International Innovation Corps (IIC), a global initiative by the University of Chicago, has opened up its fellowship positions for the academic year 2015.

The idea is to connect innovative young persons in the US and India and engage them with Indian public sector enterprises, where they would have the opportunity to deal with important social issues.

The team shall consists of seven members (three from University of Chicago, two Indian students from various universities, and a maximum of two employees from the partner host institution). The team is coordinated by the team leaders, who happen to be the leaders of the host institution.

The benefit of being an IIC fellow is immense. The prospective candidates acquire hands-on experience in the phase of designing and implementation of the innovative solutions for the given social challenges. There would be an all summer training program in the US and India on entrepreneurship development which provides an opportunity for the students to gain ideas from the experts. This fellowship is unique as it provides an access to the key persons in the business and government.

The IIC fellowship covers support for the yearlong training program which consists of a rigorous mentorship program both from US and India; administrative and personal support; health care support; travel expenditures; safety measurements; professional development.

The application is currently open and its deadline is February 16, 2015.

Interested candidates must be a class of 2015 graduate of the college, or a recent alumni graduates of the college or 2015 graduate of any graduate degree program which includes Masters and PhDs, or current students in a graduate degree program who would not complete graduation by 2015 but may take a gap year.

The candidate has to submit a complete resume, cover letter, transcript of all documents and make statements, letter of recommendation (at least one, but maximum two), innovation proposal and an application information form. While students from the University of Chicago can obtain the application form from the Chicago Career Connection (Job ID 47376), Harris Link, Booth GTS and Symplicity, Indian students can download the form from here.

The selection process includes five stages. The candidate submits completely filled in application along with relevant documents. Then the IIC reviews each application. The interview is conducted for selected candidates. After selection, offers are made to top performing individuals.

Finally, fellows are matched to the host institution on the basis of the academic coursework, individual fellow preference, voluntary experiences, interviews and the request made by the host institutions regarding the skill and qualification.

Currently, IIC deals with the projects related to Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation, the National Skills Development Corporation, and Central Electronics Limited.

For more information, prospective candidates can click here.