The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and its Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation have annoucned a three-year, $297,000 I-Corps Site grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support prototyping and proof-of-concept for promising early-stage ideas. Awarded to University of Chicago students, researchers and faculty on a rolling basis in increments of $1,000 to $3,000, the funding will advance promising ideas and contribute to the University’s innovation network and promote cutting-edge entrepreneurial practice through research and feedback.
“The I-Corps Site grant is a welcome addition as we expand Polsky Center activities across campus and, increasingly, across the region’s innovation network,” said Ellen Rudnick, Director of the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
Through the I-Corps Site program, the NSF has assumed a more active role in the commercialization of new technologies, products, and processes from the nation’s academic institutions.
“Polsky has partnered with the Chicago Innovation Exchange, the 1871 tech incubator, Argonne and Fermi National Laboratories, the Illinois Institute of Technology, the University of Illinois, and Hyde Park Angels. We seek to provide end-to-end resources that support the commercialization of proprietary technologies and innovative product ideas,” Rudnick said.
This grant was given to the Polsky Center’s in recognition of its success in helping entrepreneurs bring the newest technologies from the lab to the marketplace and for having become an entrepreneurial engine for the Midwest and for the nation.