NSF I-Corps - Broadening Participation Summit

Award ID: 1844298

This project focuses on women and minorities and approaches to increasing their representation in innovation, entrepreneurship, commercialization, and the lean-startup methodologies associated with NSF's Innovation Corps (I-Corps). The project consists of a national Summit for Broadening Participation (BP) and inclusiveness within the academic community that comprises the NSF National Innovation Network (NIN). This BP Summit initiative is motivated by several statistics: while Blacks comprise over 14% of the workforce in all private industries in the United States, they account for only 7.4% of the high-tech workforce, and people of color represent only 8% of US innovators. By contrast, whites account for nearly 64% of the workforce in all private U.S. industries, but over 68% of the high-tech workforce. Hispanic workers are also underrepresented, comprising just under 14% of jobs in all private U.S. industries, but less than 8% in high-tech industries, and women represent only 12% of US Innovators. The BP Summit for inclusiveness in innovation and entrepreneurship has several key objectives: provide participants with an understanding of how academic institutions and individuals can boot-strap themselves into the mainstream sphere of commercialization, particularly through the I-Corps programs; provide insights into the impacts that programs like I-Corps have had on individuals and institutions; connect champions at MSIs with existing I-Corps Nodes and Sites personnel; highlight winning strategies employed by individuals and institutions and outcomes of successful innovations; increase the participation of under-represented groups in I-Corps training at the local, regional, and national levels, both at the team and instructor levels; provide opportunities for networking and collaborations between attendees. The Summit brings together representatives of: Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI), I-Corps Node and Site personnel, researchers in the fields of inclusiveness and entrepreneurship, and, leadership from organizations serving the target population who can help innovation and entrepreneurship to their members such as the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), the Association of Students of African Origin (ASAO), Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN), and the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME). 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: Rebecca Shearman