Ideation Grants

What are ideation Grants?

Ideation Grant awards are intended to support graduate students and post-doctoral researchers, who are passionate about sustainability, explore how their innovative technologies could be applied to impact global climate change.

These are one-year grants for Applied Research and Technology Development, Translational Discovery: Partners, Markets & Customers, Advisors; and Student and Post Doctoral Salary Stipends. Candidates may propose budget items for financial support under the above general headings or suggest other items core to their project. Here are some suggestions.

Applied Research and Technology Development:

Space rentals — facilities user fees for technology development
Small equipment, materials, and supplies
Techno-economic analysis support (TEA)
Larger equipment, shared use

Translational Discovery:

Conferences — lodging, travel, per diem, bootcamp fees
Visits to potential partners — lodging, travel, per diem
Purchase of market surveys, entrepreneurial educational materials, business publications

Why is the Resnick Sustainability Institute awarding ideation grants?

To accelerate the translation of new approaches for addressing climate change and the stewardship of natural resources into marketable technologies and new ventures.
To fund scientists and engineers interested in translating their technologies for wider world impact, and potentially creating new ventures.
The Ideation Grant program serves those who are focused on cleantech and sustainability and supports the earliest, idea-forming, applied R&D with commercial impact potential.

Who is eligible to receive an ideation grant?

Caltech students and postdoctoral scholars who want to translate their ideas into products/ventures/approaches with real-world impact and are working with a Caltech faculty advisor.
Their team must be made up of at least 1 member of the Caltech community – student, postdoc, faculty, or employee.

AWARDS: from $5,000 to $20,000.

Time frame for completing the grant is 12 months, but this can be extended if needed per discussion with Stephanie Yanchinski, RSI Director of Entrepreneurial Programs.

STUDENT STORIES

The following received awards in 2023:

Methane's global warming potential is 30 times greater than CO2, and with increasing global reliance on natural gas and aging infrastructure, methane emissions are rising. Taeyoon Jeon and Professor Axel Scherer have developed a compact and cost-effective methane detector that can be readily installed on oil and gas and factory pipelines for continuous monitoring. Widely deployed this system could result in a substantial decrease in methane leakage, and its associated carbon footprint.

Jolena Zhou and Assistant Professor Kaihang Wang are developing a solution to the urgent problem of conventional pesticides' diminishing effectiveness while their environmental and health hazards continue to rise. Their innovative methods produce novel synthetic agro-biologicals capable of overcoming pest resistance, the major problem of many biopesticides. By also combining multiple pesticides into a single solution their technology holds the promise of reducing costs to farmers and growers by 40% or greater. In 2024 Syntaxa won a prestigious Rocket Fund grant to begin advancing their product development.

Ettore Biondi and Professor Zhongwen Zhan are using data from Distributed Acoustic Sensing recorded on vast, underground telecommunications networks, to develop subsurface imaging technology for exploring high-temperature geothermal formations as potential energy sources, a high priority at present. Applied in real world exploration the technology could reduce the risk and thus the upfront costs of finding suitable geophysical locations for enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) before any drilling is performed.

Ariane Mora, working with Nobel Laureate Professor Frances Arnold, is tackling the growing issue of water insecurity by improving on the meagre 25 per cent of municipal wastewater that is currently reclaimed from sludge for other uses. With advanced enzyme engineering techniques, machine learning and data generation, Mora designs novel hydrolase enzymes capable of degrading phthalate esters (PAEs). These are chemicals commonly used in plastics and a persistent, hazardous pollutant contaminating the sludge that must be removed before repurposing the water.

To Apply

Applications start with an initial meeting with RSI to review your translational vision and concept for the Ideation Grant award. Submissions are received on a rolling basis. Deadline: January 31, 2025. To start the process contact

Stephanie Yanchinski
Director of Entrepreneurial Programs, Resnick Sustainability Institute
Stephanie.Yanchinski@caltech.edu

Office 626-395-1968