Innovators to Entrepreneurs Act of 2019
Floor Speech
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Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 539, the Innovators to Entrepreneurs Act of 2019.
H.R. 539 extends the outreach of the National Science Foundation's Innovation Corps program, also known as I-Corps.
I-Corps trains and prepares scientists and engineers to take their research from the lab and turn it into commercial products and services.
Research labs are making breakthroughs in new fields like quantum computing, artificial intelligence, and bioengineering. These breakthroughs will continue to transform our lives and the world we live in.
But many scientists and engineers are not trained for commercializing these discoveries and did not go to business school or take any business development classes. I-Corps gives researchers the tools to maximize the taxpayer investment in basic research and spur innovation.
H.R. 539 expands the eligible pool for I-Corps courses and allows a portion of Federal small business grants be used to cover I-Corps training expenses.
The bill also allows any private citizen to apply to participate and pay out-of-pocket.
Finally, H.R. 539 authorizes a new I-Corps boot-camp course that teaches valuable skills, like structuring a company, attracting investors, and hiring staff.
In my district, Oklahoma State University has a successful support system for business startups, both on and off campus. I-Corps is a key part of that system, helping students and faculty learn how to commercialize their ideas and build a business.
H.R. 539 will help programs like the one at OSU grow and become self- sustaining.
I want to thank Representative Dan Lipinski and Representative Dan Webster for their work on this legislation. I also want to thank my friend and our new chairwoman of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee, Eddie Bernice Johnson, for her work in advancing this bipartisan bill.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Illinois for his dedicated and diligent work over this decade on this subject matter. I think we will all be better off for it. I know those folks who utilize the program and will have greater opportunities to utilize the program will benefit all of us as a society.
Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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