Iowa State’s I-Corps Program — Part Of The Great Lakes I-Corps Hub
What Is I-Corps?
The National Science Foundation Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program is an initiative to transition NSF-funded research from the laboratory to a product in the marketplace.
I-Corps Sites act as a training ground for faculty, postdoctoral, graduate and undergraduate students to learn how to increase the impact of their research by exploring the commercial potential of their research and technology.
Iowa State’s I-Corps Site
Iowa State became an I-Corps Site in fall 2017. The program is a collaboration between the Office of the Vice President for Research and the Office of Economic Development and Industry Relations.
Iowa State’s I-Corps Site program aims to embed a stronger and more pervasive culture of entrepreneurship and innovation across the entire campus community. The ISU I-Corps Site focuses on translating discoveries that reflect its strengths in engineering, biorenewables, materials science and agriculture, food and nutrition, and veterinary medicine.
The program enhances entrepreneurship and innovation already happening across campus, fosters connections with other Midwest I-Corps Sites, and helps strengthen the nation’s innovation fabric.
The four-week curriculum focuses on customer discovery to support the transition of ideas, devices, processes, or intellectual activities into the marketplace. This can be realized through the formation of new start-up businesses, licensing agreements, or identifying funding sources to support additional research.