The 2011 McAllen Innovation Grant Awards is a competition to recognize with funding, great ideas, innovation and entrepreneurship. The program pursues two objectives. First, to generate entrepreneurial opportunities with funding to move ideas off the ground. The second is to expose entrepreneurs to the experience of requesting capital from potential investors. During the application process, participants need to solidify the objective (what), strategies (how), and tactics (when, where, who) of their project.

The awards are grants, not loans, and do not have to be repaid. The applicants are required to state the amount of money they are requesting (up to $10,000) and how they anticipate to use the funding if awarded. The most common funding categories are the following:

• New product evaluation
• Assessment of commercial potential
• Primary or secondary research
• Product development
• Performance proofing or testing
• Test marketing
• Patent research
• Intellectual property rights procurement
• Concept development

In June, a panel of seven judges reviewed applications and selected four projects to fund. They are:

Project: P2E Waste-To-Energy, technology to recover energy from waste.

Leader: Rodolfo Sanchez

Award: $10,000 in legal fees to prepare the environmental and legal requieremnts.

Project: Bolt Muzzle Brake, device that reduces recoil for rifles.                   

Leader: Jack York

Award: $5,000 for professional product safety testing

Project: Emergency Evacuation Stretcher / Bed, emergency stretcher.                  

Leader: Hector Moroles

Award: $10,000 in legal fees to protect the intellectual property of the project

Project: eJucomm, an app for educators to communicate with parents, students, and community members.                  

Leader:  Dalinda Gonzalez – Alcantar

Award:  $10,000 in legal fees to protect the intellectual property of the project