NSF I-Corps Hub: West Region

Award ID: 2048703

This I-Corps Hub develops a regional innovation ecosystem in the Western United States that cultivates the creation of deep technology ventures and builds a robust innovation ecosystem that includes all of its regional partners and populations. This goal will be achieved through education, training, outreach, and the engagement, with robust linkages to regional and national entrepreneurial ecosystems, leading to a strong commercial impact. Trainers and trained teams are key Hub outputs using proactive outreach to recruit scientific and academic teams and trainees, as well as experienced mentors and instructors. In addition, I-Corps training may help increase the flow and impact of commercializable technologies, the growth and prosperity of the innovation ecosystem, and the supply of mentors and experts for the training of future teams. The Hub plans to engage in research and education in lean startup-based programming, the financing of innovation, and the broader context of technology innovation and entrepreneurship. Through education, training, networking, community building, and research outcomes related to deep technology ventures, the Hub seeks to deliver economic, technology, and social impact for the benefit of the region and the nation. This I-Corps Hubs project is based on the development of a comprehensive education and training program for innovation and entrepreneurship in deep technology ventures in the Western United States. The Hub will engage deep technology researchers in lean-startup and customer discovery methodologies to produce teams that advance to the national I-Corps program, further enhancing the National Innovation Network. The project will use a framework for team generation and training pipelines based on best practices developed by the Hub members, further modified to leverage the Hub regional characteristics. The Hub will also explore new approaches that may lead to a creative, enabling, human-centric, and socially-relevant innovation ecosystem in the region. The Hub will analyze programs for possible additional refinements in Hub approaches, as well as to enrich best practices and public policy on innovation and entrepreneurship, including a better understanding of innovation financing and the career paths of scientists and engineers in the general entrepreneurial ecosystem. 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