Eligibility Rules for Participating in the Competition: 

The I-FAST Competition is open to teams (“Teams” or “Participants”) that are made up of individuals from academic/university institutions that have received a prior NIFA award in a scientific or engineering field relevant to the proposed innovation that is currently active or that has been active within five years from the closing date of the Pre-Application Open Period. The prior award could range from a modest single-investigator award to a large, distributed center and also includes awards involving students.

To be eligible to win a prize under the Competition, Teams:

• Shall have registered to participate in the Competition under the rules;
• Shall have complied with all the requirements of the Competition rules;
• May not include a Federal entity or Federal employee acting within the scope of their employment; and
• In the case of a private entity Team member, the member shall be incorporated in and maintain a primary place of business in the United States. In the case of an individual Team member, shall be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States.

Makeup of I-FAST Competition Teams: Each Team shall consist of three members:

• Entrepreneurial Lead (EL)
• I-FAST Team Mentor
• Principal Investigator (PI)

I-FAST teams are made up of individuals from an academic/university institution except for the Mentor who may reside with a non-academic institution as described below. Also described below, are the responsibilities of each team member should the Team be selected as a winner of the competition.

The Entrepreneurial Lead (EL) could be a postdoctoral scholar, graduate, or other student with relevant knowledge of the technology located at the academic/university institution and a deep commitment to investigate the commercial landscape surrounding the innovation. The EL should also be capable and have the will to support the transition of the technology to commercial viability. The EL will be responsible for: 1) developing the team to include the mentor and PI, 2) leading the development of the pre-application, participating in the I-FAST interviews and developing the full application, if selected, 3) starting and completing all training activities in the Entrepreneurial Immersion course provided by the NSF I-Corps program, 4) communicating and coordinating with team members to achieve the goals of the team, 5) developing and monitoring team activity milestones from the Entrepreneurial Immersion course, 6) ensuring the team milestones are completed on time, and 7) ensuring the team is in communication with the NIFA I-FAST Competition Director and the NSF I-Corps Program Director as needed.

Ideally, the I-FAST Teams Mentor will be an experienced or emerging entrepreneur with proximity to the academic/university institution and have prior experience developing and commercializing other products within the broader technology space related to the specific project under development. The Mentor should be selected as a third-party resource, or may be a person that has an established relationship with the team (e.g., Board Member, consultant), but cannot be an employee nor directly involved with the technology development. The EL will need to identify a Mentor that has business expertise in the proposed technology sector and has entrepreneurial experience. A Mentor will be someone with appropriate contacts in the technology area of commercialization which are critical for propelling the technology towards commercialization. The EL of the team should seek input from their University Technology Transfer Office for potential Mentors. The I-FAST Team’s Mentor will be responsible for guiding the team forward using existing entrepreneurial experience and tracking the team’s progress through regular communication with the EL, PI, the NIFA I-FAST competition director, and the NSF I-Corps Program Director, as needed.

The PI is expected to have in-depth knowledge of the innovation developed under the prior NIFA Grant and, if selected, will be responsible for: 1) coordinating with the university on the transfer of prize funds from NIFA, 2) tracking of the prize funding for team activities, 3) reporting to NIFA on disbursements and obligations of the prize funding, 4) guiding the EL and Mentor on technical aspects of the innovation, 5) communicating as needed with the NIFA I-FAST Competition Director and the NSF I-Corps Program Director, 6) ensuring the EL meets the required milestones for the NSF I-CORP training, and 7) participating as a team member. The Principal Investigator who received the earlier NIFA grant for the technology is allowed to participate on the team, but cannot be the Entrepreneurial Lead.

During the I-Corps course, each participating team, including all its team members, must:

• Attend, in person, an evening reception and 3-day kick-off Entrepreneurial Immersion course;
• Conduct approximately 100 customer interviews over the 6-week program, and submit interview summary reports. This process of customer discovery includes in-person face to face meetings with potential customers and requires the team to be “outside the building” for these activities. It is expected that the team will not use telephone or online conferencing during the customer discovery process. It is expected the team will require a minimum of 15 hours and a maximum of 40 hours per week
• Participate in 5 weekly webinar sessions and submit regular updates to the team’s business model canvas. In addition, it is expected that I-Corps teams will take advantage of instructor office hours; and
• Attend, in person, the final 2-day course close out/lessons learned session (to be held in the same region as the kick-off course).

If one or more team members cannot meet these requirements, the team should not submit an application.