Eligibility
All Mason undergraduate and graduate students, doctoral students, post-doctoral researchers, alumni, administrative staff, and faculty are eligible to apply as an Entrepreneurial Lead (EL). Academic Leads (AL) must be Mason faculty members.
Proposed business ventures must fall under one of the following categories:
- Physical Sciences
- Life Sciences
- Software
- Mobile Applications
- Website Platforms
Applications will be judged on the criteria of:
- Team and Commitment
- Intellectual Property Strength
- Technology Strength
- Commercial Potential and Applications
- Fit with I-Corps Site program
Please note the following
*Students may only apply ONCE per Cohort. Students may only be on ONE team per Cohort.
*Applicants must find a faculty member to agree to serve as an Academic Lead for the program. Academic Leads serve as advisors for the technical aspects of the team’s idea.
*Teams must spend their Grant Awards in the Spending Windows (please see the Program Calendar) specified by each Cohort. Teams must determine the dates they plan to spend the Grant Award and apply to the corresponding Cohort. The Selection Committee may defer acceptance to a later Cohort.
Expectations
Participants in the Mason I-Corps Site will be expected to commit at least 3 – 5 hours per person per week to market research, customer discovery and other commercialization-focused activities. Therefore, it is important that the participants are interested in gaining new knowledge from the program, and not just receiving the I-Corps Site grant funding.
Once accepted, participants will be required to attend a kickoff event, two training sessions, and Mentor meetings during the semester. The end of the program will culminate in a final Presentation Day where participants will show how their business ideas have developed over the course of the semester.
- February 21 [Noon] – Application Submission Deadline
- March 23 [11 a.m. – 5 p.m.] – Spring Cohort Kickoff (Orientation and Training Session A)
- TBD [1 – 4 p.m.] – Spring Cohort Check-in (Training Session B)
- March 23-30 Biweekly Presentation Meetings
- April 6 [1 – 4 p.m.] – Spring Cohort Wrap-up (Final Presentation Day)
Participants will also be expected to schedule regular meetings with their assigned Mentors throughout the semester.