NIH Entrepreneurship Bootcamp

The NIH Entrepreneurship Boot Camp provides teams of academic and small business investigators with specialized innovation and entrepreneurship training. Instructors with decades of life-science innovation and entrepreneurial experience will teach participating teams to use a life science focused customer discovery process to assess customer and stakeholder needs, develop stronger business models and market strategies, and validate their commercialization plans in advance of their initial Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) or Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) application.

The course requires no prior experience and uses a life science-focused customer discovery process to assess customer and stakeholder needs, and teaches participants to develop stronger business models, market strategies, and commercialization plans in advance of their initial SBIR/STTR application.

Benefits

• Participating teams will learn critical skills including:
  • when, why, and how to talk to diverse stakeholders without offering remuneration;
  • when to talk to regulators and third-party payers; and
  • how to approach potential partners, funders, or acquirers.
• Consequently, this course will improve participants’ understanding of the commercialization requirements of biotechnology development and will inform their decisions to pursue SBIR/STTR funding or any other source of support. The Boot Camp also places teams on a path to take advantage of other NIH innovator support programs, particularly those associated with the NIH Small Business Program (SBIR/STTR).

Course Structure and Schedule

Company teams will be organized into pods (small groups of approximately 6-8 company teams with a dedicated instructor). The eight-week program will consist of:

• a virtual 2-hour introductory lecture-style meeting,
• three seminar-style sessions (alternating weeks) with the pod,
• three office hour sessions one-on-one with their pod instructor (held during weeks when the seminar does not take place),
• an all-day virtual event where each company gives a presentation, and instructors provide final comments to each team. Select NIH program directors from Institutes with scientific interests in the project proposals will be invited to attend this event.

Eligibility Criteria

• Innovators who have an SBIR/STTR award that will be active (including no-cost extensions) during the duration of the course are not eligible for this program.
• Participants who enroll in the NIH Entrepreneurship Boot Camp must register as a team which should include a technical lead with expertise in the proposed project and an individual who will act as the business lead and who is interested in learning how to assess whether the innovation presents a compelling commercialization opportunity.
• The program is structured such that full participation is required across the sessions, which build upon each other. Thus, only teams who can commit the time and effort to participate in the coursework, webinars, and one-on-one coaching sessions actively and consistently should apply.

For more information, visit NIH.