Polsky Prototyping Fund

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This I-Corps Site, at the University of Chicago's Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, involves five campus-wide programs: the New Venture Challenge, College New Venture Challenge, Global New Venture Challenge, Social New Venture Challenge, and a Mobile App Challenge (offered in partnership with UChicagoTech and Information Technology Services). And, as part of a campus-wide innovation initiative, the Center will be working closely with Argonne National Laboratory, the University of Chicago Computation Institute, Medical Center, and Institute for Molecular Engineering to ideate and start companies based on novel technologies and use-based innovation. Funding from this I-Corps Site will support prototyping or proof-of-concept at an early, critical stage of company development, providing funding in line with Polsky's lean start-up methodology that stresses innovative thinking, rapid iteration, market-testing, and flexibility in redesign or repositioning. In particular, the Sites grant enables teaching and employing of this methodology with faculty and students in the Computation Institute and Molecular Engineering, in the Medical Center, and throughout the Physical Sciences. With a growing roster of companies being launched out of Argonne, the Computation Institute, the Medical Center, and Molecular Engineering, the Center's entrepreneurial culture will be made more visible and accessible, and instill an entrepreneurial mindset among faculty and students.The Polsky Center has a strong track record of transitioning technology into the marketplace leading to the creation of multiple companies. The Site award will expand the number of ideas that can be tested quickly and inexpensively (in dollars and opportunity cost) for those that show the greatest promise. This Site will contribute to the growth of the Chicago innovation network where academia, corporations, government, the investor and the philanthropic communities collaborate to contribute to economies based on networks and network effects. The Chicago Site will be a critical component of working with the city to address the urban challenges of education, healthcare, and opportunity. The University of Chicago is the largest employer on Chicago's South Side. Through their entrepreneurial activities, the institution seeks to change the economic potential for residents on Chicago's South Side and to create new industry and wealth for this underserved part of the city.