NSF I-Corps Hub (Track 1): Desert and Pacific Region

The broader impact/commercial potential of this NSF I-Corps Hubs project is the development of a partnership spanning five states, from the Desert region of the West to the Pacific, to increase economic competitiveness and societal benefit through advancing university-developed, deep technology ventures to local, regional, and national markets. This deliberate partnering of small, medium, and large institutions is predicated on institutional alignment, combining emerging and mature cultures of innovation, and reciprocal eagerness to collaborate to strengthen innovation capacity.

The Hub provides access to a rich network of innovation practices and resources to diverse communities of innovators while reducing participation barriers for both experienced and less experienced institutions. In addition, the Hub increases capacity for innovation development by expanding conventional geographies of innovation to disconnected areas that are typically outside of venture development hubs and connects them to more experienced and resource-rich areas.

The Hub shares know-how, resources, and connections to provide I-Corps training virtually and in multiple formats. The regional training is designed to address skills and knowledge gaps to accelerate and sustain deep technology ventures across the region. The Hub leverages a diverse, pooled network of mentors and industry experts to reduce time and risk in the creation of new ventures.

Also, the Hub is responsive to securing national defense, building on NSF’s investments in cybersecurity, novel materials, and advanced analytics, by specifically identifying, addressing, and supporting dual-use technologies.

This I-Corps Desert and Pacific Region Hub project is based on the development of a network that advances and deepens the regenerative innovation capacity of the partnering institutions, providing meaningful experiential development opportunities for faculty, researchers, students, and collaborators through direct entrepreneurial engagements and skills development. The Hub facilitates intentional group learning through a deeply networked community of practice, including I-Corps instructors, mentors, administrators, faculty, and students ideally positioned to collectively support the academic community in translating research into deep technology ventures, regardless of location.

The Hub also seeks to diminish disadvantages, such as the lack of mature assets equal to those in historically advantaged and resource-rich locales. This Hub provides quality and flexibility, while enabling participating institutions to incorporate structured entrepreneurial training and support in a proven online method. Building on a body of scholarship, a network focused on developing the entrepreneurial mindset, additive and agile innovation, curricular adaptations, organizational and infrastructure support including distributed mentor models and shared customer databases, and the utilization of innovative tools, the Hub advances entrepreneurial programming and research to inform I-Corps practice, illuminate national trends, and influence organizational and national policy.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.