Illinois Innovation Network announces seed funding opportunity

The Illinois Innovation Network (IIN) is soliciting proposals for its Sustaining Illinois program, which is designed to increase collaborative research among the state’s public universities, focusing on the economy, health, and social well-being. Researchers have the opportunity to receive up to $30,000 to support projects aimed at driving innovation, workforce development, and economic growth throughout the state of Illinois.

Projects must include researchers from at least two IIN hubs and be completed within one year of receiving funding. Proposals should address multiple elements of the Sustaining Illinois program:

• Education and Workforce Development: developing and sustaining the education of its citizens and developing a productive and inclusive workforce for the 21st century.
• Economic Development: sustaining and developing the economy of the state, including understanding how best to support growth of diverse entrepreneurship and business formation in Illinois.
• Health and Wellness: sustaining and improving the general health and social wellness of all Illinois citizens, including local and regional communities.
• Water, Food, and Agriculture: sustaining the water supply, with the 20% of the world’s fresh water supply in the shores of the Great Lakes and Mississippi River Basin, the largest in the US and 2nd largest in the world and enhancing the home to a national leader in food and agriculture.
• Computing and Data: under the umbrella of Sustaining Illinois, there is a foundation of computing, big data, and artificial intelligence. This is an important area in its own right as Illinois develops its high-tech industry, but in this context, it is seen as an enabler for all other aspects of sustainability as articulated above.
• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: identifying and addressing key issues for underserved populations, groups experiencing racial, ethnic and/or social injustice, and groups living in segregated communities.

Proposals should be submitted to the OVPEDI office via email at vpedi@uillinois.edu by the close of business on May 3, 2021. 

Have questions? More information on the IIN’s Sustaining Illinois program and the application process is available here. Questions can also be sent to vpedi@ullinois.edu.