Eligibility and Application Criteria

Eligibility criteria

The UArctic Entrepreneurship Fund is open to any individual with an incubator-stage product or service that aims to benefit the Arctic environment or Arctic communities and has a positive, demonstrable impact on the Arctic. We especially encourage applications from Arctic Indigenous and/or northern-based entrepreneurs.

Application criteria

All applications are expected to meet the following criteria to qualify for scoring:

1. Background overview of the submitter (with a résumé)
2. A true new product or service 
3. A value proposition that clearly addresses how the product or service will directly impact the Arctic environment or Arctic communities
4. A business overview/pitchbook, outlining (as applicable):
   • company description
   • understanding of the problem and market potential
   • product or service description
   • marketing strategy
   • high-level financial projections/use of the funds
   • appendix (for any documents or data to support the other sections)
5. A grant request amount (or amounts, if varying budgets would impact the ability to execute on the business plan in a meaningful way) and an accompanying 6-12 month budget explaining how and where the grant amount would be spent. 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.

In addition, all applications are expected to adhere to UArctic's values.

Evaluation and scoring

Each application fulfilling the application criteria above will be evaluated and scored by a review committee based on a 1-10 scale for five attributes:

1. Application Presentation: thoroughness of preparation and plan, completeness and professionalism of submitted pitchbook
2. Level of Impact: extent to which the application’s proposed product or service positively helps the Arctic environment and/or communities
3. Feasibility: the appropriateness of the application to attain some or all of its stated goals with funding – based on the project’s scope, focus, and technical hurdles, as well as the overall desired funding amount compared to the amount available for disbursement
4. Environmental Effects: extent to which the application identifies and mitigates negative effects to the environment from its proposed product or service; alignment to carbon-neutrality; overall environmental impact
5. Business Model: the overall potential economic value of the application’s proposed product or service
6. Competence and Background: the capabilities of the applicant for successfully implementing their plan

In addition, weighted scoring is added to Arctic Indigenous and/or northern-based entrepreneurs. 

Each application fulfilling the criteria will be reviewed by committee members and independently scored. The results of this process will rank each application by the weighted scores of the committee members, and they will be reviewed as a group to finalize decisions, determine funding, and address any concerns.