UC Riverside’s EPIC Small Business Development Center (SBDC) is excited to announce that it has partnered with the Murrieta Innovation Center (MIC) to bring additional resources and services to the Southwest Riverside County tech community by providing mentorship and entrepreneurial programming. Under the agreement, the newly formed EPIC SBDC Resource Center will build on MIC’s current programming and business mentoring by leveraging the expertise of the EPIC SBDC’s pool of 15 entrepreneurs-in-residence (EIR) to provide hands-on consulting to tech-focused and scalable startups.
Entrepreneurs with a tech idea will work with the MIC staff to evaluate their needs and objectives and connect them with EPIC SBDC who will assign them an EIR to develop a milestone-based roadmap to accelerate the growth of these companies. As part of its outreach and educational activities, the EPIC SBDC Resource Center will host seminars that are of interest to the entrepreneurial community and will facilitate access to the more than 25 workshops and events delivered by the EPIC SBDC such as Founder Talks, SBIR Talks, pitch competitions, and investor events.
“This partnership solidifies the commitment that UCR and EPIC SBDC have to extend the entrepreneurial ecosystem to the Southwest Riverside County area and accelerate the growth of tech startups in the region,” remarked Patrick Ellis, President and CEO of Impact Southwest Riverside County.
UCR’s Office of Technology Partnerships’ EPIC SBDC has been instrumental in building the startup ecosystem infrastructure in the Inland Empire, supporting over 600 innovators by providing over 7,000 hours of mentorship since 2018. To date, 112 projects and companies have raised almost $63 million in grants and equity financing.
“We are excited to launch the EPIC SBDC Resource Center with MIC and plan to expand this model throughout the region as we continue to develop the innovation ecosystem to grow more technology-based companies and bring more high-wage jobs to the region,” said Scott Brovsky, Director of EPIC SBDC.
EPIC SBDC’s goal is to reach and support as many tech entrepreneurs as possible in the Inland Empire, a region filled with potential, top quality research, and talent. “The partnership with MIC is the first step toward building a distributed network of entrepreneurial tech support centers in the Inland Empire to achieve this goal”, said Rosibel Ochoa, Associate Vice Chancellor for Technology Partnerships at UCR.
About the MIC:
The Murrieta Innovation Center offers programming, resources, and workshops to the local startup ecosystem and provides new and innovative biotech and medical device companies affordable space to grow their business. Currently, the MIC houses nine start-ups in the Southwest Riverside County area and several resource organizations. For more information, visit https://innovatemurrieta.org/.
About EPIC SBDC:
UC Riverside’s EPIC SBDC provides individualized support to early-stage tech entrepreneurs and companies in the Inland Empire to grow their businesses at no cost. Services include specialized consulting, training programs and workshops, access to capital and SBIR/STTR assistance.
For more information, visit http://www.epicsbdc.com/ or email Scott Brovsky at epicsbdc@ucr.edu.