Student Innovation Commercialization Award – 2026

Background:

The intent of this award is to recognize the research of graduate students at the University of Maine that shows promise to develop into a commercial product or service. The University of Maine has a long tradition of supporting higher education and providing resources and opportunities to its talented student population. This award is meant to showcase those students whose research has the potential to generate a feasible and innovative product or service. Winning participants will receive prize money, a commemorative plaque and a support package provided by the Foster Innovation Center that will include ongoing business development assistance from the Foster Center staff, additional resources and space within the Foster Center, if desired.

Criteria:

Applicants must be a graduate student and must have submitted their abstract for University of Maine Symposium 2026.

Confidentiality:

GSG and the Foster Center maintain the confidentiality of proposals, reports and other information submitted within the application for consideration except for the information contained within the “Non-Confidential Project Summary.” We recognize the potentially sensitive nature of information required for application. Please mark all pages containing sensitive information as “Confidential” or “Proprietary.” Materials so designated will be treated confidentially to the extent allowable by law.

Selection process by the Foster Innovation Center: 

Proposals will be evaluated on the following criteria:
· Quality of the idea: project description, scope of work, and merit of end point
· Potential for commercial development
· Technical feasibility
· Potential for economic impact
· Persuasiveness of the written research and oral presentation

The judging panel will function as an investment group seeking to reach consensus on the venture they would most likely fund. The judges may also provide useful feedback about professionalizing the business research and presentation to attract funding or strategic partners.

Application: 

Please complete the application form, which includes uploading a three page PDF which answers the following questions (see below). The third page must solely be used for an appendix of research results, technical drawings, or other appropriate materials may be included.

  1. Please provide a non-confidential project summary that describes your technology as it could be applied to a commercially available product or service. Project summaries should contain no proprietary or confidential information because the information may be used for promotional and other purposes. (Not to exceed 100 words)
  2. What specific industry segment(s) can potentially benefit from your technology as described in #1? Be specific. Example: Healthcare is an industry; surgical oncology is a specific industry segment within the healthcare industry. (Not to exceed 100 words)
  3. How is your proposed product or service meaningfully unique? What problems does it solve? What advantages does it provide? How does it allow someone to do their job better, faster, or less expensively? How is it better than what is currently available today (in terms of competitive products or services, or simply better workarounds to current practices)? (Not to exceed 150 words)
  4. What are the next 3-5 most important developmental steps necessary for commercialization? What is a reasonable timeline needed to complete these steps? Note: These steps may not get you technology completely to a commercialized product or service, but they should allow you to show significant evidence that commercialization is possible. (Not to exceed 150 words)
  5. What are the intellectual property opportunities? Is there a pathway to creating a patent, copyright, trademark, or trade secret around the technology you are developing? (Not to exceed 100 words)

All questions must be completed for consideration. The three page application material must be in PDF format with 1 inch margins, Times New Roman font, and 12 point font size. The header must contain the award name, date and the applicant name. The PDF file must have the following file name FirstName_LastName_AwardName.

Note: The research must be original research conducted by the applicant.

Deadline:

The application form will close on Friday, April 3rd, 2026 at 5:00 pm.

Award: 

Three awardees will be selected and shall be announced during the symposium award ceremony. The following are the monetary amounts associated with the awards, in addition a certificate/plaque would also be provided. 

First Place: $500
Second Place: $300
Third Place: $200

Awardees who participate in UMaine’s I-Corps Spark program are eligible for an additional $1,000 of funding to be used for completing customer discovery interviews.

Contact:

If you have any questions about the awards or the nomination process, please contact the Vice President (carter.emerson@maine.edu) or send an email to gsg@maine.edu