Applications will be reviewed based on the following criteria against a competitive set of other applicants by a rotating panel of academic, professional, and administrative members of the IEI community.
Leadership and Entrepreneurial Vision
Applicant demonstrates the ability to inspire others and has the emotional intelligence to lead effectively. Are you willing to take responsibility for enabling others to achieve a shared purpose in the face of uncertainty?
Resilience and Growth Mindset
Applicant is receptive to feedback, has learned from past experiences, and is flexible and capable of changing their minds. Are you able to anticipate obstacles and bounce back from them?
Ability to Collaborate and Attract Resources
Applicant can mobilize relationships and resources. Do you have the ability to resolve conflict and bring together the necessary people, money, and resources to create your venture? Are you curious about how to create new systems of value that attract capital in financial and non-financial forms?
Desire to Participate in a Cohort Experience
Applicant successfully lays out what they will gain from, and how they will contribute to, the cohort experience. What does collaboration mean to you?
Idea/Venture
- Clarity with which the unmet need of a particular community has been articulated
- Evidence that the unmet need represents a significant societal challenge
- Innovative idea for addressing the need
- Potential of the idea to address the problem
- Potential of the idea to achieve scalable social impact
- Potential of the idea to galvanize demand among an engaged and participatory set of constituents/stakeholders/users
A Successful Applicant
- Is a self-starter with an entrepreneurial mindset
- Is grounded in the community or local ecosystems they seek to serve and engage
- Can mobilize relationships and resources
- Is committed to continuous improvement through ethical behavior, just practices, resilience, and values that reflect respect for all people and populations
- Is resilient and growth oriented
A Successful Application
- Reflects a commitment to explore and develop the venture, initiative, or program within the community
- Outlines a venture, initiative, or program responding to a defined systemic challenge by addressing root causes with corrective action
- Outlines a venture, initiative, or program structured around a framework incorporating values of diversity, equity, inclusion (of groups including people with disabilities), social justice, and social impact
- Incorporates a narrative that demonstrates that the applicant has already invested time and effort in the creative and intellectual development of the idea regardless of financial resources