I-Corps Energy and Transportation
1. Make a plan
2. Meet dozens of industry players, VCs and investors
3. Get funding and go to market faster
About
I-Corps Energy and Transportation offers a customized curriculum to help teams of participating researchers discover the commercial potential of their technology, build a business model, and garner insights from leaders in the energy and transportation industries. Well performing teams have a chance a being recommended to the National I-Corps program where they will work through the entire business model canvas and receive a $50,000 grant.
Who Should Participate
- University and national lab researchers, including post-doctoral and graduate (PhD) researchers
- Corporate researchers interested in spin-off
- Research and development-focused entrepreneurs
Applications are now closed.Â
Investigate and communicate the commercial potential of your technology
- Learn how to transfer your knowledge and IP into commercially viable products and processes attractive to industry, federal government, and investors
- Acquire business tools that will help position you for federal and private funding opportunities, strategic licensing arrangements, or new company creation
Expand your network
- Gain in-depth exposure to industry, entrepreneurs, investors, federal government and economic development professionals
- Collaborate with others and learn best practices ranging from new funding sources to working with industry on collaborative R&D
Develop a deeper knowledge of your market and customer
- Engage in an intensive, world-class curriculum that places you directly in touch with potential customers
- Participate in highly interactive, expert-led, market and technology discussions
Kick off Session Dates:
May 9 & 10, 2017 | NextEnergy Center, Detroit
(followed by two interactive cohort webinars and two
one-on-one remote office hour sessions with instructors)
The program will culminate in customer discovery activities at the following events:
Energy Teams
Smart Cities Connect Conference & Expo
June 25-28, 2017 | Austin Texas
Transportation Teams
CAR Management Briefings Seminar
July 31 – August 3, 2017 | Traverse City, Michigan
Energy
- Energy Efficiency
- Renewables (solar, wind, hydro, bioenergy, geothermal, etc.)
- Smart Grid & Microgrid Technologies
Transportation
- Engine Technology, Fuel Efficiency & Alternative Fuels
- Robotics & Autonomy
- Advanced Mobility, Transportation Electrification & Multimodal Options (bus, e-bike, etc.)
Energy & Transportation
- Advanced Manufacturing Processes
- Advanced Materials (metals, composites, biomaterials, etc.)
- Electronics & Power Electronics
- Energy Storage & Batteries
- Information/Communication Technologies & IoT (software, sensors, controls, data analytics, etc.)
- Smart City Technologies
Teams
Each team should consist of three members made up of one participant from each category below:
- Principle Investigator (PI): Faculty Member, Senior Researcher, PostDoc or Senior Executive
- Entrepreneurial Lead (EL): MBA, MS, PhD, PostDoc or Product Manager
- Mentor: Experienced business individual (if no mentor is available, we can help you secure one)
Roles & Responsibilities
You will be required to participate in the following:
- Attend the two day on-site kick-off event
- Attend the two webinars during the intermediary weeks
- Attend the conference relevant to your team
- Complete all customer discovery goals
Time Commitment
Approximately 75Â hours:
- Â Pre-training webinar (1 hours on April 25)
- Preparation ( 5Â hours before May 8)
- Welcome reception (2 hours on May 8)
- Training (22 hours on May 9 & 10)
- Â Webinars & other training (25 hours)
- Â Conference (20 hours)
Jean Redfield
Jean Redfield is President and CEO at NextEnergy. Redfield previously served as the company’s Vice President, Public Policy Programs, leading public-sector initiatives. Her experience includes multiple leadership roles at DTE Energy as well as consulting roles at McKinsey and Company. Her work has primarily involved strategy development, leading major change initiatives and supporting companies as they transform through major dislocations in their respective industries. She has worked in various industries (investment banking, chemicals, aerospace/defense, pharmaceutical and biotech start-ups, and energy) in the United States, Europe, Brazil, India, and China. She has also served as co-owner and CFO of Fordsell Machine Products, a precision machine products company, from 1994 to the present. Redfield holds a B.A. in biology from Washington University, St. Louis, a B.S. in civil engineering from the University of Memphis, and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
Dave Anderson
David Anderson is Director, Venture Services at NextEnergy. In this role, he provides venture support services to early-stage and established small businesses, and manages NextEnergy’s participation in the National Incubator Initiative for Clean Energy (NIICE), a national network of leading clean tech incubators. Prior to joining NextEnergy, Anderson was a co-founder of Bamboo Detroit, Detroit’s first co-working space for entrepreneurs. Anderson is an electrical engineer with experience in advanced battery systems with Fortune 500 companies Bosch Battery Systems and General Dynamics Land Systems. In 2015 he was named as one of Crain’s Detroit Business 20 in their 20s. In addition to his role with NextEnergy, Anderson serves as technology chair on the Board of Trustees for the Detroit Historical Society, strategic advisor to Detroit-based, tech company LavLabs Inc. and as a technology strategist for Healthy Detroit. Anderson holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan.
Clay Phillips
Clay Phillips’ professional career in the automotive industry concentrated on strategic intelligence, due diligence, alliance management and new business development. As an executive at GM’s R&D group, he started and led a technology intelligence team and a new business development team focused on commercialization and partnering strategies for internal startups. He was a founding member of GM’s corporate venture capital arm, GM Ventures. Since 2014, Clay has been advising startups and larger firms working through disruptive innovation challenges. He runs a Michigan-based consulting firm, serves as a Vice President with San Francisco-based LaunchPad Central, and is an adjunct instructor for the Innovation Corps program. He holds a B.A. degree from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut and an M.B.A. from Columbia University in New York.
Aaron Crumm
Aaron Crumm is the co-founder of Adaptive Materials Incorporated (AMI), a start-up that sold for $23 million in 2010 to Ultra Electronics. Crumm’s work attracted more than $50 million in contracts to support the growth of AMI, and AMI has been recognized for its dynamic growth with Ann Arbor SPARK FastTrack, Inc. 500, and Inc. 100 Energy Company awards. Prior to founding AMI, Crumm earned his B.S. in nuclear engineering from Purdue University and a Ph.D. in material science from the University of Michigan.
I-Corps Energy & Transportation provides many opportunities to make valuable connections that can help you on your path to commercialization. Past participants were able to interact face-to-face with representatives from these established companies who were on-site during the program:
- 5 Lakes Energy
- Adaptive Materials Incorporated
- Advanced Battery Concepts
- ARPA-E
- Arsenal Venture Partners
- Automation Alley
- Bedrock Real Estate
- Bosch
- Braemar Energy Ventures
- Chrysler
- Cisco
- City of Detroit
- CMS Energy
- Coady Diemar
- Comet, LLC
- Connected Vehicle Trade Association
- Consumers Energy
- Cornerstone Research Group
- Crow’s Nest Consulting, LLC
- David Stout Associates
- Delphi
- Detroit Venture Partners
- Dow Chemical Ventures
- Dow Corning
- DTE Energy
- Eaton
- ENERGY Foundry
- EVAOS, Inc.
- Fiat Chrysler Automobiles
- Flagship Ventures
- Ford Motor Company
- Founder
- General Dynamics Land Systems
- General Motors
- GM Global Research
- GM Ventures
- Grand Valley State University
- Gross and Co.
- Growth Capital Symposium
- Hepta Control Systems
- Huron River Ventures
- IBM
- Inmatech
- Invest Detroit
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
- Logicoul Solutions
- Magna International
- Mercury Fund
- Michigan Alternative & Renewable Energy Center
- Michigan Economic Development Corporation
- Michigan Small Business Technology Development Center
- MI-Light: Michigan Photonics Cluster
- National Science Foundation
- Navitas Systems
- NextEnergy
- Oakland University
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
- Pacific Private Capital, LLC
- PAX Water Technologies
- Renaissance Venture Capital Fund
- Rock Ventures
- Search Lite
- Siemens Ventures
- Sprint
- TARDEC
- Tata Motors
- TechTown
- The SearchLite
- Third Shore Group
- Toyota
- Toyota Research Institute, NA
- U.S. Department of Energy
- University of Chicago
- University of Michigan
- University of Michigan Center for Entrepreneurship
- University of Michigan M-TRAC Transportation
- University of Michigan SMART
- US DOE SunShot Initiative
- Varnum LLP
- Ystrategies
- Zipcar