The NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps™) is a set of activities and programs that prepares scientists and engineers to extend their focus beyond the laboratory and broadens the impact of select, NSF-funded, basic-research projects.
While knowledge gained from NSF-supported basic research frequently advances a particular field of science or engineering, some results also show immediate potential for broader applicability and impact in the commercial world. Such results may be translated through I-Corps into technologies with near-term benefits for the economy and society.
Combining experience and guidance from established entrepreneurs with a targeted curriculum, I-Corps is a public-private partnership program that teaches grantees to identify valuable product opportunities that can emerge from academic research, and offers entrepreneurship training to student participants.
I-Corps Teams–composed of academic researchers, student entrepreneurs and business mentors–participate in the I-Corps curriculum. The curriculum is administered via online instruction and on-site activities through one of several I-Corps Nodes.
I-Corps Sites catalyze additional groups to explore potential I-Corps Team projects and other entrepreneurial opportunities that build on basic research.
Together, the I-Corps programs strengthen the innovation ecosystem at the local and national levels.
October 29, 2014 – NSF helps Energy Department launch Lab-Corps program to accelerate commercialization of innovative clean energy technologies
June 18, 2014 – NSF and NIH collaborate in a pilot program to accelerate biomedical research innovations into the marketplace
