Website Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s Moore Inventor Fellows Program 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.
Program Funding Priorities
The scope of this call is intentionally wide: proposed projects do not need to fall within Moore’s current funding priorities, but should be broadly within the program areas of foundation interest (science, environmental conservation and patient care). The exception is for nominees proposing ideas and inventions that target patient care, where Moore seeks overlap with their current emphasis on improving the experience and outcomes of patients, including solutions in the areas of diagnostic excellence, medication safety in the community and community-based serious illness care. Moore aims to support inventions at an early stage that could lead to proof-of-concept work on an invention or advance an existing prototype that tackles an important problem. The foundation seek innovations with the promise of making a long-lasting impact by addressing underlying problems in their field, but a clear path toward commercialization is not a requirement. Moore is not interested in supporting projects that are already at a stage where significant venture capital is available.
Program Budget
The foundation anticipates investing $34 million to support a total of 50 Moore Fellows, The first five of these fellows were awarded in 2016 including UCI’s own Shane Ardo.
Each fellow 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 the host institution with $25,000 each year to cover costs associated with administering the grant award, resulting in a total three-year award amount of $675,000. Host institutions will be required to make a contribution of $50,000 in annual direct support of the inventor’s work (i.e. mandatory cost share).
Eligibility
Candidates must be within ten years of receiving the advanced terminal degree in their field (M.S., Ph.D. or M.D.) They can be tenure-line faculty, teaching faculty, research scientists, post-docs or other full-time affiliates of the university.
Internal Application Process
UCI may submit only two nominations for this award opportunity. Therefore interested applicants (or those nominating others) are asked to submit a preliminary application to the Office of Research (via UCI Review), with the following information by October 19, 2020:
- Up to 3-page overview of the proposed invention/innovation, which should include:
- Statement on Importance/impact to science, environmental conservation or patient care and experience
- The present status of funding for the idea, and
- Statement that explains why the nominee/applicant is the best person to advance their proposed invention.
(Citations/references, if required, may be on additional pages)
- A 2-page Biosketch or abbreviated CV.
Following receipt of the internal applications, an ad hoc committee will be convened to review the proposals. The selected candidate will be notified in time to meet the November 16, 2020 deadline for institutional nominations (the nominees’ application packets are due by December 14th). Following this first deadline, the Moore Foundation will select approximately 10% of nominations to submit for a second round of review. Selected finalists will be asked to provide additional information and present to Moore’s panel of advisors before making recommendations to the foundation management for the five 2021 fellowships.
For more information about the program and specific guidelines, please visit https://www.moore.org/docs/default-source/moore-inventor-fellows/moore-inventor-fellows-guidelines.pdf
Questions about our internal campus review process may be directed to
Greg Ruth at greg.ruth@uci.edu or x4-0372.