Professional Development: NSF I-Corps Northwest Region Hub

Sept. 29, 2025

The National Science Foundation's (NSF) Innovation Corps (I-Corps) Northwest Region Hub offers a professional development program designed to equip 51风流官网 researchers with a proven methodology for transitioning their work from the lab into communities.

I-Corps is a training program for research innovations to move successfully from the lab to practical use, using a nationally adopted, proven structured approach. The I-Corps training is designed to transition from reliance on technical potential and focuses on confirming real-world need, maximizing potential for innovations overall societal impact.

Program Focus: Evidence-Based Development

The I-Corps program trains researchers in end-user discovery鈥攁 disciplined, interview-based process designed to gather empirical evidence on a solution's fit. This training helps you:

  • Validate Assumptions: Systematically test the core beliefs about the problem your research addresses and whether your proposed solution is necessary and valuable to end-users and stakeholders.
  • Guide Responsible Development: Ensure your research development path is informed by verifiable needs and real-world constraints. This approach minimizes the expenditure of resources on solutions that lack a clear path to adoption.
  • Unlock Funding Opportunities: Successful participation provides a framework and documentation necessary for pursuing competitive national funding, including the $50,000 NSF National I-Corps Teams grant and other federal technology transition programs.

This hands-on methodology adds a critical layer to the translation of fundamental research. Participants also gain access to a network of regional experts and mentors who offer objective analysis of their project's foundational hypotheses.

Next Steps

Researchers interested in learning how to apply this framework to maximize their research's demonstrable impact and secure its future utility are encouraged to attend an informational session on Monday, Sept. 29, from 3:30-4:30 p.m.