I-Corps requires significant commitment. We've collected strategies and approaches that have proven successful across Hub universities at helping researchers decide to enroll in I-Corps programs.

Recruitment tips

Recruitment Tips (PDF) developed by the I-Corps Hub Northeast Region and Southwest Region:

• Emphasize Commitment to Diversity: Build relationships with programs and educational institutions that serve diverse populations. Utilize images and language in your marketing and informational material that represent the diversity of our nation.

• Make it Easy: Add an I-Corps overview to existing presentations at department meetings, new faculty orientations, graduate student fairs, conferences, etc. Host an information session.

• Build Personal Connections: Attend on-campus poster sessions, research showcases, visit faculty & staff lunch areas, make yourself available for short one-on-one calls/visits.
• Work with Campus Partners: Connect with tech transfer, career services, STEM programs, and regional ecosystem members to find partners who'll share program opportunities. Promote I-Corps as career development for faculty, grad students and postdocs; connect with student entrepreneurship organizations.
• Use a Peer-to-Peer Approach: Appoint or hire graduate students or postdocs who have completed the program to be ambassadors to talk to their peers about the program.  Ask faculty technical leads (TLs) to speak at faculty-focused events.
• Share I-Corps Success Stories: Enlist your campus communicators to create articles profiling I-Corps participants. Ask successful teams and national-level I-Corps awardees to participate in events, contribute to Q&As and articles, or write testimonials.
• Follow up with Email and Other Forms of Outreach: Email is most effective when it is used for follow-up or to reinforce information from trusted sources. 
• Utilize Existing Resources to Create a List of Potential Participants: Ask your sponsored program office for awardees or check funding agencies’ grant databases to find recipients of NSF, NIH, DOE, and other federal agency grants. 
• Plan Your Outreach/Campaigns: Know upcoming event dates and program deadlines and schedule outreach and marketing activity to allow enough time for attendees to apply/register for upcoming opportunities.
• Do Customer Discovery with Your Intended Audience.  Ask: Where do you get information on new programs/opportunities from? Learn key questions they have and address them in your communications.

Download the full Recruitment Guide.