UW and Wyoming SBDC Network to Host SBIR/STTR Webinar Sept. 4

Small-business owners, entrepreneurs, academics and students with technology or research ideas with market potential can learn about I-Corps Hub Great Plains, a National Science Foundation (NSF)-supported training program, during a webinar Friday, Sept 4.

Erica Belmont, Ramsankar Veerakumar and Breanna Johansen will lead the discussion during a Wyoming Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Network webinar titled "Turn Innovation into Market Opportunity" from noon-1 p.m. To register, go here. Registration is free. The event is hosted by the Wyoming Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Initiative.

The Wyoming SBDC offers business expertise to help Wyoming residents think about, launch, grow, reinvent or exit their business. The Wyoming SBDC Network is hosted by the University of Wyoming with state funds from the Wyoming Business Council and funded, in part, through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.

I-Corps helps researchers and innovators move beyond assumptions by engaging directly with potential customers and stakeholders, providing valuable insights. Additionally, the I-Corps program helps SBIR/STTR applicants build strong commercialization plans.

During the webinar, the I-Corps Hub Great Plains team will explain what to expect from the fall regional I-Corps program, who should apply and what participants will gain from the experience. Attendees will learn how customer discovery and the Business Model Canvas can help them better understand customer needs, refine their value proposition, test assumptions and make more informed commercialization decisions.

Those who should attend are researchers, faculty, students, scientists, engineers, innovators and entrepreneurs exploring technology commercialization.

Belmont is a UW associate professor of mechanical engineering; Veerakumar is a UW assistant professor of mechanical engineering; and Johansen is an innovator outreach specialist for the NSF I-Corps Hub Great Plains Region.

For more information, call Tyler Schanck, marketing, communications and database manager for the Wyoming SBDC Network, at (307) 343-0925 or email [email protected].