1 - What is the SPARK Colorado Program?

SPARK is a biotechnology accelerator program to support promising academic discoveries towards commercialization and/or entering into the clinic. The program specifically focuses on technologies addressing unmet clinical needs in drugs, medical devices, and diagnostics.

There is no digiSPARK cycle this year. If you have a digital health solution, please reach out to CU Innovations directly to discuss future digiSPARK opportunities.

2 - What does a SPARK Award provide to accepted projects?

SPARK Awards provide funding, mentorship, education, opportunities for networking and resources to further develop accepted projects. This year, the program also includes required participation in the CCTSI I-Corps program during the application process, and the 5 selected teams will join Innosphere's Life Sciences Accelerator beginning winter 2027. This is NOT a traditional grant mechanism. The aim of the program is product development and moving your discovery from the lab to patients, and the SPARK team will be highly engaged in your success and product development process, which will require an equal time commitment from you should you get selected.

3 - How many applications do you accept per year?

For our tenth cohort, SPARK expects to select 5 teams for funding. Each applicant team is now required to include three members: a research lead, a clinical lead, and a business lead.

4 - How much funding is provided and how is it distributed?

Teams selected for SPARK Colorado will receive up to $300,000 in total program value, over an expected 2-3 year performance period. Accelerator activity — I-Corps, the Innosphere Accelerator, and the most intensive product development milestones — is concentrated in year one; later years principally involve progress updates and continued development toward the team's go/no-go milestones.

Funding is released in two installments: approximately $75,000-$90,000 directly to the team in early spring 2027, plus a $10,000-$25,000 in-kind contribution to the Innosphere Accelerator on the team's behalf; and $150,000 in state (OEDIT) funding plus a $50,000 SPARK program match — a combined $200,000 — released in summer 2027 once state contracting is complete. Applicants will work with the SPARK team to develop a milestone-based funding plan. The program reserves the right to provide different dollar amounts to selected projects depending on their need for product development.

5 - What is the source of funding?

Funding for SPARK Colorado comes from the Colorado Office of Economic Development & International Trade's (OEDIT) Advanced Industries Accelerator (AIA) program and matching sources at CU Anschutz Medical Campus including CU Innovations, Departments, and the Chancellor's Office. Part of this year's award also covers an in-kind contribution to the Innosphere Accelerator on each selected team's behalf.

6 - Are there restrictions for the use of SPARK funds?

Yes, since part of the source of funding is coming through the university, all university budgetary rules apply. For further details please see the SPARK Funding application for additional details on the budget restrictions and timeline.

7 - What is the application process?

• Applications open August 31, 2026. The Letter of Intent (LOI) and full application run concurrently.
• LOI deadline: September 28, 2026 at midnight. LOIs are reviewed on a rolling basis; eligible applicants are typically notified within 24 hours.
• Full application deadline: September 30, 2026 at 5:00 PM.
• Initial down-selection to up to 10 teams (October 2026), based on IP/patentability, commercial potential, team completeness, and participation in the Amplifire training program. If we receive an exceptionally large applicant pool, we may extend I-Corps to a second cohort.
• Down-selected teams complete the CCTSI I-Corps program (mid-October through early November 2026). At the same time, the External Review Board evaluates each team's written application.
• I-Corps final presentations (early November 2026), attended by Innosphere representatives, serve as this year's live pitch presentation, replacing a separate pitch round. Written application review and I-Corps performance come together in early November to inform final selection.
• Final 5 teams confirmed: December 2026.
• Selected teams submit their state (OEDIT Advanced Industries) application by January 6, 2027.
• Innosphere Accelerator readiness bootcamp for the 5 selected teams: winter 2027 (tentative, late January/early February).
• First funding installment released: early spring 2027.
• Second funding installment released: summer 2027, once state contracting is complete.

8 - Who will be evaluating the applications and pitch presentations?

Two reviews run in parallel and are combined for final selection. The External Review Board (comprised of successful life science entrepreneurs, industry experts, and CU Innovations' Entrepreneurs-in-Residence) evaluates each team's written application during October and into November. At the same time, down-selected teams complete the CCTSI I-Corps program; their final I-Corps presentations in early November, attended by Innosphere representatives and members of the ERB, serve as this year's live pitch and fully replace the separate pitch-presentation round used in past cohorts. The written review and I-Corps outcomes are considered together to select the final 5 teams.

9 - Who is eligible for SPARK Awards?

The applicant (typically the research lead) must be an eligible principal investigator from CU Anschutz. The clinical lead and business lead do not need to be CU Anschutz affiliated and may be external; for example, a business lead might be an industry professional or an alumnus of the lab with relevant commercial experience. See Question 13 for more on this year's required team composition.

10 - What kind of technology is eligible for SPARK Awards?

SPARK Awards support therapeutics, medical devices, and diagnostics addressing unmet medical needs.

Projects must be an idea or invention based on University of Colorado Anschutz or CU Denver intellectual property. Preference will be given to projects with a patent pending or where a provisional patent application covering the technology has been filed. Technologies already optioned or licensed to a company are not eligible.

11 - Can a PI submit more than one application?

Yes, however only one of their projects will actually be admitted. Multiple technologies can be 'packaged' into single applications if it is logical for their development.

12 - Can solo PI's apply?

Not this year. Every applicant team is required to have three members: a research lead, a clinical lead, and a business lead. The research lead must be an eligible CU Anschutz PI (the funding recipient); the clinical lead and business lead may be external to CU Anschutz; for example, a business lead could be an industry professional or an alumnus of the lab with relevant commercial experience.

If you don't yet have a clinical lead or business lead identified, we recommend trying to identify someone before the application deadline. This could be a graduate student or postdoc interested in committing time and pursuing an entrepreneurial development pathway. The LOI includes a specific question asking whether you have these individuals identifed. If you're unable to form a complete team, indicate as such on the LOI and your project will be automatically flagged as candidates for our earlier-stage mentoring-only program through the HIE Venture Mentoring Service (VMS) program rather than this year's SPARK cohort.

All three roles are expected to be genuinely and actively engaged throughout the process, including the I-Corps program (see Question 19). The sustained, hands-on nature of I-Corps naturally surfaces how committed and aligned a team really is, which is one of the reasons it's now built into the application process.

13 - What are the expectations from SPARK Fellows?

Successful applicants will have a strong desire and willingness to learn, receive guidance from industry experts, and commit the time necessary to translate their technology from the lab to the marketplace. Teams should expect to commit a minimum of 10 hours per month to commercial development activities, meetings, and events, in addition to lab-based product development/ideation. The program will also require the faculty to work closely with the CU Innovations team, unlike a traditional grant.

As part of the application process, applicant teams are required to participate in the CCTSI I-Corps program. For the 5 teams selected, participation in the Innosphere Life Sciences Accelerator is also part of the program.

SPARK Fellows will:

• Work with the SPARK and CU Innovations teams to develop and hit commercially relevant milestones,
• Attend monthly 1:1 meetings with a SPARK Project Manager and ad hoc meetings with advisors, service providers, industry providers, or investors,
• Attend monthly SPARK community and education sessions,
• Provide quarterly updates to the SPARK community, and
• Commit time to commercial development activities, collateral development, and translational story building.

14 - What elements are important for the application?

• Does the proposal address a significant unmet need?
• How solid is the scientific rationale (theory and available data)?
• How well-differentiated is the proposed approach vs. standard of care and competition in industry and academia?
• Is there a clear path forward to de-risk the proposal?
• How engaged is the team behind the proposal?
• Does the proposal have IP and commercial potential? If not, what would be a possible development path to make the product available to patients?

For this year's initial down-selection specifically, reviewers will also weigh IP/patentability, market potential, completeness of the required research/clinical/business team, and the team's participation in the free Amplifire Business of Science training program (not required but strongly encouraged).

15 - Does CU Innovations provide help in filling out parts of the form?

Yes. The SPARK program is designed to help faculty learn about product development. We do, however, expect applicants to do research and utilize the commercialization resources available on our website. There is no live bootcamp session scheduled during this year's application process, but recordings from a previous SPARK bootcamps are available here, and applicants have access to the Amplifire training modules throughout the application process. This is separate from the Innosphere-run bootcamp in January, which is reserved for finalist teams only. We will also organize office hours to answer any questions you might have during the application process; exact dates will be announced on the SPARK website.

16 - Do I get help if I decide to set up a company?

Absolutely! CU Innovations already offers this help to all faculty on the campus.

17 - What is the CCTSI I-Corps program, and why is it required?

I-Corps is a structured, roughly three-week customer discovery program, offered this year through CCTSI, in which teams interview potential customers and stakeholders to test and refine their commercial hypotheses. This year, down-selected SPARK applicant teams are required to complete I-Corps as part of the application process. It replaces the standalone pitch presentation used in past cohorts, and each team's final I-Corps participation and presentation is factored directly into selection of the final 5 SPARK teams.

Over the past decade of running SPARK, we've consistently seen that teams who had already gone through I-Corps-style customer discovery tended to be among the program's most successful. Building I-Corps directly into this year's application process is meant to: (1) help committed teams stand out early, (2) prepare all down-selected teams for the customer discovery work central to the subsequent Innosphere Accelerator, and (3) give every team lasting, practical value from the process - even those who aren't ultimately selected for SPARK funding. Learn more about the CCTSI I-Corps program here.

18 - What is the Innosphere Accelerator, and what does it involve for selected teams?

Innosphere Ventures runs a Life Sciences Accelerator that the 5 teams selected for SPARK funding will also join, beginning with a readiness bootcamp tentatively planned for late January/early February 2027. Innosphere was recently names to TIME's 2026 list of America's Best Incubators & Accelerators (#36), one of only 80 programs nationally to make the list. Innosphere representatives are also present at the final I-Corps presentations and help inform selection of the final 5 teams. Part of each selected team's SPARK award covers an in-kind contribution toward their place in the Accelerator.

19 - What is the Amplifire "Business of Science" platform?

Amplifire is an the Al-powered workforce learning platform built on decades of brain science. The Business of Science is CU Innovations' adaptive learning course covering biomedical innovation and commercialization topics. Applicant teams have access to the Amplifire training modules throughout the application process, and participation is one of the factors considered in the initial down-selection. Learn more here.

20 - What was REACH Colorado?

NIH has been funding the establishment of Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hubs (REACH) across the country which is designed to accelerate the translation of scientific discoveries into commercial products that improve health of patients. CU Innovations, by using the SPARK Colorado program as the 'preliminary data' applied for the NIH REACH grant and was selected to be one of the five new REACH Hubs funded in 2019. Hence, part of the funding for the SPARK program for cohorts 3-7 came from NIH REACH funds and the program was called SPARK|REACH. Since the REACH funding ended as planned in 2024, cohort 8 reverted back to the SPARK Colorado branding.

21 - Who should I ask if I have additional questions?

For more information about SPARK, visit the SPARK website. Interested applicants are encouraged to reach out to the SPARK CU Team or your CU Innovations case manager to discuss eligibility, program requirements, and application preparation.

You can find more information about REACH Hubs here: https://seed.nih.gov/

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