I-Corps Sites: Type II - University of Minnesota Innovation Site

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This project, from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, extends this institution's NSF I-Corps Site for scale up to their next phase of support for innovation and entrepreneurship.Innovation Corps (I-Corps) Sites are NSF-funded entities established at universities whose purpose is to nurture and support multiple, local teams to transition their technology concepts into the marketplace. Sites provide infrastructure, advice, resources, networking opportunities, training and modest funding to enable groups to transition their work into the marketplace or into becoming I-Corps Team applicants. I-Corps Sites also strengthen innovation locally and regionally and contribute to the National Innovation Network of mentors, researchers, entrepreneurs and investors. Since June 2014, the University of Minnesota (UMN) Innovation Corps (MIN-Corps) program provided infrastructure, resources, networking opportunities, training, and NSF-supported project funding to UMN students, faculty, and staff pursuing commercialization. As of December 31, 2017, MIN-Corps had hosted over 1,000 participants - more than half of whom were women - in its courses, seminars, or outreach events. Over 180 innovation teams trained with MIN-Corps, leading to seven participants in the national I-Corps Teams program, 12 licenses of UMN intellectual property, and a dozen startups and other continuing projects that have received over $8 million in commercialization grants and/or investor funding. The primary goals for the next funding cycle are to increase the quantity and quality of technology commercialization across UMN, increase program participation and commercialization activity by women and under-represented minorities, extend programming to UMN campuses in under-resourced communities outside the Twin Cities, and contribute to the vitality of the Midwest and national technology entrepreneurship and commercialization ecosystem.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.