IEEE New Initiative Program Frequently Asked Questions

The new initiative program is designed to support potential new programs, products, or services that will provide significant benefit to IEEE members, the public, the technical community, and customers, or which could have lasting impact on the IEEE or its business processes.  Initiatives must be of strategic importance to IEEE.

A new initiative or a seed grant proposal may be submitted any time in the year for review by the New Initiatives Committee (NIC).

Any IEEE member, volunteer or IEEE organizational unit can submit a proposal. IEEE staff groups require a volunteer as a co-sponsor.

Typically, new initiatives are expected to require US$100,000 or more for a 12-month period.  However, any project proposed to the New Initiative Committee with a total budget exceeding US$40,000 will be considered a new initiative.  Multi-year funding is allowable for new initiatives, with a maximum of up to three 12-month periods.

The seed grant proposal should be used for smaller-scale or high-risk proposals when funding of US$40,000 or less is required. 

Preliminary proposals (Phase 1) can be submitted at any time by completing the Phase 1 section of the IEEE New Initiatives Proposal Form (DOC, 205 KB) and e-mailing it to newinitiatives@ieee.org. The form requires basic information such as a project description with expected outcomes, initiative leader, volunteer champion, costs, timetable, and other information required for evaluation.

Learn more about the New Initiative process and timeline

The Seed Grant Proposal (DOC, 71 KB) is designed for potentially small scale and/or high risk proposals where relatively small (up to US$40,000) amounts of funding are required to get started. Also, a seed grant may be used as precursor demonstration for a larger New Initiative submission. Learn more about the Seed Grant Process.

Any project proposal to the New Initiative Committee with a total budget exceeding US$40,000 must be submitted as a New Initiative.

The seed grant utilizes a short evaluation and approval process through electronic submission of the IEEE Seed Grant Proposal Form (DOC, 71 KB) The target turnaround time from submission to a decision is a maximum of 45 days.

Learn more about the Seed Grant Process and timeline

A champion is required for New Initiatives proposals.  The new initiative projects are larger scale, typically multi-year projects, and request higher levels of funding than seed grant projects and, therefore, require a champion write a short endorsement for the project. 

Find out more on new initiatives and seed grants by selecting the area of interest below.

• IEEE New Initiative Program
• New Initiatives Operations Manual (PDF, 139 KB)
• IEEE New Initiatives Process FAQs
• New Initiative Forms
• New Initiative Submission Process
• Seed Grant Process
• IEEE New Initiatives Committee (NIC) 

Last updated: 11 March 2011