Grant provides seed funds for Dartmouth entrepreneurs

Dartmouth's Office of Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer (OETT) and the Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Network (DEN) have received a three-year, $300,000 I-Corps Sites grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support promising technologies arising from Dartmouth research and experiential learning programs. The grant will strengthen the bridge between technological innovation and Dartmouth's suite of entrepreneurial services offered through OETT and DEN.

l to r: Trip Davis '90, executive director of OETT; Tillman Gerngross, associate provost of OETT; and Jamie Coughlin, director of new venture incubator programs and director of the DEN innovation center and new venture incubator

The objective of the NSF I-Corps Sites Program is to educate and encourage students and researchers at all levels — undergraduates, graduates, post-docs, and faculty — to transition their ideas, devices, processes or other intellectual activities into the marketplace. Funds will support teams of students, faculty, researchers, and business mentors in defining the value and identifying the customer base for their discoveries and in proof-of-concept prototyping. Any team participating in Dartmouth’s I-Corps Sites Program is eligible to become an I-Corps Teams applicant. The Teams Program connects them with additional resources and training to launch a start-up and propel their technology forward.

The NSF Program was established in 2012 to nurture a national innovation ecosystem and foster the development of technologies and products from scientific discoveries for the benefit of society. I-Corps Sites not only strengthen innovation locally but also contribute to the National Innovation Network of mentors, researchers, entrepreneurs and investors.

Additional details, dates, and an application for funding will soon be available on the OETT, DEN, and Thayer School websites.