Frequently Asked Questions
What does E(I) Lab Stand For?
How is the E(I) Lab program supported?
Why was the E(I) Lab program created?
Is the E(I) Lab a course?
Who should participate?
Do I have the right skills to participate?
What is the time commitment?
We explicitly require that the students obtain the appropriate permission(s):
- Postdoctoral fellows: permission from the research adviser
- Graduate students: permission from thesis adviser AND thesis committee or, if the committee is not formed yet, the director of graduate students of the department or equivalent
- Professional students: permission from office of student services
Participation in the program for can be revoked if the participation is negatively affecting the student’s research or academic progress.
What will I get out of participating in the E(I) Lab program?
Is this a hackathon?
First, although we encourage submission of problems in healthcare to the E(I) Lab in advance, we will not allow pitching of new, unvetted problems at the kickoff weekend. This decision was necessary because we want to ensure that the challenges/problems presented are indeed important and high impact, and more importantly, that the teams are innovating with a thorough understanding of the existing competitive landscape. This requires months of research in advance, which will be undertaken by select fellows of the program and be presented to all participants at the kickoff weekend. Second, unlike hackathon events that conclude with teams giving ‘pitches’ and prize money being handed out, we are raising the bar and challenging the participants to actually proceed with making the proposed innovations a reality. An idea that is not carried out cannot benefit society regardless of how good the idea is. There is also much to be learned from the experience of actually working with people from diverse backgrounds in developing and testing innovative ideas, which for many of you will be precisely what you will be asked to do once you enter industry, especially if you are working in a startup setting. Third, the weekend will not end with the conventional ‘pitch’ to venture capitalists (VCs) that emphasize potential financial return, but rather a pitch that focuses on the uniqueness of the idea and a game plan for how to realize the idea. For all these reasons, we call our program the E(I) Lab rather than the UNC hackathon.
How do we form teams?
What type of projects can we work on?
What happens to intellectual property (IP)?
What resources do participants have to develop their ideas with?
What happens after the initial kickoff meeting?
As discussed above, we are challenging all the participants to develop and realize their proposed ideas over the subsequent 6 months following the initial kickoff. In addition to individual team meetings and time spent on developing and vetting the innovation, there will be two meetings on Tuesday evenings each month, generally ~2-3 hours long, with one meeting focusing on education in innovation and entrepreneurship, and the other meeting focusing on progress reports.
In general, we expect the first 2-3 months to heavily emphasize on customer discovery (click here for the Lean Launchpad methodology) and initial development of the prototypes, with subsequent months focusing on further polishing of the minimal viable product prototype, possible ‘field testing’, IP filing, etc. Each team will proceed at its own pace, with the most advanced teams potentially in a position to transfer their developmental efforts into startup companies. At the end of the program, each team will make a final presentation to leaders in academia and industry as well as VCs and serial entrepreneurs, and the top teams will be awarded generous monetary awards.
Why should my students participate?
We believe many of the skill sets that the students can gain in this program, including but not limited to (i) effective communication and teamwork with people from diverse disciplines, (ii) the process of systematically researching and vetting end-user acceptability of a product, (iii) learning how to define a minimal viable product (i.e. the most important proof-of-concept), (iv) time management skills and multi-tasking, as well as (v) intellectual property, are all integral skill sets that would not only directly impact the quality of the students’ research but also potentially their career trajectories of after their time at UNC. To maximize the impact of their training while minimizing potential delays in their research process, we strongly encourage participation from graduate students in their 2nd or 3rd year rather than those nearing their thesis defense.
What is the time commitment that this will require of my student?
We strongly emphasize to the participants that their participation in the E(I) Lab should not result in a tangible or substantial slow down in their research productivity in the lab. Our expectation is that the participation would reflect a temporary sacrifice of personal activities outside of school rather than research activities and that any encroachment into time in lab is limited to no more than a few hours per week. For this very reason, we explicitly require that the students obtain the appropriate permission(s):
- Postdoctoral fellows: permission from the research adviser
- Graduate students: permission from thesis adviser AND thesis committee or, if the committee is not formed yet, the director of graduate students of the department or equivalent
- Professional students: permission from office of student services
Participation in the program for can be revoked if the participation is negatively affecting the student’s research or academic progress.