I-Corps
I-Corps is an entrepreneurial training program and funding opportunity to get researchers out of the lab to evaluate the market opportunity. Its mission with the National Science Foundation promotes the progress of engineering in the United States in order to enable the Nation’s capacity to perform. Its investments in engineering research and education aim to build and strengthen a national capacity for innovation that can lead over time to the growth of prosperity and a better quality of life. Most NSF programs in engineering are funded through the Directorate for Engineering.
The I-Corps program was created by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 2011 to facilitate the transition of academic research to market. The NSF offers select teams the opportunity to participate in a fast-paced and rigorous program that helps move products out of the lab and into the market by giving researchers hands-on experience with the challenges of customer discovery.
In the I-Corps™ environment, teams are pushed, challenged, and questioned to help them quickly learn whether or not their ideas are worth pursuing. The teams — composed of academic technical & entrepreneurial leads and mentors — participate in the curriculum via online instruction and on-site activities at one of the iI-Corps Hubs.
The primary purpose of the NSF I-Corps is to support the transition of laboratory discoveries into breakthrough innovations, and reduce the risk associated with taking innovations from the lab to the marketplace.
The national impact of NSF I-Corps:
- Teams Trained: 2,546
- Businesses Formed: 1,380
- Million USD Raised in Subsequent Funding: 3170
For more information, please visit the I-Corps website.
Last updated
January 16, 2025