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From Invention to Impact: I-Corps at Mason
The creation of an NSF I-Corps site at Mason has added a new dimension to the university’s already robust entrepreneurship and innovation infrastructure.
George Mason University researchers are constantly working to tackle serious real-world problems. For these academic discoveries to have the greatest possible impact in the shortest span of time, they would have to be brought out of the lab and into society at scale. A highly efficient vehicle for this is commercialization. However, the start-up ecosystem and academia can be very different worlds. Good entrepreneurs may have difficulty translating scientific insights to the marketplace. Academics are often motivated by the pure love of science and may struggle to identify viable commercial opportunities. The National Science Foundation (NSF)’s I-Corps program is an accelerator that helps entrepreneurs and researchers work together “to bring invention to impact.” The program consists of both financial support and experiential education designed to fast-track the commercialization of scientific discoveries.
Mason serves as an official I-Corps site, supporting local grantees through the exploratory stages of venturebuilding, as well as preparing them to apply for the national-level program. The current site grantees are David J. Miller, director of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the School of Business, and Ali Andalibi, senior associate dean of the College of Science. I-Corps teams comprise an entrepreneurial lead, typically a student or post-doc; an academic lead, usually a staff or faculty member; and a mentor, who can be a nonMason affiliate. Mason civil engineering professor David Lattanzi and Mason alum Ali Khaloo made up one I-Corps team. They said the I-Corps curriculum helped them develop their initial idea—a centralized data management platform for civil engineers and inspectors—into a start-up with clear and feasible plans for growth.
For Khaloo, who graduated from Mason with a PhD in civil and infrastructure engineering, I-Corps was “life-changing,” setting him on a path to becoming the entrepreneur and graduate of Cornell Tech Runway Startups he is today. “The creation of an NSF I-Corps site at Mason has added a new dimension to the university’s already robust entrepreneurship and innovation infrastructure,” said Hina Mehta, director of Mason’s Office of Technology Transfer. “It helps tie together our research faculty and graduate and undergraduate communities with the broader business and entrepreneurial communities in Northern Virginia and throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia.” g
