NSF's Innovation Corps (I-Corps™)

I-Corps NSF Innovation Corps

The U.S. National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps (I-Corps™) program is an immersive, entrepreneurial training program that facilitates the transformation of invention to impact. This immersive, seven-week experiential training program prepares scientists and engineers to extend their focus beyond the university laboratory — accelerating the economic and societal benefits of NSF-funded and other basic research projects that are ready to move toward commercialization.

Widely recognized as an effective training program in the U.S. and internationally, I-Corps addresses three urgent national needs:

  1. Training an entrepreneurial workforce
  2. Bringing cutting-edge technologies to market and enabling positive economic impact
  3. Nurturing an innovation ecosystem
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Mission

The mission of I-Corps is to reduce the risk associated with translating technologies from the laboratory to the marketplace. To do this, I-Corps uses experiential education to help researchers reduce the time it takes to translate promising ideas from the laboratory to widespread implementation.

Impact

1,036 startups formed and $760 million funding raised

More than 5,800 innovators, 1,900 teams and 1280 universities, colleges, institutions and represented organizations have been trained through the I-Corps program. Through Fiscal Year 2020, more than half of all participating teams have launched startups that have cumulatively raised over $760 million in public and private funding.

Learn more

I-Corps cohorts

Approximately 20 to 30 teams participate together in the I-Corps curriculum as part of a training cohort, which is hosted by an I-Corps Hub or Node. Read on for details about the upcoming I-Corps cohorts.

Webinars

Before applying, join one of our monthly introductory webinars to better understand the I-Corps program and the Teams application process.

Featured stories

The I-Corps training program has helped launch more than 1,000 startups. Read about the remarkable work performed by our funded researchers and their role in fostering technology commercialization.