NSF I-Corps Hub: West Region

When you join one of our I-Corps programs, you will receive:

• Chance to apply for a $50,000 small business grant in the National I-Corps program 
• Confirmation of the customer, or ideas of alternate customers
• Mentorship 
• Transferable business skills 
• Expanded network 
• Potential access to funding 
• Base slide deck to start building an effective investor pitch 
• Basics for designing a suitable business model for your idea, product or service 
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ZAP: Customer Discovery for Early-Stage Innovators

ZAP is a three-week customer discovery workshop featuring three interactive sessions that help researchers and innovators determine whether their technology solves a real-world problem.

Throughout the program, you will:

• Learn Lean Startup methodology and the Business Model Canvas
• Identify and interview your target customers
• Complete 10 customer discovery interviews between sessions
• Validate market needs and refine your value proposition using real customer feedback
• Receive coaching from experienced instructors in entrepreneurship and technology commercialization

ZAP 2026 Schedule

INNOVAR: UCR's Approved NSF I-Corps Customer Discovery Program

Prefer to stay local? INNOVAR is UC Riverside's customer discovery program and serves as an approved alternative to the NSF I-Corps Hub West ZAP program.

Built on Lean LaunchPad principles, INNOVAR teaches innovators how to validate technology through customer discovery, test market assumptions, refine their value proposition, and evaluate commercial potential.

Participants who successfully complete INNOVAR satisfy the regional customer discovery requirement and may be invited to continue into the BOOM program—the next stage in the NSF I-Corps pathway.

During the program, participants receive:

• Entrepreneurial instruction from experienced mentors
• Hands-on customer discovery training
• Weekly mentoring
• Business model development
• Commercialization guidance
• Preparation for advanced NSF I-Corps opportunities

Best for: UCR faculty, researchers, students, and regional innovators who want a local cohort experience.

National I-Corps Teams Program

This intensive program supports researchers interested in entrepreneurial education and mentoring, with the goal of reducing the time it takes to bring technologies from the laboratory to the marketplace. 

Teams have three primary members: the technical lead, the entrepreneurial lead and the I-Corps mentor. All three team members participate fully in the I-Corps Curriculum, which provides real-world, hands-on, immersive learning about what it takes to successfully transfer knowledge into products and processes that benefit society. Accepted teams are eligible to be awarded up to $50,000. 

In order to be eligible for the National I-Corps Program, researchers require to have relevant and related research award from NSF that has been active within the past five years in any area of science or engineering are invited to apply to the National I-Corps program, participate in a regional I-Corps program and receive a letter of recommendation to the national program.