Lamar Smith: “I thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Webster), a valued member of the Space, Science, and Technology Committee for…”

“I thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Webster), a valued member of the Space, Science, and Technology Committee for yielding me time. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5086, the Innovators to Entrepreneurs Act. The bill extends the reach of the National Science Foundation's Innovative Corps, or I-Corps, program, which trains and prepares scientists and engineers to advance their research results into entrepreneurial opportunities. H.R. 5086 expands who is eligible to participate in I-Corps courses, allowing a portion of small business innovation research grants and small business technology transfer grants to be used to cover I-Corps training expenses. The bill also allows any private citizen to apply to participate and pay out-of-pocket. H.R. 5086 authorizes a new I-Corps course for commercial-ready research ventures that teaches skills involving company organization, attracting investors, and hiring. In research labs today lie the seeds for 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. Many scientists and engineers are not trained for commercializing those ideas and did not go to business school or take any business development classes. I-Corps gives researchers tools to maximize the taxpayer investment in basic research and to spur innovation. H.R.…”