Illinois Institute of Technology today (Tuesday, March 1) announced the expansion of the Nayar Prize competition with the creation of a second competition, the Nayar Prize II, designed to continue to encourage the development of breakthrough innovations with a societal impact. The first Nayar Prize, introduced in 2015, is currently in Phase 1 of the competition.

Illinois Institute of Technology Trustee Madhavan Nayar (M.S. IE ’68) and his wife, Teresa, on behalf of the Nayar Family Foundation, have established an additional $1.1 million prize package for the Nayar Prize II. The prize is specifically established to engage Illinois Tech faculty, students and staff members interested in tackling complex problems where a solution must be developed by a cross-functional, multi-disciplinary team. It is aimed at developing solutions for some of the world’s most complex problems, especially those that require an understanding of the relationship between humanity and technology that will, within three years, produce meaningful results with a societal impact.

The Nayar Family Foundation is providing an unparalleled chance for members of the Illinois Tech community to be recognized for their extraordinary problem-solving abilities—and their passion to make a real difference in our world.

Each team will be led by at least one Illinois Tech faculty or staff member, or graduate student, and be supported by other Illinois Tech faculty and staff members and/or graduate and/or undergraduate students. Alumni and other subject matter experts can be added to the teams as appropriate and necessary. The Nayar Prize II Steering committee, along with the Nayar Prize Oversight committee, will select which proposals will become finalists and which teams will be considered for the prize. The competition has three phases:

Phase 1: A maximum of three teams will receive up to $100,000 each to be spent within the first year to enable significant progress to be made toward a potential solution for their identified and approved problem.

Phase 2: A maximum of two teams selected, that have shown the most progress toward their solution, will each receive up to an additional $100,000 to be spent in the second year to continue their work.

Phase 3: Upon the successful achievement of benchmarks/performance metrics, established by the steering committee, the final team will be selected and receive up to an additional $100,000 to continue its work for a third and final year.

Proposals for consideration for the Nayar Prize II, Phase 1 funding, are due by September 1, 2016. Selection of the recipients of the Nayar Prize II, Phase 1 funding will take place on October 3, 2016.

For more information about the Nayar Prize at Illinois Institute of Technology, visit the website: web.iit.edu/nayar-prize.