NSF I-CorpsVenture Partners at CU Boulder is proud to be a leader of the I-CorpsTM Hub: West Region, one of the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps (“I-Corps”) Hubs. This Hub is a partnership with seven of the top research universities across the Western United States, alongside our partners the University of Southern California (USC) and the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)

What is I-Corps?

I-Corps programs are designed to help reduce the time and risk of taking promising ideas and technologies to the marketplace. This personalized program helps researchers, entrepreneurs, inventors and problem solvers transform their discoveries into products and services that can benefit society within a community of entrepreneurs, educators and mentors. Anyone from a research or community institution, including those outside the CU System, is welcome.

Why participate?

  • Build relationships and gain skills in an inclusive, welcoming environment
  • Chance to win a $50,000 small business grant in the national I-Corps program
  • Become part of the I-Corps national ecosystem as an alumni with access to resources across the Hub-member institutions

"[The] programs have beenincredibly helpful in transitioningfrom a research discovery mindset inthe laboratory to a market discovery mindset." —Mark Rentschler, CU Boulder Mechanical Engineering professor

Programming Track

Follow the Venture Partner at CU Boulder programming track all the way to the National program.

Starting Blocks

Offered four times a year by Venture Partners

The program is a three-day workshop with customer interviews designed to help researchers, entrepreneurs, inventors and problem solvers of all types find a market for their innovations. The core concept encourages inventors to get out of the lab and talk to industry decision-makers to find out what problem the industry needs their product to solve.

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Research to Market (R2M)

Offered twice a year by Venture Partners

This three-week program helps teams through customer discovery and finding a market for their innovation. Derived from the National Science Foundation's I-Corps™ program, R2M leverages the nationally recognized Lean LaunchPad and Business Model Canvas methodologies specifically designed for researchers, entrepreneurs, inventors and problem solvers commercializing their innovations.

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National I-Corps Teams Program

Teams have three primary members: the technical lead, the entrepreneurial lead and the I-Corps mentor. All three team members participate fully in the I-Corps Curriculum, which provides real-world, hands-on, immersive learning about what it takes to successfully transfer knowledge into products and processes that benefit society. 

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