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The Innovator's Page

The Innovation Award Fund

Letter of Inquiry
Application Guidelines and Information
The Selection Process
Funded Projects

The Innovation Award Fund was established by the Beckwith Institute and the Audrey Hillman Fisher Foundation in 1996 to advocate and encourage the use of innovative thinking and problem-solving methods to meet the challenges of providing quality health care in today's environment, and to recognize those who make a positive contribution to patient care.

This award fund provides a means of support for employees of UPMC to identify, develop, research, and test innovative approaches to the delivery of patient care.

These projects could:

• explore the use of new technologies
• demonstrate innovative solutions to problems in patient care, especially in resource-sensitive settings
• illustrate systems improvement through a quality improvement approach
• demonstrate an interdisciplinary approach to improve patient care
• explore clinical research questions related to patient care
• demonstrate new methods for patient education and teaching

However, prospective projects are not limited to the above. The ultimate goal is for the project to demonstrate an innovative approach that provides a positive, direct impact on improving patient care outcomes.

The Beckwith Institute invites any UPMC employee, either as an individual or member of a team, to apply for the award. The application process occurs in two stages:

1. Each applicant must submit a letter of inquiry that is a focused overview of the project and the anticipated outcomes. The deadline for the letter of inquiry is on a rolling basis.
2. Applicants chosen from this process will be asked to submit a more detailed proposal for final selection.

Chosen projects will be funded up to $10,000, depending on the number of projects submitted and the amount of funding available. For more information or an application, please contact us.