The University of Michigan continues to establish itself as a major hub for researchers with entrepreneurial ambitions across the country now that it has been selected to become one of a handful of nodes for the
National Science Foundation's Innovation Corps.
The
Innovation Corps, I-Corps for short, is designed to fast-track more research from the lab to the real world. The 1-year-old program trains National Science Foundation-funded scientists and engineers on how to extend their focus beyond basic research and toward practical applications that have value in the marketplace. I-Corps got its start at Stanford in Silicon Valley.
"This is the first time it has been taught outside of Stanford," says Doug Neal, executive director of the
Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Michigan. "U-M is one of three nodes that will be open across the country."
U-M joins
Stanford and
Georgia Tech in offering the I-Corps workshops for research scientists and professors at top universities across North America. U-M will receive a $1.5 million federal grant to get the program off the ground over the next two years. Those two years have the potential to attract top entrepreneurial innovators at research universities across the country to Ann Arbor to take advantage of this program and the area's other entrepreneurial resources.
"We're not just teaching U-M researchers about entrepreneurship," Neal says. "We're teaching researchers from across the country."
Source: Doug Neal, executive director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Michigan
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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