• Exterior of U-N-L-V Innovation Incubator building
  • Lobby of the U-N-L-V Innovation Incubator
  • Double door entrance to the U-N-L-V Innovation Incubator
  • Robert's Headshot
  • Interior of U-N-L-V Innovation Incubator common area

UNLV Innovation Incubator

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Ideation, Incubation, and Acceleration

At UNLV, graduate and undergraduate students who dream of being innovators - creating their own inventions from inception to commercialization - now have the opportunity to participate in the university’s three-stage cycle of innovation: ideation, incubation, and acceleration.

Ideation

Come up with your best and brightest ideas through one of our gaming, esports, and/or hospitality innovation classes.

Incubation

Refine your idea and better prepare yourself for the final stage of innovation - commercialization.

Acceleration

You’ve got a great idea and now you’re ready to showcase your product, network, and commercialize.

About the UNLV Innovation Incubator

This is not a typical student program. It is an incubator for student-led startups. To enter the program, undergraduate and graduate students must have first completed the ideation phase of innovation by either:

  • Participating in one of UNLV’s innovation classes;
  • Conducting innovation-related research; or
  • Completing a senior design project or capstone in a related field.

After this, students can either apply for the program or a faculty member/advisor might suggest an entrepreneurial path to students whose ideas show tremendous potential. It is a competitive program where only the best applicants and teams will be selected.

For more information contact Dr. Robert Rippee at Robert.Rippee@unlv.edu.

Once accepted to the program, the students will be instructed over a 8 module/week curriculum on how to take their team to the minimum viable product (MVP) or prototype stage.

Following this incubation phase, students and their teams should be ready to apply for an accelerator program or begin fundraising activities to scale their business.

Contact Us

Professor Robert Rippee
Robert Rippee, MBA, Ph.D.

Executive Director, Black Fire Innovation Hub
robert.rippee@unlv.edu

Announcements

No announcements at this time. Please check again soon.

In the News

Nevada Business
“GOED is actively building an electric, innovative and connected Nevada future,” said Tom Burns, executive director at the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED). “We certainly recognize the contributions mining and hospitality have made to the state. But we take advantage of building and expanding other sectors by bringing companies into Nevada. As new industries emerge this will provide career opportunities for our kids as well as diversifying our tax base.”
PBS
Jump in the Mud on Vegas All In at "Dig This," where owner Ed Mum lets us play with bulldozers and excavators. The whole family can have fun competing in games and crushing cars. Next, we tour the Black Fire Institute at UNLV with Bob Bernhard, exploring its revolutionary vision for hotels, gaming, and restaurants. At the Atomic Museum, Joe Kent shows us a popular exhibit.
PBS
Jump in the Mud on Vegas All In at "Dig This," where owner Ed Mum lets us play with bulldozers and excavators. The whole family can have fun competing in games and crushing cars. Next, we tour the Black Fire Institute at UNLV with Bob Bernhard, exploring its revolutionary vision for hotels, gaming, and restaurants. At the Atomic Museum, Joe Kent shows us a popular exhibit.
WenWeipo
Hong Kong Wen Wei Po reported that Las Vegas, the "Gambling City", has been actively developing cultural tourism in recent years, and the West District of Las Vegas, which has a long history and a large number of local residents, is expected to become a new tourist hotspot. More and more tourists hope to explore the West District. The local African American traditional culture and the tourism industry are also actively formulating social media promotion plans for cultural tourism to attract more tourists.

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