For 20 years, CU Boulder’s Research & Innovation Seed Grant Program has helped faculty turn promising ideas into new research, scholarship and creative work—providing early support to launch collaborations, explore new directions and build the foundation for future success.

Now entering its third decade, the program is accepting proposals for its Fall 2026 cycle through Monday, Oct. 12, with awards of up to $60,000 available to interdisciplinary faculty teams.

Since the first competition in 2006, more than 400 CU Boulder faculty researchers and research teams have received seed funding. In all, the program has awarded more than $18.4 million, helping recipients pursue ideas that have led to new discoveries, partnerships, publications, intellectual property and significant follow-on funding.

For every $1 invested through the program, recipients have gone on to secure more than $4 in additional public and private funding.

Supporting bold ideas and new collaborations

Research & Innovation Seed Grants are designed as strategic investments in CU Boulder’s future research, scholarship and creative activity.

The program supports innovative—and high-risk, high-reward—projects that bring together diverse expertise, develop new partnerships and create opportunities for sustained growth. Projects can span the full range of disciplines at CU Boulder, from the arts and humanities and social sciences to the physical, biomedical and environmental sciences and engineering.

Approximately $1 million is available annually, with individual projects eligible for up to $60,000 over 18 months.

New for Fall 2026, all proposals must be team-based and include at least two CU Boulder faculty investigators, including the lead PI, while demonstrating meaningful interdisciplinary collaboration. The program's review criteria have also been updated, with proposals evaluated based on intellectual merit, impact and inter- or multidisciplinarity.

Projects that establish or leverage external partnerships—including with industry, national laboratories, universities, government agencies and nonprofits—are particularly welcomed. External partners are expected to provide at least $25,000 in matching support for projects submitted in the External Partnerships category.

Two decades of impact

The impact of seed funding extends well beyond the initial awards.

Projects supported through the program have contributed to 159 publications, 18 intellectual property outcomes and more than 100 interdisciplinary collaborations. They have also provided research, scholarly and creative opportunities and career development for 242 undergraduate students, 273 graduate students and 38 postdoctoral researchers.

For many faculty, seed funding has provided the preliminary results, collaborations or proof of concept needed to compete successfully for major external awards.

Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering Professor Juliet Gopinath, for example, leveraged the seed grant in a successful proposal to the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) using stimulated Raman spectroscopy to detect carbon in the ocean. The successful proposal resulted in an $8 million award.

Other recipients have used seed-funded work as the foundation for successful National Science Foundation CAREER awards, National Institutes of Health funding, fellowships, publications and entirely new directions of research.

Faculty interested in applying should review the Research & Innovation Seed Grant Program webpage for complete eligibility, application, budget and review requirements. Proposals should be written for non-specialist reviewers and clearly articulate the project's importance, potential impact and opportunities for future growth.

Questions can be directed to   rioseedgrant@colorado.edu.