RALEIGH — NCInnovation released its annual report for 2025, outlining the organization’s spending on grant projects and overhead costs. The annual report is mandated in statute by the legislature.
“With the expansion of regional hubs, a growing portfolio of grant-funded projects, and hands-on commercialization support, NCInnovation is delivering on its mission to accelerate the commercialization of UNC system applied research,” NCI President and CEO Bennet Waters said in a press release.
“The university-to-industry pipeline has long underpinned American innovation, and North Carolina remains well positioned to create regional economic development from its world-class research successes,” said Waters.
NCInnovation (NCI) is the nonprofit university research accelerator that was given a $500 million endowment by the General Assembly in the state’s 2022-23 budget. Under that endowment, NCI was allowed to use $50 million as investment income in the 2023-24 fiscal year and $90 million in the 2024-25 fiscal year.
Of the $500 million, $140 million was authorized for direct spending, but NCI instead invested the principal amount, accumulating around $20 million in interest that was put toward the group’s first set of grants. NCI also raised $25 million in outside funding from companies and businesses, which was used for items like salaries and operating expenses.
The NCI 2025 Annual Report includes $18.8 million in research funding awarded to 14 UNC System schools for 25 active projects since NCI launched.
“Our role is to ensure that university researchers in North Carolina are not just commercializing breakthrough ideas, but that those ideas have the resources, partnerships, and strategic support needed to get to the next stage here where they are started,” said NCI’s Executive Vice President and CIO Michelle Bolas. “This Annual Report shows our commitment to incorporating those best practices for the ultimate success of our innovators and other partners.”
Also noted was the expansion of NCI’s Regional Innovation Network from four hubs to seven, the launch of the entrepreneur-in-residence program, and more than 250 partnerships statewide across various industries with a focus on biohealth, agtech, defense, advanced manufacturing and energy transition.
NCI’s 2025 annual report is 72 pages long and includes detailed descriptions of the projects approved for grant funding.
Pilot grants totaled more than $2.3 million for eight grants across seven schools, and statewide RFP grants totaled nearly $7.6 million, according to the report.
Total expenses were stated at just under $12.3 million, including grants, more than $1.5 million in salaries and benefits, and regional hub expenses just below $850,000.
The pilot grants in the report include:
• $974,000 for East Carolina (biohealth) melanoma treatment
• $1,082,696 for UNC Wilmington (biohealth) multiyear vaccine development
• $999,963 for Western Carolina (biohealth) mosquito-borne infectious disease identification and risk assessment
• $641,951 for Appalachian State (AgTech) beehive improvement and monitoring system
• $369,024 for North Carolina A&T (biohealth) neuro drug delivery system
• $404,999 for UNC Greensboro (energy transition and electrification) lithium purification
• $400,971 for NC Central (biohealth) drinking water purification
• $354,607 for NC Central (energy transition and electrification) power-grid efficiency
There were 17 statewide RFP grants approved in mid-May totaling $13.6 million across 12 UNC System schools. The projects are described as having “achieved proof of concept” and showing commercial promise.
The largest of the 17 grants, more than $1.1 million, went to UNC Pembroke in the area of biohealth. The project is titled “Alzheimer’s/Traumatic Brain Injury therapeutic.”
The only other project receiving more than $1 million was for a hemp-based biopesticide for commercial poultry houses being worked on at Fayetteville State University.
The future of NCI’s funding remains uncertain. While the General Assembly has yet to find consensus on the state budget, both the North Carolina House and Senate have called for a clawback of the initial endowment.
