We all know what a great fundamental scientific research is funded by NSF but for NSF and all the other funding organizations it has been a real challenge to get the discoveries out of the labs as innovations with big social impact.
There were several programs & attempts to commercialize those discoveries and I-Corps is that attempt for the same. For I-Corps program, NSF has borrowed a page from the startup innovation ecosystem playbook (for the uninitiated, accelerators are cropping up by the dozens in the startup world) and has the two key ingredients, which will make the program successful.
And those are:
- Entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and other players of innovation ecosystem can volunteer as mentors
- Researchers and students will be trained in the entrepreneurial methods
Looking at the success of this model in industry we can say, these two new twists have the potential to accelerate the commercialization process, for the current research discoveries and also future ones.
[Photo Credit: Thanks to geralt via Pixabay]
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