Lilly Endowment Inc. is allocating a total of up to $500 million in funding to eligible higher education institutions in Indiana. Photo from Kenny Eliason, Unsplash.

News Release

INDIANAPOLIS — Lilly Endowment Inc. is allocating a total of up to $500 million in funding to eligible higher education institutions in Indiana. Through launching a new initiative, Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education, the Endowment will support Indiana colleges and universities in their ongoing efforts to address the implications of a rapidly evolving technology in their institutions and the lives of their students.

The aim of the initiative is two-fold:

• To help Indiana colleges and universities consider more fully the challenges and opportunities that artificial intelligence presents for their institutions and their students.
• Develop new or enhance existing strategies and programs to improve their students’ education opportunities and outcomes and their preparation to prosper in the workplace and life in a future that will be increasingly shaped by AI.

“Indiana colleges and universities are facing unprecedented challenges and opportunities arising from advances in AI, said N. Clay Robbins, the Endowment’s chairman and CEO. “Higher education leaders have told us that their institutions are working as expeditiously as they can to discern how to best take advantage of the opportunities arising from AI and mitigate the potential unintended consequences this increasingly prevalent technology may have in their institutions and the lives of their students.”

The Endowment recognizes that some Indiana colleges and universities may be further along than others in their deliberations and development of strategies to respond to AI-related challenges and opportunities.

Given this and the great variety in the missions and contexts of Indiana’s colleges and universities, the nature of support to be provided through AIHE is purposefully broad to encourage eligible institutions to consider how they might address AI-related challenges and opportunities in ways that are particularly relevant to them. The Endowment, therefore, anticipates awarding grants to support a wide range of projects.

There are three ways eligible colleges and universities can apply for funding in amounts based on student enrollment under AIHE. They can:

• Request planning grants ranging from $125,000 to $300,000 to help them explore ways in which they may address AI-related challenges and opportunities and prepare proposals for implementation grants.
• Submit proposals for implementation grants ranging from $5 million to $25 million that will help colleges and universities implement new or expand existing compelling projects that address AI-related challenges and opportunities relevant to their institutions and students.
• Work with one or more other Indiana colleges and universities to propose collaborative projects that the Endowment will consider funding with grants of up to $40 million. Extraordinarily compelling collaborative proposals may be funded at higher amounts.

AIHE furthers the Endowment’s longstanding belief that post-secondary education is foundational for meaningful employment and a satisfying quality of life. Through previous grantmaking, the Endowment has supported efforts at Indiana colleges and universities and other organizations in Indiana to foster student success in post-secondary education, address declining college graduation rates, promote career readiness, and build upon the state’s intellectual capital.

The Endowment expects to award AIHE planning grants by the end of the year, and to announce implementation and collaboration grant awards by the end of 2026.