ActiveAtlas Opportunity Score 84/100
Idaho State Board of Education FY2028 IGEM-HERC Grant Program
The Idaho State Board of Education Higher Education Research Council FY2028 IGEM-HERC program provides approximately $2.1 million in annual state-supported research commercialization funding across Proof of Concept, Initial Startup, and Commercialization tracks. Pre-proposals are due October 26, 2026 at 6:00 PM Mountain Time.
FundingTrack-wide FY2028 availability: approximately $400,000 across 3-5 Proof of Concept awards; $600,000 across 2-4 Initial Startup awards; and $1.1 million across 2-5 Commercialization awards. The RFP does not publish an applicant-level maximum; award size depends on track, budget justification and available state appropriations.
DeadlinePre-proposals: October 26, 2026 at 6:00 PM Mountain Time / 5:00 PM Pacific Time. Invited full proposals: February 26, 2027 at 6:00 PM Mountain Time / 5:00 PM Pacific Time.
Last verifiedSeptember 21, 2026
Required next actionIdentify eligible Idaho university research offices and credible healthcare/biomedicine commercialization teams. Before any ORIGINAL outreach, complete Account, Contact, Deal, Atlas_Email_Queue and authoritative send-history deduplication; verify a named business Contact, Email_Opt_Out is not true, and no authoritative permanent hard bounce. Ordinary initial outreach must not introduce or sell N9+. If an eligible university has a defensible healthcare technology project, N9+ may be evaluated later as a research/commercialization component or industry-partner contribution consistent with procurement and project design.
Broad Eligibility
Only Boise State University, Idaho State University, Lewis-Clark State College and the University of Idaho are eligible lead applicants. Pre-proposals are unlimited in number. Only invited pre-proposals may advance to full proposal. Private-sector industry partners are encouraged, especially for commercialization, but are not eligible lead applicants.
Atlas Analysis
Atlas Opportunity Score 84/100. Strong strategic fit for Idaho university-led research and commercialization, with biotechnology/biomedicine and healthcare services explicitly listed as a FY2028 priority. N9+ Fit 55/100 conditional: equipment and healthcare technology can be allowable when necessary to the research/commercialization project, but N9+ must not be forced into an unrelated proposal and ordinary initial outreach must not sell it. QC Healthcare Fit 45/100 as a potential industry/collaboration partner, not as the eligible lead applicant. Dr. Miltie Direct Vendor Fit 0/100. No general mandatory match is stated; Commercialization proposals are highly encouraged to show in-kind or cash industry-partner match. Allowable budget categories include personnel, equipment, travel, participant support and other direct costs, subject to project justification and procurement rules.
The Idaho State Board of Education Higher Education Research Council (HERC) has opened the FY2028 Idaho Global Entrepreneurial Mission (IGEM-HERC) Grant Program for competitive research and commercialization projects led by Idaho public four-year institutions. The program is intended to move promising research toward economic impact, technology transfer, new products and services, and private-sector commercialization in Idaho.
Eligible lead institutions are Boise State University, Idaho State University, Lewis-Clark State College, and the University of Idaho. There is no limit on the number of pre-proposals, but only invited pre-proposals may advance to the full-proposal stage. FY2028 priority areas include biotechnology/biomedicine and healthcare services; energy, sustainability and resilience; natural resources and agriculture; data science, computer science, AI/ML and cybersecurity; novel materials; and microelectronics/semiconductors.
The program has three tracks. HERC lists approximately $400,000 total for 3-5 Proof of Concept awards, $600,000 total for 2-4 Initial Startup awards, and $1.1 million total for 2-5 Commercialization awards. These figures are track-wide totals, not applicant-level caps. Award size depends on the selected track, the project budget and justification, and available state appropriations. The RFP notes that recent annual program appropriations have been approximately $2.1 million.
Pre-proposals are due October 26, 2026 by 6:00 PM Mountain Time (5:00 PM Pacific Time). They must use Form A, be submitted as a signed PDF by the appropriate institutional office, and be emailed to HERC@edu.idaho.gov. Invited full proposals are due February 26, 2027 by 6:00 PM Mountain Time and must include the required Form B, budget materials, project narrative, and supporting items specified in the RFP.
The RFP does not impose a general mandatory match. For the Commercialization track, however, HERC highly encourages evidence of in-kind or cash match from industry partners. Allowable budget categories shown in the RFP include personnel salary and fringe, equipment, travel, participant support, and other direct costs. Equipment must be necessary to the supported work, not otherwise reasonably available, and procured under applicable state or institutional purchasing requirements. Equipment costing more than $5,000 should be identified and justified in the budget, with quotes included in the facilities/equipment appendix when requested.
For healthcare innovators, the explicit biotechnology, biomedicine and healthcare-services priority makes this a strong research-commercialization opportunity when an eligible Idaho institution leads the proposal and the project has defensible technology-readiness, economic-impact, and commercialization milestones. Private-sector and industry partners may participate, but they are not the eligible lead applicant.
Source verificationOfficial government source · boardofed.idaho.govAtlas last verified this record September 21, 2026. Always use the funder's current application materials, amendments and portal instructions as the controlling source.View source and application materials ↗
