Incubator Grants

During the annual Kickstarter events, teams (representing at least three disciplines) can pitch their project ideas. These pitching sessions are followed by ‘market-place’ rounds during which all participants of the event can stroll along the pitched ideas and informally discuss them with the pitching teams. Our Kickstarter events are intended to provide an impetus to facilitate and expand interdisciplinary exchange and collaboration. The meeting format is intended to enthuse and actively invite others to engage with the project idea and enrich it by adding their expertise and perspectives. This also implies that presenters of project ideas should in principle be open and willing to develop the idea in new directions. At PtS, we believe that such an open process is key to transformative learning

Conditions to participate:

1. Interdisciplinary team: UU scholars from at least three disciplines, with possible (future) collaboration with external scholars and/or stakeholders. Pitching teams are required to invest time in jointly preparing a pitch.
2. Challenge-based topic: project ideas are expected to resonate within multiple PtS Communities
3. Open and inclusive attitude: commitment to an open and inclusive design and assessment procedure in which initial ideas may change with the input and integration of various types of expertise.

Following these Kickstarter events, interdisciplinary teams of UU scholars have two weeks to fill out a light format to apply for an Incubator Grant of up to 8,000 euro (see appendix II). Teams are encouraged to connect with and/or seek input from multiple PtS communities. Incubator Grants can be used to fund meetings, workshops, hire external expertise or support such as coaches, facilitators, moderators, conceptual design thinkers, experts, etc. 

The application should focus on the process of collaboration and on the potential contribution of the project idea to the PtS mission and objectives. With the Incubator Grants, PtS invests in community building and invites Incubator teams to take the time to get to know each other, reflect on the process of collaboration, build trust and understanding for each other’s perspectives, and further develop the consortium and project idea. The outcome of this process can be, but is not limited to, the application for a Signature Project Grant. During the incubating period, other opportunities might come up and be explored.

The selection of Incubator proposals takes place by the Pathways to Sustainability Programme Board, based on the following criteria:

• Interdisciplinarity: Composition of the team and outlook for further inter-/transdisciplinary collaboration
• Openness and curiosity: The extent to which a proposal is formulated in an open manner
• Originality in terms of the proposed topic and/or collaboration
• Challenge-based: The extent to which a proposal involves and/or allows for collaboration across PtS Communities
• Potential contribution to PtS mission and aims
• The extent to which we see a development between the pitch delivered during the Kickstarter event and the Incubator application.

The Pathways to Sustainability Programme Board meets to discuss the proposals within two weeks after submission. The decision of the board is communicated to the applicant teams as soon as possible thereafter.

Once the Incubator Grants have been awarded, we will schedule a meeting between the Incubator team and a delegation of Programme Board members to further discuss the planned activities. In this initiation phase, we seek to stay in touch with Incubator teams to provide feedback and guidance where necessary, answer any questions, explore further possibilities for collaboration, and help teams determine the appropriate next steps. Additionally, we aim to follow the incubation process closely for learning purposes, so as to, in the future, develop tools to facilitate cross-Incubator learning and to improve our procedures.

Incubator Grants need to be spent within 12 months after allocation.

The PtS mission is to propel radical innovation in our university practices by creating vibrant communities and fostering new collaborations in research and education, both within the university and with societal stakeholders, to enhance our impact on the exploration and development of pathways to sustainability, guided by the principle that scientific rigor meets societal relevance. This mission is carried out, in part, by funding initiatives that adhere to the principles and contribute to realizing the aims defined in the 2022-2025 PtS strategy:

• Be the driver of change fostering sustainable thinking and practice, via the creation of spaces for innovation, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary interaction, bringing together students and scholars from both early to established moments in their careers working on sustainability issues across the many different institutes and departments; thus
• Fulfilling the critical role that belongs to universities, not only thinking along but also critiquing developments where appropriate and coming up with new imaginative ideas about what sustainable futures may look like and how we might get there.
• Finding new ways to connect our proven excellence in research and education to processes of societal learning, creating more direct links with policy makers and stakeholders and society at large (transdisciplinarity).

To guide both the design of funding schemes as well as the final allocation of funds by the PtS Programme Board, the following principles are followed:

• Applications should contribute to accelerating change through initiatives that are not yet happening elsewhere in UU and/or are not easily funded via other channels;
• Applications will be challenge-based: initiatives are formulated and designed in such a way that they resonate within multiple PtS Communities and inspire collaboration across these Communities;
• Applications will stimulate the integration of different types of expertise through transdisciplinary collaborations;
• Applications should aim to create time and space for (early-career) scholars to make an active contribution;
• Applicants commit themselves to the open and inclusive design process in which initial ideas may change with the input and integration of various types of expertise. They also commit themselves to peer-assessment once they submit an application;
• Trust in our scholars and in the process is key. We aim to facilitate as many promising initiatives as possible. To be able to do so, we encourage applicants to only apply for necessary costs.

Call for ideas 2022: announced in June 2022

• Deadline pitches: 29 August 2022
• Kickstarter launch event: 8 September 2022 [17 ideas pitched]
• Deadline Incubator application: 25 September 2022 [16 applications received]
• Decision programme board: 10 October 2022 [10 Incubator Grants awarded]
• Deadlines Signature project applications: 3 April 2023, or 3 October 2023
• Peer assessments: 5-11 April and 5-11 October

Call for ideas 2023: announced in December 2022

• Deadline pitches: 21 February 2023
• Decision programme board & instructions to pitching teams: 1 week before Kickstarter event
• Kickstarter event 2023: 16 March 2023
• Deadline Incubator application: 3 April 2023
• Decision programme board: ~18 April 2023
• Deadlines Signature project applications: 3 October 2023, or April 2024 (TBD)
• Peer assessments: 5-11 October 2023 and April 2024 (week following submission)

Fall 2023: evaluation of procedure
December 2023: announcement regarding follow-up 2025 onwards

Call for ideas 2024: announced in November 2023

• Deadline pitches: 3 weeks before Kickstarter (~Feb 2024)
• Decision programme board & instructions to pitching teams: 1 week before Kickstarter event
• Kickstarter event 2024: March/ April 2024
• Deadline Incubator application: 2 weeks after Kickstarter
• Decision programme board: 2 weeks after deadline for submission
• Deadline applications for Signature projects: October 2024, April 2025
• Peer assessments: October 2024 and April 2025 (week following submission)