Enabling academic entrepreneurship: the I-Corps experience

Abstract

Purpose

This paper addresses the significance of training students in entrepreneurship to enable sustained national and international competitiveness in the knowledge-based global marketplace. Entrepreneurial education is varied, ranging from basic to in-depth courses, including customer-focused programs, such as the National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program. This program is nationally-renowned with strong academic roots. A full site was launched at the University of Central Florida (UCF) in January 2015 and was the first I-Corps program in the state of Florida.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper addresses the importance of entrepreneurship education, reviews the available national training programs in entrepreneurship, presents the design methodology of the NSF I-Corps program, and analyzes the results of the teams who have participated in the NSF I-Corps program.

Findings

The results are categorized into innovative areas and show the percentage of teams who participated in the I-Corps program in each area. It also identifies the percentage of teams who engaged in actual startup activities following I-Corps participation.

Practical implications

Educators, students, and trainers can use the findings to benchmark the outcomes of training programs in entrepreneurship. Students and innovators interested in participating in I-Corps can use this paper to obtain insights and a broader understanding of what was done in terms of results and implications.

Originality/value

This paper contributes a unique analysis of the I-Corps program approach and its outcomes since its launch in 2015 and can be used as a reference for any training program in entrepreneurship.

Citation

Al Haddad, S., O'Neal, T., Batarseh, I. and Martoncik, A. (2021), "Enabling academic entrepreneurship: the I-Corps experience", Education + Training, Vol. 63 No. 7/8, pp. 1027-1042. https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-03-2019-0045