Description

Do you have an idea or project that you want to get into the hands of people?  Maybe you want to make a startup or create a patent, but to move from the drawing board to the larger world can be a challenging path to navigate.

The MIN-Corp MVP Challenge is a great means to make this leap.  This program focuses on stakeholder-centric prototype development.  You will be paired with expert advisors from the university such as the Office of Technology Commercialization, the UMN Libraries, and the Carlson School of Management and can work with external industry experts.  This program will also help familiarize you with university prototyping facilities and provide a number of workshops to learn topics including prototyping, customer discovery, and pitching your ideas.  Up to $5000 is available to support prototyping and customer discovery with additional grants possible.

In this competition, you’ll learn to work with customers and other stakeholders to verify needs and iterate your idea or early prototype to the next level based on their insight.  Acceptance and completion of this competition gives you access to a badge that can be added to a resume, a number of possible awards, and can lead to qualification for recommendation to the National I-Corps Teams program, which includes a $50,000 grant.

The MVP Challenge website offers more information about projects, participant resources, and the program application.

Outline

About MIN-Corps

With support from the National Science Foundation, MIN-Corps is a joint initiative of the College of Science and Engineering, the Office for Technology Commercialization, and the Carlson School of Management's Gary S. Holmes Center for Entrepreneurship.