The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation is pleased to announce the eighth competition for Moore Inventor Fellows. The foundation seeks to identify outstanding inventors and innovators who harness science and technology to enhance the conduct of scientific research, strengthen environmental conservation, or improve the experience and outcomes of patient care.
The Moore Inventor Fellows fellowship focuses on supporting scientist-inventors at a critical prototyping stage to capture opportunities that otherwise might be missed. We seek to provide freedom and support to promising inventors with the most compelling ideas to pursue creative and disruptive innovations.
The foundation will provide nearly $34 million through 2026 to support 50 Moore Inventor Fellows. The fellowship focuses on early-career staff at select research universities, medical schools and selected non-academic environmental research and patient care institutions.
Each eligible institution can submit two nominations for consideration.
Deadlines:
Sponsor Guidelines: https://www.moore.org/docs/default-source/moore-inventor-fellows/moore-inventor-fellows-guidelines.pdf
Moore Inventor Fellows FAQs: https://www.moore.org/docs/default-source/moore-inventor-fellows/moore-inventor-fellows_faq
Internal submission information below.
The scope of this call is intentionally wide: proposed projects do not need to fall within our current funding priorities but should be broadly within the program areas of foundation interest (science, environmental conservation and patient care). Patient care inventions should resonate with our focus on improving the experience and outcomes of patients with solutions that improve clinical diagnosis.
We aim to support inventions at an early stage that could lead to proof-of-concept of an invention or advance an existing prototype that tackles an important problem. We seek innovations that promise to make a long-lasting and meaningful impact by addressing underlying problems in their field, but a clear path toward commercialization is not a requirement. For this opportunity we are not interested in supporting fundamental research projects or projects already at a stage where significant venture capital is available. As with all our grants, we seek to measure progress toward a defined goal during the three years of support. The foundation’s policy is that intellectual property that results from a grant must be managed and disseminated in a manner that leads to the greatest impact. Each award will include IP terms to reflect the needs of that project.
We recognize real invention can take surprising turns, so we seek creative individuals who have big ideas, deep knowledge, and the courage to take smart risks. We recognize inventors and innovators come from a diversity of backgrounds, disciplines and experiences and seek creative individuals across a broad array of academic programs and research institutions. Examples of such programs include but are not limited to environmental science and conservation, remote sensing, artificial intelligence, big data, climatology, emerging infectious diseases, biology, oceanography, engineering, physics, chemistry, materials science, neuroscience, and public health.
Candidates must be faculty, research scientists, postdocs or other full-time staff who can receive funding through their institutions. Candidates must be no more than 10 years past receiving the terminal advanced degree in their field (M.S., Ph.D. or M.D. received on or after 2013). Please see the Moore Inventor Fellows FAQ for more information regarding candidate eligibility and exceptions.
Fellows will receive funding for three years at a level of $200,000 per year from the Moore Foundation. In addition to funds for the fellow, the foundation will provide $25,000 each year to the institution to cover costs associated with administering the grant award, resulting in a total three-year award of $675,000. Host institutions are required to contribute $50,000 in annual support of the inventor’s work.
Owing to the sponsor's restriction on the number of applications that may be submitted from Duke, anyone wishing to pursue nomination should submit the following materials as one PDF via the upload feature on the ORS website.
1) A letter of support from dean/chair - 1 to 1.5 pages Please include a statement of the institution’s plan to assure that the nominee will have at least 25 percent of their time to devote to their invention and $50,000 in annual direct support of the inventor’s work.
2) Curriculum Vitae (no more than two pages):
3) Statement of invention (no more than two pages, including citations; single-spaced, 12-point font with one-inch margins). The first paragraph should describe clearly and without jargon the invention, the problem it seeks to
address and its potential impact. The statement of invention should also include the following information:
* Figures and charts can be included within the total page length limits.
4) (DRAFT) One -page budget narrative that outlines how grant funds will be used
The above materials should be compiled (in the order listed above) into one PDF file.
Go to My Research Proposal to upload your file: https://www.grantinterface.com/sl/GXXpbj
Instructions for creating an account (if needed) and submitting your materials: https://ctsi.duke.edu/about-myresearchproposal
