CCNY Establishes President’s Innovation Fund

In August, The City College of New York announced the establishment of the President’s Innovation Fund, part of a holistic, coordinated, innovation acceleration strategy. The fund seeks to address a gap in resources for the development of early-stage innovations into new products and ventures.

City College President Vince Boudreau described the establishment of the fund as “an institutional call to demonstrate our commitment to catalyze the development of innovations conceived at City College to achieve greater commercial and societal impacts.”

The President’s Innovation Fund is part of a larger strategy for creating consortium partnerships around early-stage projects, where partners provide synergistic resources. An analysis of institutional capabilities by CCNY’s new Senior Director of Innovation Management Andrew Wooten identified gaps in support which currently impede innovation development.

The magnitude and complexity of the challenge in innovation – whether of a new drug, biomedical device or engineering advance – stems from the fact that multiple types of resources, including intellectual property, capital, expertise and infrastructure, are required for success.

This program will provide multiple benefits for the institution and its stakeholders, demonstrating that innovation is a priority and an integral part of the culture at CCNY. “The Fund will bring top innovation concepts out of the woodwork and onto the radar screens of leadership where they can be properly assessed, and nurtured,” said Boudreau.

An initial gift of $100,000 was made anonymously to the Fund at its establishment. Efforts are underway to build upon this seed gift and establish the President’s Innovation Fund as an ongoing CCNY program. 

“This initiative shows institutional commitment, changing the dynamic of the conversation from one of selling, to one of collaboration and is much more attractive to all stakeholders,” said Wooten. “Over time, individual project partnerships can evolve into broad programmatic partnerships.”

About The City College of New York
Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided a high quality and affordable education to generations of New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. Today The Chronicle of Higher Education ranks CCNY #2 among public colleges with the greatest success in ensuring the social mobility of our student body; at the same time the Center for world University Rankings places it in the top 1.2% of universities worldwide in terms of academic excellence. More than 16,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in eight professional schools and divisions, driven by significant funded research, creativity and scholarship. CCNY is as diverse, dynamic and visionary as New York City itself.  View CCNY Media Kit.