I-Corps Node: Upstate NY Alliance for Entrepreneurial Innovation

Award ID: 1643287

This project by Cornell University will launch a new I-Corps Node centered in Upstate New York. I-Corps NY Node brings together Cornell University as the lead institution, the University of Rochester and Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) as partner institutions. This project will increase the velocity, volume, and success rate of technology startup teams forming in the colleges and universities in the Northeast, including Upstate NY. This new Node will adopt current best-practices in the Node network to grow a network of business mentors for academic inventors, promote lean launchpad principles in research, and expand entrepreneurship education around the region. The Node evaluation team will use iterative evaluation and redesign efforts to ensure the achievement of economic development, education, and workforce development outcomes. The researchers, instructors, mentors, and institutions in this Node will bring new ideas and tools to strengthen the National Innovation Network. This project will foster the inclusion of I-Corps participants, particularly underrepresented minorities, women, and the disabled in multiple regional I-Corps programs each year. In partnership with RIT's National Technical Institute for the Deaf, the Nation's largest engineering program for the deaf and hard of hearing, the Node will encourage nationwide participation from this underrepresented group. Programs will conclude with showcase events to publicize the teams and their success in regional innovation. This project will leverage a high concentration of academic anchor institutions to improve a moribund regional economy. Upstate NY academic institutions spend over $2.3bn on R&D, an amount that ranks eighth nationwide in state research spending. I-Corps represents an investment in growing a new innovation economy in a part of the country with tremendous assets to build upon and expand.

NSF Program Director: Ruth Shuman