I-Corps training program curriculum: Developing scientific and engineering discoveries into useful technologies, products and processes

National Collegiate Inventors And Innovators Alliance, Hadley MA

Investigators

Abstract

The purpose of this effort is to support the delivery of the I-Corps curriculum for the Q1FY12 and Q2FY12 cohorts; 25 teams in total. The cornerstone of the NSF I-Corps program is an intense immersion in a curriculum founded on customer development and business model discovery platforms. Together these represent a customer-centric process based on a hypothesis-driven approach to identify and establish the viability of commercial opportunity. The I-Corps program seeks to empower the I-Corps teams consisting of PIs, Mentors and Entrepreneurial Leads with this knowledge through a 3-day workshop to be followed by 5 weeks of online curriculum. At the end of the course, the teams will reconvene at a single location for a lessons learned workshop. Through application of this grant, NCIIA will coordinate and support the curriculum including but not limited to all up-front logistics, registration, respondent questionnaires and online activities. The goal of an I-Corps project is to determine the commercial feasibility of the technology derived from research that has been supported by NSF. The I-Corps teams will learn how to evaluate commercial feasibility using a hypothesis-testing approach akin to the scientific method to which they are accustomed. Education is the primary component; participants will leave the program with an expanded skill set that will serve them as they continue to pursue their careers. In some cases, the teams will identify technology applications that have the potential to make significant commercial impact and may start new enterprises to pursue these opportunities. If the teams can successfully commercialize their technologies, they will create value and contribute to the economic prosperity of our nation. The effort described in this proposal will go toward supporting the curriculum throughout the process.