2025-2026 Illinois Innovation Award

The Illinois Innovation Award honors University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign students for excellence in cutting-edge innovation or translational research that addresses real-world problems and has the potential to make a significant impact. The recipient will receive a monetary award of $20,000 in the form of direct deposit to the student’s University account, and a trophy. The Illinois Innovation Award is awarded by The Grainger College of Engineering through the Technology Entrepreneur Center. $450,000 has been awarded to student innovators since 2007. *Each unit may submit only 2 nominations. * Examples of units are department, research group, center, company, etc.

Eligibility
Graduate or undergraduate students who are registered as full-time, on-campus students during the 2025-2026 academic year at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign are eligible. Students must be: enrolled full-time, on-campus at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for the full academic year; seeking a degree at Illinois as an undergraduate or graduate student in any major; and the primary researcher, founder, or inventor on works cited. To be eligible, the student’s work must be: innovative in nature; created, initiated, or founded by that student; and NOT someone else’s work that the student is representing. All applicants are expected to abide by the rules of the program and the campus integrity statement and student code found at go.illinois.edu/studentcode.

Evaluation Criteria
Special achievement in innovation or translational research.

Nomination Requirements
Note: University units, faculty members, mentors, and advisors may nominate. Mentors do not have to be employed by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Students may not nominate.

Submission
Each unit is limited to two nominations. The same student may not be nominated for both awards. Nominations should be submitted by the deadline via the nomination form.

Selection
A limited number of finalists will be chosen by the Illinois Innovation Award Committee. The finalists will be notified by email and will be announced prior to the Awards Ceremony. One recipient will be chosen from among the finalists, and will be announced at the Awards Ceremony in Spring 2026.

For more information, see the TEC website: https://tec.illinois.edu/programs/iip