Get Started with the Spark Program
Spark your entrepreneurial spirit
Do you have an idea for a business, social enterprise, app, or creative project? You may want to participate in a unique extracurricular activity: the Spark program. Every year, the Brandeis Innovation Virtual Incubator prepares Brandeis teams to create startups and social impact projects that have a strong chance of becoming successful.
Spark offers aspiring change-makers at Brandeis the support they need to turn their vision into reality. Through Spark, Brandeis innovators will work on exploring the viability of their research and ideas while building the basis of what can come to be game-changing solutions.
Sign Up to Be Notified of Upcoming Spark Opportunities
Get Training, Support, Mentorship and the Chance to Pitch for Funding
Applications for the Spark program open every fall. Sign up to be notified of upcoming opportunities.
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FAQ
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Participating in Spark will give you opportunities to:
- Recruit team members
- Obtain entrepreneurial skills training
- Get connected to industry leaders and experts outside Brandeis
as well as be eligible to apply for seed funding for your startup idea.
Each year, up to $50,000 in Spark funding is divided among the most promising projects. The amount of funding is commensurate with the scope of the project and is distributed based on achievement of project milestones.
Undergraduates, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, faculty and staff from any Brandeis department or school are eligible to apply for Spark. Please note that at least one team member must be a Brandeis affiliate.
The Spark Program at Brandeis provides pilot funding for innovative projects that involve the environment, education, computer science, healthcare, economic solutions, or social needs. The projects should further have a positive social, educational or financial impact. Some examples of such projects would be a smartphone or web app, educational tools, social solutions, cyber security, big data and arts.
For students that are exempt from the Brandeis University Intellectual Property (IP) Policy, the teams will own the IP and/or any source code unless (a) one of the team members falls under the IP policy; and/or (b) significant Brandeis resources are utilized in the project. Brandeis University Intellectual Property Policy can be found on the OTL website here.
To apply, applicants fill out an online form about their idea and team during the call for applications, which takes place during the Fall semester of each year. Application forms will be available and all due dates published on this page and the Brandeis Innovation homepage.
Spark Program Final Proposals are judged by a panel of independent, outside reviewers. Applications will be judged using the following criteria:
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Potential for social, educational or financial impact;
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Potential importance of the proposed project;
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Overall quality of proposed project plan;
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Competence, balance and completeness of entrepreneurial team;
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Probability of achieving proposed goal with the Award resources and in the time proposed;
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Degree of innovation and novelty in the proposed project;
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Possibility of attracting future development funding to advance the proposed project.
The highest-ranking proposals will be invited to pitch at our SPARKTank competition.
