Organization(s)
The U.S. National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps (I-Corps™) program is an immersive, entrepreneurial training program that facilitates the transformation of invention to impact. This immersive, seven-week experiential training program prepares scientists and engineers to extend their focus beyond the university laboratory — accelerating the economic and societal benefits of NSF-funded and other basic research projects that are ready to move toward commercialization.
Widely recognized as an effective training program in the U.S. and internationally, I-Corps addresses four urgent national needs:
- Training an entrepreneurial workforce
- Translating technologies
- Enabling positive economic impact
- Nurturing an innovation ecosystem
Mission
The mission of I-Corps is to reduce the risk associated with translating technologies from the laboratory to the marketplace. To do this, I-Corps uses experiential education to help researchers reduce the time it takes to translate promising ideas from the laboratory to widespread implementation.
Impact
More than 2,500 teams have participated in I-Corps since the program's inception in 2012. More than half of these teams, nearly 1,400, have launched startups which have cumulatively raised $3.16 billion in subsequent funding.
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I-Corps cohorts
Approximately 20 to 30 teams participate together in the I-Corps curriculum as part of a training cohort, which is hosted by an I-Corps Hub or Node. Read on for details about the upcoming I-Corps cohorts.
Webinars
Before applying, join one of our monthly introductory webinars to better understand the I-Corps program and the Teams application process.
Featured stories
The I-Corps training program has helped launch more than 1,000 startups. Read about the remarkable work performed by our funded researchers and their role in fostering technology commercialization.