Spark-Seed-Spread is an intensive accelerator program intended to jump start innovative ideas. It aims to help achieve a level of business growth that would normally take anywhere between 12 to 18 months in around a quarter to half that time.

The program provides selected recipients resources to kick-start their early-stage innovations and training. It provides support by offering funding for a prototype or pilot, individualized mentoring, access to a network of like-minded innovators, training and webinars, hands-on Human-Centered Design experience, opportunities to share your work with top VA leadership and the public, continuing Education Units for your professional affiliations, and more!

VHA employees at iNET sites who want to make a difference and be heard!

Investment levels are based on the maturity of the innovation (i.e., your proposed solution) and the expected conclusion at the end of the investment lifecycle

• Spark investments are brand new concepts and solutions. You have identified a challenge you’d like to solve and/or have an initial solution idea (solution idea isn’t necessary to apply for a Spark). At the end of 12 months, a mock or functional prototype should be developed.
• Seed investments are previously prototyped solutions aiming to test the prototype with a pilot test. You already have a functional or mock prototype. The goal is a workflow integrated pilot at one site/department for at least six months.
• Spread investments are previously piloted solutions attempting to spread their pilot test to multiple sites/departments. The goal is a workflow integrated pilot at two to five sites/departments in diverse facility settings for at least six months, to gain further feedback on the validity of your solution.

A spend plan is an Excel spreadsheet outlining your expected expenses for developing or implementing your innovation

Each level of investment has a different spend plan template. Work with your Innovation Specialist to complete the spend plan fully and accurately. Be sure to attend one of the Spend Plan 101 sessions to prepare your spend plan for submission (find invites here).

$0 investments do need to submit a spend plan. Please ensure your application clearly states you are requesting $0 and $0 on the spend plan

$0 investments are acceptable. Just be sure to indicate that you are not requesting funds in your application.

Time commitment for project work varies, given the level of investment, but ranges from an average of 2-15 hours per week.

The monthly Accelerator webinars are required. They should take approximately 1 hour per month, combined.

The Virtual Kickoff Week and Innovation Accelerator Bootcamp are also required. Kickoff Week will encompass five hours for one week and Bootcamp is a 3-day face-to-face event.

As with everything, you will get out of it what you put into it.

Your Innovation Specialist! These individuals are your first point of contact for everything. They are experienced in navigating local processes and are familiar with barriers to your potential success. We can’t stress enough how knowledgeable, tenacious, curious, skilled, and seasoned these folks are! An Innovation Specialist should be your first go-to with any questions or concerns.

A successful past project, VEText, is an interactive mobile solution that reminds Veterans of upcoming medical appointments via text messaging. Since its launch in 2018, VEText has sent 71 million text messages, enabling over 1 million appointments to be made available for other Veterans.