About the Program

The Entrepreneurial Foundations & Skill Building Sprint is designed to engage faculty, postdocs and grad students affiliated with CESI. This version of the program will prioritize participants from groups historically under-represented in the energy field. The program is a three-part sprint to explore the skills and entrepreneurial mindset for successfully taking technology from the lab to the market and creating societal value.

Leveraging  the National Science Foundation’s  proven  Innovation Corps curriculum and Cornell Engineering’s Commercialization Fellowship,  this course will:

• Train participants on entrepreneurial concepts and vocabulary
• Connect participants to peers that have had success pursuing their entrepreneurial ideas
• Introduce participants to further training and programming

Course Logistics

Virtual meetings will take place May 3, 5, 10 from 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. EDT.

Preparation: Foundational Skill Building (Pre-Course, end of April)

Teams will prepare for the program by completing  an online module that teaches basic business principles such as  customer  markets, supply and demand, competition, ROI, and costs.

May 3: Getting Started: Problem Ideation and Solution Identification

Participants add new ways of thinking about their research and how it can solve problems in the world.

May 5: Inspiration:  Hearing from Peers that are Pursuing their Entrepreneurial Ideas

Participants will get a dose of inspiration as they visualize possible pathways towards their entrepreneurial ideas.

May 10:  Next Steps/Report Out:  Intro to the Range of Training and Programming Available to Support Entrepreneurs

Participants will end the sprint fully armed with detailed information on possible next steps, including: Cornell entrepreneurship courses, NSF I-Corps programming, accelerators, incubators, mentoring, and  funding sources.

To register please complete this Google Form: 

https://forms.gle/QSogfg6MVWn8W9Hc6

For questions and to apply, contact Lindsay Anderson at directorcesi@cornell.edu