Esposito Family Centre for Innovation & Entrepreneurship

UFV/Esposito Family Centre for Innovation & Entrepreneurship/Info for Students/Innovation grant

Innovation grant

Students generate excellent ideas, and EFCIE is eager to support those ideas through Innovation teams and grants.

During a course project, it's not uncommon for a student to propose a solution to a problem facing society — a solution that the instructor may affirm as promising and worth exploring further.

This is why we created Innovation team grants: to bring faculty mentors and students together and allow them to explore great ideas more fully. An innovation team will expand on initial student work, either by developing a working prototype or by assessing the viability of a proposed solution in a more rigorous manner. As part of this process, experts from the EFCIE will mentor the student-faculty team in the areas of evaluating market opportunities and guiding validated solutions to society.

Term: 1 year

Value: 

Deadline: January 31, 2021

Eligibility

General stream: These grants are open to joint UFV student-faculty teams.

STEM Stream: These grants are sponsored by the Faculty of Science. They're open to joint UFV STEM student-faculty teams.

Recent UFV STEM graduates who have graduated within the past two years also qualify if supervising faculty supports the project.

Before applying for this funding:

  • Approach a faculty member who has affirmed an idea you generated as part of a course project.
  • Ask the faculty member to co-sign your application and to commit to mentoring you in developing this idea.

To apply:

  • Write a 750-word (maximum) letter. This letter should:
    • Outline a problem in society that you want to solve and your proposed idea for solving it.
    • Summarize any previous work performed and results achieved during your course-work.
    • Explain how your faculty mentor's academic accomplishments are relevant to your idea.
    • Mention the amount of funding requested (approximately $1,000 to $3,000) and brief justification for eligible expenses and reasonable costs.
  • Attach previous project material.
  • Email the letter and attachments as a single PDF document to innovate@ufv.ca

The Adjudication Committee will prioritize ideas with a clear link between the proposed solution and a significant unmet need or problem facing society.

The committee will also consider the initial results from your student project and the degree of match between your proposed solution and your mentor’s academic accomplishments.

If you receive the Innovation team grant:

  • your student-faculty team will need to submit a 2-page report at the end of the grant period explaining your results.
  • you are expected to meet with EFCIE mentors at least once in 14 days to receive mentoring on market opportunity evaluation.
  • your team should connect with EFCIE at least 14 days prior to public disclosure of relevant results through conferences, posters, abstracts, academic journal submissions
  • your team agrees to acknowledge UFV and the EFCIE Innovation Team Grant funding in publications resulting from this work.
  • your team is encouraged to participate in the creation of promotional materials and/ or events relevant to your proposed solution.

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