LSU is seeking local businesspeople to serve as mentors for a six-week program this summer that will help university researchers and faculty members learn how to turn their research into viable companies.
“The purpose is to help our faculty learn how to think like businesses,” says Andy Maas, director of LSU’s Office of Innovation and Technology Commercialization.
The undertaking is through the new LSU Innovation Corps Site Programs, which is funded through the National Science Foundation. Earlier this year, LSU received a three-year grant from the NSF to implement the program, which focuses on teaching the principles of entrepreneurship to researchers.
Technology transfer has historically been a problem for LSU, which generates a lot of basic research but has lagged its peer institutions in bringing that science and technology to market. But that has begun to change through aggressive efforts at the university’s Office of Innovation and Technology Commercialization.
For researchers, the benefits of participating in the program are obvious. But business mentors also stand to gain from volunteering their time and sharing their insights, Maas says.
“We’ve consistently had complaints from the business community about how hard it is to work with LSU,” Maas says. “Now we have a mechanism to engage the business community as we work on technology at LSU. This will put businesses directly in touch with researchers. This could lead to some amazing partnerships.”
Business mentors are asked to serve between three and five hours per week during the six-week course, which runs from July 13 through Aug. 17. Two of those hours will be in a classroom setting from noon to 2 p.m. on Wednesdays. The other time will be spent in small group meetings or telephone conference calls.
Maas encourages any interested businessperson with general business experience to sign up. His office will pair volunteer mentors with appropriate researchers.
The upcoming I-Corps session is the first of several LSU will hold every six months or so over the next three years. The deadline to sign up is June 20. Teams will be announced July 1. Get more details.
LSU’s NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps) Site Program
—Stephanie Riegel
