| NSF Org: |
TI Translational Impacts |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | July 22, 2013 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | October 24, 2018 |
| Award Number: | 1305035 |
| Award Instrument: | Continuing Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Andre Marshall
TI Translational Impacts TIP Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships |
| Start Date: | July 1, 2013 |
| End Date: | June 30, 2019 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $4,905,101.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $10,789,100.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2014 = $2,341,084.00 FY 2015 = $5,104,552.00 FY 2016 = $1,543,464.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
100 VENTURE WAY HADLEY MA US 01035-9462 (413)587-2172 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
100 Venture Way Hadley MA US 01035-9450 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): |
I-Corps-Nodes, SBIR Outreach & Tech. Assist |
| Primary Program Source: |
01001415DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001516DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001617DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT |
| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.084 |
ABSTRACT
Project Description
In 2011, the National Science Foundation (NSF) created the Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program to train NSF-funded researchers to evaluate their scientific discoveries for commercial potential. This project extends the reach of the I-Corps program by establishing a National Innovation Network (NIN) that is connected and coordinated by the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA). The NIN is comprised of the I-Corps regional Nodes and I-Corps Sites, which work cooperatively to establish, utilize and sustain an innovation ecosystem that enhances the development of technologies, products and processes that benefit society. The I-Corps Nodes include a diverse set of research agendas, resources, tools, capabilities, and geographic locations. NCIIA is facilitating the sharing of knowledge and collaboration to maximize the impact of the overall I-Corps program and helping to maintain the consistency and quality of I-Corps training at the various Node regions. NCIIA is working in collaboration with the I-Corps Nodes to create and implement tools that support innovation, through monitoring, analyzing and utilizing data gathered from I-Corps Team participants; while propagating effective innovation practices on a national scale.
Broader Significance of the Project
The NIN leverages NCIIA's mission to support technology innovation and entrepreneurship in higher education and to create experiential learning opportunities for students and successful, socially beneficial innovations and businesses. NCIIA is coordinating a geographically diverse network of I-Corps Nodes and Sites to help enable innovators and entrepreneurs across the nation bring their concepts to commercialization. NCIIA's NIN activities are encouraging and enabling the dissemination of knowledge and expertise among the I-Corps Nodes and Sites so they can more effectively accelerate the commercialization of NSF-funded research, create new business opportunities and create innovations that can lead to new economic opportunity and benefits for U.S. citizens.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Through “Connecting and Coordinating a National Innovation Network (NIN),” VentureWell supported the growth and maintenance of the NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps™) program by developing a dynamic national network of I-Corps faculty, Node and Site leadership, other interested experts, practitioners, and federal partners. During this six-year project, VentureWell facilitated the growth of the NIN to a total of 9 nodes and 99 sites, facilitated the successful transfer and integration of program practices across the nodes, ensured that the educational offerings of the programs remained consistent in quality and content across the network, and supported opportunities to convene for the purpose of sharing best practices, coordinating program activities, and discussing program evaluation results collected by VentureWell to improve I-Corps™ team outcomes.
As a connector of the NIN, VentureWell convened and facilitated opportunities for the NIN community to meet in person. Through these meetings, members of the community built stronger relationships with one another and were able to draw on the significant expertise they collectively hold, ask questions, share successes and challenges, and identify ways to further collaborate. These convenings were crucial to identifying successful program practices and disseminating them throughout the network, as well as supporting the refinement of I-Corps™ curricula used throughout the network. Convenings under the NIN included:
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4 annual convenings, 2014-2017
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6 regional meetups, 2015-2019
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2 National Faculty summits, 2015 and 2017
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2 Teaching Assistant Trainings, 2015 and 2017
VentureWell supports NSF in pursuit of consistent, high-fidelity execution of the conceptual framework and design of the program as well as in the ongoing decision-making and necessary adjustments as the program continues to evolve. This project supported the implementation, scaling, and evaluation of I-Corps™ national team trainings, from five cohorts in Year 1 of the project (July 2013-June 2014) to 14 cohorts in Year 6 (July 2018-June 2019). In coordination with NSF Program Officers, VentureWell contracted with teaching teams, coordinated and facilitated the training of new I-Corps™ national instructors, and supported the refinement and fidelity of I-Corps™ national course curriculum in coordination with NSF Program Officers. VentureWell is developing best practices and collecting and providing the data necessary to enable I-Corps™ to be an equitable and inclusive program, through activities such as tracking and reporting on demographic information of teams and the development of similar processes for teaching team faculty.
The creation of a data management system that allows VentureWell to centralize participation, course evaluation, and economic impact outcomes data to increase reporting capabilities and responsiveness to meet federal reporting mandates is another key accomplishment of this project. Systems and processes to track and manage data on the economic impact of trained teams, focusing on venture creation and follow-on funding raised after program participation, were created and implemented. VentureWell also utilized new systems and procedures to verify self-reported data using trusted secondary sources, and created an integrated system for seamless transfer of all data from data collection tools to long-term storage.
Beyond collecting, verifying, and analyzing course and longitudinal outcomes data, VentureWell tracks, archives, publishes, and disseminates these data to inform NSF, the I-Corps™ community, and the field of technology entrepreneurship broadly. As part of NIN activity, VentureWell redesigned and developed data summary dashboards and reports which provide NSF and teaching teams with easily interpretable syntheses of participant feedback.
VentureWell also supports awareness and promotion of I-Corps opportunities broadly through our networks, at appropriate conferences and events, and disseminates success stories through blogs and I-Corps™ Teams in the News newsletters. As part of the scope of this work, VentureWell secured a domain and built out a stand-alone website for the NIN, which included a directory of Sites and Nodes and direct links to their web pages. VentureWell also publishes course materials, guides and resources on the Course website.
NIN activity contributes to the continued success of the national and regional program, the impact of which can be measured in both commercialization, and in educational and behavioral outcomes. As of the close of this grant period, the I-Corps™ program has produced 830 resulting businesses, and teams have raised a total of $478 million in follow-on funding to support their projects and launch the resultant ventures. Based on follow-up survey data on teams through 2017, 319 teams engaged in licensing activities following the course, and 58 teams had at least one attributable granted patent. Commercially available business data indicates 1,272 jobs have been created by I-Corps™ resulting businesses. Educational and behavioral impacts reported by program participants include that learnings from I-Corps™ become lifelong tools that scientific and technical researchers can apply continually and teach others, maximizing the impact of their ideas on the economy and on the world. Members of the NIN deeply appreciate its strategic and programmatic value and have expressed a strong desire to continue as an active network going forward.
Last Modified: 10/21/2019
Modified by: Philip J Weilerstein
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