I-Corps training program curriculum: Developing scientific and engineering discoveries into useful technologies, products and processes

这项工作的目的是支持I-Corps课程在2012财年第一季度和2012财年第二季度的交付；总共25支队伍。美国国家科学基金会I-Corps项目的基石是对建立在客户开发和商业模式发现平台上的课程的强烈沉浸。这些共同代表了一个以客户为中心的过程，该过程基于假设驱动的方法来识别和建立商业机会的可行性。I-Corps项目旨在通过为期3天的研讨会和为期5周的在线课程，使I-Corps团队（由pi、导师和企业家领导组成）掌握这些知识。在课程结束时，各小组将在一个地点重新集合，举行一个经验教训讲习班。通过申请这笔拨款，NCIIA将协调和支持课程，包括但不限于所有前期后勤、注册、问卷调查和在线活动。I-Corps项目的目标是确定该技术的商业可行性，该技术来源于NSF支持的研究。I-Corps团队将学习如何使用类似于他们习惯的科学方法的假设检验方法来评估商业可行性。教育是主要的组成部分；学员将带着扩展的技能离开这个项目，这将为他们继续追求自己的职业生涯提供帮助。在某些情况下，团队将确定有可能产生重大商业影响的技术应用，并可能启动新的企业来追求这些机会。如果这些团队能够成功地将他们的技术商业化，他们将创造价值，为我们国家的经济繁荣做出贡献。本提案中所述的努力将在整个过程中支持课程。

The purpose of this effort is to support the delivery of the I-Corps curriculum for the Q1FY12 and Q2FY12 cohorts; 25 teams in total. The cornerstone of the NSF I-Corps program is an intense immersion in a curriculum founded on customer development and business model discovery platforms. Together these represent a customer-centric process based on a hypothesis-driven approach to identify and establish the viability of commercial opportunity. The I-Corps program seeks to empower the I-Corps teams consisting of PIs, Mentors and Entrepreneurial Leads with this knowledge through a 3-day workshop to be followed by 5 weeks of online curriculum. At the end of the course, the teams will reconvene at a single location for a lessons learned workshop. Through application of this grant, NCIIA will coordinate and support the curriculum including but not limited to all up-front logistics, registration, respondent questionnaires and online activities. The goal of an I-Corps project is to determine the commercial feasibility of the technology derived from research that has been supported by NSF. The I-Corps teams will learn how to evaluate commercial feasibility using a hypothesis-testing approach akin to the scientific method to which they are accustomed. Education is the primary component; participants will leave the program with an expanded skill set that will serve them as they continue to pursue their careers. In some cases, the teams will identify technology applications that have the potential to make significant commercial impact and may start new enterprises to pursue these opportunities. If the teams can successfully commercialize their technologies, they will create value and contribute to the economic prosperity of our nation. The effort described in this proposal will go toward supporting the curriculum throughout the process.