Faculty Innovation Grants

Do you have a problem?

Seeking teams of two or more faculty members to develop and implement innovative solutions to problems in your community.

Faculty Innovation Grants are available for 6-month development efforts (STEP 1) that result in one or more deliverables as defined below. The purpose of the FIG program is to build sustainable entrepreneurial efforts that lead to implementation of innovative solutions to problems that matter in your community.* Successful project teams will be invited to expand and scale their efforts in a follow-on funding program (STEP 2) that develops student entrepreneurship in multidisciplinary teams. A cycle of STEP 1/STEP 2 funding can last 12-18 months and be awarded up to $10k.

Slides from FIG Q&A October 5, 2022.

Deliverables

A prototype, implementation, or full solution to your well-defined problem. Your solution should:

1. demonstrate a tangible benefit and value to your community
2. Expand opportunities for members of your community to participate in development and/or implementation of the solution
3. Demonstrate innovative use of existing or new technologies
4. Have well-defined and measurable outcomes within the period of performance
5. Have a viable assessment component

Note that your innovation need NOT result in a commercial product or service. Innovation creates value for stakeholders and that value is not necessarily economic in this context. 

Eligibility

Full-time Carthage faculty on tenure-track or on multi-year contracts with at least one year remaining on contract at application due date are eligible to propose as Project Leads. At least two faculty who meet the eligibility criteria for Project Leads must be identified on the proposal. Part-time staff and faculty are eligible to participate as part of the project team but cannot serve as Project Leads.

Award Levels and Numbers

Step 1 Award: $3-5k.

Step 2 Award: $5k.

3-5 Step 1 awards/annually. Anticipate 2-3 Step 2 awards during the second round of calls each year.

Use of Funds

Awardees may use the FIG funds to support faculty stipends, student workers, software, equipment, meetings, and local or regional travel. All expenses must be directly related to the execution of the award.

Definitions for FIG

*Community: A classroom, academic division, neighborhood, college, city, nation, or planet. The successful FIG applicant will carefully define the the intended community.  

Entrepreneur: Using your unique knowledge and skills to create new opportunities and solve problems for stakeholders.

*Innovation: For the purposes of this program, innovation is distinguished from research to the extent that innovation serves to solve problems that create immediate benefit to a community. The benefit can be broadly scoped to include economic value, quality of life, quality of environment, expansion of opportunity to persons or groups historically underserved by community investment, or other communal benefits that affect stakeholders within the community. Innovation in the context of this program does not involve addressing research questions of a fundamental nature or problems that are several undefined steps away from practical implementation in a real-world setting.

Schedule (2022-2024)

Funds for this program are provided by the Donald D. Hedberg Endowment for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.