Teams of faculty, staff or students with a biomedical discovery or health innovation idea; Do you want to learn how to accelerate the translation of your biomedical discoveries and health innovation into viable commercial products? Are you part of a team that wants to move your innovative idea off campus and into the real world?

In line with the Obama Strategy for American Innovation, NIH is offering this entrepreneurial training program at select Institutions across the country to accelerate the translation of innovations from the lab to clinical practice. The NIH selected the CCTSI to bring the I-Corps program to biomedical and translational researchers.

Innovation Corps (I-Corps™) uses proven customer-discovery methodologies for startups. It was developed for academic researchers by serial entrepreneurs working with the National Science Foundation.  It has been used to train hundreds of teams of innovators across the nation.

The program guides teams through the early stages of customer discovery where they can test the business model hypotheses for their technology or idea. 

• Gain customer insights to translate your innovations into viable commercial products.
• Identify your best product-to-market fit.
• Be more successful in getting small-business and entrepreneur startup funding.

Translate your innovative ideas in to practice with I-Corps@CCTSI!

• Week 1: In-class training (Approx. 8:30 – 3:00) – Teams will develop a product-market-fit hypothesis, learn about value proposition and customer discovery. Teams will also begin customer interviews. Teams will be expected to conduct 25-30 customer interviews over the course of the training. The half-day training will provide strategies for methods and questions and help teams further develop their customer discovery action plan.
• Week 2/3: Customer interviews and office hour consultations.
• Final Week: In-class training (Approx. 8:30 am – 2:00 pm) – Teams will report product-market-fit learning and learn “where to go from here?” Including a Q&A panel session with CU resources representatives, entrepreneurs and former I-Corps participants.

Pre-registration is required, please contact marianne.johansen@cuanschutz.edu

• Teams are required to attend a 30 minute virtual orientation session prior to the event.

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