In 2011 the National Science Foundation started a program named I-Corp. The purpose of the program is to “identify NSF-funded researchers who will receive additional support – in the form of mentoring and funding – to accelerate innovation that can attract subsequent third-party funding.” NSF just announced an expansion of the program (see news items below).

I tend to have a dim view of federal programs designed to encourage entrepreneurship. In my experience the way most federal agencies operate is the antithesis of entrepreneurial, so how can they effectively encourage entrepreneurship. I’m also opposed to programs that assume they can train academic researchers to run a startup and raise serious VC funding in a few weeks. Most entrepreneurs who succeed with that have had decades of brutal, real-world experience.

To read the original article: Startups | utechwatch