APTS SUBMITS COMMENTS ON THE INVESTING IN INNOVATION FUND (I3)

January 14, 2013

In December 2012, the U.S. Department of Education released a proposed rule for the Investing in Innovation Fund (i3). This proposed rule suggest changes to priorities, requirements, definitions, and selection criteria for the program. In it, the Department stated that they are now interested in supporting a "more focused set of projects within areas of acute need and in more directly addressing particular challenges." They propose ten cross-cutting priorities that the Department can use in any grant competition (without taking additional public comment) and might use in the 2013 i3 competition. In addition, they proposed some changes to other elements of the program requirements and posed questions about potential changes they may consider. Because some of these proposed changes are of particular interest to stations, APTS provided comments to the Department, urging them to include more specific references to multi-platform digital content and services.

Read all of the comments here.
Read the Grant News article which highlights the proposed changes to the Investing in Innovation Grant Program.

UPDATE: In March 2013, DOE released their Final Priorities, Requirements, Definitions and Selection Criteria for the Investing in Innovation grant program. Various changes were made based on the 37 public comments filed.

Of importance includes the changes made to the newest priority giving new i3 applicants incentive to apply, of which the Grant Center discouraged such adoption. While DOE went ahead and established the priority, Supporting Novice i3 Applicants, it is direct toward those who have never received an i3 grant directly. This distinction is made in response to our concern that partner organizations would be put at a disadvantage otherwise.

You can read the final priorities in their entirety, here.