College of Medicine hosts I-Corps@NCATS Regional Short Course
Last summer, Penn State College of Medicine was among a select group of five academic medical centers chosen to host an I-Corps@NCATS Regional Short Course in 2018 and 2019. Based on the National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program, a leader in federally funded innovation and commercialization training in the United States, I-Corps@NCATS is designed to coach teams towards effectively translating and commercializing their healthcare innovations and research.
Hosted by the Center for Medical Innovation and Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute and developed through a grant with the NIH, this program helps participants connect with potential customers to determine the value proposition and commercial viability of their innovation.
Through a series of interviews, teams navigate the Customer Discovery Process, a methodology for uncovering the underlying causes of customer needs, which can then guide product development and build a successful business case for securing funding.
Eleven teams of faculty, postdocs and students from Penn State College of Medicine, Penn State Health, Penn State Harrisburg, Penn State Berks and Tulane University successfully completed the five-week course with their innovations, which ranged from medical devices, implants and therapeutics to software, services and wearables.
Julie Collins, one of a select group of instructors nationwide chosen to teach the customer development methodology for the NSF’s I-Corps program, was on-site as the lead instructor for the duration of the course.
Kevin Harter, director of the Center for Medical Innovation and principal I-Corps instructor at Penn State College of Medicine, concluded the final class with an overview of resources available to innovators and praise for the teams, stating, “Everyone is to be congratulated for the quantity of customer contacts, analysis, presentations and overall customer discovery work.”
Harter ended the session by handing out individual superlative awards, including one to Dr. Steven Hicks for fearless work as a “Customer Discovery Jedi” and one to MD/PhD student Scott Tucker for “Courageous Double Duty,” as Tucker was also preparing to defend his final thesis later that day.
Learn more about the I-Corps@NCATS program here.
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