I-Corps

The I-Corps @ Ohio (short for Innovation Corps) is a new seven-week program that aims to help the chosen faculty and student teams determine if their intellectual property –- such as a new technology –- could be the basis of a startup company.

The state funded I-Corps @ Ohio program will support teams through critical market and commercialization evaluations associated with a specific CSU developed idea or technology. This statewide program is designed to assist faculty, staff and students from Ohio academic institutions in validating the market potential of technologies and launching start-up companies. 

An I-Corps team would typically be comprised of: 1) at least one academic lead (faculty member), 2) one entrepreneurial lead (student) and one executive mentor, who will be an experienced entrepreneur. Faculty from all colleges and department are encouraged to apply.

The I-Corps @ Ohio program incorporates lean launch, customer discovery and business model innovation methodologies from the highly successful National Science Foundation I-Corps program. 

I-Corps @ Ohio funds ($15,000) will be selected on a competitive basis to teams meeting the following requirements as well as on technical merit: 

• Teams must comprise an academic lead (faculty or PI), an entrepreneurial lead (post-doc, graduate, or undergraduate student with knowledge of the technology) and an executive mentor.
• Intellectual property is to be held by the University or faculty member.
• Teams must be able to participate in the intense seven-week, hands-on training program.
• Teams must have sign-off by a technology transfer official of the University.
• Teams will be selected by I-Corps @ Ohio for participation after application review.

Additional information and team registration can be accessed at I-Corps@Ohio.

You can contact Jack Kraszewski, Director, Technology Transfer Office at j.kraszewski@csuohio.edu with additional questions.