Starting in mid-July, Clarkson will be hosting a regional NSF Innovation Corps workshop. Applications for this summer cohort are now open. This is a great opportunity for inventors, researchers, and entrepreneurs to connect with potential customers early in the development process to explore the commercial potential of their idea, and ultimately to increase commercialization success. Participants will learn about the process of “customer discovery,” and will then conduct a series of twenty customer interviews, with guidance and regular touch points from experienced I-Corps instructors.
Participation in this regional I-Corps program is completely free and comes with up to $2,500 in funding to support customer discovery efforts. Additionally, by participating in our regional program, you may be nominated to participate in a national-level I-Corps program, which comes with $50,000 in funding for customer discovery. More importantly, participation in a regional I-Corps program can improve your odds of securing state and/or federal grants, and also serves as a widely respected professional development activity for those in business and STEM fields.
This program is open to the entire local community, so please spread the word! You do not need to have a fully developed idea to participate – in fact it’s sometimes better if you don’t! For more information, please visit our website.
Clarkson will be hosting both a summer and a fall cohort this year. Both will be taught synchronously via Zoom- so you do not need to be near Potsdam this summer to participate. Applications for the summer cohort are currently open can be found here. We are encouraging everyone to submit their applications by Friday, May 17, as the mid-July program start date is quickly approaching.
Please contact icorps@clarkson.edu with any questions.