About the Entrepreneurship Fund

To truly solve the challenges facing the Arctic, and thus the world, we believe strongly in supporting local solutions and multiple avenues for innovation for new services and products. UArctic is committed to playing a role in supporting the development of northern entrepreneurs and providing resources to help advance local ideas.

One way to do that is to complement existing, mature prize funds with a seed-fund program – the UArctic Entrepreneurship Fund. This will help to create a pipeline for existing prize funds and also allow for diversification in both creative products and local enterprises.

The Entrepreneurship Fund has its pilot call for applications in spring 2023, with subsequent calls launched annually. Expected grant disbursement amounts are in the range of $2,000 to $5,000 USD, though exceptions may be made on a case-by-case basis.

Goals:

1. Accelerate high-potential incubator-stage products and services aiming to benefit the Arctic environment and/or Arctic communities. Benefit in this context can be described as being greatly diverse; from having a positive impact on the environment, e.g. pollution reduction, or a product that can increase internet connectivity in the Arctic etc.
2. Increase engagement from aspiring entrepreneurs and innovators toward Arctic issues.
3. Support and encourage ideas of aspiring Indigenous entrepreneurs.
4. Support and foster a bridge between UArctic’s wealth of academic knowledge and recipients of the UArctic Entrepreneurship Fund.
5. Reward creativity and risk-taking by supporting a broad selection criteria that is not solely return-on-investment focused.

The UArctic Entrepreneurship Fund has been created at the initiative of our supporter Michael Carey who we also thank for its seed funding.

If you have questions or wish to send us feedback, please contact our team at entrepreneurship@uarctic.org.