By Leith Martin, Executive Director, Troesh Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at University of Nevada, Las Vegas; NSF I-Corps Hub: Desert and Pacific Region Lead Instructor

In today’s challenging grant funding environment, every part of your proposal needs to be as strong as possible. If you’re writing grants for federal agencies like the NSF, you’ve likely noticed a growing emphasis on entrepreneurial thinking.

This isn’t just a trend. It’s a fundamental shift. Agencies want to see not only the scientific merit of your work but also its potential for real-world economic and societal impact. This is formally captured in the NSF’s “Broader Impacts” criterion, which can be challenging for researchers with limited experience outside the lab.

How do you effectively translate your research into a compelling case for commercial viability? This is precisely the question the NSF I-Corps program was designed to answer.

A Tool for Transformation

Seven or eight years ago, while serving as an industry mentor for a team participating with the national I-Corps program, I heard a senior NSF official explain the program’s three core purposes:

• To equip faculty and students with practical commercialization tools.
• To change the culture of academic research, empowering innovators to build commercial viability into their proposals from the start.
• To launch new companies that create jobs, build industries, and deliver a powerful return on investment for the U.S. taxpayer.

The Proof is in the Numbers

Now, over a decade into the program, the results are stunning. The I-Corps method has helped launch more than 1,300 companies that have collectively raised over $3.1 billion in subsequent funding, according to the 2023 I-Corps Biennial Report to Congress.

This success stems from a simple, powerful process: customer discovery. I-Corps teaches you to get out of the building and find out who might care about your innovation, helping you uncover real-world problems and assess whether your solution could meet a genuine need.

Beyond Guesswork: Evidence-Based Proposals

Participating in I-Corps transforms the “Broader Impacts” section of your grant from an exercise in speculation into an evidence-based plan. Instead of guessing at potential applications, you can speak with authority about validated customer needs, specific market opportunities, and a clear path forward. You’ll have the data from robust customer discovery interviews  to back it up.

Given the trends on federal funding, participating in I-Corps could also provide access to greater opportunities and alternative funding sources.

This experience doesn’t just improve your grant writing; it fundamentally enhances your perspective as an innovator, giving you the confidence and skills to carry your ideas forward.