Second annual Chancellor’s Innovation Fund open for proposals!
There is an open call for proposals from our UTK faculty and researchers, followed by a pitch competition to select the awardees.
Earlier this week, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) Office of Research, Innovation, and Economic Development (ORIED) opened the application for proposals for the second annual Chancellor’s Innovation Fund competition. The purpose of the program is to raise awareness, promote innovation, and support entrepreneurship for UTK’s promising innovators.
Last year, the five winners of the prestigious competition were Ahmedullah Aziz, Jian Huang, Todd Reynolds, John Sorochan, and Uday Vaidya (see teknovation.biz article here).
Researchers who apply for the competition should carefully analyze their innovations to decide if they are prepared to commercialize, launch a start-up, and accept funding from the university to do so. Participants selected for this funding may be awarded up to $50,000 to support entrepreneurial endeavors.
Rob Coleman, the Director of Entrepreneurship & New Ventures at UTK said it’s important to ensure research addresses the needs of the people who may benefit from innovative solutions.
“Funding of these technologies will not only benefit our research initiatives, but it also has the potential to impact the lives of people within our community. As these new innovative technologies are commercialized, we will continue to support entrepreneurship and encourage new business start-up organizations to expand throughout our region,” Coleman said.
The competition is only open to innovators, researchers, and those associated with UTK. Therefore, technologies proposed for the fund program must be disclosed to the UT Research Foundation via the I.D.E.A. portal.
The deadline to submit a proposal is September 4th at 5 p.m. ET.
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