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Who to nominate:

People or teams may be entered whose project, during the previous year (that is, 2025), reached licensing, secured an investor or achieved another kind of commercialisation — becoming a spin-off, for instance. The research itself may have taken place long before that. The award can go to the scientists concerned, to the transfer (support) team, to a business entity, to an investor or to any combination of them, according to who did most for the transfer of the research results. For the purposes of the Neuron Award for Connecting Science and Business, the maximum number of people in a team is five.

Which projects to nominate:

We present the Neuron Award for Connecting Science and Business for an exceptional achievement by which, in the given period, research moved from academia into the commercial sphere. Typically that is the granting of a licence to an invention and so on, a sale, a transfer of know-how, the founding of a spin-off company or securing an investor. A condition of nomination is that the scientific result arose in a Czech research organisation, including in cooperation between several entities.

What is assessed:

The Neuron Award for Connecting Science and Business assesses the transfer, innovation, usability on the market, business potential, the social contribution of the project — especially in economic terms — and its sustainability.

Nomination deadline:

Nominations are open and have been extended until 30 April 2026.

Who assesses and approves:

The proposals are assessed by the Transfer Board, and the Neuron Award for Connecting Science and Business is approved by the Neuron Council.

Physical receipt of the Neuron Award for Connecting Science and Business:

Where the connection of science and business will lead, or has already led, to a spin-off or another legal entity, the award goes to that legal entity, even if it comes into being only later. Where there is no prospect of the scientist or the transfer team entering the ownership structure of the corresponding business entity — on the sale of a licence, for instance — the recipient or recipients are the individual members of the team. If the recipient is a team of several people, up to a maximum of five, the award is divided equally between the members of the team.