• 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.

Apply to the UNLV Innovation Incubator

 

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

KLAS-TV: 8 News Now
As robot technology and machine learning continue to develop, this advancement has increasingly entered Las Vegas valley resorts and eateries, dazzling guests and causing some unease for service industry workers.
Las Vegas Sun
The UNLV Research Foundation approved an agreement with Gardner Nevada Tech Park Studios to oversee the development of a 34-acre media production and multi-use facility complex at the university’s Harry Reid Research & Technology Park in southwest Las Vegas, officials said this morning.
KSNV-TV: News 3
New film studios in the southwest Las Vegas valley have received a green light from UNLV. The university announced that the UNLV Research Foundation last week approved an agreement to develop a 34-acre media production complex at the Harry Reid Research & Technology Park.
KVVU-TV: Fox 5
UNLV revealed new details about its planned movie studio complex on Tuesday. The UNLV Research Foundation approved an agreement with Gardner Nevada Tech Park Studios to oversee the 34-acre development last week. Gardner will also work with Birtcher Development -- a real estate company that has been involved in other movie-related projects, such as the Academy of Television, Arts & Sciences headquarters and screening rooms in North Hollywood and the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood -- and The MBS Group,the largest studio operator and production services company in the world.

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