Type I: Vanderbilt University I-Corps Site

Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN

Investigators

Abstract

This project, from Vanderbilt University, creates an NSF I-Corps Site at this institution. 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. Vanderbilt University is investing in building an innovation ecosystem in the Middle Tennessee region. The institution plays a significant role in providing pathways to commercialization for scientific, technology, engineering, and mathematics related research and new startup endeavors. In 2016, Vanderbilt opened its Wond'ry, a new innovation center that serves its entire community of faculty, students, and staff across all academic disciplines. The Wond?ry provides a facility to host and implement the NSF I-Corps Sites program. Since its opening, the Wond'ry inspired innovation and entrepreneurial interest on campus. Combined with the I-Corps Site it becomes the primary pipeline to commercialization for many aspiring innovators and entrepreneurs. Implementing the I-Corps Site at Vanderbilt makes a positive difference by advancing on-campus activities related to scouting, recruiting, educating supporting and contributing to the National Innovation Network. The two primary outcomes of the I-Corps at Vanderbilt Program are growing a talented diverse and globally competitive workforce of STEM and Life Scientists that are trained to think entrepreneurially about discovery, and nuturing and supporting multiple, local teams to transition their new innovations and research into the marketplace. The I-Corps Site at Vanderbilt University goals are twofold: 1) to effectively integrate educational opportunities for both graduate and undergraduate students on innovation and entrepreneurship within the traditional STEM and Life science curriculum, and 2) to motivate scientists to engage further in customer discovery as part of their scientific agenda, in the hopes that they will devote their science to addressing and solving problems and real needs in society. The Site at Vanderbilt helps overcome commercialization challenges by incorporating a for-credit course built heavily on the I-Corps curriculum and through the hosting of workshops that provide an introduction to customer discovery and business canvas development. By providing a proven model of success and more cohesive structure, the program ensures that faculty, staff, and students receive the best possible training and are introduced to a vast array of regional and national entrepreneurial resources. The I-Corps Site at Vanderbilt trains participants to 1) create solutions to problems with significant positive impact on communities, 2) focus on research with major economic development opportunities, and 3) develop into globally competitive as STEM entrepreneurs. Society will ultimately benefit via an improvement in quality of life through the solutions created to address real-world issues. Middle Tennessee will benefit by having a cohort of well-trained entrepreneurs who, by completing the I-Corps program, will better understand how to identify a viable commercial opportunity and subsequently oversee its successful operational implementation and launch. This will speed the translation of research into new technologies. The subsequent positive economic impacts will occur via these increases in commercialization activities and the number of useful intellectual property disclosures. Subsequent agreements with commercial partners will then grow the region's entrepreneurial ecosystem and empower STEM-entrepreneurs in larger numbers than ever before, thus increasing self confidence in undertaking entrepreneurial endeavors and thus contributing positively to our nation's overall economic growth and vibrancy.