Type I: Iowa State University I-Corps Site: Driving Innovation through Entrepreneurial Talent

I 类：爱荷华州立大学 I-Corps 网站：通过创业人才推动创新

• 批准号: 1734820
• 负责人: Aragula Rao
• 金额: $ 49.88万
• 依托单位: Iowa State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-09-01 至 2022-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1734820&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Type; Iowa; State; University; Corps

This project, from Iowa State University (ISU), creates an I-Corps Site at this institution. NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps) Sites are NSF-funded entities established at universities whose purpose is to nurture and support multiple, local teams to transition their technology concepts into the marketplace. Sites provide infrastructure, advice, resources, networking opportunities, training and modest funding to enable groups to transition their work into the marketplace or into becoming I-Corps Team applicants. I-Corps Sites also strengthen innovation locally and regionally and contribute to the National Innovation Network of mentors, researchers, entrepreneurs and investors.The primary goal of the ISU Site is to embed a strong and pervasive culture of entrepreneurship and innovation across the entire campus community. With a rigorous and experiential program of study, led by experts, this Site interfaces with other innovation Sites in the Midwest and, within five years, is expected to propel the university towards reaching its full potential in terms of creating new ventures. This goal is being accomplished via a new entrepreneurial ecosystem that effectively integrates several key components including a continuum of entrepreneurship options, mentors, funding networks and assistance, Angel investors, a "Startup Factory" program and space in a new Startup Factory Building. Expectations are that the ISU Site is energizing solutions to grand challenges - such as food production to serve a growing global population - that require innovative thinking and creativity in agriculture, engineering and other disciplines. ISU, a land grant institution steeped in traditions of agriculture, contributes a record of entrepreneurial contributions reflecting its strengths in engineering, bio-renewables, materials science and agriculture. In the long term, the I-Corps site will generate a new body of academics, holistically trained as scientists-technologists-entrepreneurs, equipped with knowledge and skills to galvanize transformative new solutions to vexing agricultural and other global problems that will ensure the robustness and sustainability of the food and energy supply chain. Association with other agricultural and engineering schools in the Midwest enhances the knowledge base and creates a virtual network of innovators and entrepreneurs driving the economy of the entire Midwest region. Through partnership with the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA), the Iowa Innovation Council and the Iowa Innovation Corporation (I-ICorp), novice entrepreneurs from the ISU innovation ecosystem connect with the broader network of venture capitalists and business leaders in the state; through practical experiential learning modules, cohorts collaborate with a diversity of successful real-world entrepreneurial businesses (bioscience, information technology, bioenergy etc.) in the Research Park as well as the more mature companies (Pioneer-DuPont, Monsanto and John Deere) that drive the economic engine of the state; and, the Site training program incorporates respect for and inclusiveness of all forms of diversity in the innovation economy.

该项目由爱荷华州立大学 (ISU) 发起，在该机构创建了一个 I-Corps 站点。 NSF 创新军团 (I-Corps) 站点是 NSF 资助的在大学建立的实体，其目的是培养和支持多个本地团队，将其技术概念转化为市场。网站提供基础设施、建议、资源、交流机会、培训和适度的资金，使团体能够将他们的工作转移到市场或成为 I-Corps 团队申请人。 I-Corps 站点还加强本地和区域创新，并为导师、研究人员、企业家和投资者组成的国家创新网络做出贡献。ISU 站点的主要目标是在整个校园社区嵌入强大而普遍的创业和创新文化。通过由专家领导的严格和经验性的研究计划，该站点与中西部的其他创新站点相结合，预计将在五年内推动大学在创建新企业方面充分发挥潜力。这一目标是通过一个新的创业生态系统来实现的，该生态系统有效地整合了几个关键组成部分，包括一系列创业选择、导师、融资网络和援助、天使投资者、“创业工厂”计划和新创业工厂大楼的空间。人们期望 ISU 基地能够为重大挑战提供解决方案，例如为不断增长的全球人口提供粮食生产，这需要农业、工程和其他学科的创新思维和创造力。 ISU 是一家植根于农业传统的土地授予机构，其创业贡献记录反映了其在工程、生物可再生能源、材料科学和农业方面的优势。从长远来看，I-Corps 网站将产生一支新的学者队伍，他们接受过科学家、技术专家、企业家的全面培训，具备知识和技能，能够激发变革性的新解决方案来解决棘手的农业和其他全球问题，从而确保农业和其他全球问题的稳健性和有效性。食品和能源供应链的可持续性。与中西部其他农业和工程学校的联系增强了知识基础，并创建了一个创新者和企业家的虚拟网络，推动了整个中西部地区的经济。通过与爱荷华州经济发展局 (IEDA)、爱荷华州创新委员会和爱荷华州创新公司 (I-ICorp) 的合作，ISU 创新生态系统的新手企业家可以与该州更广泛的风险投资家和商业领袖网络建立联系；通过实践体验式学习模块，学员与研究园内各种成功的现实创业企业（生物科学、信息技术、生物能源等）以及更成熟的公司（先锋杜邦、孟山都和约翰迪尔）合作，驱动国家的经济引擎；并且，现场培训计划纳入了对创新经济中所有形式多样性的尊重和包容。