$300,000 in Grants to UCI to Provide Guidance to New High-Tech Businesses
UC Irvine has received $300,000 in grants that will allow one-on-one counseling for start-up high-technology businesses.
The service will be folded into the management school’s Accelerate program, which was established in 1990 to make university resources available to emerging entrepreneurs.
The grant has three parts: the state Department of Commerce contributed $207,459, the U.S. Small Business Administration contributed $92,700 and the remaining $60,000 was donated by 24 private companies.
The Accelerate program runs classes for new entrepreneurs as well as for those with some experience. It includes a lecture series to introduce entrepreneurs and to discuss academic research and intellectual-property news.
The program focuses on biotechnology companies and makers of electronics, medical devices, computer hardware and software.
The grant is a further step that the university is taking toward a partnership with businesses in the area. In August, the university announced plans to build a health sciences center, complete with medical research laboratories and clinics.
The center would complement a planned biomedical industrial park that the university hopes to develop with major medical and pharmaceutical companies.
