2024 Manufacturing Grants
Frequently Asked Questions
As part of the Jeff Lawrence Innovation Fund, FuzeHub’s Manufacturing Grants are designed to encourage collaboration between not-for-profit organizations and small to medium-sized manufacturing companies in New York State. The grants serve as a resource to help companies achieve success from early stage, proof of concept through maturity. The partnership created with the not-for-profit organization serves as a pathway to technology transfer, adoption and implementation of new manufacturing processes, as well as the creation of enhanced products and services.
2024 Manufacturing Grants - Round 2
- Awards up to $65K Each | Deadline is May 14, 2024
The lead applicant of a FuzeHub Manufacturing Grant is an eligible New York State not-for-profit. The lead applicant should be the person to create the SurveyMonkey Apply account and, therefore, “own” the application.
A representative from the not-for-profit organization must complete the online application at https://fuzehub.smapply.io/. Applicants will be required to create a SurveyMonkey Apply account in order to submit an application.
No. It is not required for the manufacturing company to be a startup. While we do have additional awards reserved for teams that include a startup, companies in any stage of development or revenue are eligible and encouraged to apply to the Manufacturing Grants.
If awarded, the not-for-profit will enter into a contract with FuzeHub. They will then submit the milestone reports and supporting documentation as the project progresses. A not-for-profit chosen representative will be the point of contact for FuzeHub for all grant-related matters, and they will be responsible for updating the industry partner(s), which may or may not be included in communication coming from FuzeHub.
A DUNS number is a unique nine-digit identification number provided by Dun & Bradstreet (D&B). In order to verify or obtain registration, the industry partner can contact D&B at 1-800-234-3867.
Alternatively, the industry partner may go online to:
- verify/update a DUNS#: https://www.dnb.com/duns-number/view-update-company-credit-file.html
- obtain a new DUNS #: https://www.dnb.com/duns-number/get-a-duns.html
To be eligible as the industry partner, a manufacturing company must have a valid NAICS code listed in their Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) profile. Check the guidelines for a current list of valid codes. If the manufacturer does not currently have a valid code listed with D&B, they will need to contact D&B and request that the proper code be added.
NAICS was designed and documented in a way that allows businesses to self-code. To choose a code, you can use this Search Tool. Enter a keyword that describes the type of business, then choose the code from the list that most closely corresponds to the primary business activity, or refine the search to obtain other choices. Alternatively, you may browse the Manufacturing NAICS Codes and Titles to find a code.
If you need help with this requirement, you may contact FuzeHub staff and we will walk you through it.
There are several documents that can individually fulfill this requirement, including but not limited to:
- copy of an executed lease/tenancy agreement in the company name
- copy a utility bill in the company name
- copy of a redacted financial institution account in the company name
- copy of a filed tax return
- copy of a business license (if applicable)
- DBAs can submit a copy of the NYS Division of Corporations, State Records and Uniform Commercial Code Certificate of Assumed Name (form DO-1338-f) processed by NYS
Any member of the applicant team (the not-for-profit and the industry partner) can contribute matching funds or resources to the project. The application should clearly indicate which organizations are contributing to the match.
Equipment, materials and supplies, and consultant and staff time, so long as they are project specific and fall within the eligible costs as defined in the guidelines, are eligible to be counted for match.
FuzeHub does not make any claim to IP ownership from grant applications to the Fund. IP ownership is determined by the applicant team (the not-for-profit and the company/companies in the application), and not something that FuzeHub has a preferred policy for.
FuzeHub treats each application as confidential, and encourages applicants to clearly mark all confidential or proprietary information, including confidential IP, where it appears.
If no conflict of interest is present, the university/college administrator should submit a letter acknowledging that there is no conflict of interest, and affirm that the university/college supports the project proposal.
In cases where the university/college applicant employs an individual who is also an employee of, or has a financial stake in, a company that is part of the applicant team, the application must include a letter of support from the university/college official responsible for overseeing compliance with the institution’s conflict of interest policies. This letter must affirm the institution’s understanding of the employee’s personal interests as they relate to the project, and that the university/college supports the project and deems it compliant with the institution’s conflict of interest policies.
The conflict-of-interest letter must be signed by a university/college official.
A conflict-of-interest letter template is available in the SurveyMonkey Apply platform, under the menu Pages, MG Resources.
There is a detailed step-by-step guide to help applicants use the SurveyMonkey Apply application platform. Applicants may download this guide from within the platform, from the menu Pages, MG Resources, Application Step-by-Step Guide. If you have a technical question or problem, please contact Patty Rechberger at 518-768-7030 x512 or [email protected].
Yes, applicants are able to save their data and return to the application until the application has been submitted. Once the application is submitted, applicants will no longer be able to make changes. Applicants should not submit the application until completely satisfied with the answers.
Applicants can use the “Forgot password” button on the SurveyMonkey Apply login page to initiate a password retrieval. Please be advised that this process may take several hours, as the technical team for SurveyMonkey Apply does not automatically send out replies. This process is outside of FuzeHub’s staff’s ability to help.
An applicant may add collaborators to the application team as needed. Please note that collaborators will need to create SurveyMonkey Apply accounts. In order to join a specific application as collaborator, the person invited must click on the link they will receive via email once the main applicant person invites them. Collaborators will not be able to submit the application – only the main applicant has access to the <Submit> button. For help with this, contact Patty Rechberger at [email protected] or 518-768-7030 x512.
A receipt from FuzeHub will be sent to the SurveyMonkey Apply account owner’s email address. The receipt will show the amount paid and the last 4 digits of the credit card used but it will not refer to the FuzeHub application itself.
No. Once an applicant has formally submitted an application and received a confirmation email, no further changes can be made to the application. (It is possible to make changes to the application until the deadline, as long as the application has not been submitted.)
If you receive an error message while submitting your application, please immediately contact FuzeHub at 518-768-7030 and FuzeHub staff will work with you to resolve the issue.
Yes. The industry partner(s) will be cc’d in the award notifications that are sent out to the not-for-profit applicant. Nonetheless, FuzeHub encourages the not-for-profit applicant organizations to follow up with the industry partners every time they receive communication from FuzeHub.
It is anticipated that the award announcement for the 2024 Round 1 Manufacturing Grants will be posted to the FuzeHub website in April 2024, and the Round 2 announcement will be posted in July.
All applicants will receive an email confirmation of award status as well.
Dates are subject to change.
Posted/Modified
March 19, 2024. Please check back to this site for updates and additions to the FAQ.