NSF I-Corps

The National Science Foundation Innovation Corps (NSF I-Corps) Program at WVU

The National Science Foundation Innovation Corps (NSF I-Corps) is a national program designed to prepare faculty, researchers and students to extend their focus beyond the university laboratory to accelerate the economic and societal benefits of basic-research projects to move toward commercialization. However, the NSF I-Corps short course at WVU is open to anyone throughout the state––you don’t have to be a WVU faculty member, researcher or student to take the course. Essentially, NSF I-Corps at WVU is an “entrepreneur bootcamp” for anyone to discover what it’s like to take a product to market and determine whether their idea for a new product or technology can be successful. Participants learn how to identify valuable product opportunities and gain skills in entrepreneurship through training in customer discovery and guidance from established entrepreneurs.

NSF I-Corps Short Course Agenda

A typical WVU NSF I-Corps Short Course takes place over two weeks, starting with two half day face-to-face meetings, then two webinars on the succeeding Wednesdays, and ends with another face-to-face half-day meeting to discuss “lessons learned.”

Friday (4pm - 8pm) - Session 1 (In-person)
Saturday (8am - 12pm) - Session 2 (In-person)
Wednesday (2pm- 4pm) - Session 3 (Online)
Wednesday (2pm- 4pm) - Session 4 (Online)
Saturday (8am- 12pm) - Session 5 (In-person)

Meals are included and attendance is free and open to the public.

The National NSF I-Corps Program

After attending a short course, if the participating team determines they want to pursue their idea more aggressively to commercialization, they can attend the 7-week long National I-Corps Program, which is held 12 to 14 times through the year at different cities through the U.S..

For more information on NSF I-Corps, visit the official NSF I-Corps page.

For specific questions about NSF I-Corps at WVU, contact Erienne.Olesh@mail.wvu.edu.

To find upcoming regional I-Corps training dates, visit the Upstate New York I-Corps site.