Innovation Corps Sites Program | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The Innovation Corps Sites Program (NSF I-Corps Sites) is a National Science Foundation grant opportunity designed to strengthen a nationwide innovation ecosystem by helping move research-driven discoveries closer to real-world use. The core idea is to take promising scientific and engineering work coming out of universities and help it progress toward technologies, products, and processes that deliver practical benefits to society. Rather than funding a single startup effort, this program funds "Sites" hosted at academic institutions so they can repeatedly support multiple teams over time, building a durable local pipeline from research to commercialization.

An NSF I-Corps Site is meant to sit on top of an institution's existing entrepreneurial or innovation infrastructure, such as an innovation center, entrepreneurship center, technology incubator, or similar unit. NSF expects the lead institution to already have a dedicated structure and mission focused on helping faculty, students, and other academic personnel engage in entrepreneurship and technology transition. With NSF support, the Site provides the kinds of resources that early commercialization efforts typically need but often lack inside academia: mentoring and practical guidance, training and curriculum, networking connections, access to experienced entrepreneurs and investors, and modest seed funding to help teams test and refine market ideas. A key outcome is preparing teams either to transition their work into the marketplace directly or to become strong applicants to the broader NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps) Team program.

The program also emphasizes ecosystem building, not just individual project success. Sites are expected to develop an active local innovation community that ties into a larger national network of mentors, researchers, entrepreneurs, and investors. In other words, NSF is not only looking for a set of workshops or a one-time cohort; it is looking for institutions to create an ongoing, structured, and measurable environment that consistently identifies promising research, trains teams in customer and market discovery, connects them to mentorship, and helps them take next steps toward commercialization.

Eligible applicants are U.S.-accredited universities and colleges, including two-year and four-year institutions and community colleges, as long as they have a U.S.-based campus and submit on behalf of their faculty members. Proposals are expected to be led by an institution with an existing entrepreneurial unit as described above. During the program's startup phase, NSF discouraged collaborative proposals across multiple institutions, although exceptions could be allowed with advance approval from the NSF I-Corps Management Team, particularly where true joint entrepreneurial centers already exist.

This opportunity is a discretionary grant in the Science and Technology and other Research and Development category and is associated with multiple NSF CFDA program areas, spanning Engineering, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Geosciences, Computer and Information Science and Engineering, Biological Sciences, Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences, Education and Human Resources, and the Office of International Science and Engineering. The listing indicates no cost sharing or matching requirement. The funding opportunity number is NSF 14-547, with an estimated total funding amount of $1,500,000 reported in the source information. Key posted and deadline information included an original posting date of March 24, 2014, an initial full proposal deadline of June 27, 2014, and a recurring deadline pattern noted as the second Tuesday in June annually thereafter (with specific later dates shown in the record). The opportunity is archived as of July 13, 2017, and the official reference document is NSF Publication 14-547.

For access issues with the full announcement through Grants.gov, the notice directs applicants to contact NSF Grants.gov support at grantsgovsupport@nsf.gov.

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