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The Innovator's Page

Innovation Award

The Selection Process

Application Guidelines and Information
Applications should be completed as fully as possible within the space limitations. It is understood that not all projects will involve scientific research, for example, and certain areas of the application would not be applicable.

All grant applications are for one year or less, with a maximum award amount of $10,000. Awards do not have to be made for the requested amount, depending on funds available, and the number of applications received.

Awards will not be approved for projects that are already part of your hospital/organization budgeting process.

All capital equipment purchased with award funds will become the property of The Beckwith Institute for Innovation in Patient Care.

If scientific research is proposed that involves human subjects, the principal investigator must include a copy of the application as submitted to the Human Investigation Committee at UPMC Shadyside, the Institutional Review Board at UPMC Presbyterian, or a document related to a similar approval process at the organization that will be conducting the research. Awards will not be given until approval is received from the HIC, IRB, or a similar body.

If scientific research is proposed that involves animals, the principal investigator must sign a statement to indicate that the research will conform with "Guiding Principles in the Care and Use of Animals" as approved by the Council of the American Physiological Society. Federal laws and regulations include approval by an institutional animal review committee.

Should any type of publication result from the award project, the funding support of the Beckwith Institute must be acknowledged, and copies of the articles should be sent to the institute.

The application must indicate if the funds requested are supplemental to, or duplicative of, any other funds applied for. Awards will not be made if the funds will be duplicated from any other source.

A report must be submitted to the institute no later than 30 days after the end of the grant period, showing the annual expenditures for the award project. Any funds not used by that time will be returned to the institute. However, individual written requests will be considered to extend the budget period.

Any deficit of funds for the project is not considered the responsibility of the Beckwith Institute for Innovation in Patient Care.

Application submissions and awards will be made on an ongoing basis, dependent upon the number and timeliness of the applications received and the amount of funding used during the year.

All applications should be submitted as an original with five copies to:

Jodi Butler
UPMC Center for Nursing Excellence and Innovation
200 Lothrop Street
Suite 11093 Forbes Tower
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

The Selection Process
The Selection Committee shall be composed of three to four standing members, and two rotating specialty members as required. Selection Committee members are appointed with the approval of the executive director and director of The Beckwith Institute.

Letters of inquiry received by the deadline will be reviewed by the committee for that award cycle. The committee will select those that they feel are eligible for approval. The chosen applicants will be requested to submit a more detailed application. Applications that are accepted for eligibility will then be ranked, and awards will then be made according to the priority ranking until the total available funding is exhausted. This means that all available funding may be exhausted early in the year, and any other projects may need to wait for the next year's cycle.

If for any reason a Selection Committee member is an applicant for an award, that member will excuse himself or herself from discussion and voting on that proposal.