NC State has received a $500,000 award from the National Science Foundation to advance the commercialization of research discoveries. This five-year award will be used by the Office of Technology Commercialization and New Ventures to establish the NC State I-Corps site.

The I-Corps program was created by NSF in 2011 to teach university scientists and engineers how to apply lean startup methods for bringing university-developed products and services to the marketplace. With funding provided by the program and the support and mentorship provided by the site, researchers and students are able to broaden their focus beyond the laboratory by conducting extensive market research and learning from potential customers to identify product-market fit.