Course and Program grants guidelines

NCIIA grant proposals are reviewed by panels of busy professionals who volunteer their time. Please respect their efforts by ensuring that your project aligns with the mission and the requirements of the NCIIA. Please read these guidelines carefully, and feel free to explore profiles of previously funded grants as well as our frequently asked questions page.

The NCIIA places a high value on grant proposals that demonstrate concern for the environment and the health and welfare of humans. We encourage creative technologies that solve critical problems and meet basic societal needs, and pedagogical approaches that encourage awareness of and interest in these global issues. Course and Program grant proposals may focus on introducing these issues to students with a design course, adding E-Teams to an existing entrepreneurship course, or developing an entirely original program to engage students in problem-solving endeavors.

In addition, the links below provide some helpful background information.

Learn more about the NCIIA.
Learn more about the Lemelson Foundation.

• Introduce technology innovation, affordable design, social entrepreneurship, and other approaches that meet basic societal needs and environmental issues.
• Lead to the formation of E-Teams and promote the E-Team learning experience.
• Encourage E-Teams to generate new technologies and businesses.
• Generate curricula that are multidisciplinary, involving students and advisors from technical and business disciplines, as well as groups traditionally underrepresented in invention, innovation, and entrepreneurship, including women and minorities.
• Create opportunities for high quality group learning experiences.
• Move beyond academic exercises to real-life business interaction, and create viable collaborative opportunities for participants from industry.
• Demonstrate an institutional commitment to and plan for supporting the proposed course or program on an ongoing basis beyond the grant period.
• Show access to necessary resources from the institution (e.g., computers, work space, lab equipment).
• Demonstrate the commitment of the institution and faculty members to support the efforts of E-Teams that wish to continue their work after the course ends. 

Here are some examples of projects that are NOT strong candidates for Course and Program grant funding:

• Pure research projects.
• Courses or programs that are unlikely to continue beyond the grant period.
• Existing programs where there is no improvement proposed and/or no integration of technology innovation and entrepreneurship.
• Courses or programs that do not lead to the creation of student teams.
• Proposals that do not demonstrate that student projects could be supported beyond the classroom.

Faculty from NCIIA member institutions.

If you are from a U.S. university or college, check NCIIA's membership list here.

All proposals must be submitted to the NCIIA online. Create an account and login here. You may start, save, stop and return to the proposal before submitting. The online application process has five steps and will require the following:

Step 1: basic contact information
Step 2: basic proposal information
Step 3: request verification
Step 4: upload required and suggested documents (including the narrative, proposed budget, and other appendices)
Step 5: submit

STEP ONE: Submit basic contact information

• Name of the institution you represent.
• Names and contact information of team members, including the Principal Investigator and the Administrative Contact.

Please note that résumés NO MORE THAN 3 pages each will be required as appendices for all key team members, except the Administrative Contact.

Who can serve as my Administrative Contact?
The NCIIA defines the administrative contact as a grants administrator or fiscal officer authorized to commit the institution to the terms of the grant. Often, the AC is someone in your institution's Office of Sponsored Research or an administrator able to manage grant funding within a department or school. The Principal Investigator and the Administrative Contact CANNOT be the same person.

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STEP TWO: Submit basic proposal information

• Project Title.
• An abstract (250 words or less) with the top three objectives (in bullet format) of the program.

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STEP THREE: Request verification

• The following people must verify their support for your proposal: Administrative Contact (grants administrator or fiscal officer authorized to commit the institution to the terms of the grant), Dean of Faculty, Department Chair, and the Principal Investigator (this is waived if the PI is also the applicant). To ensure timely approval of your proposal by your institution, apprise them of your intention to submit 3-4 weeks in advance of the deadline and share your proposal with them prior to submission.
• When you have entered their e-mail addresses, each of the above administrators will receive an automated e-mail requesting their verification of support. Allow 2-3 days for them to respond.
• The proposal cannot be submitted until your administrators have responded to the request for verification.

STEP FOUR: Upload required documents and other appendices

Proposal Narrative
Your proposal narrative may not exceed five pages in length. Prepare the narrative in Microsoft Word, using 12-point Times font.

Include the following:

• Introduction: What are you proposing? How will this lead to the creation of student E-Teams? How will the most promising ideas/teams be supported beyond the classroom/program towards commercialization?
• History and context: What, if any, courses or programs currently exist? What do you feel is missing? What is in development? What support have you received for your work? Please be clear about what exists today vs. what you are proposing to create or improve.
• Work plan and outcomes: Create a step-by-step work plan in a table or spreadsheet and include deliverables, action items, and a timeline. Be explicit about the milestones you hope to achieve by the end of the grant period.
• Beyond the grant: How will the course or program continue beyond the end of the grant period?

Appendices (maximum of ten appendices, up to 5MBs each, PDFs preferred)

Required Appendices

1. Budget template with budget justification. NCIIA requires you to use the budget template which you can download here.

Use of grant funds: Grant funds may be used for supplies, equipment, or expenses related to curricular development and course or program realization. Grant funds do not cover institutional overhead or faculty salaries, but can provide faculty stipends of up to $5,000. We award grants to institutions under the supervision of the principal investigator, who allocates funds as needed. Equipment and other resources purchased with grant funds become the property of the institution. Please note that NCIIA will typically not fund the purchase of equipment that is considered part of college or university infrastructure. Proposed funds for equipment expenses should be less than 1/3 the total proposed budget. NCIIA funding cannot cover institutional overhead.

Be sure to explain your proposed budget expenses in the "justifications" section in the budget template or in a separate document. Use the following guidelines for the proposed budget.  Please explain whether proposed funds will be used for existing courses/programs or new courses/programs. We also recommend listening to the podcast on putting together an effective budget, which can be found here.

Eligible expenses: Equipment expenses totaling less than 1/3 the total proposed budget Supplies Travel Technical services Expenses related to students’ performing patent searches or creating marketing analyses, business plans, or prototypes Faculty planning stipend (up to $5,000 total per grant--may be divided up among more than one faculty member). This maximum amount includes the cost of fringe benefits

Ineligible expenses include, but are not limited to: Equipment expenses totaling more than 1/3 the total proposed budget Overhead Faculty salaries Speaker honoraria over $200 Publicity expenses Wages for students during the academic year Legal and other expenses of business formation or operation Faculty stipends over $5,000 per grant (A $5,000 stipend may be divided up among several faculty members)

2. Résumés. Resumes should be no more than three pages, and are required for each participating team member. We do not need resumes for Administrative Contacts.

3. IP policy/IP requirements: The NCIIA fosters student invention and entrepreneurship with the expectation that some student innovators will commercialize their services or products. We require colleges and universities to sign an agreement with The NCIIA when a grant is awarded. The agreement states in part that ownership of discoveries or inventions resulting from activities financed by The NCIIA grants will be governed by grantee institutions’ intellectual property policies. If a school does not have an intellectual property policy, then the institution must develop an E-Team agreement that establishes ownership of ideas resulting from E-Team work. The NCIIA takes no financial or ownership interest in the projects funded by these grants. We supply copies of the grant agreement on request.

Optional Appendices

1. Letters of support. Letters of support are recommended as a way to demonstrate to reviewers that there is institutional support for your course or program and/or to verify partnerships discussed in your proposal narrative.

2. Other optional supporting documents.  This could include curricula, photographs, websites, syllabi, etc.

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STEP FIVE: Submit

• When you are sure Steps 1-4 have been completed and advisors have verified their support, please click submit. You will receive an email confirming the submission of the proposal.

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Reporting is an essential element in the NCIIA grant award process. Principal Investigators for NCIIA grants are responsible for reporting on grant activities within a specified timeframe, and are prompted via email to complete reports online. Failure to submit reports may jeopardize your institution’s eligibility for future grants. If you receive a grant, reporting deadlines will be shown in your award letter. Advance planning of your report helps you establish an assessment plan not only for benefit of the NCIIA, but for your own information and reporting to your institution. Click here to preview sample interim and final reports.

Course and Program grant deadlines occur two times per year, in May and in December. RFPs typically open six to eight weeks prior to the deadline. Submission deadlines are posted on the Course and Program webpage