November 24, 2020

Have a chance to receive $2,500

DEADLINE: WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2ND – SPACE IS LIMITED!

Do you have an idea that you think has commercial potential? Do you dream of starting a company sometime in the future? If so, registration is NOW OPEN for the NSF I-Corps program powered by CoMotion Innovation Training in collaboration with WE-REACH.

What do participants get from this program?

  • Learn key skills to take ideas to market
  • Build your first pitch deck and receive feedback from mentors
  • A chance to receive $2,500 to perform customer and stakeholder interviews

Made up of sessions covering: storytelling, building a pitch deck, market research, Intellectual Property, and specialty biomedical sessions. This program is intended for anyone looking to participate in regional business plan competitions, seeking GAP funding, or registering for the I-Corps Teams program and continue to seek SBIR/STTR funding (national NSF grants).

Note – there are no intellectual property obligations tied to this program

Who may register?

You must be affiliated with a higher education or research institution in the Pacific Northwest. Faculty may participate directly, along with the students with whom they work; postdoc and student teams with an idea may also register directly.

What is the experience like?

Teams attend a mandatory kickoff half-day workshop followed by elective weekly bootcamp sessions. Weekly check-ins are opportunities to receive guidance from industry mentors, and learn key skills for taking ideas to market through discussions and workshops led by professionals with expertise. Teams will perform customer interviews every week to quickly prove or disprove their assumptions about their innovations, and use the information they learn to build a pitch they will give during a final event. Selected participants will be given $2,500 to continue doing customer interviews for the next several months, and will share lessons learned in a final written report at the end of the program.

What are the weekly bootcamp sessions about?

Why is this program a great opportunity?

Over 180+ teams have participated so far. Alumni of the program have raised over $340 million in investment. Below are a few things participants have said about this program:

“I would definitely recommend that any innovator interested in commercializing technology participate in the I-Corps Program. It’s invaluable to go out and talk to people who would be using your product and figure out what their needs are.”

“The I-CORPS training was particularly useful. Learning the language of business, customer discovery techniques, and the right questions to ask about the product, customers and marketing were of great value.”

Program timeline

  • December 2: Registration deadline
  • December 23: Deadline to secure your industry mentor
  • January 12 or 13 from 8am-12pm: Mandatory Kickoff Workshop

Where to register?

You can find the registration form here.

If you have questions, please visit our webpage or contact the CoMotion I-Corps team via email or WE-REACH team at TLButler@uw.edu.