Texas A&M Chancellor John Sharp and the Texas A&M System’s Board of Regents added a $40 million project in McAllen to their capital plan.
Texas A&M System’s expansion into McAllen will feature a 60,000 square-foot facility with classrooms, labs, and student services areas, and a new startup by software entrepreneur Michael Stuart, founder of AssetWorks Inc. San Antonio. Stuart plans to release a new product concept called Amplified Content Marketing.
- At least four degree plans are expected to be offered at the higher education center. In a statement, Texas A&M System Chancellor John Sharp said adding the project to a capital plan signaled Texas A&M System’s efforts to seek approval from the coordinating board before expanding.
- “The excellence of Texas A&M is a perfect fit for McAllen, one of the country’s fastest growing cities and an economic engine for the region and state,” Sharp said in a statement. “It will be exciting to witness that first group of Aggies going to class in McAllen.”
Texas has a strong entrepreneurial spirit that inspires innovative thinking and visionary action. Throughout the state, Texas business incubators provide entrepreneurs with inexpensive startup environments and a range of administrative, consulting, and networking services.
These incubation programs come in many shapes and sizes and serve a variety of industry sectors. They are generally managed by economic development agencies, chambers of commerce, local governments, for-profit businesses, colleges, or universities.
This directory relies on the National Business Incubation association’s (NBIA) definition of business incubators, also referred to as accelerators, which are dedicated to serving entrepreneurs and startups.
McAllen has a creative art incubator with the chamber of commerce
The McAllen Creative Incubator (MCA2) strengthens our creative sector, including arts, culture and for-profit creative businesses, by engaging the art, business, creative communities, providing capacity-building services, and serving as a thought leader and a convener. MCA2, with the support of the McAllen Chamber of Commerce, is uniquely positioned to actively connect the creative sector with the art, business, and creative communities.
The McAllen Creative Incubator is a venue that offers low cost studios for start-up artists. The Incubator is meant to foster the creativity of the tenants and provide emerging artists and organizations with managerial, legal, and technical support. The goal of the McAllen Creative Incubator is to support the continued professional growth of artists in order to enhance the cultural and economic vitality of our local community. The McAllen Creative Incubator will market and publicize the Incubator as a creative cooperative. Marketing materials will be created to promote the Incubator and its resident artists. Events will be held at the incubator to develop dynamic relationships between art, artists, audiences and the public.
What artists can expect from the McA2 Creative Incubator:
- Low cost studio spaces on reasonable terms, fully air-conditioned and heated with electricity provided at no extra charge.
- Spaces for exhibitions, screenings and performances.
Professional consultant to help with business advice i.e. business plans and marketing.
The University of Texas at Brownsville (UTB), Entrepreneurship and Commercialization Center (ECC) is in the business of assisting entrepreneurs to develop and expand their business through education.
The ECC serves as a real life entrepreneurial laboratory for the University and the community where entrepreneurs inside and outside of the University can collaborate to take advantage of opportunities and create value. The ECC has over 12 years of experience in providing business assistance through the means of its experienced staff, UTB, UT System, and community resources. The ECC delivers its services through its Memberships, Professional Development, and Commercialization programs.
Membership Program – Offers a virtual office space, use of address, controlled access to our facility, one-on-one consulting and priority access to professional development programs. For more information go to our Memberships page
Professional Development – Includes nationally acclaimed entrepreneur UTB-Kauffman Certificate Programs FastTrac® NewVenture™ and FastTrac® GrowthVenture™,customizable corporate training, entrepreneurial education workshops, business technical assistance and highly successful The Language Institute. For more information go to our Professional Development page.
Commercialization – Provides the expertise and support to develop, protect, fund, and bring ideas to the marketplace. Just follow the link marked Commercialization
By becoming an ECC member, an individual or organization will be allowed the following privileges
Services
- Receptionist (8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.)
- Use of address
- Designated mail drop box
- Receiving of packages (During normal business hours with a limited size and amount)
- Receive FAX’s
- Use of high speed internet access
- Access to scheduled one-on-one consulting not to exceed 4 hours per month
- Scheduled use of video conference equipment
- All workstations/offices include: desktop computer, monitor, keyboard and mouse
- Facility
- Use of reception area
- Scheduled use of conference rooms
- Controlled access
- Use of community work stations
- Semi-private offices
- Furniture (Desk, chair, shelf and file cabinet)
- Water and electricity, provided the business consumption is that of a normal office environment.
Tips on open-innovation pacts for tech start-ups
Be visionary and strategic: Small high-tech firms based in India must view the technologies they innovate as means to achieving their larger vision. They should be clear about what their venture stands for, and have a clear strategy to achieve their vision. Moreover, they should not romanticize their technologies.
Avoid spreading yourself too thin: Large companies use a number of mechanisms to engage high-tech entrepreneurial firms in their innovation initiatives. These include innovation contests, structured engagements supported by technology intermediaries, innovation accelerators, guided incubation, start-up platforms and corporate venturing. Our survey findings suggest that small high-tech firms, which spread themselves across too many of these mechanisms, risk exposing themselves to more complexity in their partnerships. This could lead to greater friction with their innovation partners.
Build a decisive team: High-tech start-ups in which the CEO controls all decisions related to partnerships tend to experience friction in these collaborations and difficulty customizing their technologies to their partners’ needs. A possible explanation is that CEOs have too much on their plate and lack time to see and think through situations that require more sensitivity and attention. To avoid this pitfall, small tech firms can build teams comprising individuals who excel at managing critical aspects of collaboration with large companies—such as negotiation and problem-solving. The firms must then empower team members to make decisions about collaboration matters such as what aspects of tech domain knowledge to be shared upfront with partners, identification of ecosystem partners to help scale applications of co-innovated technologies.
Communicate with precision: Many of our study respondents identified poor quality of communication with partners as a key reason for their inability to tailor their technologies to the partners’ requirements. Planning what to communicate about their technologies—and how—is vital for overcoming this hurdle.
Maintain operational clarity: Our discussions with Indian start-ups and technology entrepreneurs at small firms showed that many of them waffle on operational aspects of their collaborations. Examples include opinions and decisions about how profits stemming from commercialization of co-developed technologies will be shared between the partners. As a Pune-based entrepreneur acknowledged, “Many of us do not realize how quickly we dilute our well-defined, clear positions on key project issues just to please our partners.” It’s easy to see how such waffling and overeagerness to please partners can lead to misunderstandings and conflict over IP.
Coastal Bend Business Innovation Center at Texas A&M University Corpus Christi
In Corpus Christi, Texas A&M has The Coastal Bend Business Innovation Center
- The INNOVATION CENTER is a small BUSINESS INCUBATOR that nurtures the DEVELOPMENT of innovative companies.
- They provide STRATEGIC guidance, access to INVESTORS, business MENTORS, and a ready-made NETWORK of business and professional resources.
Many startup enterprises are in need of specialized equipment to improve the product and/or develop prototypes. The CBBIC can assist in locating and even negotiating the use and assistance with such specialized equipment. From 3D-printers to the ability to coordinate with TAMU-CC, other universities, area manufacturers, or even to an outside firm this service and assistance gives clients a way to do more without spending on expensive tooling or other startup equipment costs.
- Specialized Equipment
- High Speed Internet
- Physical Security
- Library & Access
- Public Access Computers
- Electricity and Water
- Janitorial Services
- HVAC Services
- Parking Services
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