Helium Grant Program 2023 Launch

The Helium Foundation is broadening funding opportunities to reinforce community-driven innovation across the ecosystem.

The Helium Foundation grant program facilitates the growth and utility of decentralized wireless networks by providing access to funding, technical support, and community resources to promising individuals and teams.

We’re reopening the program today with exciting new funding opportunities that unlock fresh approaches for growing and supporting the future of wireless. To kick off this new program chapter in 2023, we’re sharing some of our learnings and perspectives from the last year and announcing three distinct new funding opportunities.

If you’re itching to see the 2023 funding opportunities and apply for a grant, go directly to the new grant program homepage to submit a proposal.

Figure 1: Kanda Weather Group, a 2022 Helium Grantee, launching a weather balloon on the Helium Network.

The next generation of wireless innovation will be driven by p2p technology that shares three overarching principles: decentralization, collaboration, and acceleration. These three characteristics of successful innovation are fixed guideposts that shape the grant program’s funding strategy. This framework led the 2022 program to support tremendous value generated across the ecosystem from dozens of projects aiming to strengthen The People’s Network.

Figure 2: Nibiaa sensors built on Helium and deployed in tea farms.

Projects from the grant program not only benefited the Helium ecosystem, but many projects also contributed to the wider wireless ecosystem through open-source contributions. The level of passion for wireless innovation is evident from the vibrant array of strong proposals we received for open-source tools, critical infrastructure, and compelling Internet of Things (IoT) use cases. Our team prioritized funding inspiring, novel IoT use cases that showcase the value of decentralized wireless across the public and private sectors.

Figure 3: Helium grantee Nik Hawks’ people counting project to protect the environment in San Diego.

Looking Back At The 2022 Grant Program

Throughout 2022, the grants team supported projects that introduced open-source contributions to the ecosystem and projects that stood up inspiring IoT use cases. These open-source projects provide a leg up to nascent companies. We also focused funding on startups that illustrated a novel use case with the potential to scale. These grants to companies like Nibiaa, Dor, M3, and IoT Off-Grid were some of the most celebrated grant work across the Helium community for their inspiring innovation and real-world value.

Figure 4: [Colville Confederated Tribal Youth celebrating Earth Day with an M3 drone.]

The program also welcomed proposals for infrastructure and tools that made decentralized wireless more accessible and effective industry-wide. We saw essential projects, like the Secure Concentrator, Helium Analytics, and the official Helium Python library, come to life. The development of these valuable tools and new features unlocked network use, buildout, and a broader understanding of how Helium is growing.

Figure 5: Helium Grantee, Paul Soucy, holding a prototype of a secure concentrator card.

To reach established communities in IoT and Web 3.0, our team sponsored and participated in global critical events, like Women in Hardware, the Open Hardware Global Summit, and the Fab Foundation’s global event for makers. These engaging gatherings were important moments to build awareness of the possibilities of decentralized wireless within the most innovative hardware and entrepreneurial circles.

Figure 6: The founder of Women in Tech speaking to hardware founders and inventors in IoT.

While forging strong relationships with IoT and Web 3.0 communities, our team also laid the groundwork for collaborations with notable venture funds that could help our grantees scale promising solutions. Attending conferences like Baukunst’s elevated the perception of businesses building on Helium and primed the collaboration we’re announcing today. For the 2023 program, any member of the community building scalable applications can apply for a spot in our coveted newsletter that goes out to our most engaged venture partners. This is a unique opportunity to put your business on the radar of the most significant capital sources in IoT and Web 3.0.

Figure 7: The Helium Foundation was invited to speak at the SF and Boston Baukunst conferences.

We’ve shared these efforts to build community and awareness through thoughtful editorial that tells the stories behind grantee projects, including live grantee panels on Helium Hacks Happy Hour, tweet threads celebrating grantee progress, and rich blog posts on wildfire detection, a retail traffic counter, and a hiker tracker.

Figure 8: A collection of grantee stories told through Tweet threads.

In 2022, we quickly learned that the strongest proposals prioritize collaboration and engagement to educate, inspire, and support the larger community. We gained key insights into specific tools and infrastructure the community wants to see and how the grant program can better facilitate targeted innovation that speaks directly to needs across the ecosystem.

Figure 9: Helium curious folks gathered on a Train Hackathon in Lisbon during Solana Breakpoint.

Over the last year, the Helium ecosystem has undergone significant evolution that guides the program’s 2023 grant strategy. This year, to match the pace of the Network’s growth, we’re introducing specific proposal calls with clear parameters and hard deadlines that encourage timely submissions for the community’s most pressing needs.

Figure 10: A Helium IoT workshop in collaboration with Hackaday.

Community events have grown organically for the last two years with creative formats like hacking on a moving train! We want to celebrate and fuel this organizing community building by boosting event organizers. The proposal format is streamlined so grantees can quickly apply for this funding and get back to the important work of organizing events. Simply submit a proposal to host a community event that gathers decentralized wireless and IoT enthusiasts who want to learn more about building with Helium. Applications that show a clear ability to host an event successfully will receive $500 in funding, Helium swag for organizers & attendees, and up to $250 in funding for bringing on a technical expert or securing hardware for attendees.

Figure 11: Workshop attendees celebrate onboarding their first sensor to the Helium network.

The success of the grant program is a community effort. The Grant Committee, who have been with us since the program’s inception, all of the passionate grantees, and many community members have shaped this wellspring of opportunity for innovators across the Helium ecosystem. We welcome grants for these ideas or anything else that will further the adoption and growth of the Helium Network.

What will the future of IoT powered by Helium look like? Grant proposals can be submitted here, and you can reach out to our team directly at grants@dewi.org.

Get building!