The Mass. Life Sciences Center will begin accepting applications for a $3 million matching grant program aimed at helping small life science companies that are production-ready and “poised for rapid growth that will create jobs in the Commonwealth.”
The quasi-public agency said it will provide matching grants of up to $500,000 to companies that have received Phase II or post-Phase II small business innovation research (SBIR) or small business technology transfer (STTR) grants from federal agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation or the Dept. of Defense.
The center will open the application process on its website starting Feb. 1.
Mass. Life Sciences Center president Susan Windham-Bannister said in a prepared release that the grants could help fill gaps in funding and act as a springboard for further outside investment or other federal matching grants. Unlike its accelerator loan program, which the center used to award about $3 million to local life science firms, these awards do not contain any payback provisions.