I-Corps Sites: Tennessee Technological University

Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville TN

Investigators

Abstract

This project at Tennessee Tech University (TTU) creates an I-Corps Site. NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps) Sites are NSF-funded entities established at universities whose purpose is to nurture and support multiple, local teams to transition their technology concepts into the marketplace. Sites provide infrastructure, advice, resources, networking opportunities, training and modest funding to enable groups to transition their work into the marketplace or into becoming I-Corps Team applicants. I-Corps Sites also strengthen innovation locally and regionally and contribute to the National Innovation Network of mentors, researchers, entrepreneurs and investors. The objective of the TTU I-Corps Site is to strengthen the innovation ecosystem and entrepreneurial community in the TN region through the delivery of the I-Corps curriculum and support to 30+ teams per year. This activity will leverage existing partnerships between Tennessee Technological University (TTU), ORNL and the Biz Foundry to accelerate commercialization through training, enhanced education, and support of innovative research, while capitalizing on the existing university research infrastructure and the Launch Tennessee (LaunchTN) accelerator network. The TTU Site builds on the existing research experience at TTU by adding specific commercialization training and experience for teams that are composed of various combinations of students, faculty, members of industry and scientists. The TTU I-Corps Site expands the innovation and technical commercialization infrastructure at TTU by: 1) Building skill sets among students, faculty, engineers and community startups, and 2) Moving technology from academia, government, and industry toward commercialization. This project achieves the goals of the Innovation Corps Sites Program by facilitating the translation of research, encouraging collaboration between academia and industry, and training students to understand innovation and entrepreneurship (I&E). This funding allows TTU to support teams whose projects are likely candidates for commercialization. The innovation Site at TTU is built around the national I-Corps model, and its focused training experience, and consists of three stages to recruit, immerse and support technical entrepreneurs in the innovation and entrepreneurship lifecycle. The stages are: 1) Team origination and recruitment 2) Formal I-Corps training 3) Post-training support These stages are designed to improve the pathway to successful commercialization and develop the participants as better innovators and contributors to the NSF I-Corps network. Tennessee (TN) state entrepreneurial startups, as exemplified by SBIR/STTR funding, fall in the 3rd quartile ranking with a 37% decrease in the past two decades. Until recently, most TN entrepreneurs have had limited or no access to training or opportunities to grow their startup. The TTU Site participates in and contributes to the broader knowledge of entrepreneurship research and its impact on engineering education and adds to the database of innovators in the NSF I-Corps network. In particular, this Site aids in understanding the role of entrepreneurship and innovation engineering education and its potential impact on: critical thinking; the network of emerging entrepreneurs and mentors; and, the addition of business students into the I-Corps model. The Site will investigate the early implementation of a quantitative, nationalized assessment model, based on the existing Critical Thinking Assessment (CAT) tool, appropriate for the I-Corps model that could be extended to train the larger innovation community.