Healthcare company-building profile
NSF I-Corps National Innovation Network
U.S. National Science Foundation
Source-based profile
Program at a Glance
- Program type
- Accelerator
- Program category
- Government or nonprofit accelerator
- Organization
- U.S. National Science Foundation
- Organization type
- Nonprofit
- Location
- Alexandria, Virginia
- Company stage served
- Research or idea stage
- Cohort or participation model
- Multi-week customer discovery cohort (national teams program historically ~7 weeks) delivered through regional I-Corps Hubs; regional short courses feed the national program
- Investment or funding offered
- Yes
- Published investment terms
- Non-dilutive; NSF I-Corps Teams grants (historically up to $50,000) support customer discovery; no equity taken
- Equity or fee model
- No equity
- Clinical or hospital connection
- Not publicly documented
- Application status
- Active
- Founded
- 2011
Public description
About the program
NSF's Innovation Corps (I-Corps) trains federally funded academic researchers to test the commercial potential of their discoveries using an evidence-based customer discovery curriculum. The program is delivered through a National Innovation Network of regional I-Corps Hubs anchored at research universities across the country, many of which run biomedical and medtech-specific cohorts. NSF has expanded the Hub network in successive rounds, adding new multi-university hubs to broaden geographic reach. Teams complete an intensive multi-week cohort that ends with a go/no-go commercialization decision.
What the program publicly emphasizes
Focus areas and features
- Category: Government or nonprofit accelerator
- Program structure: Multi-week customer discovery cohort (national teams program historically ~7 weeks) delivered through regional I-Corps Hubs; regional short courses feed the national program
- Published terms: Non-dilutive; NSF I-Corps Teams grants (historically up to $50,000) support customer discovery; no equity taken
Sources
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