Summer Workshops and Bootcamps at MIN-Corps

Innovation Commercialization Bootcamp

Each bootcamp offers a one-day overview of commercialization principles and processes, including

• Identifying and Defining a Commercializable Solution
• Academic Roles in Commercialization
• Product-Market Fit: Customer Segments and Value Proposition Design
• Market Assessment
• Getting Started: Commercialization Milestones
• Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer - Working With the OTC

The summer session of the Commercialization Bootcamp will be held June 15, 2017 from 10am-4pm, in Bruininks Hall room 530B. Register for the bootcamp here!

Value Proposition Design Workshops

Four hands-on sessions cover the breadth of value proposition design in a cumulative noncredit course. Sign up to learn how product-market fit, customer discovery, pathway to commercialization, and market assessment apply to your innovation.

• Determine initial product/service application to a specific market, as well as longer-term market potential
• Develop competence in customer discovery methods
• Identify steps toward commercialization - scientific, market, and business
• $3,000 NSF-funded mini-grants available for customer discovery and prototyping

The four sessions of the summer course will take place June 21, July 5, July 19, and August 2 from 1-4pm in Lind Hall 303. Register here!

STARTUP: Customer Development & Testing

Students interested in pursuing their own entrepreneurial ventures are encouraged to apply for a new course offering based on lean startup principles and tools. STARTUP: Customer Development & Testing (MGMT 5102) is an intensive 2-credit course in which students test business model assumptions and receive recurring feedback from instructors and mentors. Anyone taking this class must also get outside of the classroom to meet with potential customers and partners. The class meets weekly during September, with periodic presentations by students and updates from instructors and mentors for the remainder of the semester.

Application is open to all undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Minnesota. Participating students are eligible to receive pro bono legal assistance and seed capital grants up to $3,000 to fund prototype development and customer discovery. While individual students may apply, teams are encouraged to have sufficient capability to move a project forward. Apply here.

MIN-Corps' Impact on Commercialization and Entrepreneurship

 

MIN-Corps is coming to our third anniversary as a National Innovation Corps site.  It has been gratifying to teach and coach University of Minnesota innovators as they take steps toward commercialization and entrepreneurship.  We're achieving exciting results!

2016-2017 was our first full year delivering the complete suite of programs depicted above. We also piloted integrating Lean LaunchPad content into the UMN undergraduate Biomedical Engineering Senior Design capstone course. 

• Over 450 University of Minnesota students, staff and faculty participated in one or more programs, including 90 teams and 685 individual registrations
• 30% of the technologies in Office for Technology Commercialization Venture Center startup pipeline have participated in MIN-Corps programs
  

We introduced two ecosystem events to increase interaction between University of Minnesota innovators and the business community.  

• Our first annual Women Innovators Conference attracted 171 female students, staff and faculty, as well as women STEM professionals
• We also partnered with the Mayo Clinic to host the Walleye Tank Life Science Venture Competition, which attracted 18 ventures presenting to 120 executives and investors

Our two-year-old collaboration to provide the skills development component of the NIH-funded MN-Reach medical commercialization research initiative has begun to bear fruit:

• 6 startups
• 55 business strategies for health care products
• 6 industry partnerships and licenses
• $3 million commercialization research funding (NIH and UMN sources)
  

Additional outcomes include:

• 6 teams accepted to National I-Corp Teams program (100% yield),
• $500,000+ commercialization SBIR/STTR grants and angel funding 
• 3 additional startups launched
• 9 venture competition semifinalists and prize winners (MN Cup, Clean Tech Open, Walleye Tank) 

Thank you to our collaborators and participants!