The I-Corps @ DoD pilot program is an entrepreneurial education program that teaches DoD-funded researchers how to commercialize the results of their work. The program is a partnership between the Defense Department and the National Science Foundation and funded teams will attend the NSF program. Teams in the program must conduct 100 customer discovery interviews. Quite often, teams learn through interviews that their idea has unanticipated flaws, and the I-Corps instructors – who are usually experienced entrepreneurs themselves – help guide them in how they might change or pivot to more successful applications. At the end of the program, teams make a go/no-go decision on whether to move forward with the commercial idea based on the feedback they have received from the interviews as well as the instructors.

• The I-Corps @ DoD course is a 7 week intensive course that requires a roughly 20 hour per week commitment from team members.
• Grants are for $45,000 (plus indirect costs) for travel support to program events and interviews as well as follow on commercialization work.
• PI must have prior 6.1 account basic research support within the last five years.
• Teams are composed of 3-4 members
  • The PI is considered the Technical Lead for the proposal.
  • One or two Entrepreneurial leads, usually a graduate student of post-doc affiliated with the project.
  • The Industry Mentor will typically be an experienced entrepreneur in an area relevant to the technology being explored.
• Up to 14 awards are anticipated for the FY18 solicitation.
• Proposal deadline is July 6; awards will be made on a continuous basis as proposals are received.

Contact: For more information on the program please reach out to Jason Day or Jim Harvey before June 9 at jason.o.day.ctr@mail.mil or James.f.harvey.civ@mail.mil

Solicitation: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/search-grants.html?keywords=W911NF-18-S-0004