The EI Catalyst Fund, launched in the spring of 2025, will build on the success of the Daedalus Fund for Innovation and provide funds to bridge critical gaps for Weill Cornell Medicine innovations but with an expanded remit that covers multiple asset pillars at different development stages, facilitates the use of expert consultants and provides educational programming for Weill Cornell innovators.
The purpose of the EI Catalyst Fund is to accelerate and transform translational research projects into innovative healthcare solutions to significantly improve patient care. The funds will move these projects toward commercialization by adding value and creating more "partnership ready" opportunities through the achievement of one or more value-creation inflection points. The fund supports proof of concept of technologies to reach the next inflection point and attract interests from industry partners, entrepreneurs and investors to 1) license technologies for commercialization, 2) create new ventures, or 3) establish corporate research collaboration.
The EI Catalyst Fund will introduce two new programs and house two pre-existing de-risking programs, all of which will be organized into three discrete tiers.
- Proto Stage Award will fund device and digital health projects and other early-stage projects on a rolling basis to validate preliminary proof-of-concept ideas and expedite the development of prototypes for commercial advancement.
- Validation Stage Award, incorporating the Ruben Validation Stage Award, will benefit projects that have already demonstrated preliminary proof of concept, identified unmet need in the market and developed a plan for commercialization. This award will serve as a reimagining of the Daedalus Fund for Innovation, which was established in 2014, to support early-stage applied and translational research projects that have clear, near-term commercial potential.
- Breakout Stage Award will allow Enterprise Innovation to provide larger funding awards to projects that require specific commercial de-risking experiments necessary for the project to advance to partnership. Enterprise Innovation will leverage external industry and investment advisors to provide feedback on project design for programs that have previously received encouraging commercial feedback following active marketing by Enterprise Innovation as well as outsource certain tasks to meet industry requirements.
Enterprise Innovation will facilitate proposal submission and review processes for all three funding tiers.*Details about the application process and submission dates will be announced shortly.*