Rady School of Management and EvoNexus Form Partnership
Rady Students Gain Real-World Startup Experience While Helping High-Tech Incubator Select New Participant Companies
The Rady School of Management at the University of California, San Diego and EvoNexus, the CommNexus incubator for startup companies in the high-tech sector, today announced a new partnership that will give students the opportunity to evaluate the viability of new businesses. The partnership is the first of its kind for both the Rady School and EvoNexus and will solidify their commitment to advancing innovations into the marketplace.
The partnership with EvoNexus joins several other programs at the Rady School that help bring innovation to the marketplace. The school’s capstone course, Lab to Market, allows students to launch ideas into viable businesses, and the school’s new Rady Venture Fund challenges students to evaluate and invest in promising new companies.
“This partnership will advance the mission of the Rady School to prepare leaders for innovation-driven organizations and improve the economy of Southern California,” said Rady School Dean Robert S. Sullivan. “It will offer our MBA students real-world experience and promote business growth in the region.”
The joint program will include a new Rady School course on technology commercialization. Rady School students will help EvoNexus evaluate the potential of startup companies applying for admission into the nonprofit technology incubator and work on company-specific projects for EvoNexus’ current incubated companies. The projects will focus on market analysis, including competitive landscape, target customer and business model analysis.
“Our Rady School partnership provides yet another valuable resource for EvoNexus incubated companies, as well as considerable real business experience for the students,” said Cathy Pucher, executive director of EvoNexus. “Most of our startup companies are operating on a shoestring budget, and the company-specific projects will provide them with valuable input, while providing students with resume-building practical experience.”
Lada Rasochova, Ph.D., a Rady School alumna, manages the Rady Venture Fund program and will lead the incubator class. “We would like to build long-term relationships with these companies, and help them as they grow,” Rasochova said. “In addition to receiving help from our students as part of the incubator program, companies can apply to the Rady Venture Fund and we are hoping to offer other forms of assistance in the future.”
EvoNexus is accepting its fourth round of applications between now and June 18 from startup companies in San Diego’s high-tech sector. Interested companies are invited to attend a free open house at the EvoNexus offices on Friday. More information on the EvoNexus application process and the upcoming open house can be found at http:www.commnexus.org/incubator <http://www.commnexus.org/incubator> .
About EvoNexus, a CommNexus incubator
EvoNexus is an incubator for early stage high-tech companies in the San Diego area. EvoNexus, a CommNexus incubator, provides mentoring, education, facilities, utilities, introductions to domain experts and other services for startup companies before they have achieved sustainability through revenues or private funding. EvoNexus' goal is to graduate vital and sustainable companies into the San Diego community resulting in job creation. Unlike many other incubators, EvoNexus participant companies will be under no financial or IP-licensing related obligations to EvoNexus when they graduate from the incubator. EvoNexus is a California nonprofit public benefit corporation that is pursuing its 501(c)(3) tax exempt status. It is supported through financial and in-kind donations.
To learn more visit www.commnexus.org/incubator.
The Rady School of Management at UC San Diego educates global leaders for innovation-driven organizations. A professional school within one of the top-ranked institutions in the U.S. for higher education and research, the Rady School offers a Full-Time MBA program, a FlexMBA program for working professionals, a Ph.D. program, and undergraduate and executive education courses. Learn more at www.rady.ucsd.edu <http://www.rady.ucsd.edu/> .
