FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO): A new collaboration named for Fort Wayne’s most famous scientist is boosting entrepreneurship throughout the region.

The Farnsworth Fund, launched by Elevate Northeast Indiana and named for “the father of television,” Philo T. Farnsworth, involves $1.2 million in grants, seed funding and early-stage investment designed to create an “entrepreneurial culture shock.” Board Chair Marilyn Moran-Townsend says the funding should help bring investors and entrepreneurs together.

The inaugural group of recipients include:

• Chauntiel Smith, a South Side High School and Indiana Tech graduate, who launched Capture Sports Agency
• Sean Rassavong, a senior at New Tech Academy, who has a video production company called Vision
• Ashli Pershing and Pamela Sprowl, registered nurses at Parkview Wabash and Parkview Huntington hospitals, who are developing solutions for a problem mothers face just after given birth
• Kyle Craig, a Trine University mechanical engineering graduate, who founded Apollo Dynamics to pair wearable biokinetics devices with software to track and analyze body motion

At least 50 $1,000 grants are set to be awarded this year. Learn more about the Farnsworth Fund by clicking here.