Promoting 鈥淓ngines of Innovation鈥� through the National Science Foundation (NSF) Innovation Ecosystem, the 麻豆原创聽Innovation (I-Corps) Site is working to extend America鈥檚 reputation for ingenuity as a 鈥渘ation of innovators.鈥�
Recruiting cutting-edge scientists and engineers from Florida鈥檚 universities and research centers around the state, is now accepting applications until May 29, for admission into its fall program which begins August 24, 2015.聽 The 10-week program will provide selected research teams with first-hand knowledge about entrepreneurship, while exploring and validating the commercial opportunities surrounding their invention.
The NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps) is the agency鈥檚 signature effort to assist teams of university scientists and post-doctoral or graduate students to venture outside of their laboratories and into the marketplace to test assumptions about the commercial market opportunity.聽 The primary goal of NSF 聽I-Corps program is to provide participants with the tools to connect lab discoveries to market and societal needs.
鈥淭he I-Corps program is the NSF鈥檚 conduit for researchers that have a technology or an invention to validate the commercial opportunity.聽 Over a ten-week period teams get out of the lab to conduct about 100 interviews in order to test the validity of their assumptions about the market need and opportunity. Teams decide whether or not to pursue the path of additional funding and company formation at the conclusion of the program,鈥� said Ivan Garibay, 麻豆原创 I-Corps Program Director.
麻豆原创 I-Corps teams generally consist of an Entrepreneurial Lead (EL), Principal Investigator (PI) and Industry/I-Corps Mentor.聽 These aspiring entrepreneurs will participate in an immersive, hands-on program designed to teach them how to test their ideas, gauge feasibility, understand market demand, examine competition and develop mutually beneficial partnerships to help transition their ideas into profitable enterprises.
Once teams complete the 麻豆原创 I-Corps program, the path to commercial market continues with opportunities for funding in NSF鈥檚 national I-Corps program and SBIR/STTR grant funding as well as tapping into the entrepreneurial ecosystem within 麻豆原创 and the community.
麻豆原创 has one of the nation鈥檚 best innovation and entrepreneurial networks and is one of 36 universities nationwide, leading an I-Corps Site program. NSF has also established regional I-Corps Nodes, located in such innovation hotspots as Washington DC, New York City, Michigan, San Francisco and Boston.
A nationally certified teaching team oversees the teams and coaches them toward success. 麻豆原创鈥檚 certified teaching team consists of a mix of experienced entrepreneurs, investors and 麻豆原创 faculty including Thomas O鈥橬eal, Oscar Rodriguez, Michael O鈥橠onnell, Cameron Ford, Ivan Garibay and David Metcalf.聽 The entire team earned its certification via training and support by Jerry Engel. Engel, professor at Berkeley (University of California), is National Faculty Director of the NSF I-Corps program and co-creator of the Lean Launchpad methodology and curriculum.
For more information about 麻豆原创 I-Corps, please visit or contact Ivan Garibay at ivan.garibay@ucf.edu or via phone at 407-882-1163.