One of the goals of the Sage Assembly was to facilitate opportunities for groups whose members rarely have a chance to make their voices and opinions heard at such events, whose members could benefit from the exposure to the ideas and people at the Sage Assembly, and who can take those ideas and projects and connections back to their own social networks and help them grow. To achieve this goal, Sage Bionetworks had set up a scholarship fund — Open Innovator Awards — to assist ten recipients with travel and living expenses in Paris. The recipients of the Open Innovator Awards were pulled from a pool of applicants, Sage Scholars, who have been nominated by Sage Mentors.

Each Sage Mentor was responsible for selecting no less than 2 and no more than 10 Sage Scholars. Sage Mentors had complete freedom to choose those who they believe would have benefited from participating and who could contribute in a positive way to the Assembly. Sage Scholars had to be 18 years of age or older. Sage Mentors were expected to help their Sage Scholars with their applications and the final Poster Presentations: “Instances of Open Practice”. The presentations were be on display during the Sage Assembly at the Institut Pasteur in Paris.

There were 8 Sage Mentors for the 2015 Sage Assembly in Paris:

Julie Sammons — Director of Communications and Outreach at CITRIS: Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society
Robert Siegel — Professor (teaching) of Microbiology and Immunology at Stanford University
Kelly Edwards — Professor in the Department of Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Washington School of Medicine, Adjunct Professor of Environmental Health in the School of Public Health, core faculty for the Institute for Public Health Genetics, and an Associate Dean for Student and Postdoctoral Affairs in the Graduate School
Peter Kapitein — Patient Advocate Inspire2Live
Eri Gentry — President & Cofounder at BioCurious and Research Manager, Technology Horizons at the Institute for the Future
Theodora A. Varvarigou — Professor at the National Technical University of Athens and Director of the Postgraduate Course Engineering Economics Systems
Molly Lindquist — Founder of CONSANO
Olga Werby — President at Pipsqueak Productions LLC

Here are some photos from the Sage Assembly in Paris of Sage Scholars and their posters:

Kate Cummings — Director of Talent & Innovation, Tiyatien Health / Last Mile Health, and Co-founder, *iLab_ Liberia, Sage Scholar nominated by Olga Werby

Omoju Miller — UC Berkeley student, Sage Scholar from CITRIS nominated by Julie Sammons

Sanjay Krishnan — UC Berkeley student, Sage Scholar from CITRIS nominated by Julie Sammons

Charvi Shetty — UC Berkeley student, Sage Scholar from CITRIS nominated by Julie Sammons

Lauren Sweet — Stanford University Student, Sage Scholar nominated by Robert Siegel

Nicole Dalal — Stanford University Student, Sage Scholar nominated by Robert Siegel

Sarah Catherine Nelson — University of Washington Sage Scholar nominated by Kelly Edwards

Piarella Peralta — Inspire2Live Sage Scholar nominated by Peter Kapitein

Gaston Remmers — Inspire2Live Sage Scholar nominated by Peter Kapitein

Femi Longe — Sage Scholar nominated by Eri Gentry

Jesse Oguntimehin — Sage Scholar nominated by Eri Gentry

Peter Peele — Sage Scholar nominated by Eri Gentry

Tefo Mohapi — Sage Scholar nominated by Eri Gentry

Georgios Palaiokrassas — National Technical University of Athens student, Sage Scholar nominated by Theodora A. Varvarigou