Academic researchers and entrepreneurs that have received SBIR or STTR funding from NIH are now eligible to participate in the National Science Foundation’s “Innovation Corps” or I-Corps www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/i-corps program specially tailored for biomedical technologies.
NIH and NSF will team up to adapt the I-Corps curriculum for biomedical entrepreneurs who have already started a company. I-Corps goal is to improve how tech startups bring their products into the marketplace by using an intensive mentor-driven experience.
As part of the I-Corps program, participants will receive training to learn how to develop a viable business model by gathering evidence from many different potential customers and partners to increase the likelihood that an investor will back the startup. Participants will also learn how to develop prototypes and get early feedback from customers to help reduce the time and costs associated with the commercialization process
Also, the National Innovation Network http://nciia.org/i-corps/nin part of the I-Corps program will provide faculty and students with mentorship opportunities, entrepreneurial training, and modest funding to enable trainees to move their ideas from the lab to the marketplace.
NIH provides over $700 million in research and development awards to small businesses yearly via the NIH SBIR/STTR program http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/sbirsttr_programs.htm .
In addition, NIH helps by enabling existing NIH funded programs such as the NIH Centers for Accelerated Innovation along with Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hubs to focus on technologies that have not yet led to the formation of a startup or been licensed by an existing company.