Program Details

Do you have an innovation/research that you think should be out in the market? Want to increase your chances of success? Not sure how to figure that out?

UMD's I-Corps program offers a short, two-part course that teaches you proven, evidence-based methods to successfully commercialize your innovation. You'll learn the essence of the highly regarded "lean startup" methodology, including how to build a viable business model and how to discover whether there are customers who value your innovation and would be willing to buy it.

Format

1. Start with the self-paced I-Corps Prep, which includes videos, quizzes, and templates to help you frame your commercialization and customer discovery journey. This asynchronous module takes only a 3-4 hours to complete.
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2. You may then apply for the Mid-Atlantic I-Corps Customer Discovery Workshops, an instructor-led short course, where you'll begin to test your business model hypotheses from the I-Corps Prep. You'll be in a cohort with other innovators, get taught by instructors, network with mentors with deep startup experience and, most importantly start speaking with, and learning from, potential customers.

Participants work closely with teammates, other teams, and with mentors and instructors to develop business models around their innovations. Regional I-Corps Workshops are approximately two-three weeks long, and the cohorts meet three or four times during that span. Teams must also commit to conducting a minimum of 20 customer interviews (especially if you are pursuing National I-Corps) during the cohort. Participants should plan on spending 10-15 hours/week on I-Corps workshops and interviews during these couple weeks.

Course Content

The self-paced I-Corps Prep module will introduce you to the concepts of business model generation and the process of customer discovery. The instructor-led workshops will help you begin to put into practice the concepts you learn in the I-Corps Prep. The program will give you the tools to begin to determine whether your innovation, in its current stage, has value to a particular customer segment, in other words, whether it has “product - market fit,” and begin to inform your next steps of commercialization.

Eligibility

All UMD faculty, staff, postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduate students with potentially commercializable research or technology-based business ideas are eligible and encouraged to enroll.

UMD also welcomes researchers and entrepreneurs from the University System of Maryland, the state of Maryland, and the broader Mid-Atlantic Region to enroll in I-Corps Prep and apply to the Regional Workshops program. Which regional program is right for you will be determined by your affiliations, geography, and what you are working on.

While individuals may certainly apply to the course, participants are strongly encouraged to apply as a team of at least two members, and to apply with an industry mentor to support you in the program if possible.

The Program is Free & Invaluable

The Introduction to I-Corps Workshops at UMD are free to all participants.

Teams that complete this regional program and proceed to NSF’s national I-Corps Teams programs are potentially eligible to receive a $50,000 non-dilutive grant. Participants in National I-Corps dramatically increase their odds of winning additional grant money like SBIR/STTR. *National I-Corps is only open to participants whose projects/companies are affiliated with University Research. Please see the National I-Corps page for more details.

Dates

You may begin the self-paced I-Corps Prep anytime, by enrolling here!

UMD offers live, instructor-led Mid-Atlantic I-Corps Workshops several times each year, as well as Rolling programs for non-academic teams. Click here for a list of upcoming workshops at UMD. (You may only join these cohorts with instructor approval after you have completed the I-Corps Prep.)

If none of the UMD-led workshop cohorts fits your schedule, you may be eligible to join a cohort taught by one of our I-Corps partner universities in the region, through the Mid-Atlantic I-Corps Hub.

Next Steps After Regional I-Corps

After successful completion of the Introduction to I-Corps Workshops, teams may be eligible to apply to NSF’s national I-Corps Teams program which includes a $50,000 grant to go deeper with their customer discovery. Teams will also be well-positioned to pursue TEDCO MII awards, MIPS funding, SBIR/STTR grants, and other support and funding programs.
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