Innovation Generation grants

Innovation Generation funding is designed to inspire students to learn about science and generate interest in science-related careers.

The Motorola Foundation's Innovation Generation program equips students with the skills essential to both their lives today and their future success. By making the complex concepts behind math and science real and relevant, students look at their world differently through strengthened problem-solving skills. The Motorola Foundation accomplishes this through grant-making, engaging employee volunteers, building networks among STEM leaders and conducting research.

2010 Innovation Generation Grants

The Motorola Foundation has provided $7.5 million in Innovation Generation grants to U.S. science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education programs through its signature grants program in 2010. Innovation Generation funding is designed to inspire students to learn about science and generate interest in science-related careers, especially for girls and underrepresented groups.

Now in its fourth year, the program builds on President Barack Obama’s “Educate to Innovate” campaign and federal initiatives like the Race to the Top Fund by incorporating funding, employee volunteers and intra-grantee collaboration to help boost American students’ engagement in STEM.

The expanded Innovation Generation grants program features three distinct funding areas:

• Innovation Generation Grants  –  Support targeted, innovative STEM education programs for U.S. pre-school through 12th grade students and teachers, with grants ranging from $25,000 to $50,000
• Innovation Generation Collaborative Grants  –  Support medium- to large-scale STEM education collaborations between two or more non-profit organizations, schools and/or school districts, with joint requests ranging from $150,000 to $500,000
• Innovation Generation University Grants  –  Support hands-on, innovative competitions, seminars and design competitions for undergraduate- and graduate-level students at select universities, with maximum grants of $50,000

Read about the 2010 Innovation Generation Grant Recipients.

We believe that innovative solutions are needed to encourage more young people to study STEM subjects. To support new thinking, nearly two-thirds of the 114 grants were awarded to science education and innovation programs that are less than two years old.

In July, the Motorola Foundation is convening its second annual Innovation Generation Networking Conference—keynoted by former NASA astronaut and STEM leader Sally Ride—a two-day conference convening the full network of grantees and providing a forum to share best practices, leverage resources and cultivate an informed frontline of advocates.

To extend the impact of our funding, we match Motorola employee volunteers with Innovation Generation grantees to build strong relationships that bring our unique expertise into the communities where we live and work.

2009 Innovation Generation Grants

In 2009, we committed $5 million to after-school programming and clubs through our Innovation Generation grants. Of grantees:

• 41 percent target African-American students
• 27 percent serve Latinos
• 33 percent engage girls specifically

For more detail, see our map of 2009 grantees.

Beyond funding, we are linking recipients of the Innovation Generation grants with each other. We convened our first Innovation Generation conference in 2009, bringing together more than 100 grantees and leaders in STEM education to share best practices, leverage resources and cultivate an informed frontline of advocates to move the U.S. STEM education agenda forward. Our grantee portal extends grantee collaboration beyond the conference.

Motorola is a company of engineers and scientists, with employees who are eager to encourage the next generation of inventors. Hundreds of employees volunteer as robotics club mentors, science fair judges and math tutors. In 2009, we launched the “Innovators” employee volunteer program, which pairs a Motorola employee with each of the non-profits receiving Innovation Generation grants, providing ongoing support for grantees beyond simply funding their projects.