Milwaukee\u2019s Innovation Corps program, or I-Corps, will expand to include doctors, nurses and other health care providers with a new grant from the state.<\/p>\n
The federally funded I-Corps program has already helped dozens of area academic researchers and graduate students discover commercial markets for their technology. Directed locally by the UWM Research Foundation, the entrepreneurial training program has been working with students and researchers from five Milwaukee-area universities.<\/p>\n
The new $33,000 grant from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. (WEDC), will allow I-Corps to do similar training with clinicians and health care providers at organizations not affiliated with those universities. The goal of the pilot \u201cI-Corps for Health\u201d program is to encourage and develop innovative health care ventures in Wisconsin.<\/p>\n
The UWM Research Foundation is one of 11 recipients of the WEDC\u2019s Entrepreneurship Support grant program, which helps fund activities that advance the climate for entrepreneurship. Nearly $500,000 in matching grants were awarded statewide.<\/p>\n
Widening I-Corps access in the healthcare field is a smart investment, said Brian Thompson, director of UWM\u2019s Lubar Entrepreneurship Center, because it is a rich source of innovations with market appeal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThanks to the WEDC support, we can now expand the impact of I-Corps,\u201d Thompson said, \u201cexpand our pool of mentors trained in the \u2018lean launch\u2019 approach, and strengthen connections between successful entrepreneurs and the next generation of entrepreneurs.\u201d<\/p>\n
The I-Corps\u2019 \u201clean launch\u201d strategy guides participants in investigating potential markets to refine their product idea. Participants find out exactly what customers want before spending money on developing a prototype.<\/p>\n
Milwaukee\u2019s academic I-Corps program has trained 45 teams in lean launch methodology since it began in 2015. It expects at least 85 teams to complete training by the summer of 2018. Teams trained through \u201cI-Corps for Health\u201d will add to that number.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Research Foundation developed an innovative proposal that has the potential to make a real difference when it comes to assisting entrepreneurs and startups,\u201d said Mark Hogan, secretary and CEO of WEDC, the state\u2019s lead economic development organization.<\/p>\n
The Entrepreneurship Support pilot program is the latest addition to WEDC\u2019s suite of entrepreneurship resources, which includes support for startup accelerators, seed capital funds, investment tax credits and technology development loans.<\/p>\n
Other grant recipients include: The Center for Enterprise Development Inc., Fond du Lac; Couleecap Inc., La Crosse; Indianhead Community Action Agency, Ladysmith; Janesville Innovation Inc., Janesville; Milwaukee 7, Milwaukee; Nicolet Area Technical College, Rhinelander; Oconto County Economic Development Corporation, Oconto; UW-Madison Law & Entrepreneurship Clinic, Madison; UW-Stout Center for Innovation and Development, Menomonie; and Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, Madison.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The I-Corps program based at UWM has received a $33,000 grant from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. to train entrepreneurial healthcare providers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":836,"featured_media":42528,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174],"tags":[249],"section":[135],"display_categories":[115],"related-coverage":[267],"uwmnews-feed":[],"class_list":["post-42517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-community-engagement","section-health","display_categories-top-story-secondary","related-coverage-entrepreneurship"],"yoast_head":"\n