Apply Today: Penn State NSF I-Corps Fall Cohort for Researchers

UNIVERSITY PARK – Penn State’s National Science Foundation (NSF) I-Corps Short Course is accepting applications for its virtual August/September cohort. The no-cost program helps researchers test a startup idea through customer interviews and educational programming on the lean startup methodology.    

The Penn State-hosted cohort will begin on Friday, August 30, and runs through Friday, September 13. The cohort will meet virtually once a week during the course. Teams must commit to conducting a significant number of customer interviews during the three weeks and to completing asynchronous assignments. Participants should plan on spending five to 10 hours per week on I-Corps during the short course duration.  

Participants must apply and complete a self-guided I-Corps prep mini-course by Friday, August 23. 

The NSF I-Corps program uses experiential education to help researchers gain insight into entrepreneurship and industry requirements and challenges. Participants have the opportunity to learn skills such as connecting with customers, asking the right questions, and finding partners to help get startup ideas off the ground. Through I-Corps training, researchers can reduce the time it takes to translate a promising idea from the laboratory to the marketplace.     

The short course will expose participants to key stakeholders and funding resources in the entrepreneurship community, increase chances of receiving an SBIR/STTR award, and put participants in an excellent position to apply for the I-Corps National Teams Program that provides $50,000 in funding to assist with customer discovery.     

Penn State Engineering Science and Mechanics Graduate Student Ankan Dutta and Penn State Great Valley Engineering Programs Director Raghu Sangwan previously participated in the NSF I-Corps short course program to engage with and gain insights from potential customers. Their startup, NeuroXR, is working to standardize biomedical research and surgical training procedures using wearable sensors, ultimately providing objective datasets to researchers and trainees. The team recently completed the spring 2024 National Teams program.  

“One of the reasons why both of these programs are so effective is because they take our focus off the technology and onto the market,” Sangwan said. “We were able to flesh out our business model canvas by talking to the customers and getting out of the lab to discover whether or not there’s a need for what we are developing.”    

Read more about Dutta and Sangwan’s I-Corps experience.   

Penn State teams are also welcome to apply to other regional short course offerings from the broader Mid-Atlantic region. Contact Derek Gross, Penn State NSF I-Corps program manager, to find the best solution for your team.     

Learn more about NSF I-Corps at Penn State.     

About NSF I-Corps      

Penn State University is part of the NSF I-Corps Mid-Atlantic Hub, a network of universities, NSF-funded researchers, established entrepreneurs, local and regional entrepreneurial communities, and other federal agencies. Hubs work collaboratively to build and sustain a diverse and inclusive innovation ecosystem throughout the United States.