NSF establishes new I-Corps Hubs to advance National Innovation Network

Columbus, OH - According to SSTI, "NSF announced five new multi-institution I-Corps Hubs to deliver entrepreneurship training to academic researchers and scale the National Innovation Network. Each hub is funded at $3 million per year for five years and comprises a regional alliance of at least eight universities. The hubs are intended to offer a more integrated approach than the previous I-Corps Nodes and I-Corps Sites, which were funded separately. The new model will provide increase funding and enable scaling I-Corps across the country."

The I-Corps program was established in 2011 and connects NSF-funded academic researchers across science and engineering with the technological, entrepreneurial, and business communities to help create a National Innovation Network. NSF plans to issue a new I-Corps Hubs solicitation in fall 2021 to continue to expand opportunities for entrepreneurship education and technology translation throughout the U.S. More information, including the lead universities and their regional partners, is available here. 

NSF plans to issue a new I-Corps Hubs solicitation in Fall 2021 to continue to expand opportunities for entrepreneurship education and technology translation throughout the United States. The five I-Corps Hubs announced today, and participating institutions, are listed below.
NSF I-Corps Hub: Great Lakes region — NSF 2048612

• University of Michigan — Lead
• Iowa State University
• Michigan Technological University
• Missouri University of Science & Technology
• Purdue University
• The University of Akron
• University of Chicago
• University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
• University of Minnesota Twin Cities
• The University of Toledo
• University of Wisconsin — Milwaukee

NSF I-Corps Hub: Mid-Atlantic region — NSF 2044502

• University of Maryland, College Park — Lead
• Carnegie Mellon University
• The George Washington University
• Howard University
• Johns Hopkins University
• North Carolina State University
• Penn State
• The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• University of Pennsylvania
• Virginia Tech

NSF I-Corps Hub: New York region — NSF 2048498

• The City University of New York — Lead
• Columbia University
• Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
• New York University
• Rockefeller University
• Stevens Institute of Technology
• Stony Brook University
• University of Massachusetts Medical School
• University at Albany

NSF I-Corps Hub: Northeast region — NSF 2048602

• Princeton University — Lead
• Delaware State University
• Lehigh University
• New Jersey Institute of Technology
• Rowan University
• Rutgers University
• Temple University
• University of Delaware

NSF I-Corps Hub: West region — NSF 2048703

• University of Southern California — Lead
• California Institute of Technology
• Colorado School of Mines
• University of California, Los Angeles
• University of California, Riverside
• University of Colorado Boulder
• The University of New Mexico
• The University of Utah

The I-Corps Hubs build on the lessons learned through the first decade of the I-Corps program. Specifically, in the program's initial phase, I-Corps Nodes, consortia of universities responsible for delivering a standardized curriculum, and I-Corps Sites, universities providing internal institutional support to scientists and engineers, were funded separately. Under the new approach, the I-Corps Hubs offer a more integrated approach that incorporates lessons learned from the program's initial success. The new operational model provides increased funding and enables scaling I-Corps across the entire nation. NSF-supported Sites and Nodes will continue to participate in the National Innovation Network while NSF transitions to the Hubs.
For more information, visit the NSF I-Corps website.