The National Science Foundation Innovation Corps combines the best of what the U.S. government, American researchers in academia and risk capital can do together.
From Steve Blank:
“We ran the first National Science Foundation Innovation Corps class October to December 2011.
63 scientists and engineers in 21 teams made ~2,000 customer calls in 10 weeks, turning laboratory ideas into formidable startups. 19 of the 21 teams are moving forward in commercializing their technology.
Watching the final presentations it was clear that the results were way past our initial expectations (comments from mentors as well as pre- and post-class survey data suggested that most of the teams learned more in two months than others had in two years.) So much so that the NSF decided to scale the Innovation Corps program.
In 2012 the NSF will put 150 teams of the best scientists in the U.S. through the Lean Launchpad class. And to help teach these many teams, the NSF will recruit other universities that have engineering entrepreneurship programs to become part of the Innovation Corps network…”
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National Science Foundation (NSF) i-Corps [web]
Great education innovation!!!!!!!!!