I-Corps Site Program
NSF I-Corps™ Site Program: New Cohort Starting Soon
Good news! WPI's NSF I-Corps™ Site program The WPI I-Corps™ Site Program is now accepting applications for its next cohort!
The WPI I-Corps™ Site Program – Application Deadline Extended to November 1st!
Good news! The deadline to apply for the next cohort of WPI's NSF I-Corps™ Site Program has been extended to November 1st. Don’t miss this opportunity to explore the commercial potential of your idea with the support of experienced mentors and funding up to $3,000 for customer discovery (travel and conference fees) and up to $500 for prototyping.
Student teams are highly encouraged to apply. Faculty can involve graduate students or post-docs to form teams around their innovations, delegating the entrepreneurial activities while maintaining a technical advisory role. Participants will conduct 30 customer interviews over 10 weeks to refine their value proposition and gain critical market insights.
This is your chance to test, pivot, and validate your business or research ideas in real-world settings. Apply now and take advantage of this extended opportunity! apply today!
For more information about the National I-Corps™ Program, visit NSF I-Corps™.
WPI will be selecting teams from the applicant pool for the Fall of 2024. The program will run from October to February. Teams will be asked to provide as much information as possible in their application, which will be circulated to a pool of mentors. You will then be assigned a mentor to help you throughout the program.
WPI I-Corps Program Overview
The WPI I-Corps Program is designed to accelerate the commercialization of groundbreaking technology and business ideas. Through experiential learning and real-world entrepreneurship, participants will engage in a customer discovery process, assessing the market potential of their innovations.
Supported by the extensive network and innovative approach to entrepreneurship of humble ventures, this program will provide critical resources to help teams rapidly develop their ideas and bring them closer to market.
Our program targets WPI researchers, staff, students, and members of the surrounding community, providing them with the knowledge and tools to evaluate and validate their business ideas through customer interviews and business model development. Over the course of the program, participants will gain valuable insights into customer needs, refine their product offerings, and craft effective go-to-market strategies.
You can find out more about the National I-Corps program at: https://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/i-corps/
The Methodology
1. You begin by working with your team to come up with a testable hypothesis. What is the need in the market, what is your approach to addressing the need, what is the benefit to the customer, and what is the competitive alternative to your idea? You will be asked to identify key stakeholders in the industry and the team is responsible for conducting the 30 interviews. Each week you will check in with the group and provide the results of the customer discovery. There will be both hard copy and video materials that will be used to guide you through the process each week.
2. If you stay committed to the course, you will have come away with a much deeper insight into the value of your idea. You may end up “pivoting” several times as you discover the initial idea is not viable, but adjustments to the value proposition make it more viable. It will allow you to compliment the normal WPI for-credit curriculum and hone inter-personal skills, team dynamics, strategy development and market based research. To be successful in this course, you have to be willing to work through ambiguity, take risks in reaching out to what could be total strangers, and be willing to listen, rather than assume your idea is the right one.
3. Get funded! Typical funding for a team will be in the $2000-$3000 range and would be used to travel to key customer locations or attend a conference in your industry. Whatever can be justified to complete your 30 customer interviews would be considered. There is also a small amount of funds ($350-$500) available for prototyping, if needed.