This is a list of local business incubators, which provide resources, facilities, and business advice to new businesses, in particular focusing on high tech businesses. “We’re not late to the game, we’re not behind in any sense it’s just happening now.Startup Resources Accelerators, Incubations, and Coworking Spaces Service Providers for Southern California's startup and high tech industry “I just get the sense it’s right for Irvine and Orange County now,” said Scott Kitcher, an ITAC member and president of CleanTech OC, based in Irvine. Growth is the goal, whether it’s a single start-up or the collective industry that is already branching out far beyond its roots in the famed Silicon Valley. “I don’t need to be locked into a really long-term lease and get confined by a space that we outgrow quickly.” “I chose this because I wanted to have flexibility,” Espinola said. There’s no cut rate on the rent, which is about $1,000 per month for the one-car-garage-size office, a tenant said. Though the mayor’s initiative encourages collaboration and support, it doesn’t provide subsidies to seed start-up companies. You get to talk to different people in different industries, network and make really great connections.” “Even though I’m working a lot by myself, I feel like I’m not alone.”Ĭheraia Williams, 22, social-media manager for Socialite Agency, an event marketing firm for trade shows and conventions, said: “I really love it because you get the feel and diversity of different companies. There’s a great energy in the space,” Espinola said of The Vine. The business is designed to help teachers and college professors streamline grading processes by automating test answer sheets through cloud-based technology. Mark Espinola, a 51-year-old entrepreneur from Coto de Caza, has had his office at The Vine since October and is set to launch his new company, GradeHub, this week. Amenities include Wi-Fi connection, printing and postal services and coffee stations.Ī similar, smaller space in the same office park called The Cove is reserved for UCI faculty and students to get a head start in tech business development. The space opened in March last year, and Jackson said it reached full capacity in December with about 80 small, mostly tech companies. They start out co-working, then maybe shift to a small office, and then they’re at a point where they’re working out of two to three offices with us.” “It’s really interesting to see them come in. “Almost every company here is a small start-up company,” said Kristen Jackson of Real Office Centers, the management company that operates The Vine at 5151 California Ave., property owned by the Irvine Co. The same is accessible outside the open front entrance where a large patio the size of a small park allows workers to take advantage of nice weather. Large tables throughout the common area offer workstations for single users or groups. It’s not hard to see everyone’s business happening there. There are no shades, shutters or curtains, but some offices are obscured by colored grease-pen markings of erasable business plans and design equations scribbled on the glass walls. Sliding doors offer enough privacy to talk on the phone, but neighbors always see eye to eye through transparent framework. The indoor office space at The Vine is an open expanse lined with 73 glass cubicles roughly the size and shape of a small one-car garage. “Eventually, Irvine will become a hub of tech, bioscience and medical companies,” Choi said, “whether mature companies or just starting up.” Choi is promoting ITAC with the theme “When you thrive, Irvine grows.” Last week, Choi facilitated the first meeting of the new Irvine Tech Advisory Council, bringing together business, education and government leaders to foster synergy. The effort, an idea from Mayor Steven Choi’s Irvine Tech Valley initiative conceived three years ago, is what he calls an “incubator” for the blossoming tech industry in Orange County. It’s a place where start-ups with a workforce of one can operate alongside others with a handful of employees or more, each growing their vision of the high-tech future in a communal environment. The seeds are scores of small technology-related companies germinating throughout the shared office complex at The Vine. Tucked away in a distant corner of an office park on the perimeter of UC Irvine, a small indoor/outdoor garden is nurturing business development in Orange County.
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