Preparing New Instructors to Deliver the I-Corps Curriculum to Scientists and Engineers: A Pilot Training Program

National Collegiate Inventors And Innovators Alliance, Hadley MA

Investigators

Abstract

LEAD INSTITUTION: National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) PROJECT DESCRIPTION The NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program helps NSF-funded scientists and engineers develop skills in evaluating their research for potential practical, economically scalable applications. The National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) is conducting a "train-the-trainer" workshop to help develop a scalable model that can support the planned expansion of the I-Corps program. The associated I-Corps training activity involves an eight-week course that exposes I-Corps teams to the Lean Launchpad business model design and customer development process (developed by Steve Blank). NCIIA, in cooperation with the founding members of the I-Corps teaching team, is providing a workshop to train six new instructors; while also conducting a formative evaluation of the instructor-training program. BROADER SIGNIFICANCE Workshop participants are leaving with an expanded set of skills that give them the tools necessary to evaluate and translate research into applications that can benefit society. As a result of the training, participants are able to determine the commercial feasibility of technology derived from NSF-funded research. Feedback from the evaluation process is informing improvements in both the instructor-training program and the I-Corps curriculum, in an effort to help guide the future program expansion to greater numbers of teams in different regions across the nation. The workshop is training an initial a network of instructors who can improve and adapt the program model as it is disseminated to new institutions and regions.