University of Memphis NSF I-Corps Hub: Accelerate Your Research Impact

The University of Memphis has established a National Science Foundation Innovation Corps (I-Corps) Hub to foster research-driven innovation and commercialization. NSF I-Corps is a prestigious program designed to empower researchers and innovators to transform their discoveries into real-world solutions. The Hub offers lab-to-market training, resources, and mentorship to help you translate your research from lab to impact.

What is NSF I-Corps?

The University of Memphis NSF I-Corps Hub supports faculty, students, and researchers in exploring the commercial potential of their research. Whether you’re at the idea stage or have an innovation ready for market exploration, this program equips you with the tools to drive innovation forward. I-Corps can help whether you are:

• Exploring a New Discovery: Unsure if your research has commercial potential? NSF I-Corps helps you assess market demand.
• Developing an Innovation or Promoting Intellectual Property: Ready to take your innovation to the next level? Learn how to connect with industry and navigate commercialization pathways.
• Planning Industry-Aligned Research: Want to conduct research with real-world impact in a specific sector? I-Corps gives you the tools to design and execute a strategy that aligns with market needs.

Why Should You Participate?

1. Increase Funding Opportunities: Because many federal grants focus on translational research, commercialization and impact, participation in the I-Corps program can increase the probability of success for proposals with NSF, NIH and DOD, just to name a few.
2. Learn to Navigate the Market: Gain skills that enable you to identify market opportunities, customer needs, and pathways to licensing and commercialization.
3. Expand Your Network: Connect with industry mentors, potential collaborators, investors, licensees, and other innovators to create impactful partnerships.
4. Accelerate Research Impact: Whether your goal is to license your technology, launch a startup, or shape future research aligned with industry needs, NSF I-Corps provides a framework for making a real-world difference.
5. Drive Real Innovation: Translate your academic work into solutions that solve pressing societal challenges and improve lives.
6. Workforce Development: Participating graduate students and postdocs gain valuable soft skills related to stakeholder engagement, design thinking, strategic planning, and business communication that can help land them high-paying jobs outside of academia.

NSF I-Corps Lab-to-Market Training Program?

The University of Memphis NSF I-Corps Program provides a 5-week lab-to-market training (1.5-hour training sessions, virtual, 1 evening per week) program that includes:

• Customer discovery - systematic process of engaging with potential end-users to validate the real-world need for your innovation. Through interviews and feedback, participants learn to identify target markets, understand pain points, and refine their product or research to better align with market needs.
• Business model canvas - strategic tool that helps participants map out the key components to commercialize their idea. It includes elements such as value propositions, customer segments, revenue streams, and key resources, providing a clear framework to visualize and refine how their innovation creates, delivers, and captures value.
• Design thinking - problem-solving approach centered on human needs. It encourages participants to empathize with users, define problems, ideate creative solutions, prototype, and test iteratively.This method ensures innovations are practical, user-centered, and tailored to address real-world challenges effectively.

Who Should Participate?

• Research Faculty: Are you conducting groundbreaking research with potential commercial or societal applications? This program is for you.
• Teams: Faculty leading a team of researchers, students, or postdocs interested in translating discoveries into real-world innovations.
• Researchers with Intellectual Property: If you’ve developed new technology or intellectual property, NSF I-Corps can help you assess its market viability.
• Looking to Align Research with Industry: If you want to design an industry-aligned research plan for a proposal, NSF I-Corps can guide you in identifying industry options and engaging with relevant stakeholders.

Ready to unlock the potential of your research?

Contact us to learn more about the NSF I-Corps program at the University of Memphis and discover how you can turn your ideas into impact.