![]() ![]() “We definitely try to help people at the beginning stages to ensure they know how the program works, how to apply, what all the resources are, so they feel encouraged to come through the door,” says Ela Mirowski, an NSF SBIR program director. I-Corps helps innovators get started in the SBIR process, as does NSF webinars and outreach events. This is where education about customer discovery really begins. With the STEM field notoriously lacking in diverse representation, NSF invests in outreach and experiential entrepreneurship training through NSF I-Corps. “Which has never been the case, right? The quintessential Silicon Valley story has been ‘I went to business school, studied computer science with my buddy, we built our MVP with $100k from friends and family, and off we went.’ Access to capital has been such a murky and opaque process, especially for female founders and founders of color, that I think the SBIR process is just one of the greatest assets for founders like us.” It’s impossible to build aspirational solutions using emerging technologies without more significant capital investment, she continues, which is what the funding offers. “I remember when I had stumbled upon the NSF, I was just thinking to myself, ‘This is one of the greatest equalizers because it democratizes access to capital for deep tech companies,’” Ganguly says. Fast forward to 2021, through what is now known as the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, NSF awards more than $200 million a year to startups and entrepreneurs across the country in hopes of building far-out technologies, fostering innovation, solving grand challenges, and promoting startups to commercialize their ideas, products, and services. He also realized that those small firms often faced an onslaught of competition from other recipients pursuing federal research and development funding. Former NSF program director, Roland Tibbetts, recognized the economic importance of small, high-tech firms. Sharing the wealth for researchĪmerica’s Seed Fund powered by the National Science Foundation was created in 1977 to help startups and small businesses transform their ideas into marketable products and services. “They’re not learning experientially-through visualizing, touching, moving, perceiving, gesticulating-but those are the ways in which you make sense of your environment and you communicate your thinking,” Ganguly says. In many math classrooms, Ganguly explains, memorization of formulas and steps is often prioritized over a true understanding of the subject matter and the different ways math can be applied in daily life. “I was compelled by the fragile understandings from K-12 math & science that fell apart quickly for many students at the college level,” she says. Without access to capital, innovations cannot be produced.Ī student uses the Prisms of Reality algebra education module, Pandemic. In June of 2020, they received Phase I funding and dove into making their proposal a bona fide reality. ![]() To help bring their innovation to life, Ganguly and her team applied for funding from America’s Seed Fund powered by the National Science Foundation. This experience comes to life through a VR headset and requires students to learn and retain a holistic understanding of algebra to successfully complete the game. Their first innovation? An educational module taught via virtual reality (VR). ![]() Prisms of Reality was determined to create an educational approach that would not only provide students with tangible tools for success, but that also could change the future of how K-12 schools and undergrad instructors teach STEM subjects. While Ganguly knows about the disparities, and believes many of the theories of what’s driving them to be true, she became fascinated with finding solutions to repair the cracks in the educational foundation. Anurupa Ganguly, founder and CEO of Prisms of Reality. ![]()
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