I-Corps Sites: Type II - Advancing RIT's Early Stage Technology Commercialization and Entrepreneurship Eco-System: Integrating Educational and Commercial Outcomes

Award ID: 1829241

This project, from Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), extends this institution's existing Innovation Corps (I-Corps) Site for scale up to their next phase of support for innovation and entrepreneurship. 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. I-Corps Sites also strengthen innovation locally and regionally and contribute to the National Innovation Network of mentors, researchers, entrepreneurs and investors. Sites that received funding for three years during the early years of I-Corps may apply for a second award for an additional three years, called a Type II proposal. This project from RIT is a Type II project. Since becoming a Site in 2014, Simone Center has vetted and counseled several hundred potential teams and advanced approximately 300 of them through I-Corps training. Program learning outcomes and evaluations with student/faculty participants provided significant insights, which have been operationalized and employed to improve offerings. Over the past three years, RIT and the regional ecosystem benefitted significantly from NSF's I-Corps Site designation and support. It has actively gained from and contributed to the National Innovation Network (NIN) learning community. RIT's Site Program is also in close collaboration with the regional NSF I-Corps Node, which is composed of Cornell University, University of Rochester, and RIT. There are a number of broader impacts for this project: during the next phase, particular emphasis will be placed on recruiting traditionally underrepresented participants in entrepreneurship, as well as training the deaf community, while furthering the advancement of access and inclusion technology projects; a new generation of students and faculty will be educated about I-Corps (lean startup) methodologies and fostering the creation of early-stage ventures; and, the regional ecosystem and National Innovation Network will profit from the outcomes of the RIT Site projects. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Program Director: Ruth Shuman