The Department of Defense (DoD) is soliciting applications from current/recent DoD awardees on basic research topics to receive mentoring and funding to accelerate the transition and commercialization of the funded research. The I-Corps @ DoD program is designed to support the acceleration of basic research innovations from qualifying institutions by providing Principal Investigators (PIs) and students with training and mentorship in customer discovery and the commercialization process. The goals of this program are to spur the transition of fundamental research with potential defense relevance to the marketplace, to encourage collaboration between academia and industry, and to train students, faculty, and other researchers to understand innovation and entrepreneurship. There will be three outcomes of the I-Corps @ DoD program: 1) a clear go/no go decision regarding viability of products and services, 2) should the decision be to move the effort forward, a transition plan to do so, and 3) an understanding of what kind of minimum viable product demonstration would be required by key partners and customer segments.
Informal white papers due: June 8, 2018
Full proposals due: 4 pm EDT on July 6, 2018
More information is available here.