Type I: UC Riverside - EPIC I-Corps Site for Entrepreneurship in Riverside County

University Of California-Riverside, Riverside CA

Investigators

Abstract

This project, from the University of California - Riverside (UCR), creates an I-Corps Site at this institution. NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps) Sites are NSF-funded entities established at universities whose purpose is to nurture and support multiple, local teams to transition their technology concepts into the marketplace. Sites provide infrastructure, advice, resources, networking opportunities, training and modest funding to enable groups to transition their work into the marketplace or into becoming I-Corps Team applicants. I-Corps Sites also strengthen innovation locally and regionally and contribute to the National Innovation Network of mentors, researchers, entrepreneurs and investors. This I-Corps Site is managed by the UC Riverside Entrepreneurial Proof of Concept and Innovation Center (EPIC). EPIC is a regional program that operates in partnership with the County and major local cities to offer a suite of services and tools to help teams of innovators and entrepreneurs launch knowledge-based companies. In addition, UCR partnered with Riverside City College to allow their upper level students to participate as I-Corps team members. To ensure representative participation of females and students from underrepresented minorities, EPIC designates successful I-Corps graduates as Student Ambassadors to promote and mentor students from those two groups. Teams completing the EPIC I-Corps workshops receive additional support from EPIC's suite of services and from other programs offered by EPIC's network of regional partners. Active collaboration with the region's universities and community colleges, regional incubators and accelerators create synergies within the region and accelerate development of the needed ecosystem that will attract and create knowledge-based companies and jobs. The success of EPIC and the UCR NSF I-Corps site are instrumental in the creation of the ecosystem needed to support innovation and entrepreneurship at UCR and in Riverside County, a region that lacks history and experience in entrepreneurism. Long-term outcomes of this initiative will be greater retention of UCR graduates in the region, increased employment from company creation and the relocation of knowledge-based businesses to Riverside County. These high-paying technology jobs represent a major economic stimulus into a region whose economy has historically been based on agriculture and low-wage jobs.