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NSF issues first biennial report on I-Corps

NSF Biennial I-Corps Report

NSF Biennial I-Corps Report


July 19, 2019

In June 2019, NSF submitted a biennial report on the efficacy of the NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps™) program, which provides hands-on entrepreneurship training to academic researchers and other scientists. The report includes metrics on the effectiveness of I-Corps at each federal science agency participating in the I-Corps program.

In short, from its 2011 inception through December 2018, 1,315 I-Corps teams (a total of 3,745 people) have received NSF I-Corps training, which has resulted in the creation of 644 startups and $301 million in follow-on funding across all disciplines of science and engineering. Read the full report on the NSF I-Corps website.

To expand access to I-Corps, NSF began collaborating with the National Institutes of Health (I-Corps at NIH) in 2014 and the Department of Energy (Energy I-Corps) in 2015. These two programs have customized the NSF I-Corps training to include highly-focused, industry-specific programming to support the unique natures of the life sciences/biomedical and energy industry sectors, respectively. In total, NSF I-Corps has collaborated with eight U.S. federal government agencies and one state government to provide access to the NSF I-Corps training.

NSF I-Corps helps prepare NSF-funded researchers to extend their focus beyond the laboratory by providing them with the practical entrepreneurial skills necessary to identify valuable product opportunities that can emerge from basic research. I-Corps accelerates the economic and societal benefits of NSF-funded basic research projects ready to move toward commercialization.

As directed by the American Innovation and Competitiveness Act (P.L. 114-329), the NSF is required to issue an I-Corps report every two years.

The U.S. National Science Foundation propels the nation forward by advancing fundamental research in all fields of science and engineering. NSF supports research and people by providing facilities, instruments and funding to support their ingenuity and sustain the U.S. as a global leader in research and innovation. With a fiscal year 2023 budget of $9.5 billion, NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives more than 40,000 competitive proposals and makes about 11,000 new awards. Those awards include support for cooperative research with industry, Arctic and Antarctic research and operations, and U.S. participation in international scientific efforts.

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