The NIU foundation Venture Grants program, which grants up to $20,000 of funding toward student-proposed inventions, is having its kickoff event from 3 to 5:30 p.m. Friday.

Students who attend the event in Swen Parson Hall’s Thurgood Marshall Gallery will be recruited by five different professors with different projects. Once selected, students are paired and will work with their team to promote their project.

“Our hope to accomplish is to have staff and students at NIU to take innovations to the next level…hopefully to market,” said Christine Speiser, chair of the Grant Committee at the NIU Foundation.

Two of the five teams will be selected and awarded a $20,000 grant. A total of $40,000 worth of grants will be given to aid in further promotion and research for the winning team’s project.

“Even those who don’t win will have gained experience on how to create a business proposal,” said donor relations associate Christina Pilling.

This event’s team and sales aspect is a new style that the NIU Foundation believes will be fresh and successful.

Both the Technology Transfer office and the NIU Research foundation have been working hard to organize this newly formatted event.

“I am very excited about the new Venture Grants Program,” said Lisa Freeman, the vice president for Research and Graduate Studies. “I have enjoyed working with colleagues at the NIU Foundation to create this opportunity for NIU students to see firsthand that the university is not just a place where knowledge is delivered in the classroom, but also a place where new knowledge is created and new technology is developed for real world applications.”