National Academy of Inventors Member Institutions Dominate NSF I-Corps Team Awards

TAMPA, Fla., Nov. 25, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Academy of Inventors today recognized NAI Member Institutions with teams selected in 2014 for the Innovation Corps (I-Corps) Team program by the National Science Foundation.  The 82 teams from NAI member universities comprise 54 percent of all teams nationwide receiving I-Corps Team awards this year.

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Among the top 12 universities receiving the awards, eight are from NAI member universities, including, at #1, University of Michigan with 13 teams; #3, University of South Florida with five teams; #4, Carnegie-Mellon University with four teams; and tied for #5 with three teams each, Arizona State University, Florida State University, Lehigh University, University of Akron, and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Nationally, 153 teams from 91 universities were selected for I-Corps Team awards in 2014.  Each team receives a $50,000 grant and participates in an I-Corps Teams curriculum designed to provide hands-on, immersive learning for researchers on what it takes to successfully transition research out of the laboratory into commercially feasible products that benefit society.

"We are proud our Member Institutions are leading the way in this groundbreaking program," said Dr. Paul R. Sanberg, president of the National Academy of Inventors and a AAAS-Lemelson Invention Ambassador. "Their work contributes to economic prosperity in their communities, states and our nation."

The National Science Foundation (NSF) established the I-Corps Teams program to identify NSF-funded researchers, and provide them mentoring and funding in order to accelerate the translation of knowledge derived from fundamental research into emerging products and services.  

"This is a powerful economic development initiative by the NSF," said Dr. Sethuraman Panchanathan, senior vice president in the Office of Knowledge Enterprise Development at Arizona State University, one of the top 12 universities receiving awards this year. "The I-Corps Team program is designed to create a national innovation ecology and will have a high impact."

I-Corps Teams include a principal investigator as technical lead and project manager, an entrepreneurial lead who is typically a postdoctoral researcher or graduate student with the technical knowledge and a commitment to the commercialization of the innovation, and a mentor with entrepreneurial experience.

The NSF I-Corps Team grants help determine the readiness of each project team to transition technology developed by previously or currently funded NSF projects to market.  By the end of the six-month program, teams should have a clear indication of the commercial feasibility of their product and the knowledge required to move it forward.

NAI member institutions receiving NSI I-Corps Team Awards in 2014

Arizona State University
Auburn University
Boise State University
Carnegie-Mellon University
Colorado State University
Columbia University
Cornell University
Drexel University
Florida International University
Florida State University
Lehigh University
Louisiana Tech University
Missouri University of Science and Technology
New Mexico State University
New York University
Ohio State University
Oklahoma State University
Purdue University
Rutgers University New Brunswick
Stevens Institute of Technology
SUNY at Buffalo
SUNY at Stony Brook
Temple University
Texas Tech University
University of Akron
University of Arizona
University of California-Berkeley
University of California-Davis
University of Cincinnati Main Campus
University of Florida
University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc
University of Houston
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Kentucky Research Foundation
University of Maryland College Park
University of Massachusetts Amherst
University of Michigan Ann Arbor
University of North Texas
University of South Carolina at Columbia
University of South Florida
University of Toledo
University of Wisconsin-Madison

The National Academy of Inventors® is a 501(c)(3) non-profit member organization comprising U.S. and international universities, and governmental and non-profit research institutions, with over 3,000 individual inventor members and Fellows spanning more than 200 institutions, and growing rapidly. It was founded in 2010 to recognize and encourage inventors with patents issued from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, enhance the visibility of academic technology and innovation, encourage the disclosure of intellectual property, educate and mentor innovative students, and translate the inventions of its members to benefit society. The NAI headquarters are located in the USF Research Park in Tampa, Fla.  The NAI edits the multidisciplinary journal, Technology and Innovation, published by Cognizant Communication Corporation (NY).  www.academyofinventors.org 

Media Contact: Keara Leach, Email, (813) 974-5862

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SOURCE National Academy of Inventors

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