Regional colleges creating new entrepreneurial ecosystem, hub for product development

Morgan Matzen, Sioux Falls Argus Leader
·2 min read

Several colleges in the region are partnering together to create a new entrepreneurial hub with the help of a five-year, $14 million grant from the National Science Foundation.

The grant will create the Great Plains Innovation Corps (I-Corps) Hub, with North Dakota State University serving as the lead institution for the Hub, and South Dakota State University, the University of South Dakota, the University of North Dakota, South Dakota Mines, Dakota State University, the University of Nebraska Omaha and the University of Wyoming serving as partner institutions.

Researchers on SDSU’s campus will now have a framework to help them turn their innovative discoveries into viable commercial products, as the I-Corps Hub will provide training to research teams to help them bring their ideas from the laboratory to the marketplace.

South Dakota State University and the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology worked together in the past year to develop plans for a proposed bioproducts lab slated for SDSU's research park. House Bill 1210 asks for $20 million towards the $28.5 million project.
South Dakota State University and the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology worked together in the past year to develop plans for a proposed bioproducts lab slated for SDSU's research park. House Bill 1210 asks for $20 million towards the $28.5 million project.

Each I-Corps team has an entrepreneurial lead, an industry mentor and a technical lead. Over the course of eight weeks, the teams receive entrepreneurial education, mentoring, and funding to accelerate their fundamental research into emerging products and services that can attract subsequent third-party funding.

Other hubs in the U.S. have the goal of creating and sustaining a diverse innovation network across the country. The Great Plains Hub will fill a sizable hole in the central U.S., as most of the other regional hubs are located along the coasts.

A rendering of the POET Bioproducts Institute at the Research Park at South Dakota State University.
A rendering of the POET Bioproducts Institute at the Research Park at South Dakota State University.

SDSU’s Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering, which will serve as SDSU’s “home," will work in collaboration with the SDSU Research Park and other colleges to create a unique entrepreneurial ecosystem. The network of researchers, faculty and resources will help to foster a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation, laying the groundwork to develop a network that will help launch and support startup companies for both faculty and students.

“Ultimately, the goal would be to get somebody from their lab here on campus to a startup company out at the Research Park,” stated Todd Letcher, an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the SDSU faculty lead for the grant, in a news release.

Rajesh Kavasseri, associate dean for research for the Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering, said the grand vision of the Hub is to take federally-funded projects and turn them into economic opportunities. It will take a network of people working collaboratively, and a set of processes and systems in place, he said in a news release from SDSU.

Since 2020, there have been more than 1,036 startups formed through NSF’s I-Corps program with over $700 million in funding raised. The program has trained more than 5,800 researchers.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: SDSU, other colleges in region partner for future business hub