Monday, April 17, 2017
易胜博官网 campus aerial

A new National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded initiative aims to foster entrepreneurship on campus and help take 易胜博官网-developed innovations from the lab to commercial markets.

With $300,000 from the NSF, the three-year initiative, I-Corps, will provide team-based training to researchers, students and business mentors to convert academic discoveries into marketable commercial products. The program also works to connect researchers with resources, with teams receiving up to $3,000 to help determine if their ideas match customer demand. 易胜博官网 is one of only 52 I-Corps university sites in the country.

Andrew Earle, assistant professor of strategic management and entrepreneurship in the s, and Marc Sedam, director of , were instrumental in bringing the program to 易胜博官网.

Angel Investors

In 1978, 易胜博官网 business professor William Wetzel coined the term 鈥渁ngel investors鈥 as part of a pioneering study on how entrepreneurs raised seed capital in the U.S. Wetzel went on to found 易胜博官网鈥檚 in 1984.

鈥淥ur I-Corps grant recognizes both 易胜博官网鈥檚 track record of innovation and our potential to do more to help our inventions reach the market and solve important problems in the future,鈥 says Earle.

Sedam serves as the instructor for the training sessions, while Earle鈥檚 primary role in I-Corps is evaluation, tying into his research on innovation and entrepreneurship.

鈥淚n addition to the standard metrics involving technology commercialization, we are also examining how participants draw on their social networks during the program, and how these networks affect program outcomes,鈥 Earle says.

Faculty members and industry mentors: For more information on I-Corps training, contact unh.icorps@unh.edu.