Orange County colleges and universities are going beyond education to cultivation.
That means new ways to support the local “entrepreneurial ecosystem” as campus programs expand and individual courses and instructors figure into the trend.
Plenty of schools here still offer the basics on business coursework and internship programs.
A host of new moves go beyond such old-school efforts to include nurturing actual business enterprises. The result is more new business activity stirring on campuses.
Among the latest developments: Three schools have launched efforts at some level of business incubation this year, one has worked with companies to create classes, and another boasts a professor who started a business to more deeply engage his students with real-world work than a simple internship can do.
CSUF Center
California State University-Fullerton opened its Center for Innovation in 910 square feet leased from the city of Placentia for $1 a year.
The center is under the university’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurship Center director John Jackson said it’s a “mixed-use” incubator, meaning it’s not focused on a specific industry.
“We’re open to all ideas as long as they’re innovative and scalable,” he said. “We’re looking for substantial growth quickly.”
Another goal is to bring “startup culture” to other parts of the county.
“Northern Orange County is overlooked and underserved compared to other areas,” he said. “People are rallying around the idea of cultivating a new entrepreneurial ecosystem.”
Two other schools have launched similar efforts.
Golden West College said it will work with the nonprofit Oak View Renewal Partnership—both are in Huntington Beach—to add a program that includes entrepreneurship courses at the school and help launch businesses.
The Center for Entrepreneurship and Leadership is itself a startup.
A study by the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy said the center could generate 130 businesses, 1,400 jobs, and $55 million in county economic activity over the next three years, according to Oak View Renewal Partnership.
The center said it has funding and pledges from Wells Fargo, Edison International and the Orange County Community Foundation.
The University of California-Irvine launched the Institute for Innovation in February with a $5 million endowment from the Beall Family Foundation to bring firms to fruition and help them grow.
Then it recruited Dr. Richard Sudek from Chapman University to lead the efforts.
Three Areas
Sudek said the institute focuses on three areas:
• intellectual property and technology licensing;
• fostering entrepreneurship and business incubation;
• and hosting events and working with outside organizations.
One idea is to hold a “startup weekend” event for entrepreneurs.
Another possibility is a venture fund to parallel a $250 million UC System effort that the 10-university system’s board of governors announced in September, he said.
“We want to partner with companies on intellectual property issues, stimulate startups, and connect resources and people,” Sudek said.
UC Irvine has earned $66 million in licensing income from its intellectual property in the past 10 years, and 24 companies have been founded there since 2009, according to the school.
A UCI chemistry professor, Larry Overman, co-launched Novonco Therapeutics Inc. this year as an equity partner. It licensed intellectual property related to cancer treatment that Overman helped develop for the university.
Sudek said UCI can do more.
“We’re a major university in Orange County, and we should be better at this,” he said. “We will open facilities and provide funding, mentors, hosting and help.”
UCI also targets smaller efforts.
It’s the local site of national entrepreneur program 1 Million Cups.
On Wednesdays at UCI’s “ANTrepreneur” Center, entrepreneurs speak for six minutes each and take questions.
“People are doing business here,” said Breanna Bremer, center operations manager.
On a recent Wednesday, presentations were made by a market research company tapping people’s emotions and another company that’s created an app that links art galleries, museums and patrons. About 25 people attended.
Laguna College
The Kansas City, Mo.-based Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation funds 1 Million Cups in 45 cities, including Irvine, Riverside, Los Angeles and San Diego.
Another school, Laguna College of Art + Design, is changing its curriculum.
It uses its Honors Lab program to build courses around what businesses are actually doing.
“The lab seeks out industry and commerce with an art or design element, and the students take a class that ties in to that,” said Catharin Eure, chair of the college’s design and digital media department.
Students have helped conceive a resort project in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, for Irvine-based hospitality design consultant WATG; designed shoes for Cypress-based Vans Inc.; worked on wearable tech items for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro for Portland, Ore.-based Nike Inc.; and helped design two clothing lines for Hurley International in Costa Mesa.
Eure said Honors Lab partnerships amp up the basic internship with four months of work on projects and deeper participation by company executives—and one student a year gets an internship.
Teacher Starts Company
An Art Institute of California-Orange County instructor also ramped up internships—by starting his own company. In 2007, Alan Emrich started Victory Point Games a block from the Santa Ana school.
Victory Point makes about two dozen old-school board and card games a year—more recently adding game apps for smartphones to the mix.
He said he did it because the typical internships weren’t working for his students.
“It didn’t extend their education,” he said. “They’d do paperwork. They didn’t learn amazing things.”
He co-runs the company with his wife Petra.
Nine of Victory Point’s 14 full-time employees are graduates of the school, and the company develops and produces the games in Costa Mesa, via print-on-demand, to hold costs down.
A Kickstarter effort for a game earlier this year sought $10,000 and brought in $44,000.
Also part of the deal: Interns have to focus on school before the work.
“They come here to do homework, and I tell them, ‘This is just a job. First, you graduate.’ ”
