I-Corps Sites - Type I: UC Merced Innovation Corps: Connecting the National Innovation Network to the San Joaquin Valley

Award ID: 1644753

This project creates an I-Corps Site at the University of California - Merced. NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps) Sites are NSF-funded entities established at universities whose purpose is to nurture and support multiple, local teams to transition their technology concepts into the marketplace. Sites provide infrastructure, advice, resources, networking opportunities, training and modest funding to enable groups to transition their work into the marketplace or into becoming I-Corps Team applicants. The Merced Site is in cooperation with the Bay Area NSF Innovation Corps Node through the University of California, Berkeley. Merced will cultivate both innovation and teams that can meaningfully participate in the National Innovation Network to deliver innovation to society through the application of entrepreneurship. It will also develop methods for fostering innovation-based entrepreneurship in less diverse economies. UCMerced is in a rural, agricultural area of California that has not had much entrepreneurial activity in the past. However, in 2015 UCMerced established the Venture Lab which focuses on entrepreneurship and provides a locus of entrepreneurship in the greater community. This is a unique Sites proposal given the age of the institution and their rural location. They have already created and succeeded with their Venture Lab and recruited a 10-member Advisory Board. The leadership is very experienced and has reached out to the surrounding community for collaboration and support and their connections are strong. Their curriculum is lean-centric. UCMerced has chosen a realistic Sites model - starting with 15 Site teams the first year, then 20, ramping up to 30 in their final year of funding. This is an unusual environment to pilot a program in an institution that is essentially minority populated and located in an area that is in need of a boost to its ecosystem. The project is likely to have a profound impact on both the institution and the community.

NSF Program Director: Molly Wasko