On May 26, the von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center
successfully completed its third year and seventh Cohort as an NSF I-Corps site.
To celebrate, the Center threw a reception for all the students, faculty, and
mentors who have participated, ending the night with presentations from Spring
Quarter’s 12 teams. During the final presentations, teams presented their ideas,
target markets, and lessons learned from customer interviews conducted
throughout the quarter.
Each of the mentors ranked the presenting teams categories
of progress throughout the program, as well as quality of presentations. Each
and every mentor believes that the teams have developed significantly from
their initial idea pitches to their final presentations.
For example, the idea for Catalyst Technologies was
initially developed in India. Through
customer discovery and market research, Lenord Melvix, the Entrepreneurial
Lead, pivoted his focus from Indian to small American hydroponic farmers who
were interested in seeing how his solutions could significantly cut their
operation costs.
Dr. Seth Alexander of GenTag Solutions identified that
designing multiple "all-in-one kits" that allow technicians to tag
and capture RNA are much more useful and potentially profitable than his
initial offering of a "do-it-yourself" method for clinical and
academic researchers. He was able to gather this crucial information through
the customer discovery process, an important tactic taught by mentors at the
Center.
Armando Armillo of Saros created unique 3D Printers for
community maker spaces and individual hobbyists. Through the customer discovery
process, these customer segments
revealed the need for a niche quality of 3D printing between high-cost industry
grade and the slower, lower-cost consumer grade 3D printing.
Saharnaz Baghdadchi of Singular Imaging, a team from the
Phase II group, is developing a single-pixel imaging microscope that reduces
the time and cost of stem cell tissue sample processing. Through customer discovery, researchers
confirmed that a beneficial application of the microscope is its
high-definition quality, providing images of greater depth for brain imaging
research.
Over the past three years, the von Liebig Center (vLC) has
trained approximately 100 teams (250 student and faculty participants) in the
process of starting a company using the customer discovery process and lean
startup methodology. The two-phase
program has resulted in over 2,780 customer interviews conducted, and 19 teams
have since filed patents, 44 teams have created prototypes, and 9 teams have
gone to the NSF I-Corps Teams (National) program.
According to a survey sent out to the teams, participants
revealed that the best part of the (vLC) I-Corps program was the focus on
mentor relationships, the cultivation of the entrepreneurial mindset, the understanding
the customer discovery process, and enhanced presentation skills.
“The best part of the I-Corps program was going through the
process of determining the value of your technology,” says Dustin Fraley of the
HeatSeq project. “Great framework for developing a business plan and justifying
why your technology is needed through potential user interviews,” Fraley said,
commenting that it was an invaluable experience.
Beyond commercialization of technology, the von Liebig
Center also hopes to impart and encourage an entrepreneurial mindset in
students, faculty, and staff that will help in job searches, identifying other
areas of research that are translatable, and writing more competitive grant
proposals. This is in line with the vision of Don Millard, the Deputy Division
Director of the Engineering Education and Centers (EEC) Division at the National
Science Foundation. Millard has held this philosophy since the NSF I-Corps
program was founded. Millard attended the Institute of the Global Entrepreneur
launch on June 2nd and met with the Center about the strong outcomes UC San
Diego’s NSF I-Corps site has produced.
“The best thing I learned was entrepreneur-like thinking.
I'm currently looking into other potentially translatable technologies in my
lab with the mindset imparted to me by the I-Corps program,” says Wangzhong
Sheng, from the AMDepot project.
The NSF I-Corps program will be offered again in Fall 2016.
Applications are open and teams will be selected in September. Click
here to
apply!
As a tribute to the success of NSF von Liebig Center, 5 out of the 8 finalists in the UCSD Entrepreneur Challenge -- NanoVR, Pain Measurement Technologies, Clip Diagnostics, Locana, and Genrix – had participated in the vLC I-Corps program and were awarded funds towards their projects by placing in the top 3 of their track.
Read more about the winners
here, and take a look through Priya Bisarya’s experience
here.
