucf.edu.
FAQ
NCTI is a national institute, led by the University of Central Florida and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), that helps NSF SBIR/STTR Phase II/IIB deep-technology companies move their technologies across the commercialization “valley of death.” It delivers milestone-based commercialization support to a pilot cohort, education and orientation resources to the broader awardee community, and access to mentors, investors, industry partners, and national laboratories. NCTI also operates as a national field study to determine which interventions, delivered to which companies and at what funding levels, are most effective.
NCTI supports companies through five program areas:
- SUPPORT: A pilot cohort of six to eight companies is selected through a national competition. Each selected company completes a diagnostic triage and receives an Individualized Commercialization Plan, milestone-based Participant Commercialization Support sized to the validation evidence investors require ($1M–$3.75M), lead advisors and mentor teams, concierge delivery of resources, and investor introductions.
- EDUCATE: Cohort sessions, peer roundtables, and expert office hours are delivered to the broader Phase II/IIB awardee community on topics such as entity formation, customer discovery, raising capital, and intellectual property.
- ORIENT: A national video series orients early-stage (Phase I) founders to the commercial issues ahead.
- CONNECT: Intake and referral pathways with NSF I-Corps hubs and NSF program directors route companies to the right resource at the right stage.
- NETWORK: Mentor, investor, industry, and national-laboratory networks provide brokered access to the expertise and facilities that each company’s plan requires.
The application intake opens on October 20, 2026, and closes on December 15, 2026, providing an eight-week application period for eligible companies. As part of the application intake process, a Letter of Intent (LOI) is also required and is due November 6, 2026.
Applicants should expect to provide basic demographic information, non-proprietary/non-confidential technology information, and other information typically found in a business commercialization plan. Detailed information will be available when the solicitation is released on October 20, 2026.
During the application process, we will collect demographic, technology, and commercialization-readiness information (see Q4). During funding, we will collect and anonymize information related to evaluating our pilot program. NCTI is a pilot program designed to evaluate whether providing commercialization support after SBIR/STTR Phase II is effective. You will be provided with informed consent forms to review before any information is collected.
A company is eligible to apply if it meets all three of the following criteria:
- holds an NSF SBIR/STTR Phase II or IIB award that is active or was completed within the last two years;
- is a U.S. owned, SBIR-eligible small business;
- has associated technology that is at or beyond proof-of-concept validation (TRL 4 or higher).
A company is eligible to apply if its award expiration date falls after August 1, 2024. If the award was extended and the extended expiration date falls after August 1, 2024, the company remains eligible, but it must provide documentation of the extension at the time of application.
The same criteria apply. If your company was acquired but still remains a U.S.-owned, SBIR-eligible small business, then you are eligible for the NCTI program. SBIR-eligible companies are for-profit organizations that are:
- U.S. based (operating primarily in the U.S.)
- More than 50% owned by a U.S. citizen or legal resident
- Fewer than 500 employees
For more information about SBIR eligibility, please see: https://www.sbir.gov/sites/default/files/elig_size_compliance_guide.pdf
No. At this time, only recipients of NSF SBIR/STTR Phase II/IIB awards are eligible to apply.
No. At this time, only recipients of NSF SBIR/STTR Phase II/IIB awards are eligible to apply.
No. Only companies that have received a funded award are eligible. Once the award is secured and its status is active, the company may apply, provided it does so before the application period closes on December 15, 2026.
No. Applicants are not required to submit a pitch to NCTI or NSF before applying. Applicants may upload a video of up to two minutes during the application period, but this is optional.
Yes. Any proof of commercialization readiness will be considered in the application process.
No. If the contract is terminated, the company is not eligible to apply.
No. Only companies that have received an NSF SBIR/STTR Phase II/IIB award are eligible to apply.
Contact
National Commercialization and Translation Institute (NCTI)
University of Central Florida, Office of Research
4000 Central Florida Blvd., Orlando, Florida 32816
407.823.2000
- General Inquiries:
- ncti-information@ucf.edu
- Media:
- Nicole Dudenhoefer · Nicole.Dudenhoefer@ucf.edu