Written by: Nicole Casal Moore
In an effort to nurture a regional innovation ecosystem and move more discoveries from the research lab to the real world, the National Science Foundation has established a Great Lakes Innovation Corps Hub that’s led by the University of Michigan and involves 11 universities in eight states.
The $15 million hub is one of five across the country that NSF announced today as it continues to evolve the I-Corps program it launched a decade ago. I-Corps trains scientists and engineers to carry their promising ideas and technologies beyond the university and into the marketplace to benefit society.
U-M’s Center for Entrepreneurship was one of the first nodes to host I-Corps in 2012, and it has served in various leadership capacities over the course of the program. In the Great Lakes Hub, U-M now collaborates with Purdue University, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the University of Minnesota, the University of Toledo, Iowa State University, Michigan Technological University, Missouri University of Science and Technology, the University of Akron, the University of Chicago, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
“The Great Lakes region is home to many of the world’s leading research institutions, and many of our nation’s critical industries. Our goal with this I-Corps hub is to leverage this intellectual depth to create a lasting economic impact on the region,” said Alec D. Gallimore, the Robert J. Vlasic Dean of Engineering, the Richard F. and Eleanor A. Towner Professor, an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, and a professor of aerospace engineering.
“We’ll do this by creating new businesses, by keeping established companies globally competitive and on the leading edge of technology, and by developing talent that not only has technical and cultural expertise, but also an entrepreneurial mindset.”
