WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The week ahead marks a huge step forward for innovation in America ... and a huge week for the National Science Foundation, home of the bold I-Corps program that, by Friday, will have trained 100 teams of scientists how to turn their innovations into American businesses and jobs.
The NSF I-Corps teaches our country's top scientists how to be entrepreneurs. It teaches them how to commercialize their technology and attract private capital.
The I-Corps program was designed, built, tested and scaled within a year. It leverages the country’s commitment to research, its partnership with private capital and its tolerance for failure in a uniquely American way. It’s an extraordinarily efficient use of taxpayers’ money. It will pay us back with jobs and a competitive edge on a global scale.
On Wednesday, NSF will host an I-Corps anniversary event featuring a celebration and panel.
Yesterday, the nation's 50 Governors learned about the program and its results from Steve Blank, architect of the program, based on the Customer Development model he created and teaches worldwide.
In the week ahead:
- a Congressional hearing on the NSF program today in Chicago (home to Congressman Dan Lipinski of the House Subcommittee on Research and Science Education Committee on Science, Space, and Technology). I-Corps architect Steve Blank will be called to testify on results. (Ironically, the NSF I-Corp may well be the only education and jobs creation program that both parties support this election year.)
- A major program update/announcement at NSF headquarters Wednesday, July 18
- Many other major government and research agencies are working to launch I-Corps programs to generate startups this year
- NSF will soon announce expansion of the program to a dozen or so more universities
- two new Universities--George Tech and U of Michigan--begin teaching 54 more teams this month
- 50 teams of the country's best scientists and engineers will go through the class every 90 days
I-Corps is built on the Lean LaunchPad curriculum pioneered by Silicon Valley startup veteran Steve Blank, author of The Four Steps to the Epiphany and The Startup Owner’s Manual. A retired serial entrepreneur, author, and educator who teaches at Stanford, U.C. Berkeley, and Columbia Business School, Blank is best known as the creator of Customer Development, the innovation process that launched the lean startup movement.
Additional information about I-Corps can be found at http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/i-corps/index.jsp
Information about the Lean LaunchPad is here: http://steveblank.com/category/lean-launchpad/
To talk about the program with its architect and lead educator, Steve Blank, contact Terri S. Vanech from K&S Ranch (see below).