By Kevin Boberg, director and CEO of New Mexico State University’s Arrowhead Center; photo by Darren Phillips
Entrepreneurs don’t have to live in or near Las Cruces to take advantage of the many services offered by Arrowhead Center – a business development hub launched in 2004 by New Mexico State University to stimulate economic development for the betterment of all New Mexicans.
The center’s resources are open to any state resident who needs help turning an idea into a commercial venture or taking an existing business to the next stage.
The Enterprise Research service draws on students, business mentors, entrepreneurs, faculty researchers and research partners to create and validate research studies for startups and existing businesses. And the Arrowhead Technology Incubator links technology-based firms with the resources they need.
Enterprise Research
Arrowhead Center accepts applications three times a year from businesses that need help analyzing the commercial potential of new technologies and products, formalizing business plans to attract investors and identifying resources for startups.
Student innovation teams help write business plans, test technologies, research market potential and explore licensing opportunities with potential investors.
Arrowhead Center also works in partnership with the university’s Manufacturing Technology and Engineering Center Program to turn ideas into prototypes: While Arrowhead validates a product’s commercial feasibility, M-TEC vets it through prototyping and testing.
Arrowhead Technology Incubator
ATI is a vibrant entrepreneurial community where the owners of young tech-based enterprises can learn what they need — and find what they need — to become sustainable, profitable ventures.
Businesses housed in the incubator enjoy the camaraderie and counsel of an on-site network of peers and mentors from various industries, with frequent workshops and networking events designed to develop their business skills and help them find capital investors.
Office space is collaborative, but ATI members can use the space however they wish. They can operate virtually, share space or lease an office at a nominal cost. Basic support services include a business address and mailbox, Internet and phone access, office equipment, a furnished workspace, a resource library and meeting rooms, utilities and round-the-clock access.
The 200-acre Arrowhead Park complements the incubator. The university-owned business and research park is a private-public partnership, where resident businesses benefit from their association with NMSU facilities and instructors, and students enjoy an opportunity to intern or work at technology- or research-based jobs in their academic field.
Idea Factory
Inventors and entrepreneurs searching for solutions to market problems, students looking for meaningful and challenging work in cutting-edge technologies and the experts and researchers with the talents to assist this development find fusion at Arrowhead Center.
The center is equipped to leverage innovation into commercially viable intellectual property, which fosters the creation of businesses and sustainable, family-wage jobs.
For information about Enterprise Research, ATI or the many other services found at Arrowhead Center, visit http://arrowheadcenter.nmsu.edu.
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