As students and faculty settle in to a new semester, two entrepreneurial teams from UTSA are packing up and heading out to travel the country and discover who their potential customers are. The recipients of two $50,000 awards from the National Science Foundation are Gold Hood, for her team’s insect control device, and Amir Jafari, for his team’s treadmill with adjustable surface stiffness. They have been accepted in the San Diego- and Atlanta-based cohorts, respectively. For two months beginning in October 2018, they will be participating in workshops and interviewing potential customers to give their respective technologies the best chance at commercial success.
These two teams join the ranks of twelve previous UTSA teams over the last three years who have used this program to test the customer need for the technologies they are developing along with the commercial potential of pursuing a startup. Of these twelve previous teams, several companies have already launched and are pushing forward, including Vitanova Biomedical, Leaptran, Oxion, and UTSA student teams Novothelium and Infravein.
Getting started in this program can happen a couple ways. An NSF-funded researcher can put a team together and apply directly. For most teams though, it starts with participation in a regional I-Corps workshop, which can then make a team eligible to apply for the NSF National program. UTSA is hosting its next I-Corps Workshop next week.
Course Logistics:
| Remote Launch | Tues. Sept. 11 | 2:00pm – 4:00pm | via GoToMeeting |
| Opening Workshop | Thurs. Sept. 20 | 9:00am-4:00pm | UTSA Main, BSE 2.102 |
| Mid-Term Review | Thurs. Sept. 27 | 9:00am-12:00pm | via GoToMeeting |
| Closing Workshop | Thurs. Oct. 11 | 12:00pm-4:00pm | UTSA Main, BSE 2.102 |
To register: http://research.utsa.edu/event/icorpsfall2018
Participation is free, space is limited, and UTSA faculty-based teams may qualify for up to $3,000 of funding to participate.
