Phase I: UAccel Quick Start: An introduction to lean startup methods to help you select an appropriate commercialization pathway forward for your innovation. Participants must complete program requirements to graduate. 

Phase II: I-Corps: For those who have successfully graduated from UAccel Quick Start and want to continue toward startup formation, SBIR applications, or National Innovation Corps applications. This phase continues on the foundations in UAccel Quick Start and provides additional experiential entrepreneurial training. Participants must complete program requirements to graduate.

• One-hour cohort meetings featuring guest speakers and feedback sessions. Cohort meetings are held weekly (summer programs) and bi-weekly (fall, spring programs) via Zoom.

• Guided independent study with original Launch Blue high-quality training materials and application exercises.

• One-on-one coaching sessions that take place on Zoom

In order to qualify for program completion for regional NSF I-Corp all participants must:

• Be in attendance at cohort meetings

• Attend 4 coaching sessions with program instructors

• Complete a minimum of 20 customer interviews

• Review all required online learning content hosted on Thinkific.

• All cohort meetings and coaching sessions are hosted virtually via Zoom.

• Meetings are held weekly on Fridays at 11 am ET and are one hour in length.

• All meetings will be captioned using Zoom's ASR. If other accommodations are needed, please let us know.

This program is open to faculty, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and staff from institutions of higher education and founders of tech-based startup companies aiming to apply for SBIR.

Candidates affiliated with the University of Kentucky or a Kentucky Commercialization Ventures partner institution must submit, or have already submitted, an Invention Report or Idea Report to the University of Kentucky Office of Technology Commercialization or to Kentucky Commercialization Ventures.

If you are affiliated with another institute of higher education and are interested in the UAccel program, have your tech transfer office reach out to us at x@launchblue.org.

We recommend SBIR-track startup founders engage with the Kentucky Science and Engineering Foundation as part of UAccel.

We encourage all members of a team to actively participate in the program. This includes both an entrepreneurial lead and a technical lead.

• Technical lead: Typically, a faculty member who is the inventor and serves as principal investigator, or a postdoctoral researcher who has deep expertise in the core technology area to be evaluated for market potential.

• Entrepreneurial lead: Typically, a graduate student or postdoctoral researcher who leads the team and is committed to commercialization.