Repost from UNCG Now
UNC Greensboro has received a $100,000 grant from NC IDEA to promote entrepreneurial ambition and economic advancement on campus and across the state.
The funding will support a new program – NC I-Corps Next Step – to help move faculty and student innovations to market.
UNCG will launch and lead the program, while collaborating with three fellow UNC System institutions: NC State, East Carolina University and UNC Charlotte.
UNCG and these institutions represent North Carolina’s four National Science Foundation Innovation Corps (NSF I-Corps) sites. The sites provide training and consultation to prepare scientists to extend their focus beyond the university laboratory and move toward commercialization.
Teams that have completed training through North Carolina’s NSF I-Corps sites will be eligible to participate in the new Next Step program, which will support company formation and fundraising efforts.
“Next Step, combined with the Greensboro I-Corps Program, will give local innovators access to the most transformative startup framework they have ever had,” said Justin Streuli, director of LaunchUNCG, the University’s umbrella initiative supporting entrepreneurship and innovation.
Because the four NC I-Corps sites accept faculty, student and alumni teams from schools all over the state, Streuli says, the opportunities and potential for impact are broad.
“This is a game changer for the North Carolina startup ecosystem.”
To learn more about the Greensboro I-Corps Program, a collaboration between UNCG and NC A&T, visit icorps.uncg.edu.
For more information about NC IDEA, an independent private foundation committed to supporting entrepreneurial ambition and economic advancement in North Carolina, visit ncidea.org.
Photography by Mike Dickens
