Looking Beyond the Numbers: The impact of I-Corps™

The National Science Foundation started I-Corps™ in 2011 when it adapted Steve Blank’s Lean Launchpad class, creating an accelerated seven-week curriculum to train university researchers to start companies that have developed new technologies based on NSF-funded research. I-Corps™ has grown rapidly from an ‘audacious experiment’ in teaching university researchers how to use customer discovery to commercialize scientific discoveries into a national innovation network that has spawned over 1,000 teams from 203 colleges and universities. More than 324 of these creative teams have launched companies since entering the program. Since its inception, the I-Corps™ National Innovation Network has grown from 3 to 72 universities which includes 51 Sites and eight Nodes. In addition, multiple government agencies have also adopted similar programs including the National Institutes of Health and Department of Energy. This panel will take you beyond the numbers to share the impact of I-Corps™ on researchers, universities and the innovation ecosystem.

Tara A. Loomis, VentureWell
Aileen Huang-Saad, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Susan M. Baxter, San Diego State University
Christie Canaria, National Institutes of Health
Lydia McClure, National Science Foundation

Track: Topics in I&E