NSF I-Corps Hub: West Region

NSF I-Corps Hub: West Region logo

Venture Partners at CU Boulder is a proud 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 U.S., including the University of Southern California (USC) and the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA).   Visit the I-Corps Hub West website

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 University of Colorado 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 alum 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

Questions?

Emily Vogt

Emily Vogt
Director of Venture Development

Contact 

I-Corps Information Session

Could your research, invention or creative work at CU have real-world impact beyond the university? Drop in on this information session to meet our team and learn more about what I-Corps can do for you.

  • Wednesday, Nov. 13, 3:30-5 p.m.
  • Ofelia Miramontes and Leonard Baca Education Building, Idea Forge Room MBE 288

Register Now

I-Corps Programming Track at Venture Partners

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

Starting Blocks Customer Discovery Workshop

Offered four times a year by Venture Partners

The program is a three-week 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.

Learn More and Apply 

Research-to-Market (R2M) Customer Discovery Program

Offered twice a year by Venture Partners

This four-week program helps teams through customer discovery and finding a market for their innovation. R2M leverages the nationally recognized Lean LaunchPad and Business Model Canvas methodologies specifically designed for researchers, entrepreneurs, inventors and problem solvers commercializing their innovations.

Learn More and Apply 

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. 

  Learn More and Apply

Venture Partners I-Corps Team