The I-Corps program offers many potential benefits to participants. Here is a short list derived from the experience of past participants.
Teams may come from regional universities, federal labs/agencies, and from the general community. However, specific program cohorts may be limited to certain team types, so please check for additional qualifications in the schedule for upcoming programs. Teams are expected to be technology-based, with specific innovations to test in the market, and be available and commit to all course work. If you have a question about whether you qualify, please contact us.
Teams will all go through a formal application process, and will be judged on a combination of the following factors: commercial readiness of technology, potential market impact of innovation, and team qualifications and dynamics.
The I-Corps curriculum provides a real-world, hands-on, immersive learning experience about how to transform innovations into successful products and services. It’s not about how to write a research paper, business plan, or grant proposal. The end result is not a publication, slide deck, or a scientific discovery.
Instead, the entire I-Corps team will be engaged with industry; talking to customers, partners, and competitors; and encountering the chaos and uncertainty of transforming innovations into successful commercial opportunities. The program will force you to get out of your laboratory, university, or garage – and will often push you beyond your comfort zone.
This curriculum requires full participation from the entire I-Corps team. Each team member must commit to in-depth preparation, attendance at the lectures and workshops, and WebEx conference calls. If you cannot commit 15-20 hours per week, the Mid-Atlantic I-Corps Hub effort is not for you.
A traditional I-Corps team consists of three individuals: an Entrepreneurial Lead (EL), a Principal Investigator (PI), and an Industry Mentor (IM). This three-person team has proven very successful in most cases. However, in some cases, it may not be possible for the Principal Investigator (PI) to participate in the program. In other cases, it may be possible for the Principal Investigator to act as an EL.
The I-Corps Mid-Atlantic Hub program will accept teams with one to three participants, though teams should have a designated EL and IM. Teams of four may participate with prior approval from the teaching team. We recommend that teams have at least two team members for NSF National I-Corps cohorts.
The Entrepreneurial Lead (EL) acts as the team leader and spokesperson. Regardless of whether this person comes from a university, federal lab/agency, or community at large, this individual must have a strong desire to explore the commercial potential of the innovation brought by the team. Ideally, this person will have intimate knowledge of the technology even if he or she is not the original inventor. For university and federal lab/agency teams, a graduate student or post-doc will often fill this role.
In some cases, the inventor or principal investigator may act as the EL for two-person teams. For community-based teams (those that do not come from a university or federal lab/agency), the EL may be any team member other than the Industry Mentor. Any team may choose to have more than one EL with prior approval from the teaching team.
The Industry Mentor (IM) will typically be an experienced entrepreneur or business executive. The IM is a third-party resource and sounding board. Mentors guide teams forward, help them interpret customer comments, assist the team in contacting relevant people, and keep the team honest about what they are hearing from the marketplace. If you do not have an appropriate mentor, we can help you find a suitable match. Teams may also have more than one mentor with prior approval from the teaching team.
Your University’s Program Coordinator (see list here),. For NSF, the primary contact for most I-Corps Teams questions should be Cindy Walker Peach: (703) 292-8437, email: crwalker@nsf.gov.
Teams may wish to discuss the commercial readiness of their effort with a Topic Specific I-Corps Program Officer:
There are no set deadlines. Teams are interviewed on a rolling basis. Typically, the interview process starts approximately 6 months prior to a cohort's start date and continues until all cohort slots are filled.
To be eligible to pursue funding under an I-Corps Teams award, applicants must have received an award from NSF (in a scientific or engineering field relevant to the I-Corps Team's proposed innovation) that is currently active or that has been active within five years from the date of the I-Corps Teams proposal submission. The prior award could range from a modest single-investigator award to a large, distributed center and could also could include awards involving students such as REU Sites, provided the technology developed under the grant has a clear link to the innovation being explored in the I-Corps project.It
is also possible for a team to apply based on participation in a local or regional NSF-supported I-Corps training run by a current I-Corps Site or Node. In that case, the NSF grant that establishes the team's I-Corps Teams Program eligibility will be the NSF I-Corps Site or Node Grant. If a team is applying through this route, a senior member of that I-Corps Site or Node staff must provide a recommendation for the team's consideration in the I-Corps Teams program. The technology underlying the effort will also need to be consistent with NSF requirements on intellectual merit and represent a significant technical innovation.
The lineage of the prior award extends to the PI, Co-PIs, senior personnel, post docs, professional staff or others who were supported under the award.
Most universities have a policy that specifies who owns the IP for funded and unfunded research carried out on campuses, whether the researcher is a faculty member, post doc, full-time researcher, graduate student, or undergraduate student. It is important to explore your institution's policies since such policies vary widely. As far as NSF I-Corps is concerned, the IP for your technology should be owned by either a member(s) of the I-Corps Team or by the sponsoring university. NSF I-Corps will not typically fund teams whose IP is assigned to a third party.
To start the application process the I-Corps Team should submit the Executive Summary through the I-Corps Teams Web Form for review.
As described in the solicitation under Section II-PROGRAM DESCRIPTION, here are the next steps to start the process to be considered for the I-Corps Teams Program:
There are no special citizenship requirements for I-Corps Team members.
It is possible for a team to apply based on participation in a local Mid-Atlantic Regional Hub member which includes:
If a team is applying through this route a senior member of that I-Corps Site or Node staff must provide a recommendation for the team's consideration in the national I-Corps program. The technology underlying the effort will also need to be consistent with NSF requirements on intellectual merit and represent a significant technical innovation.
Teams with more than four team members are generally not supported. A second Entrepreneurial Lead is the most common additional team member. It is not allowed to have two team members split the time commitment or attendance requirements. All team members are expected to be full participants.
Finding a good I-Corps Mentor can be challenging but building a strong network and finding and recruiting advisors to a Team are key to the success of an entrepreneur. We recommend that Teams first explore opportunities for recruiting with the I-Corps Team Coordinator at their supporting institution (find your University’s coordinator here).
As a member of the I-Corps Team, Mentors are deeply involved during the seven-week period of the curriculum. It is important that all members of the Team be geographically near each other. Under rare circumstances exceptions can be made.
I-Corps Mentors are advisors that have two primary roles. First, by being a third-party resource for the team, the mentor can help the team recognize and reduce confirmation bias during the customer discovery process. In this role the I-Corps Mentor is in some ways an extension of the I-Corps Teaching Team in helping the team absorb and apply the relevant lessons. Second, the I-Corps Mentor should be someone that has industry contacts and knows the ecosystem of the target market area. I-Corps Teams will be interviewing more than 100 potential customers and potential partners in person. A good mentor can help the team find the right people to interview.
Technical Lead is a specific role on the I-Corps Team and Principal Investigator (PI)
is a specific role on the NSF proposal and award. Typically, these roles will be filled by the same person. The roles are distinct to add flexibility for the Team. For instance, there may be a situation where a Post Doc is serving as a Technical Lead on the team but may not be eligible to be a PI on a NSF proposal. In this case the team can have someone else at the academic institution serve as the proposal and award PI.
Some areas of consideration include team composition, potential impact on the market, and overall time horizon to impact.
The I-Corps Teams Curriculum provides real-world, hands-on, immersive learning about what it takes to evaluate commercial opportunity around the innovation. The curriculum consists of an approximately seven-week program that involves an in-person entrepreneurial curriculum immersion Kickoff, a weekly online curriculum, and an in-person Lessons Learned report-out. The Kickoff and Lessons learned are both held on-site at the cohort location. The weekly online sessions are a combination of instructor and team presentations and active interactions between the teams, instructors and other teams in the cohort. In addition to scheduled cohort events, the main activity of the program is customer discovery where the Team leaves the lab to evaluate potential product-market fit and the wider business model. At the end of the curriculum, Teams are expected to have performed at least one hundred (100) face-to-face interviews with potential customers and potential partners from their proposed target market(s). The team's progress in customer discovery will be shared with the entire cohort to facilitate group learning.
The schedule for upcoming I-Corps cohorts can be found on the main I-Corps Teams website.
The I-Corps Curriculum is rigorous and requires a substantial time commitment. Teams members are each expected to spend a minimum of 15 hours per week participating and preparing for the scheduled I-Corps events and doing active customer discovery. The seven-week I-Corps curriculum is demanding and time-consuming and best scheduled when Team members have minimal academic commitments. As a "rule of thumb," NSF recommends that the TL, EL and IM be scheduled to teach or enroll in no more than one course during the I-Corps program.
A team that is invited to submit an I-Corps Teams proposal will be asked to choose a cohort to attend, subject to availability and approval from a Cognizant I-Corps program officer.
After registering for the I-Corps cohort (typically around 4 weeks prior to the start of the cohort) you will receive information on the cohort's logistics, syllabus and required reading and videos.
Search the NSF website for former participants in your area. Reach out to those individuals and ask for advice on how to succeed in I-Corps.
Members of the team are expected to continue with the customer discovery work after the cohort ends in order to more thoroughly explore the commercial landscape and potential for a viable business model. If a team has a clear and validated vision for a Minimum Viable Product, with written approval from a Cognizant I-Corps program officer, it may be possible to accommodate some limited (typically no more than $5,000 total), well-motivated R&D work after the end of the I-Corps Curriculum.
Expenses for technical R&D work, which may include facility fees or materials and supplies, should not be included in the I-Corps Teams proposal budget. The primary use for I-Corps Team grant will be travel for customer discovery. With written approval from a Cognizant I-Corps program officer it may be possible to accommodate some limited (typically no more than $5,000 total), well-motivated R&D work after the end of the I-Corps Curriculum. However, this should not be budgeted in the proposal.
The applicant may want to consider the NSF Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR), Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR), or the Partnerships for Innovation opportunities instead of I-Corps.
These types of expenses are not allowed under the I-Corps grant.
No. I-Corps mentors cannot be paid a stipend or consultancy fees under the I-Corps grant.
No. I-Corps PIs are not typically paid under the I-Corps grant.
The I-Corps Teams grant can typically accommodate short-term, modest support for the EL.
Attendance of an academic conference using I-Corps grant funds is allowed only with written approval of a Cognizant I-Corps Program Officer. Such approval is typically not granted. The goal of the I-Corps Teams grant is to facilitate customer discovery of commercial market opportunities.
International travel with I-Corps grant funds is allowed only with written approval of a Cognizant I-Corps Program Officer. The purpose of the I-Corps teams grant is to facilitate customer discovery of commercial market opportunities.
Yes. Trade shows can be a great way to interact with a large number of potential customers. I-Corps grant funds can be used to support the team's travel to industry trade shows in the United States. Travel to international trade shows must receive written approval from a Cognizant I-Corps Program Officer.
Yes. Domestic travel to do customer discovery is a normal part of the I-Corps customer discovery activity. All forms of transportation and accommodation (within GSA rates) are allowable for all team members included in the I-Corps award.
No. New team members on an I-Corps teams award must be approved by NSF both during and after a cohort finishes.
The report needs to thoroughly detail the work conducted under the I-Corps Award, the progress and learning made by the team in the reporting period, the outcomes of the work, and the project's vision post-award. It should be clear what customer segments were explored, what pivots were made and how the team sees their value proposition (or the rest of the business model canvas) at the conclusion of the award.
Please be sure to highlight any outcomes from the I-Corps award. These may include outcomes such as:
Yes. A request for a "grantee requested no cost extension" can be submitted via FastLane. Please note that subsequent no cost extension requests will not typically be approved.
The intent of an NSF I-Corps Teams award is to fund the processes associated with Team engagement in the I-Corps immersion program, which focuses on customer discovery, and follow-on activities which also focus on customer discovery. These expenses include travel, attendance at trade shows, and other costs incurred when teams interview potential customers. The I-Corps Teams grant cannot be used to support legal expenses or compensating "potential customers" for their time.
You must request and receive approval in advance of expending funds for these types of activities.
Send the following information to your I-Corps Teams award program officer:
The I-Corps Teams award program officer may have additional questions for the team in considering the request.
The Cognizant I-Corps Program Officer MUST give advance approval to use the I-Corps grant on technical R&D work (request cannot exceed $5,000). This approval will only be considered after the team's successful completion of the I-Corps cohort and with clear motivation from the I-Corps customer discovery work. You are expected to continue the customer discovery work even after the end of the cohort – supporting customer discovery is the main purpose of the I-Corps grant. If you would like to use up to $5,000 on the technical R&D work please send your I-Corps Team award program officer an email outlining:
The I-Corps Teams award program officer may have additional questions for the team in considering the request.
These resources are provided by the Mid-Atlantic Hub for reference in response to frequently asked questions by I-Corps participants regarding Institutional Review Boards (IRBs.) These resources reflect learnings from having worked with hundreds of teams in regional and national I-Corps, and from many discussions with researchers and funding agencies. The Mid-Atlantic Hub is not responsible for determining if IRB approval is required by an I-Corps participant.
An Institutional Review Board (IRB) is a group that has been formally designated to review and monitor biomedical and behavioral research involving human subjects. Specifically, an IRB is tasked with protecting the rights, welfare, and privacy of human research subjects (often patients) recruited to participate in biomedical and behavioral clinical research.
Clinical research focuses on the safety and effectiveness of potential advances in patient care, which naturally requires human subject research. In addition, clinical research must be also systematic and generalizable (e.g., a clinical trial).
The IRB reviews all research, prior to initiation, that involves human participants. The IRB also has the authority to approve, require modifications, or disapprove research based on federal regulations and institutional policy.
Note: The IRB’s structure and function is codified in 21 CFR Parts 16 and 56, enacted in 1981.
The I-Corps course requires customer discovery, usually referred to as “interviews” as the central method of data collection. In some cases for some life sciences teams, I-Corps participants may need to talk directly to patients. Whether a team should talk to patients is very project specific. However, if patients play a leading role in the adoption or use decision for a specific solution, then the team may need to talk to patients.
However, before speaking to any patients, the team should consult I-Corps course instructors. The desire to talk to patients will also likely raise concerns with the team’s institutional IRB. So, all teams that plan to speak to patients should also reach out to their respective IRBs.
I-Corps interviews involve human subjects (patients in some cases), and teams should be systematic in their data collection and their findings will hopefully be generalizable. So, at first glance, one might conclude that an IRB approval may be required.
However, I-Corps research is market research, not clinical research. Furthermore, it’s not generalizable in a scientific or scholarly sense. Finally, no personal patient information is required for I-Corps interviews; all patient information should be kept anonymous. I-Corps interviews focus specifically on the needs people have regarding current solutions; there is no testing of potential solutions during the course. At no time will a patient’s rights, welfare, or privacy be at risk during these interviews.
Consequently, even for teams that need to speak to patients, their projects should not require IRB approval.
Note: Many life-sciences focused teams have no need to talk to patients directly, which should also exempt them from the need for IRB approval. Life-science teams often focus their customer discovery strategy on interviews with healthcare professionals, reimbursement and regulatory bodies, and others in the broader healthcare ecosystem.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) do not require IRB approval from participants in their I-Corps programs. These agencies have put several thousand teams through their national I-Corps programs. In addition, many more (tens of thousands) teams have completed regional courses sponsored by NSF and NIH. While NSF and NIH guidance to participants is that IRB is not required, it should be noted that sponsors like NSF and NIH do not dictate the need for IRB. This decision is made by the IRB at each individual institution.
Final Notes
The Mid-Atlantic Hub has inquired directly and extensively and cannot find a case in which a participating team has required IRB approval from their sponsoring institution after consulting them and explaining the purpose of I-Corps and the nature of the interviews.
However, all institutions have slightly different guidelines. The Hub strongly recommends that teams contact their institutional IRB if they anticipate the need to talk to patients, or if they are uncertain about their obligations.
Please feel free to reference this web page to your IRB. Finally, the I-Corps team is available to speak directly – or send an email – to your IRB should the need arise.
Would your idea work in the real world?
What is the difference between the regional I-Corps and the national NSF I-Corps programs?
The Mid-Atlantic I-Corps Hub is designed to be a regional program, meant to foster and grow the wealth of knowledge in the greater mid-Atlantic area. For the Hub program, you do not need prior NSF funding. We encourage faculty at regional universities, researchers at federal labs, and technology entrepreneurs from the general community to apply to this program. The NSF I-Corps program requires that the lead faculty member (PI) have an NSF lineage. The National Program also provides $50K in grant money to complete the program, whereas the I-Corps Hub program does not.
Do we need a previous grant to qualify for the Mid-Atlantic I-Corps Hub?
No.
Can you help me find a mentor?
Absolutely! Please contact us at icorps@umd.edu
Does the entire team have to attend the on-site training sessions & participate in the WebEx calls once a week?
Yes, all members of the team need to be involved in the entire process, including both onsite programs and the WebEx calls.
At what stage does my project need to be?
Please click here for program requirements.
Should I have disclosed the IP or have a patent filed prior to attending?
We strongly encourage university and federal lab participants to speak with their Tech Transfer offices and/or patent attorneys prior to attending the program. There is the potential that IP information could be disclosed during the course of this program, although it is highly discouraged and should not be necessary.
