Researchers at work in the South Dakota Mines Karen M. Swindler Department
of Chemical and Biological Engineering. Innovation in this department lead
directly to the creation of the highly successful start-up company Nanopareil.
The new NSF I-Corps grant will help turn the inventions generated in university
labs like this into local high-tech businesses.
South Dakota Mines has been
named a partner in a $14 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant that
establishes the new multi-institutional Great Plains
Innovation Corps (I-Corps) Hub. The grant is heralded as a game changer for converting
ideas generated on campus into profitable businesses that employ area graduates
and grow the local tech-based economy.
The NSF’s I-Corps program was established in 2011.
According to the NSF, I-Corps is “an immersive, entrepreneurial training
program that facilitates the transformation of invention to impact. This
immersive, seven-week experiential training program prepares scientists and
engineers to extend their focus beyond the university laboratory-accelerating
the economic and societal benefits of research projects that are ready to move
to commercialization.” Since its inception, approximately 2,800 NSF I-Corps
teams have participated in the program.
Mines faculty and students broke records in 2022 for
both research awards and patents issued. The institution brought in $20.1
million dollars in research funding in FY22, and faculty and students had 15
patents issued and an additional 16 patent applications filed. The I-Corps Hub
provides $820,030 in funding to train Mines inventors in entrepreneurship and
provide capital to help bring cutting-edge technologies to the
marketplace.
“We are very excited to be a part of the Hub. With
so many students and faculty on campus that are innovating and looking to get
their ideas in the market, these resources will be a huge win,” says Joseph
Wright, associate vice president for research and economic development at
Mines. “We have no doubt that Mines will leverage this opportunity to its
fullest and a lot of great things will come out of this.”
Mines has grown a robust innovation pathway and culture of entrepreneurship on campus
centered around economic development. This includes a wide range of efforts
like the CEO
Business Competition that has helped the university win top placements
at the Governor’s Giant Vision Business Competition for the past eight years in
a row and the Entrepreneur-In-Residence
Program which includes highly accomplished business leaders from multiple
industries who mentor Mines students and faculty to help them commercialize
their ideas. The Mines Office
of Industry Engagement facilitates access to resources by connecting
industry with the university.
“Our campus is already a hub of innovation and
entrepreneurship; this I-Corps grant will accelerate the ability of our faculty
and students to take their great ideas into the marketplace. We have a very
bright future in tech-driven economic development in the Black Hills, and this
NSF I-Corps Hub makes it even brighter,” says Mines President Jim Rankin.
The Great Plains I-Corps Hub is led
by North Dakota State University and includes partner institution across the
Dakotas, Wyoming, and Nebraska. The Hub will foster new partnerships across
these institutions driving regional high-tech economic growth.
The new I-Corps Hub: Great
Plains Region is one of five announced
across the country by the NSF. The new hubs are part of the NSF-led
National Innovation Network intended to accelerate “the translation of
discoveries into new solutions that benefit society.” To date the I-Corps
training program has helped launch more than 1,000 startups across the country.
In the coming years, South Dakota Mines will add many more to this number.