UI teams up with NSF to turn inventions into businesses

The University of Iowa has teamed up with the National Science Foundation (NSF) to establish a program for accelerating the commercialization of technologies developed by student and faculty inventors and entrepreneurs.

The program, called I-Corps, also includes an initiative to increase the number of woman entrepreneurs in particular.

The UI’s team is the only one in Iowa and one of just 34 teams nationally that are providing this unique training for startups and early commercialization opportunities. The program is open to entrepreneur inventors from across the state. I-Corps teams must include a researcher from an academic institution, a business mentor and an entrepreneurial lead. The UI team will work with inventors and community partners to help identify team members as needed.

The UI I-Corps program will focus on entrepreneurial training, building on the work of the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center’s UI Venture School, an entrepreneurial training program. It’s funded by a $300,000 grant from NSF.

With the addition of the I-Corps program, the UI will offer 12 entrepreneurial educational programs across Iowa annually (including several on the UI campus). In addition to the training, the program will provide small grants for up to 30 teams seeking to commercialize new research discoveries.

In addition to training, the program will have five main components:

• Several business and technical support initiatives for I-Corps teams including the Summer Accelerator, a 90-day new venture launch program
• UI ProtoLabs, a prototyping development program
• UI Ventures, a comprehensive technical and business development initiative
• UI Mentoring, a mentoring program connecting UI faculty and students to entrepreneurs, investors, and technical experts
• A Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) grant development assistance program

The UI I-Corps program also includes a Broader Impacts initiative focused on increasing the number of women entrepreneurs in the UI entrepreneurial community. Approaches will include targeted grant funding for women entrepreneurs, one-on-one mentoring that pairs successful women entrepreneurs with each new women-led startup, and formal recognition of accomplishments, grants, and awards by women entrepreneurs.

Co-investigators on the grant are David Hensley, John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center executive director and associate vice president for economic development in the UI Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development (OVPR&ED), and Richard Hichwa, senior associate vice president for research and interim associate vice president for research-regulatory affairs in OVPR&ED.

“The UI has developed strong working relationships with external stakeholders to identify experienced entrepreneurs and mentors to support UI I-Corps teams and to assist them in securing startup and early-stage growth capital for commercializing their technology discoveries,” Hensley says.

Hichwa says the I-Corps program “will significantly improve the campus entrepreneurial eco-system” by providing vital funding for new strategic investments in entrepreneurship education and support.

The UI Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development is committed to providing resources and support to researchers and scholars at the UI and to businesses across Iowa with the goal of forging new frontiers of discovery and innovation and promoting a culture of creativity that benefits the campus, the state, and the world. More at research.uiowa.edu, and on Twitter: @DaretoDiscover.