Introducing Pitt SPARK
Pitt Innovators can apply for up to $250,000 to pursue the commercialization of promising health science innovations and receive expert mentoring and project management
The University of Pittsburgh has joined SPARK GLOBAL and launched Pitt SPARK, a program to advance translational research discoveries from the bench to the bedside. Pitt is the fifth U.S. university to join this initiative, launched at Stanford University in 2006.
Pitt SPARK will provide awards of up to $250,000 for one year to support technical and/or market de-risking experiments and studies for innovations with strong commercial potential and proof-of-concept data. Successful projects that meet first-year milestones can apply for a second year of funding for up to an additional $250,000.
The deadline to apply for the first funding cohort is March 30, 2025.
The Pitt SPARK program will provide up to two awards per year for projects in life sciences-related fields that address unmet commercial needs or challenges in human health and disease.
In addition to funding, Pitt SPARK awardees will join the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship’s Pitt Community of Innovators, a new forum for Pitt researchers, OIE staff, and subject matter experts to come together for education, mentorship, and networking opportunities.
“We are thrilled to bring the SPARK GLOBAL program to Pitt innovators through the creation of the Pitt SPARK chapter,” said Jeff Garanich, Director of Innovation Programming for the OIE and Co-Director of Pitt SPARK. “It is a powerful new tool in our arsenal to assist Pitt innovators on their journeys to impact.”
SPARK GLOBAL was founded by Stanford University professors Daria Mochly-Rosen and Kevin Grimes. Peter Santa Maria, Division Chief of Otology & Neurotology and vice chair of translational research for the Department of Otolaryngology, who joined Pitt from Stanford in 2024, brought the SPARK program to the OIE’s attention. He previously served eight years as Stanford SPARK’s associate director and was director of SPARK Global for two years.
Santa Maria, who has three academic startups of his own under his belt, recently shared his experiences as an academic innovator and with SPARK GLOBAL at the inaugural gathering of the Pitt Community of Innovators
Santa Maria was instrumental in creating SPARK Africa, dedicated to providing innovators in African countries with the tools and training to solve unmet needs on that continent.