National Science Foundation initiative to help researchers become entrepreneurs

8/9/2011

The National Science Foundation is seeking the future entrepreneurs of America. Through its Innovation-Corps initiative, the NSF will foster potentially business-worthy research and technology models for the development of the ideas into products and services.

The program will award $50,000 to qualified applicants, who must be from a U.S. educational or federal research-based institution. Funding goes toward the entrepreneurial lead on the project, a third-party I-Corps mentor (who may be a successful entrepreneur in a similar field) and the principal investigator from the NSF.

By recognizing the commercial viability of up-and-coming research ideas and helping would-be entrepreneurs expand studies into businesses, the NSF is hoping to create the next generation of business owners. Students and researchers in medical, informational or other scientific fields may not have the business know-how or training to start a venture themselves, and collaboration with the initiative can make those hurdles easier to clear.

Program participants must apply during the set submission times beginning in mid-August 2011. Chosen researchers are provided with help in the transition between the scholarly and commercial aspects of their product or service, including market analysis and business methods.