National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance

NCIIA
Formation	1995
Type	Non-Profit
Purpose/focus	Higher Education, Invention, Entrepreneurship
Headquarters	Hadley, Massachusetts
Region served	United States
Executive Director	Phil Weilerstein
Website	www.nciia.org

The National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) is a private 501(c)(3) organization that funds and trains faculty and student innovators to create successful, socially beneficial businesses. The organization's mission is to create experiential learning opportunities for students, and to catalyze student-led ventures that create positive social and environmental impact.^[1]

NCIIA's early stage funding and training opportunities have led to the creation of more than 130 new businesses across an array of industries, which have leveraged more than $140 million in additional funding.^[2]

Origins

In 1995, a group of higher education faculty and administrators gathered at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts to discuss how universities might provide students with the tools they need to transform their ideas into viable businesses.^[3] Jerome Lemelson, one of the U.S.’s most prolific inventors, convened the meeting.

In the meeting, Lemelson described his vision for an organization that would support educators in implementing a hands-on approach to learning while at the same time helping students develop new products and boost them toward commercialization.

The NCIIA was created out of this vision.^[4] The NCIIA, initially part of Hampshire College’s Lemelson National Program and funded primarily by The Lemelson Foundation, became a stand-alone non-profit entity in 2007. It has grown to include a membership of nearly 200 colleges and universities from across the U.S., engaging over 5,000 undergraduate and graduate student entrepreneurs each year.

Activities

The NCIIA funds and trains student and faculty innovators grants, competitions and workshops, committing $1.5 million every year to assist student innovators and the faculty that enable their work.

NCIIA training workshops include VentureLab, a program developed by James Barlow and first delivered in the United States at the Microsoft NERD facility in April 2010 to a cohort of twenty emerging student venture teams.^[5]

In 2009 the organization started a new initiative, VentureWell, to provide advisory services and seed funding to some of the best of its emerging ventures. Two featured ventures are Whole Tree, which makes more sustainable alternatives to traditional plastics and insulation, and Therapeutic Systems, producing a therapeutic vest for autistic children.

Success stories

In 2007, Eben Bayer and Gavin McIntyre, two graduating students at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, got a $16,000 NCIIA grant that funded a few critical months of development. Ecovative Design—their company makes building insulation and packaging materials from mushrooms, a material they call Greensulate—went on to win awards from the state of New York and Europe's PICNIC Green Challenge,^[6] among others.^[7]

Another NCIIA-sponsored team from the University of Portland turned a $12,500 grant into a company with more than $2.5 million in annual sales. The company, Keen Healthcare, was founded to commercialize a shock-absorbing crutch^[8] and now sells twenty-five different products that help injured, disabled, and elderly people move around more easily.

References

1. ^ NCIIA: Mission
2. ^ Jesse Scanlon, NCIIA: Promoting Student Inventors, Bloomberg Businessweek, March 23, 2009.
3. ^ Catherine Williams, Lemelson awards $16M to nonprofit inventors alliance, Mass High Tech, September 3, 2007.
4. ^ Myrna Oliver, Jerome Lemelson; Inventor Held 500 Patents, Los Angeles Times Obituary, October 3, 1997.
5. ^ Galen Moore, VentureLab bridges university IP with startup businesses, Mass High Tech, April 26, 2010.
6. ^ Instead of Styrofoam, Fungus and Rice Hulls
7. ^ NCIIA: Greensulate E-Team profile
8. ^ NCIIA: Keen Mobility E-Team profile

External links

• The NCIIA web site