Sustainable Vision grant guidelines

Tenured or tenure-track faculty and staff from NCIIA member colleges and universities may apply on behalf of collaborative teams involving representatives from education and industry. Collaborations with governmental and non-profit organizations are also encouraged. Universities, colleges, NGOs and other institutions outside the US may partner with a US college or university and fully participate in the grant; however, Sustainable Vision proposals must be submitted by a US college or university. Grants will be made only to the US college or university, which will manage activities and disbursement of funds to partners.

Sustainable Vision grants support programs that apply technology entrepreneurship to address poverty and environmental degradation, and/or meet basic human needs such as (but not limited to) health, clean air and water, energy, nutrition, agriculture, IT, and shelter. Our definition of a successful Sustainable Vision grant proposal includes:

• Technology: market-driven affordable technology innovations that meet basic human needs (such as medical devices, mobile phone software for income generation, energy alternatives, etc.)
• Entrepreneurship: economically sustainable business model(s) with proven customer and market needs instead of a philanthropic or aid model
• Commercial potential: programs that lead to the creation of economically sustainable social ventures (for profit and/or non- profit) with a business model that includes manufacturing, marketing, distribution, and repair (as applicable)
• Education: experiential curricula with measurable objectives and an emphasis on multidisciplinary teams (engineering, science, technology, social science, business, etc.)
• Partners: to support the project from the nonprofit, for profit and/or government sectors, including collaboration with customers
• Collaborative: Engage beneficiaries of new technologies in their design and development and build upon existing relationships (e.g., historic collaborative or exchange programs between the applicant institution and an institution overseas)
• Replicable and sustainable: models that can be replicated and programs that continue after the grant period ends
• Postive social impact and scale:
  • adoption across communities, regions, and/or nations, and potential for an impact on a global scale
  • affecting a significant number of people and having a real and measurable impact on the problem being addressed
  • improving the quality of life for people living in poverty
  • positive (or neutral) environmental impact

For examples of funded SV grants, please click here.  It may also be helpful to review our frequently asked questions page before beginning an application.

NCIIA requires Sustainable Vision grantees to participate in a VentureLab workshop (or provide an explanation of an equivalent experience) in order to develop a solid commercialization strategy. The workshop is followed by eight weeks of coaching.  There is a small pool of scholarships for teams that do not have adequate travel funds to participate. These funds are provided on a first come, first served basis.

All proposals must be submitted to the NCIIA online (login). Create an account and login here. You may start, save, stop and return to the proposal before submitting.  Start early! 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 documents (including 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 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.
back to top

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

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), 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 in advance of the deadline and share your proposal with them prior to submission.

When you have entered their email addresses, each of the above will receive an automated email from NCIIA requesting verification of their support. Allow 2-3 days for them to respond.

The proposal cannot be submitted until the administrators have responded to the request for verification.
back to top

STEP FOUR: Upload required documents and other appendices

Upload Your Proposal Narrative
Your proposal narrative may not exceed six pages in length. Prepare the narrative in Microsoft Word, using 12-point Times font. As a reminder, all proposals must...

• Include technology innovation, demonstrate commercial potential and the ability to scale and provide a compelling social benefit.
• Address the needs of people living in poverty.
• Demonstrate that program activities are curricular and/or extra-curricular, and contain an element of experiential education.
• Clearly define and identify partner(s) in the community you are targeting.

NCIIA suggests that you address the following in your narrative (not necessarily in this order):

Problem and solution

• What problem(s) are you addressing?
• What is your proposed solution?
• What is the technology innovation(s)? (This may be a new technology or an innovative application of an existing technology).
• How is your technology better, cheaper or faster?
• Can you demonstrate market demand?
• What are the cultural and social barriers you will address?

History and context

• Provide some brief background on how the project began and what has been accomplished so far.
• Is your project tied to curricular and/or extra curricular activities?
• What support (financial and other) have you received for your work?
• Who/what is your competition and what is your competitive advantage?
• What is the initial market size and who is your customer?
• What is the potential global impact and how will it benefit society?

Team (about one paragraph for each team member)

• Who is leading your team and who are the critical partners?
• How many students are involved and what role will they play?
• Is there a balance of technical and business expertise on the team? What about language skills (if relevant) and cultural understanding?
• How many on the team have traveled to the community you are working in and for how long?

Note: Bios of the key team members (max. 3 pages each) should be submitted as appendices.

Proposed Business Model

• What is the proposed business model (for profit, nonprofit, licensing?) and does it demonstrate economic self-sustainability?
• What will your product or service cost?
• If the technology is successful, what is the proposed distribution channel?
• Who are the local champions/entrepreneurs? What is their motivation to work with you?
• Who is the customer and is the customer also the end-user?
• It might be helpful to provide a summary of the competitive landscape in a table or spreadsheet (for example if you are building a solar lantern, how does it compare with other solar products and kerosene?)

Work plan (in spreadsheet or table format)

• What are the technical and business development milestones you hope to achieve during the grant period?
• Does the plan address design, testing, manufacturing, marketing, distribution and maintenance or licensing?
• How many people do you hope to impact in the short term (1-2 years) and where?

Evaluation and sustainability plan (you may attach an evaluation plan as an appendix)

• How will you define success and what will you measure?
• Who on your team and/or in the field will develop a sustainable business model?
• How is your innovation replicable and scalable?

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

REQUIRED Appendices

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

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

3. Documentation of work completed to date.

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 project and demonstrated market demand for your innovation.  Letters can also serve to verify partnerships discussed in your proposal narrative.

2. Other optional supporting documents.  This could include curricula, photographs, websites, or links to video, etc.
back to top

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.

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. Teams may also be required to submit a two to five minute video about their project as part of their final written report. 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.

Sustainable Vision grant deadlines occur annually in mid October. RFPs typically open six to eight weeks prior to the deadline. Submission deadlines are posted on the Sustainable Vision webpage.

To start an application HERE.