Fulton Founder in Residence (FIRE) Fellowship program

Fulton Founder in Residence (FIRE) Fellowships

The Fulton Founder in Residence (FIRE) Fellowships are a cornerstone of the Fulton Schools of Engineering’s commitment to advancing entrepreneurship and innovation at Arizona State University. The program is designed to empower PhD-trained researchers to transform university discoveries into high-impact ventures that drive economic growth, create jobs and deliver societal benefit.

FIRE Fellows focus on building startups that commercialize ASU deep technology-intellectual property and research-based innovations developed within the university community. During the Fellowship period, Fellows are provided the stability, resources and mentorship needed to move their companies from early concept toward scalable, investable enterprises.

Each Fellowship appointment is up to two years in length and provides:

• Salary and fringe benefits for the Fellow in their role as an ASU postdoctoral associate (or an equivalent research appointment)
• Credits for the use of ASU’s Core Facilities and other university resources essential for venture development
• Dedicated workspace within an ASU tech-commercialization site, such as SkySong or MacroTechnology Works
• Access to ASU’s robust entrepreneurial ecosystem, including Edson E+I Institute, InvestU, SkySong Innovations and Fulton E+I

The Fulton Schools of Engineering anticipates making 1-2 awards each year, depending on the availability of funds. Selected Fellows will join a growing community of ASU founders who are translating research into real-world impact and carrying forward the Fulton Schools’ tradition of innovation and entrepreneurship.

Any person who has completed the PhD degree in engineering or a related field, or will have completed the degree by the start of the Fellowship, is eligible to apply. In particular, applicants may be PhD students who are completing their degrees, postdoctoral researchers, research faculty, or staff researchers. This program is not aimed at tenured and tenure-track faculty, as Fellows will, in general, proceed to be full-time employees and officers of their companies after the Fellowship. Applicants should be cofounders or key personnel of a registered company that has a license (or an exclusive option to negotiate a license) to ASU intellectual property. Competitive applicants and ventures will have made beneficial use of the entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial training resources available at ASU or elsewhere prior to application.

Fulton FIRE Fellowships begin with a one-year ASU employment contract that, pending satisfactory progress and reporting, may be extended for an additional year, for a total of two years. Fellows may voluntarily end the Fellowship early if, e.g., they wish to become employees of their venture (and thus no longer of ASU) following a fundraising round.

Each Fellowship has a total value of $130,000 per year. Eligible Fellowship expenses include:

• Fellow salary up to $75,000 per year (Fellows will be hired as ASU postdoctoral associates in the Fulton Schools of Engineering, or, if a Fellow is already in another ASU research faculty or staff position, that position will be continued)
• Fellow fringe benefits (also called employee-related expenses)
• ASU Core Facilities fees (with the Fellow, other ASU cofounders of the venture, or Core Facility staff as eligible equipment operators)

• Other university resources that are available on a pay-per-use basis, such as VISLAB or the Innovation Hub at the Poly campus

   

Other expenses that are not directly linked to ASU—such as non-Fellow personnel salaries, equipment, materials, and attorney fees—are ineligible and must be covered by the venture. A written budget is not required in the Fellowship application process, but applicants may be asked by the review panel about planned usage of funds. Selected applicants will work with ASU staff to create a detailed budget after the review process.

Entrepreneurial Fellows are expected to commercialize ASU technology, and thus their ventures must maintain a license from Skysong Innovations, ASU’s exclusive intellectual property management company. Termination or lapse of the license may be cause for early termination of the Fellowship. Ventures are allowed to have an exclusive option to negotiate a license—and not yet a license—at the time of application, but the license should be negotiated and executed prior to the second-year renewal of the Fellowship.

Fellows will be ASU employees during the Fellowship period and are thus subject to Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) policy 6-908, which governs intellectual property (IP). Of particular note, IP created by Fellows during their tenure will be owned by ABOR and managed by Skysong Innovations. To that end, Fellows are required to disclose such IP to Skysong Innovations. Fellows’ ventures will have a limited opportunity to license such IP from Skysong Innovations, per the conditions of each venture’s existing license agreement.

Fellows are required to meet with their assigned mentor monthly, submit a brief annual report detailing business and technical progress, as well as documenting quantitative impact metrics such as number of employees and funds raised.

Applications for this opportunity are processed through ASU’s Lab2Launch Program.

Applicants who submit compliant online applications will be invited to give an in-person (or virtual, if the applicant prefers) five-minute, investor-style pitch to a review panel, followed by questions and answers, at the Lab to Launch event.

Online applications and pitches will be evaluated based on the following merit review criteria:

• Market opportunity and impact: The venture has identified a large and profitable market opportunity that can be captured in a reasonable time frame. If the product development and business plan are successfully executed, the venture will have significant impact—or lay the foundation for subsequent significant impact—on the Arizona economy. Impact may take the form of job creation, wealth creation, economic diversity and stability, or other relevant outcomes.
• Technology innovation: The venture is based upon compelling and differentiated technology that has roots in ASU IP.
• Business plan and Fellowship role: The venture has a sound business plan and has achieved early milestones in executing it. More particularly, the venture knows its customers, has market traction with those customers and other stakeholders, has a business model that fits the market in which it is operating and has a credible growth path. A FIRE Fellowship provides a key opportunity for the venture and applicant that may be otherwise inaccessible, and the applicant has identified important milestones that the venture will meet during the Fellowship period with the Fellowship’s support.
• Applicant and team: The applicant is supported by a committed team with diverse expertise that spans business and technology. The applicant (and potentially other team members) have utilized resources at and beyond ASU to learn and practice entrepreneurship, such as Venture Devils and I-Corps. The venture is likely to be successful under the applicant’s leadership.

Online applications and pitches will be reviewed and evaluated by a panel consisting of staff from the Fulton Schools’ Office of Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (ORIEN), ASU Entrepreneurship + Innovation staff and the Arizona investment community.

Well-reviewed applications will be recommended for funding by the review panel to ASU administration, which will then select applicants for Fellowship awards. All applicants will receive reviewer comments from their pitches.

a. Award negotiation

Selected applicants will be invited to construct a detailed budget with the help of a Research Administrator. These incoming Fellows will then receive a one-year employment contract, an account to charge for Core Facility and other ASU resource usage, and access to appropriate ASU tech-commercialization spaces (e.g., at Skysong, MacroTechnology Works, WearTech, or others) and events.

b. Fellowship start date

Fellowships are expected to commence in Spring 2026.