The NSF I-Corps Northeast Hub has launched, and applications are now open for its inaugural innovation training program for researchers

With the aim of bringing discoveries made in university laboratories to everyday life, the new NSF I-Corps Northeast Hub was launched this week and announced that applications for its first researcher education program are open. The four-week program, in which researchers face the challenges of creating successful startups and entrepreneurial ventures based on scientific and technological discoveries, begins on February 28 and runs online through March 23.

The I-Corps Hub Northeast Region is a Princeton-led consortium funded by a 5-year National Science Foundation (NSF) grant introduces science and technology researchers to tasks more familiar to business school students, such as the Interviewing potential customers to find out if a technology meets user needs.

The main institution of the hub is Princeton University with Rutgers University and the University of Delaware as partner institutions. Its original partners are Rowan University and the New Jersey Institute of Technology in New Jersey, Lehigh University and Temple University in Pennsylvania, and Delaware State University. The hub expands every year to add new partner universities.

Participants attend the course in small teams that may consist of faculty members, postdocs, and staff, as well as postgraduate and graduate students from the laboratory associated with the technology being studied. Each team is accompanied by an experienced mentor who helps the researchers guide the process.

The hub’s lecturers apply the training approach of the NSF I-Corps, which has been preparing researchers for more than a decade to create startups and bring their research into the public sphere, where it can be of use in everyday life.

Through its programs, the hub will build skills and opportunity among researchers from across the Northeast Region and from all fields, including those historically underrepresented in entrepreneurship. Participants do not have to be part of the hub institutions to take the 4-week course.

“It’s exciting to see the hub launch, which will have a positive impact on the regional innovation ecosystem,” said Rodney Priestley, Princeton University’s Vice Dean for Research. Priestley, the Pomeroy and Betty Perry Smith professor of chemical and bioengineering, is co-director of the hub.

“The interest in innovation among academics, research staff and students has really increased in recent years and is not going to wane,” said Julius Korley, director of entrepreneurship and strategic partnerships for the College of Engineering at the University of Delaware and co-director of the hub . “This is a great addition to this region of the country.”

Teams must apply for the program, and those selected are eligible for up to $ 3,000 in funds to be used to conduct customer research. Upon completion, teams are eligible to apply for the NSF I-Corps Teams program, which includes a $ 50,000 grant for customer and industry research.

Teams can visit the I-Corps Northeast Hub website to learn how to apply for the 4-week regional program. Scientists from all universities and institutions can apply. The program runs online on February 28, March 2, March 9 and March 23 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Applications are possible on January 31st.

Visit icorpsne.org to apply or to register for an online briefing, which will take place on Friday, January 14th at 2:00 pm

The NSF I-Corps Northeast Hub is sponsored by grant #NSF 2048602.