Cornell University
IN-2: Innovation 2

Academic Venture Fund

The Academic Venture Fund (AVF – www.acsf.cornell.edu/AVF ) is the keystone funding initiative of Cornell University’s Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future (ACSF – www.acsf.cornell.edu). Created in 2008, the AVF stimulates new, original, crossdisciplinary research at Cornell in sustainability. This effort helps to form interdisciplinary teams of Cornell scholars and connect them with external partners. The proposed research must show promise for securing external funding and advancing sustainability locally, regionally, nationally or internationally. The AVF is intended to support proposals that would not be funded by traditional granting organizations because the proposed activity is interdisciplinary, still early in development, high risk, or some combination of these factors.

In the four rounds of funding since its inception, the AVF has provided over $2.8 Million to 35 interdisciplinary research projects at Cornell, ranging from Environmental, Energetic and Economic Potential of Biochar to Forecasting Disease and Economic Consequences of Climate Change; Sustainability of Food Systems; The Impact of Green Energy Development on Rural Community Sustainability; Replacing Antibiotics in the Food Animal Industry with Bacteriophages; Harnessing Genomics to Advance Biodiversity and Conservation Research; Sustainable Pest Management and Yield Increase Strategies; and many more.