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Nodes and Sites awardees in FY16 for funding in has been shown to address the gap between academic and 2) Dr. Huang-Saad is a co-PI on the University the long-run impact of the SBIR program.
FY17 (Table 3). Eight I-Corps Sites and one I-Corps research and successful commercialization through of Michigan I-Corps Node and has been an I-Corps 1999;72(3):285–318.
Node were awarded $30,000 supplemental awards to customer discovery training, there are a number of Canonical Instructor since 2012. 13. National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal
pilot novel approaches and partnerships that promote other critical factors that contribute towards getting Year 2012, Pub. L. No. 112-81 (Dec. 31, 2011).
inclusive entrepreneurship through I-Corps. The a product to market. For example, understanding REFERENCES 14. The White House: President Barack Obama.
pilot activities will engage differently-abled indi- how to engage investors, manufacture and scale tech- 1. Shane S. Why encouraging more people to Education: knowledge and skills for the jobs
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ethnic minorities, and women, as well as Minority- protection, manage and run a business, navigate become entrepreneurs is bad public policy. Small House; c2013 [accessed 2017 Mar 31]. https://
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many approaches for generating insights to address strategic partnerships are all skills that would be 2. Wessner CW. Driving innovations across education/k-12/educate-innovate.
this complex challenge (34). of value to alumni of the I-Corps Teams program. the Valley of Death. Res Technol Manag. 15. Zach MP. National science foundation FY 2012
Other scaling challenges include managing the Therefore, NSF continues to consider how the pro- 2005;48(1):9-12. Budget Request to Congress. Alexandria (VA):
consistency of the core I-Corps curriculum. Part of gram should evolve to address the “valley of death.” 3. Brandscomb LM, Auerswald PE. Between NSF; 2011.
the I-Corps program’s success has been the entre- Within its first five years, the I-Corps program has invention and innovation: an analysis of fund- 16. NSF. About the National Science Foundation.
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As attempts to mandate that the I-Corps program education to academic researchers, graduate students, Gaithersburg (MD): NIST; 2002. Mar 1]. https://www.nsf.gov/about/.
exist across all federal agencies, institutionalization and community members. Through I-Corps, lessons 4. Auerswald PE, Branscomb LM. Valleys of death 17. Hayter CS, Lubynsky R, Maroulis S. Who is the
may impact the entrepreneurial culture of the pro- have been learned about the many barriers to the and Darwinian seas: financing the invention academic entrepreneur? The role of graduate stu-
gram. Each federal agency has its own culture and successful translation of university technology. While to innovation transition in the United States. J dents in the development of university spinoffs.
vocabulary for defining stakeholders and activities. I-Corps does not address all barriers, it does address Technol Transfer. 2003;28(3–4):227–239. J Technol Transfer. 2016:1–18.
As I-Corps expands to other federal agencies, these two crucial ones—the education of researchers in 5. Peterson TW. The role of the National 18. Blank S. Why the lean start-up changes every-
differences could potentially impact delivery of the relevance of customer needs in research and the Science Foundation in the innovation eco- thing. Harvard Bus Rev. 2013;91(5).
the curriculum as it is adopted for teams consist- development of an entrepreneurial mindset. system. Alexandria (VA): NSF Directorate for 19. Blank SG. The four steps to the epiphany. 1st ed.
ing of SBIR companies and Main Street businesses. Engineering; 2010. San Franscico: K & S Ranch; 2003.
Furthermore, mentor matching continues to be a ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 6. Block F. Innovation and the invisible hand of 20. Osterwalder A, Pigneur Y. Business Model
rate-limiting step for onboarding teams. NSF is cur- The authors thank Errol Arkilic, Babu DasGupta, government. In: Block F, Keller MR, editors. Generation. Self published; 2010.
rently working to address these issues. Jonathan Fay, Keith McGreggor, Paul Freet, John State of Innovation. Boulder (CO): Paradigm
Looking to the future, the question remains, “What Bacon, Jerry Engel, Dedric Carter, Tom Peterson, and Publishers; 2011. Chapter 1, pp. 1-26. 21. Blank SG. The four steps to the epiphany. Foster
dictates success for the I-Corps program?” Although Farnam Jahanian for sharing their experiences on the 7. Alic JA, Mowery DC, Rubin ES. U.S. technol- City (CA): Cafepress.com; 2007.
the program was able to meet its original metrics launch of the I-Corps program and/or for reviewing ogy and innovation polices: lessons for climate 22. NSF. Innovation Corps- Regional Node
for implementation, the impact of its activities is change. Arlington (VA): Pew Center on Global Program Solicitation (I-Corps Node) (NSF
being evaluated with a longitudinal lens. Depending the manuscript. The authors would also like to thank Climate Change; 2003. 12-586). Alexandria (VA): NSF; 2012 [accessed
on the audience, be it from a congressional, aca- Steve Konsek, Anita La Salle, Lydia McClure, Don 8. Wallsten SJ. The effects of government-industry 2018 Mar 1]. https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2012/
demic, or federal laboratory perspective, different Millard, and Kesh Narayan at the NSF for sharing R&D programs on private R&D: the case of the nsf12586/ nsf12586.htm.
metrics should be explored. For instance, from an their experiences, reading drafts of this manuscript, small business innovation research program. 23. Pilz B. Intellectual Property Basics – Video Series.
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of funding, density of resources, and number of jobs Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or rec- policy innovation and the innovation process. intellectual-property-basics-video-series.
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stakeholders may consider exploring impact on the of the author(s) alone and do not necessarily reflect 10. Link AN, Siegel DS, Van Fleet DD. Public editor. Self published; 2014.
development of human capital, such as university the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF) science and public innovation: assessing the 25. Wallenstein M. Lessons from the startup world.
entrepreneurial culture as well as academic trainee or the American Association for the Advancement relationship between patenting at U.S. National Science. 2016 Mar 30:4–7.
and researcher perceptions of entrepreneurship and of Science (AAAS) or any other organization with Laboratories and the Bayh-Dole Act. Res Policy. 26. Office of the Press Secretary TWH. Fact sheet:
commercialization. Identifying stakeholders and the which the authors are affiliated. 2011;40(8):1094–1099. as the global entrepreneurship summit begins
appropriate metrics will continue to be debated as The following competing interests should be 11. Aldridge TT, Audretsch D. The Bayh-Dole in silicon valley, new announcements to support
the program continues. noted: 1) Drs. Nnakwe and Cooch served as AAAS Act and scientist entrepreneurship. Res Policy. inclusive entrepreneurship innovation at home
Internally, current evaluations suggest the need to Fellows for the NSF I-Corps™ program from 2015 to 2011;40(8):1058–1067. [press release]. 2016:1–11.
enhance post-I-Corps training. Though the program 2017 and were involved with program administration, 12. Lerner J. The government as venture capitalist: 27. National Science Foundation. NSF Awards