The Discovery Partners Institute, a network of research and innovation hubs in the South Loop, is launching a virtual boot camp program for entrepreneurs to bring their tech ideas to life.
The program will include 11 teams compiled of students and faculty from Chicago research universities, as well as community entrepreneurs. The seven-week program aims to help participants expand their network and move their technology from a lab setting to commercialization.
The initiative is an expansion of the National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program, which was founded in 2011 and aims to reduce the time and risk associated with getting innovative ideas from the lab to the market.
By participating in the local I-Corps program, faculty and students are able to improve their chances of receiving Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer grants. According to the DPI, the grants could be worth as much as $1.75 million.
The teams include faculty, graduate students and researchers from the Illinois Institute of Technology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Northwestern University and DePaul University. Their business ideas range across healthcare, energy, construction and education. This program is also just one of many; a second I-Corps program is slated to begin in September.
“DPI is thrilled to be expanding the reach of the successful I-Corps program in Chicago with entrepreneurs from across our Chicago partner universities, as well as from the broader community,” said DPI Executive Director Bill Jackson in a statement. “Moving research from the lab to the marketplace takes a village, and this first offering at DPI will support that pathway for more entrepreneurs to pursue transformative commercial endeavors that create high-wage jobs and social impact.”
Besides the I-Corps program, the DPI has also worked to give more Chicagoans access to tech skills this summer. In June, the DPI helped launched TechReady Illinois, a program providing inexpensive computer science education to Illinoisans.
