Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

The MidSouth hub for the National Science Foundation-funded Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program wrapped up on Wednesday with 14 companies presenting their innovations to a panel of judges. Some, one, or none may be recommended to apply to the national NSF I-Corps program, which opens the door to a potential $50,000 award, which supports the team’s program participation, including stipends and expenses for virtual and in-person customer discovery.

The purpose of the I-Corps program is to help commercialize technologies developed through academic research. The act of transferring technology from a research lab to a business is a long and challenging process. But knowing certain things ahead of time (like who your target customer is) can make the transition much easier.

At the regional level, I-Corps teams are tasked with conducting at least 20 customer discovery interviews with potential buyers, implementers, or users of the technology and/or innovation. They have just three weeks to do so.

The program is led by Marc Nabhan, the Director of Entrepreneurship and New Ventures at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK). He is joined by Bryan Barringer, who is a regional instructor for both the University of Tennessee System and Vanderbilt University I-Corps programs.

Similar to last semester, the program was conducted entirely virtually, including the final pitches. The program started with 21 teams and dwindled to 13, all of which completed the program objectives.

Final session: How does it work?

Simplifying communication around an innovation and why it’s important isn’t easy. Distilling years of work into a five-minute pitch certainly isn’t easy. And, fielding questions proposed by people outside of your speciality isn’t easy. Innovators in I-Corps are tasked to do all three!

We jumped into the final session to get a pulse on the emerging entrepreneurs among the innovators.

Kupros

For the first session, Ian Ramsdell, the Founder of Kupros and participant in the Spark Cleantech Accelerator, presented the findings of his customer discovery calls.

We featured Ramsdell’s founder story earlier this week. His innovation centers on advanced 3D-printed electronics, utilizing a proprietary material and manufacturing process licensed from the Department of War. The technology is protected by patents on both the formula and the process, offering a unique value proposition with much higher conductivity (over 48,000% better) compared to competing polymer-based solutions.

Going into I-Corps, Ramsdell saw his primary customer base to be defense and commercial markets (targeting the next wave of additive manufacturing in electronics).

Through his customer discovery calls, Ian Ramsdell learned that defense sector customers were relatively easy to engage. Many approached him directly and were receptive to the technology. In contrast, commercial (B2B) customers were much more cautious, making adoption difficult due to their fear of the risks associated with early-stage, unproven technology.

One of the judges asked: “How do you plan on overcoming some of those barriers?”

Ramsdell shared that he is working with some colleges and universities to implement his Cu 29 material into their advanced manufacturing processes and classes to build it up as the next industry standard.

RepGuard

RepGuard AI is a smartphone app that uses artificial intelligence to provide real-time feedback and coaching on exercise form. By analyzing movements with the phone’s camera, the app can detect improper technique and unsafe patterns, offering instant audio and visual cues to help users correct their form.

The problem the team was working to solve is the gap left by existing fitness trackers (which only count repetitions) and offers a more affordable, accessible alternative to personal trainers.

The customer discovery was primarily collected from athletes in their 20s.

A few suggestions from the judges:

1. Look into the young athlete market and leverage parent dollars who place value in their child’s athletic performance improvement.
2. Define other competitors in the market.
3. Know the target market very, very well.

Aquafer Technologies

Martin Krivan shared his customer discovery process for his company, Aquafer Technologies. He completed… 103 interviews. Much more than the required 20.

Aquafer Technologies’ proprietary super adsorbent material is designed to remove PFAs (forever chemicals) from water. This material stands out because it captures more PFAs and their precursors than any other material currently on the market. It is also roughly half the cost of the cheapest existing alternatives.

The product combines the performance typically seen in high-end methods like reverse osmosis. The technology has proven its effectiveness in long-term pilots under tough conditions and is now being validated and patented globally.

The company has notably completed an 18-month pilot funded by the Murdoch Trust, where their adsorbent filter was tested on highly contaminated water and demonstrated outstanding performance.

Aquafer Technologies has recently raised $280,000 to support certification, lab validation, and patent filings.

One of the judges asked: “One of your tasks was to interview, and you made 103 interviews. What were some surprises that you learned in those 103 interviews?” 

To that, Krivan said, “This is a very kind of a weird space, because you can tackle municipalities from top down and/or bottom up. Top down would be EPA or state regulations. Or, you can talk to the water quality supervisor; many are open to these types of pilots, and we can work our way in from the bottom.”

The other companies that presented at the final session included: DiMAS, CrateBuddy, Dark Star Geographics, Ascend HX, Bindly, Laundauer Solutions, StreetWise, DermGate, New Horizon Precision, NXT MFG, LLC (another Spark Cleantech Accelerator company), and Pareto.

Learn more about I-Corps.

 

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