Teams that successfully complete a regional I-Corps program may be eligible to apply for the national NSF I-Corps program. Those accepted into the national program receive up to $50,000 to assist with customer discovery and to cover the expenses of all team members attending the opening and closing workshops.
NSF hosts monthly webinars about the teams program and annual webinars about Nodes, Sites and supplements. You can learn more about these webinars and watch an introductory video (which describes the steps in the application process and helps you determine if I-Corps is a good fit for you and your idea) here: https://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/i-corps/webinars.jsp
Once you’re ready to apply, eligible teams should submit the online executive summary form at https://nsfgov.secure.force.com/icorps. For more information, we recommend visiting the NSF program solicitation page here and the I-Corps Team FAQ page here. The dates and locations of upcoming cohorts can be found here – this page is updated periodically.
Eligible teams will be under consideration for any remaining spots in the upcoming cohorts.
Teams interested in applying should contact the main I-Corps contact at the partner school from which they are applying.
For more information about NSF’s I-Corps please review the following resources:
"The whole customer discovery process--getting out of the building and interacting with real customers--it really paid off for us. You can come up with all these crazy ideas for a product, but until you go out and talk to people and see their needs, you won’t understand how to develop your product to help them. That’s what I-Corps taught me."
DAVE TILLEY, CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, LIVING CANOPIES
