Click through the tabs below for specific FAQs on the CIMIT FY11 CIMIT Innovation Grants grants and the CIMIT Prize for Primary Healthcare for engineering students.
- Grants FAQs
- CIMIT Prize FAQs
Print this page.These FAQs pertain specifically to CIMIT Innovation Grants.
1. What types of grants are offered in FY11?
2. What are the review criteria?
4. How does CIMIT define a “clinical environment”?
5. What is the "institutional sign off page"?
8. Will you accept a video showing how my system works?
9. I am writing a pre-proposal. May I include lots of references?
10. May I submit copies of relevant publications?
11. Does CIMIT give multi-year Grants?
12. My pre-proposal was accepted. Now what?
13. What does it mean that Full Proposals are evaluated “as written?”
15. When are applications due?
16. When is funding activated?
17. What are CIMIT's areas of interest?
18. What support does CIMIT provide in preparation?
19. Who reviews the Full Proposal applications?
21. Does giving an oral presentation give the applicant an advantage?
22. Is there anything "special" applicants should know?
23. Why does CIMIT require a PDF format for my submission?
24. Where do I submit my pre-proposal?
25. Where and how do I submit my full proposal?
26. Who should I list as collaborators?
27. In preparing my proposal, may I use pieces of my recent NIH proposal?
28. Does CIMIT support software development?
29. Why does CIMIT not support pharmaceutical development?
30. How is "novelty" characterized by CIMIT reviewers?
31. Why doesn't CIMIT fund development and testing of new MR pulse sequences?
32. Does CIMIT support projects outside the Boston region?
33. Does CIMIT fund clinical trials?
34. Is my proposal treated confidentially? How about my reports?
35. If I present at an Army review is that a "Public Disclosure"?
36. Why does CIMIT require quarterly reports?
37. When will I receive my funding?
38. Why does the Army require secondary reviews of animal and human use?
39. Does CIMIT accept applications for funding from companies?
40. Who can apply for CIMIT grants?
41. The standard NIH bio is four pages. Which material do you want for the CIMIT biosketch format?
1. What types of grants are offered in FY11?
For FY11, CIMIT will award Innovation Grants in amounts up to $70,000 direct cost (up to $100,000 total cost). These grants will be awarded for early stage, collaborative research projects for improving patient care, with emphasis on devices, procedures, diagnosis, and clinical (health care delivery) systems. All applications for funding (pre-proposal and invited full proposals) will be evaluated using one set of review criteria. Career Development Awards and other fellowships are not included in the Request for Applications due February 15, 2010.
Return to top2. What are the review criteria?
General Review Criteria:
- Programmatic fit within an existing CIMIT program area, in the gaps between program areas or expanded into a new area within the CIMIT Mission
- Collaborative nature of the project (multidisciplinary/ inter-institutional)
- High likelihood of rapid impact on patient care, with plans that include early “prove-out” milestones.
- Other established funding mechanisms are not appropriate or available as a funding source and CIMIT support (including facilitation support) is essential to its success.
- Potential exit strategies for the project including future alternative funding sources, contacts with companies, licensing and venturing opportunities.
Specific Review Criteria:
- Importance of the problem (prevalence, morbidity, costs, inadequacy of existing approaches) and unmet clinical need.
- Anticipated impact on patient care.
- Improvements in safety, quality, efficiency, and cost; including potential benefits to an interoperable environment.
- Novelty of the technology, or new medical application of existing technology.
- Methods, including experimental design, animal/human models if required, test methods, and analytical techniques.
- Work Plan: specific aims (including explicit metrics of success), milestones, and schedule.
- Fit of budget to work plan.
- Qualifications and track-record of the investigator and laboratory in this research area and prior CIMIT awards.
- Intellectual property history related to the proposed innovation(s) and opportunities.
- If appropriate, tangible evidence of institutional support.
3. To help me with my pre-proposal, I am interested in knowing what will be emphasized in evaluating full proposals. What information is requested and what are the evaluation criteria for full proposals?
Only those pre-proposals selected by the review team and invited to submit full-proposals will be accepted for the final round. Review criteria for full proposals are the same as for pre-proposals. Full proposals will be asked to include: Abstracts, Body Text and References, Biographical Sketches, Letters of Support, Budgets and Justifications, Compliance Forms and Institutional Approvals.
More information is available at the proposal submission site: https://precisionconference.com/~cimit
4. How does CIMIT define a “clinical environment”?
A “clinical environment” includes all settings where care is delivered – from hospital to home. Clinical systems include any and all healthcare delivery systems.
5. What is the "institutional sign off page?"
It is the official document from your research administration office indicating that your proposal is approved by your institution. If you are at MGH, approval from your Department Chief is needed in lieu of central Grants and Contracts approval. For all other CIMIT institutions, the Research Administration office is the institutional office of record. This document must also be converted into PDF format.
6. How do we compute overhead on purchased materials and services?
Use 40% indirect cost rate on a modified total direct cost base (as for Federal applications).
7. Does the page limit on Body Text for full proposals include all the items listed as a part of the Body Text?
Yes, including the pictures and tables and everything other than references.
8. Will you accept a video showing how my system works?
No
9. I am writing a pre-proposal. May I include lots of references?
You may include use as many references as you want, but if you are showing more than a couple, your reviewers will wonder why you are not using that space to more fully explain the clinical impact or novelty of your idea. Your mastery of the literature will be apparent from what you say, not how you footnote it.
10. May I submit copies of relevant publications?
No
11. Does CIMIT give multi-year Grants?
There are no multi-year awards in the FY11 Request for Applications.
12. My pre-proposal was accepted. Now what?
Submit a full proposal by March 31, 2010. Follow the step-by-step instructions on the web-based submission site. The files do not need to be loaded all at once. The PI may log on as many times as necessary until midnight March 31. Full proposal submissions are invited for only that Program for which your pre-proposal was approved.
13. What does it mean that Full Proposals are evaluated “as written?”
The reviewers will not suggest modifications to your proposal, nor will they assume that gaps in the work plan will be filled. CIMIT Site Miners and Program Leaders can provide helpful feedback on your proposal before it is submitted. Please seek them out.
14. The instructions on the CIMIT website I got using the "search" function on the site are different from those on your web submission site...which do I use?
A search will sometimes pull up old web pages. The instructions on the web-based submission site are the official instructions.
15. When are applications due?
Pre-proposals are due by midnight, EST, February 15, 2010. Competitive proposals that meet the CIMIT review criteria outlined in the FY11 CIMIT Innovation Grants RFA and are selected for the final round will be invited to submit a full proposal. Full proposals are due by March 31, 2010.
16. When is funding activated?
Notification of successful applicants will be made on or about June 16, 2010. Funding is expected to be available October 1, 2010 but will depend on the availability of Federal funds and receipt of any necessary IRB/IACUC approvals.
Return to top
17. What are CIMIT's areas of interest?
CIMIT seeks in early stage, collaborative research projects for improving patient care, with emphasis on devices, procedures, diagnosis, and clinical systems. Projects should address unmet clinical needs in CIMIT Program areas or in the gaps that may exist between program areas.
In FY11, CIMIT is particularly interested projects that address:
- New approaches in neurotechnologies, the diagnosis and treatment of neurotrauma, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and the evaluation and management of pain.
- Innovations to address clinical problems that would benefit from interoperability of medical data, devices and clinical systems and/or integration of clinical environments.
18. What support does CIMIT provide in preparation?
CIMIT Program Leaders, Site Miners and staff are available to guide the development and submission of applications. In addition, these professionals offer assistance throughout the year.
19. Who reviews the Full Proposal applications?
CIMIT Review Panels are made up of practicing clinicians, engineers and scientists with broad experience in medical innovation. Also, all full proposal applications are reviewed by a panel of leading physicians and engineers convened by the US Army.
20. What about Oral Presentations…Didn't CIMIT have oral presentations by some Is last year?
What about this year?
Yes. The review process anticipates a certain number of oral presentations during the full proposal review phase. Presenters will be selected at random, based primarily on availability for the time slots established by the panel.
21. Does giving an oral presentation give the applicant an advantage?
Data from the past five years indicates that most of the time it doesn't make a difference. Sometimes the PI succeeds in raising the score of the Army panel. Yet, about an equal number of times, the PI reveals a significant shortcoming of the proposed work, and lowers the score. The Army panel rankings are factored into the final CIMIT funding decision.
22. Is there anything "special" applicants should know?
Key elements of a strong application are collaboration and innovation. CIMIT encourages work between investigators in different institutions, and among clinicians, scientists and engineers who might not normally work together. The “key personnel” section of your proposal should make this explicit.
23. Why does CIMIT require a PDF format for my submission?
Most proposals contain imported data and objects, including but not limited to photography, graphics, graphs, charts, spreadsheets and other compilations of data. Peer review necessitates distribution of proposals to individuals who have different versions of computer software and/or operating systems. Requiring a PDF formatted document of a proposal is the only way CIMIT can guarantee that all information contained in the proposal will appear correctly to all reviewers. Note that most common word processing programs have a “Print to pdf” feature, so it is easy to make the required files and check their appearance.
24. Where do I submit my pre-proposal?
All pre-proposal information must be submitted through the Precision Conference site: https://precisionconference.com/~cimit. No material can be submitted directly to CIMIT staff.
25. Where and how do I submit my full proposal?
All full proposal information must be submitted through the Precision Conference site: https://precisionconference.com/~cimit. No material can be submitted directly to CIMIT staff. Since you have an accepted pre-proposal, you will simply modify that submission using the Full Proposal instructions. Access this by logging on, and Clicking on “Submissions in Progress.” Your pre-proposal account should be listed under “CIMIT March 2010, #xxx.” Click on “modify my submission,” to reach the Full Proposal submission page.
26. Who should I list as collaborators?
List only individuals who have participated in preparing the proposals and will actively perform the work. Avoid honorific or collaborations “in name only.”
27. In preparing my proposal, may I use pieces of my recent NIH proposal?
Yes, but remember CIMIT has different goals and review criteria. CIMIT does not require extensive bibliographies or Preliminary Studies. However, if there is related work done by another group, distinguish your approach accordingly. See question 41 regarding using your NIH bio.
28. Does CIMIT support software development?
CIMIT distinguishes between routine software engineering (data processing, interfacing, simple signal processing), and research software in which new algorithmic approaches are required to solve a clinical problem. Like any other task, software engineering may be supported when it is necessary to meet project objectives. Research software projects must be approached in the context of a clinical procedure or care pathway, and the project must involve direct collaboration with a physician in the appropriate specialty.
CIMIT does not support classic Information Technology projects (electronic patient record, data mining for decision support, care pathway automation, software systems engineering, etc.) because CIMIT member institutions and industry groups are already investing significant resources in these areas.
In general, CIMIT does not support the development of public domain data repositories that can be used to further medical research. However, CIMIT has supported projects that use such repositories for algorithm validation. For proposed projects within the Clinical Systems Innovation program, the best gauge of the suitability of a software project for CIMIT funding is whether it is more appropriate for a Hospital IT department, using their much more substantial research resources. Collaboration with Hospital IT groups is an option on a case-by-case basis.
29. Why does CIMIT not support pharmaceutical development?
CIMIT recognizes that the development of new pharmaceutical agents is generally well supported by major industrial labs, while the underlying basic research is supported by the NIH, both at much larger scales than CIMIT. This is also true of the general fields of surface chemistry and coatings. CIMIT has, however, actively supported the development and demonstration of devices for the local delivery of pharmaceutical agents, and, on occasion, agents to improve the contrast of imaging systems when the project is multidisciplinary. Also, CIMIT has supported multidisciplinary teams seeking new approaches to tissue engineering and wound healing.
30. How is "novelty" characterized by CIMIT reviewers?
CIMIT rarely supports novel science or engineering as normally interpreted in those disciplines because such projects typically require many years of development before they may be considered for use in medicine. Rather, CIMIT seeks the novel application of technology which is built on stable (hopefully, commercially available) platforms. Thus the novelty is in the application to a particular medical problem.
31. Why doesn't CIMIT fund development and testing of new MR pulse sequences?
MR pulse sequence development and similar large multidisciplinary fields are well supported by industry and NIH. CIMIT does not view its role as "second guessing" the established sources of such support.
32. Does CIMIT support projects outside the Boston region?
As a general rule for most CIMIT grants, investigators view the facilitation accompanying a CIMIT Grant as a critical component to the financial support. Distance precludes effective facilitation. However, CIMIT frequently supports local effort as a part of national collaborations.
33. Does CIMIT fund clinical trials?
No, using the definition of a clinical trial as work in which the data is gathered for possible presentation to the FDA. The technologies involved are, generally too fully developed to be of interest to CIMIT. CIMIT funds earlier stage projects than “tests in humans.”
34. Is my proposal treated confidentially? How about my reports?
All proposals are managed with all reasonable efforts to ensure that intellectual property (IP) rights and confidential plans are protected. CIMIT reporting does not constitute a public disclosure of an idea. However, investigators should take all the normal steps to protect valuable IP within their own institution, and should exercise discretion in sharing sensitive materials in public environments such as the CIMIT Forum. Furthermore, investigators should be aware that CIMIT reports to the DoD or other federal agencies may become public at some point, in response to requests from private parties, and redaction of information thought to be confidential cannot be guaranteed.
35. If I present at an Army review is that a "Public Disclosure"?
No. Army reviews such as the CIMIT proposal peer review or TATRC Product Line Reviews are confidential. However, items presented at an open Army Meeting such as ATACCC would likely be considered disclosed to the public.
36. Why does CIMIT require quarterly reports?
In accepting a Grant from the US Army, CIMIT agrees to submit Quarterly Reports to the Army. Therefore any CIMIT Grants of funds received from the US Army carry a parallel reporting requirement.
37. When will I receive my funding?
CIMIT's goal is to release funding on or about October 1, 2010. Individual project start dates will depend on the timeliness of your revised administrative materials, should they be needed and DoD approval of any human or animal work proposed.
38. Why does the Army require secondary reviews of animal and human use?
Due to the nature of military service, the regulations governing the experimentation on animals and humans by the armed forces have explicit extra protections for research subjects. Since CIMIT is supported by the Army, these regulations apply to most CIMIT projects.
39. Does CIMIT accept applications for funding from companies?
No. In general, Principal Investigators of CIMIT-supported collaborations have faculty (or equivalent level) appointments, usually at one of the CIMIT consortium institutions.
Return to top
40. Who can apply for CIMIT grants?
Anyone holding a faculty appointment at an academic medical center or university in greater Boston may apply for a CIMIT grant. However, most CIMIT grants are awarded to principal investigators within CIMIT's consortium institutions. Applicants for CIMIT Innovation Grants must be authorized by their institutions to be responsible principal investigators. Post-docs may not apply, a faculty supervisor must serve as the PI. Some other CIMIT awards, such as career development awards, do not have this condition.
41. The standard NIH bio is four pages. Which material do you want for the CIMIT biosketch format?
We only need the equivalent of parts A, B, and C of the standard NIH bio. We do not need information on your research support. Thus the two page limit. If you have the new format with the personal statement, that's fine. If you have the old format, that's fine also. If you don't have an NIH bio for a person, just supply the comparable information in two pages. Do what's easiest.
Print this page.
FAQs for Letter of Intent Submissions (Pre-proposal)
1. What is the definition of primary care?
Primary care is “frontline medicine” typically delivered by internists, pediatricians, family practitioners and is usually found in a clinic-based setting. Primary care may be delivered via outreach in the home or community as well. A multi-disciplinary team-based approach to primary care includes nurse practitioners, nutritionists, physical therapists and other professionals.
2. Can one university or program submit multiple applications?
There is no limit on the number of applications a university or program can submit, however, a student can submit only one application.
3. Can a student submit more than one application?
Students can only submit one application, however, there is no limit on the number of applications a university or program can submit.
4. Can a team of students apply or just individual students?
Teams of students are strongly encouraged.
5. Can a student team include students from multiple universities and/or disciplines?
Students can be drawn from multiple universities and disciplines (e.g., medical students), however, the project leader must be an engineering student enrolled in good standing at the responsible institution.
6. Can the team include industry partners?
Only students can be on the team receiving the prize and using the prize money. However advice and/or technical help from industry professionals is acceptable as long as it is consistent with the student team’s institutional policies regarding industry relations.
7. Can the team include faculty members?
Only students can be on the team receiving the prize and using the prize money. However, mentorship by faculty members is certainly acceptable.
8. Can students participate who will graduate during the competition?
The student project leader submitting an entry must be enrolled and in good standing at the responsible institution for the duration of the competition, but the variations of student status of other members of the team is not a concern.
9. What is meant by “the responsible institutional official”?
Institutional Official means an individual at your engineering school with authority to accept responsibility for funds.
10. What information must the institutional letter of support convey?
The Letter of Support simply needs to be on institutional letterhead for verification of authenticity, and needs to affirm three things:
a) that the entrant is a student in good standing in the school,
b) that the institution will accept the responsibilities for oversight of any matters of compliance with regulations and policies,
c) that the institution will disburse the Prize funds, as transferred from CIMIT, for purposes related to the advancement of the project or for direct support of the student or the benefit of the student's career, and will not deduct any indirect-cost amounts, tuition charges, or other fees of any sort.
11. Who retains the rights to any intellectual property generated by a proposal?
Management of intellectual property will be determined by the institutional policies of the entity responsible for the proposal. No rights to intellectual property are retained by CIMIT entities administering the award.
12. Should I disclose any unprotected proprietary information in the letter of intent?
Protecting proprietary information is the responsibility of the applicant and the applicant institution. Any intellectual property needing protection should be protected before submission (within the applicant's own institution's processes and policies) or should not be disclosed in the letter of intent, leaving time to protect it later before any public disclosure. A variety of reviewers will be used to select the finalists. They will not be asked to commit formally to non-disclosure agreements because of the volume of material they will be asked to review. Reviewers will be asked to treat conceptual material with the normal discretion asked of peer reviewers of manuscripts or proposals.
13. Can individuals who are not graduate or undergraduate students in engineering programs apply?
Individual applicants, or team leaders in the case of applicant teams, must be graduate or undergraduate students in engineering programs. Clinicians may be collaborators. Business-school students or medical students may be team members, but the project leader must be engineering students.
FAQs for Finalists
1. What expenses are allowable?
Any expense that advances the project towards a more advanced and compelling final submission is allowable. For example, these include any expenses for supplies, machine-shop charges, partial stipend support for a student-member of the team, project-related travel, and the like. Expenses must be reimbursed via your institution's check-payment procedures with the assistance of your institutional official who will act as steward of the $10,000 fund CIMIT is providing to them.
2. Should expense receipts be submitted to CIMIT with the full proposal?
Receipts should be saved as documentation and review according to your own institution's requirements, but need not be submitted to CIMIT.
3. How should proprietary information be managed?
While the submitted materials will be treated with discretion, CIMIT cannot provide any assurance of confidentiality in accepting them. CIMIT uses reviewers, for example, in judging merit of the submissions, and while they will also be expected to use discretion they are not bound by any confidential-disclosure agreements. That would be impractical and unrealistic to seek. In fact your submission should be written with the potential of winning a final Prize in mind, and therefore with the understanding that publicity will be appropriate and of value to you in advancing the cause of your project. Even projects that do not win one of the three large prizes may be suitable for wider dissemination and publicity as part of CIMIT's communication to media about the worthiness of all the entries. Thus information considered proprietary by you and not yet protected by copyright or patent-application processes should not be included in the submission. Functional performance can be described without all the underlying detail of any inventions or proprietary techniques, if those are sensitive material. CIMIT will endeavor to consult with all Finalists about any communications it releases in its publicity, but given the tight time-frame between final submission and announcement of the winners, it may not be possible to arrange your review or approval of the text in our announcements. In addition to general publicity, we may see specific opportunities to help you advance your project by connecting you with companies interested in commercializing portions of your work. In that case we will broker your direct contacts with such company(s) if you so desire. As stated in the original announcement of this Prize, any intellectual property remains under ownership of your institution, if so assigned, or of the inventors. CIMIT will not assert any rights related to the funding we provide.
4. Should the final submission include a budget?
A budget is not required. However, a statement as to the value of the prize to the recipient (either to advance the project or their career) would be a positive addition.
5. Is there a particular format/layout that is preferred for the submission?
There is no specific format/layout that is preferred, except that all text must be in a readable font (at least Arial 11 point) and margins must be at least 0.7 inches. The design of the submission is at the discretion of the finalist. The desired elements are available on the submission site: https://precisionconference.com/~cimit.
6. Is there a specific order that the sections must be addressed or is it open for the applicants to provide all of the information in the most compelling way?
The sequencing and approach is at the discretion of the finalist.
7. Should the final submission be more like a scientific write-up or a business write-up to pitch the idea?
The report should provide a compelling justification for the innovation with clear advocacy of the pathway to clinical impact.
8. Can additional sections be added to those listed in the website instructions for the final proposal?
Sections may be added at the discretion of the finalist.
9. Do business financials need to be included in the application?
Business financials do not need to be included in the application. However, any thoughts on the practicality of commercialization are welcome.
10. As we are writing the final proposal, should we address the project as if we are receiving $150,000, $100,000, or $50,000? Since there is a factor of 3 difference between first and third place, certain facets of the project could be accomplished given the largest of the prize monies but not necessarily with the smallest.
Your final entry will be judged based on the work to date (of submission at the end of May), and on its promise for the future within a reasonable time frame, with realistically achievable resources. Don't think specifically about whether it can reach full impact with one particular level of prize money from this competition alone. The judges won't consider that.
11. Given the delays in processing the $10,000 awards, both in sending checks out from CIMIT, and in processing them in the recipient institutions, does all the money have to be spent by May 31, with the residual being returned to CIMIT?
We understand the difficulties created by the short time frame, and thus are re-wording our policy on 'unused funds', as follows: The deadline for final submissions in competition for the CIMIT Primary Care Prize is, and remains, May 31. However the $10,000 award to each Finalist need not be entirely spent by that date. CIMIT will expect that any funds not expended from the $10,000 by October 31 be returned to CIMIT by the recipient institution's officials. The expectations as to 'allowable' versus 'unallowable' uses of the funds remains unchanged. As to the uses of the three top prize awards, there will be no time limit on the use of those funds, just the expectation of proper stewardship regarding their expenditure, for advancement of the winning project and/or the career(s) of the winners.
12. How do I include video attachments in the final submission?
Any videos you may have of your final projects can be posted to YouTube (or any other video hosting site) and the link included in your final submission. Please opt for the "private" posting option rather than the "public" posting.
Get Involved
Support CIMIT's Mission
Join Industry Liaison Program
Apply for Grant
Contact UsCIMIT does not rate, endorse, recommend or prescribe any products, procedures or services.
Subscribe to CIMIT News in RSSContact the Webmaster
Site Acknowledgements Copyright © 2010 CIMIT. All rights reserved.
site map
linking policy
privacy