IPO I-Corps Lite (LBNL only)
Offered by IPO in partnership with I-Corps instructors, this short course helps Lab employees gain a deeper understanding of the scientific and business ecosystems around their technology and introduces the customer discovery process and business model concepts. This training is 100% virtual and it will occur over a five week period to make it easier for researchers to participate.
The training sessions cover skills such as customer discovery, exploring product-market fit, and making pitches for commercialization. Between sessions, participants will work in teams to conduct and analyze customer discovery interviews. Over the five week period, participants will be expected to devote at least 8 hours per week to the customer discovery process, in addition to the Zoom sessions / office hours.
The next I-Corps Lite Course will be held October 14 – November 11, 2020, and will be composed of three 3-hour Zoom sessions on October 14, October 28 and November 11. All Zoom sessions will be 3:30pm to 6:30pm Pacific Time. For the weeks in between sessions, each team will schedule one-on-one office hours with the Instructor for a deep dive on results from interviews and analysis of product-market-fit.
Contact Gregg Scharfstein, [email protected] at 510.486.7586 to register.
Of the 34 Berkeley Lab participants in the two previous short courses, 95% would enthusiastically recommend the course to a colleague, and 80% said the course changed their understanding of their technology’s market.
Testimonials
- “I’m convinced it helped us clench an ARPA-E award. What I learned in I-Corps was absolutely essential to understanding and effectively articulating the business opportunity of our battery technology. It significantly altered our outlook on the technological demands necessary to gain market traction.” Peter Frischmann, former LBNL project scientist accepted into Cyclotron Road program, co-founder of Sepion Technologies
- “I’ll never write a funding proposal the same way again.” Brett Helms, staff scientist, Molecular Foundry, co-founder of Sepion Technologies
- “Customer discovery principles are influencing all aspects of my research at LBNL. I’m using them on a daily basis now and they will influence the rest of my career.” Peter Therkelsen, staff scientist in Building Technology and Urban Systems Division.
DOE’s Energy I-Corps Training
Based on NSF’s I-Corps™ model, DOE’s Energy I-Corps is an immersive training experience giving national lab-based research teams the tools and training to help transition technologies into products that benefit society and the national economy.
Highlights of the Energy I-Corps program include
- 2 months and 100 interviews to give you opportunities to learn more about product-market fit, the business model canvas, and the commercial potential of your technology
- Teams from all national labs so you can network with a broader group of business-minded researchers, mentors, and instructors
- $75k per team to cover time so you don’t have to moonlight as much
Watch short films of LBNL researchers in the MyGreenCar team and Ring Burner team as they participate in past Energy I-Corps sessions. Each film series captures the participants conducting information-gathering interviews with potential customers and supply chain members and then addressing hard decisions about markets, applications, and pivoting.
Deadline for submitting Intent to Apply for 2021 I-Corps Training is November 25, 2020.
Contact Gregg Scharfstein, [email protected] at 510.486.7586 if interested in future DOE I-Corps courses.
Intellectual Property Video Series
Want to learn more about IP and the patenting process? Gregg Scharfstein, a Senior Technology Commercialization Associate at IPO, has created “Intellectual Property Memos” that answer these questions. Check back here for upcoming videos.
Utility Patents, Infringers, and Salt
The Patent Process, Early Stage Technologies, and US Rights