RFA Now Open for Strategic Partnership Grants
The Office for Research and Innovation (R&I) requests proposals for the 2020-2021 Strategic Partnership Grants (SPG) program. This competitive grants program, funded by the Michigan State University Foundation, provides seed funding for major projects in key areas of research, scholarship and creative activities.
Michigan State University recognizes the value of supporting and nurturing faculty who engage in leading-edge research and scholarship initiatives. These initiatives must be of a caliber that positions the faculty to compete for significant external funding, including the development of research ideas with significant commercial potential. These projects typically involve multiple investigators and the support of new collaborations are strongly encouraged. We expect that some of these initiatives may have the potential to develop into center or program project-level federally funded research programs.
The SPG program focuses on opportunities that are leading-edge, interdisciplinary or futuristic, and capitalizes on the existing intellectual capital at Michigan State University. This program is a demonstration of the MSU Foundation’s mission to support the development of new knowledge and centers of excellence at the university, and to invest in the development of Michigan State University as one of the nation's leading research institutions.
Proposals for new and innovative research initiatives are solicited. The program will not support requests for incremental research/scholarship, support for single investigator development, or the extension of ongoing supported programs. As initiated several years ago, the program is organized in two parts. Pre-proposals are open for university-wide competition, while full proposals will be invited based on the review of the pre-proposals.
The key SPG program goals are to support the initial development of:
- new multidisciplinary and multi-investigator projects that foster highly innovative or conceptually creative research and scholarship,
- projects that have the potential for generating significant external funding,
- projects that have the potential to position MSU as a nationally and internationally recognized leader in a particular research area,
- projects that have the potential to yield significant intellectual property and commercial potential for the University,
- projects that complement the research and scholarship priorities established within departments and colleges.
The maximum funding will be $400K total for projects of up to three years duration. All projects will require a 20% match from departments or colleges. Details concerning all aspects of the Strategic Partnership Grants program can be found online (https://msu.smapply.io).
In advance of SPG or any other collaborative work, it is important to discuss how the expected data derived from a project will be shared and how topics will be split for publications, including authorship considerations. In addition, investigators should discuss and agree on how individuals can move forward with additional projects, either with, or without all members of the original team.
Questions related to the SPG program should be directed to Melissa Buell at proposal@msu.edu or 432-3773.