SPIE Optics and Photonics

 I-Corps Regional Course 

SPIE Photonics West (San Francisco, CA) 

January 2026

Course Overview

In this ~month long hybrid course (December 22, 2025 - January 28, 2026), a select group of researchers working on Optics or Photonics technologies will "get out of their comfort zone" and talk to customers at SPIE Photonics West conference to identify the best product-market fit. The course begins online and culminates with a trip to San Francisco, CA for SPIE Photonics West. Up to $5,000 (depending on team size) in travel reimbursement funding will be available for accepted teams*.   


You may apply with a team of 1-3 people. Teams may not split attendance between members. Please only include the members of your team that will be fully participating in the course. All team members are required to attend and participate fully in every course session and complete all coursework. 


This is important for two reasons: 


1) Course learning is cumulative 

2) Only team members who personally complete the full course can be considered for NSF lineage and a nomination for national I-Corps Teams


Application Closes: Wednesday, December 3, 2025



Course Dates


Course opens for pre-course work:             Monday, December 22, 2025


Virtual

Session 1:           Monday, January 5                10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Session 2a:         Wednesday, January 7          TBD** 

Session 2b:         Friday, January 9                   10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Session 3:           Tuesday, January 12               10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Session 4:           Thursday, January 14              TBD**


In-person in San Francisco, CA (local times - Pacific time zone)  

Interview Prep:    Tuesday, January 20               8:00 - 10:00 AM

Office hours:        Tuesday, January 20               4:00 - 7:00 PM **

Session 5a:          Wednesday, January 21         8:00 - 10:00 AM

Office hours:        Wednesday, January 21          4:00 - 7:00 PM **

Session 5b:          Thursday, January 22             8:00 - 10:00 AM 


Virtual 

Session 6:            Wednesday, January 28         10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

*International travel is prohibited. Travel reimbursement only available for domestic travel. The NSF I-Corps program is intended for individuals within the US. **There will be scheduled virtual office hours meetings with teams and instructors for sessions 2a and 4 as well as two in-person office hours after the first two in-person sessions. Meeting times will depend on the availability of the teams and the instructors.
Application Questions



Please address the following: What does your technology do? How does it work? Why do you believe it is innovative? What have you built so far? 

Describe the customer need that you believe will be met by the proposed innovation.






Who needs your solution and is willing to pay for it?




Entrepreneurial Lead Information
The Entrepreneurial Lead could be a Post-Doctoral scholar, graduate or other student, or other personnel with relevant knowledge of the technology, who might like to lead the team in the I-Corps Teams national program. See here for more information.





N/A if no members of your team are students, faculty, staff, or researchers at a university.


N/A if your team is not affiliated with an incubator/accelerator.
Team Member Information
Please only include the members of your team that will be fully participating in the course in this section. 










Advisors and Other Colleagues






By selecting "Yes," you are agreeing to provide the National Science Foundation (NSF) and IN I-Corps Hub with data about your team, business activities, and agreeing to meet all regional course requirements below. We promise to use this data to fulfill our reporting requirements to our funders; any public reporting will be at an aggregated level that does not identify individual companies’ data or information. 1. All team members listed above will attend and participate fully in every course session. 2. All team members will complete the required coursework.                3. All team members can expect to spend ~30 hours on the course, including course sessions, assignments, and customer discovery interviews. 4. All team members acknowledge that international travel is prohibited, any travel conducted for the I-Corps course will be domestic and that all team members are located within the US. 5. All team members will complete pre and post surveys from the Hub and NSF related to course assessment, demographic information and economic impact. While each team member is required to complete these surveys, there is always an option to answer with “I prefer not to answer”. 

Contact Information