About I-Corps
NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps™)
The National Science Foundation (NSF) partners with universities across the U.S., including more than a dozen New York State Universities, to offer a series of Innovation Corps (I-Corps) programs. Clarkson University serves as a Partner Institution within the NSF’s New York Region I-Corps Hub. As a Partner Institution, we offer a series of regional I-Corps programs throughout the year. I-Corps is designed to support the commercialization of scientific and engineering discoveries by helping researchers evaluate the market potential of their innovations through the process of Customer Discovery.
Learn more about Customer Discovery
Through the I-Corps program, teams will learn and apply the practice of Customer Discovery- a crucial process meant for the early stages of developing a product or starting a new business. Oftentimes, entrepreneurs assume that they understand their market and their customers, but ultimately these assumptions must be validated before an entrepreneur should be confident in deploying their limited resources! Therefore, the goal of customer discovery is to validate assumptions about the target market and gather insights that can inform the development and refinement of a product or service. This process involves actively engaging with potential customers through one-on-one interviews in order to gain a deep understanding of market needs and preferences.
Goals of the NSF I-Corps Program
Research
To facilitate the translation of research and innovations into the marketplace
Training
To provide training to researchers and inventors that increases the likelihood of their ideas successfully reaching customers
Collaboration
To encourage collaboration between academia and industry
Clarkson I-Corps
This regional program will provide a greater understanding of innovation and entrepreneurial processes and prompt the translation of research to industry. Participants will assess the market opportunity of their research and explore the value that it could serve customers and society at large. Teams will conduct customer discovery research, talking to at least 20 potential customers. Throughout the program, an emphasis will be placed on the Lean Launchpad methodology, Business Model Canvas and Customer Discovery.
Upon completion of this regional-level program, select teams may be invited to apply to the national level program, which takes place over seven-weeks and is hosted by our partners at the City University of New York (CUNY), or by one of the other nine NSF I-Corps hubs. At the national-level, teams receive $50,000 in grant funding to support their customer discovery research throughout the duration of the program.
For alternative I-Corp programs and dates, please visit the New York I-Corps Hub website.