Second I-Corps@Ohio Cohort

The Ohio Department of Higher Education is announcing the formation of a second I-Corps@Ohio cohort. This is exciting news for The Ohio State University and the Ohio economic sector. The cohort is designed to train university faculty and students in commercializing the technology and the research that they are generating. The commercial rewards of these discoveries will be used to reinvest in additional research. 60 university teams across Ohio will ultimately learn to make self-sustained market-based judgements on the fit of their technology with customer needs. Dr. Michael Camp from the Fisher College of Business founded and leads the I-Corps@Ohio program for the State of Ohio.

The Center for Design and Manufacturing Excellence is working in collaboration with the I-Corps@Ohio program to support the teams participating.  CDME’s John Bair and Eric Wagner have participated, as mentor and instructor, respectively, to help establish this program and to increase its potential. Dr. Glenn Daehn, CDME’s Chief Technology Officer, and Dr. Anupam Vivek, a CDME affiliate researcher participated in the program’s first cohort in 2015. They used the program to evaluate the market fundamentals for their technology, an impact spot welding technology for lightweight metals. The inventors of this technology participated in the first cohort of ICorps@Ohio where they benefited from the in-depth interaction with potential customers. This experience led to an understanding of the market and industry partners for commercialization of the technology.