Northeast Center Opens Incubator Funding Proposal Period
July 27, 2025 (FLY CREEK, NY) – The Northeast Center for Occupational Health and Safety (NEC) is requesting proposals for the IdeasThatWork Incubator. Applications are due by September 30, 2025 and can be made at necenter.org/IdeasThatWork.
“The Northeast Center is thrilled to open our second round of funding for innovative minds in the agriculture, forestry, and fishing communities,” says Julie Sorensen, PhD, NEC Director.
IdeasThatWork, a pilot program in partnership with George Mason University, supports individuals with ideas to improve health and safety for farmers, loggers, or commercial fishermen by providing financial assistance for up to two years. Funding recipients receive up to $10,000 per year, as well as mentorship from an expert advisory board and access to other resources. The awardee’s project start date will be December 1, 2025.
“The incubator has provided me with the opportunity to work with public health scientists and engineers who are truly passionate about improving health and safety within fishing communities,” says Farrell Davis, the first recipient of IdeasThatWork funding.
Davis’s work at the Coonamessett Farm Foundation in Massachusetts inspired his desire to address chronic pain experienced by sea scallop shuckers. Through IdeasThatWork, he has been developing an ergonomic shucking knife.
“It has been such a pleasure to work with Farrell,” says Leigh McCue-Weil, George Mason University professor and incubator advisory board chair. “With the incubator focus on nurturing innovation in AgFF safety, I’m excited to see how he improves knife handle ergonomics.”
The IdeasThatWork advisory board is comprised of industry experts to ensure projects maintain focus on loggers, farmers, and fishermen. They bring a myriad of resources and opportunities for incubator awardees, including customer discovery, manufacturing, user-centered design, biomedical engineering, venture capital funding, marketing, product launch, patent law, engineering standards, and more.
“Being able to see firsthand the incredible innovation and need to improve safety across various industries has been eye-opening, particularly for the logging industry,” says Tony Lane II, logging professional and advisory board member. “Through collaboration among peers and businesses, we’ve been able to brainstorm areas of improvement in logging’s safety realm. I look forward to hearing new ideas from the many bright-minded individuals we so gratefully get to work with.”
“Farmers often find themselves ‘accidentally’ innovating a tool or mechanism to better meet their needs or tackle the job at hand,” says Carrie Edsall, farmer and advisory board member. “The IdeasThatWork incubator can financially assist farming innovators, whose creations focus on improving health and safety, to bring their ideas to the forefront of agricultural fields and animal industries.”
“As an entrepreneur myself, I appreciate the opportunity this incubator gives to get advice from experts,” says Tom St. Claire, commercial fishing industry professional and advisory board member. “Most fishermen I know are always tinkering and fixing things so they work better for their boats. Here’s a chance to take an idea for making fishing safer and put it into more hands.”
Visit necenter.org/IdeasThatWork to learn more about the program and submit your proposal via the online form or video pitch. Applications are due by September 30, 2025.