Jun 01, 2015 12:15 PM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

The University of Iowa (UI) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) have teamed up to launch a program to speed up the commercialization of technologies developed by student and faculty inventors and entrepreneurs, school officials announced.

I-Corps, which is funded by a $300,000 grant from NSF, will focus on entrepreneurial training, building on the work of the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center's UI Venture School, an entrepreneurial training program. It includes a "Broader Impacts initiative focused on female entrepreneurs," which aims to increase the number of women in the field," Omaha.com reported.

"The UI has developed strong working relationships with external stakeholders to identify experienced entrepreneurs and mentors to support UI I-Corps teams and to assist them in securing startup and early-stage growth capital for commercializing their technology discoveries," David Hensley, entrepreneurial center executive director, said in a statement.

For the Broader Impacts initiative, I-Corps will try to increase the number of women entrepreneurs in particular through targeted grant funding for women entrepreneurs, one-on-one mentoring that pairs successful women entrepreneurs with each new women-led startup, and formal recognition of accomplishments, grants, and awards by women entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneur inventors from across the state can participate in the I-Corps program. However, the teams must "include a researcher from an academic institution, a business mentor and an entrepreneurial lead," according to Omaha.com

With the addition of the I-Corps program, the university will offer 12 entrepreneurial educational programs across Iowa annually, including several on the UI campus.  The program will also provide small grants for up to 30 teams seeking to commercialize new research discoveries.

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