About Us
Our Mission
To provide programming and guidance for innovators and entrepreneurs that lead to success.
Our Vision
The IIE at CSULB is a central hub for innovators and entrepreneurs in Long Beach. Our programming and services support long-term economic growth that is inclusive and sustainable for our diverse community.
Core Values
We value representation and equity. Representation is an essential part of who we are. We tailor our programming, mentoring, and support to all populations, including those who have been underrepresented and underestimated.
Our Beginnings
Where Can One Idea Take a City and a University?
The Institute’s Journey and What Comes Next
In 2017, CSULB established the Institute for Innovation & Entrepreneurship to bring together creative energy already growing across campus and in the Long Beach community. What began as a university-wide home for ideas, mentorship, and collaboration has become a place where people can find support to turn their dreams into action and where the promise of entrepreneurship reaches beyond the campus. All of this was created by a small group of MBA students and the resulting White Paper written by Professors Wade Martin and Ingrid Martin and Dean Michael Solt.
At the heart of the Institute is the John and Helen Apostle Incubator, where students develop and launch startups through expert-led workshops. Most of our startups are founded on the premise of social impact which is in line with the Institute's Mission and Vision. Fall semester centers on Ideation and Design Thinking, culminating in the Apostle Business Ideation Challenge. Spring semester focuses on innovation and developing a business plan through a series of expert-led workshops and ends with the Sunstone Innovation Challenge.
We’re grateful to Ignite Cultural Solutions, Sunstone Investment Group, and the John & Helen Apostle Foundation, for supporting our ongoing work and major pitch competitions:
- Sunstone Innovation Challenge,
- CSU-systemwide Startup Launch,
- CSU Demo Day,
- Capital Corner, and
- Apostle Business Ideation Challenge.
Also, in partnership with the City of Long Beach and Sunstone Investment Group, the Long Beach Accelerator was created in 2019.
Our community partnerships have included the Downtown Long Beach Alliance’s Education Series, Centro CHA, the United Cambodian Community, and reentry programs for the justice impacted, and university partners such as ASI and BMAC’s LIFE program help bring this work to more people and places both on and off campus. We continue to mentor our startup teams as they move forward to launch their businesses or enter into other pre-accelerators or programs in the ecosystem.
The recent Long Beach Tech Week provided an opportunity to reflect on how far we’ve come thanks to the amazing partners, IIE board members, and donors who have supported the initial vision, as we begin imagining what comes next. Our strategic planning process points toward three pillars: Entrepreneurial Education; Research Translation; and Public Private Partnerships (P3). These pillars offer a path forward and a glimpse of the next stories we hope to help begin.
Land Acknowledgment and Recognition Statement
The IIE at CSULB is located on the sacred site of Puvungna. We acknowledge that we are on the land of the Tongva/Gabrieleño and the Acjachemen/Juaneño Nations who have lived and continue to live here. We recognize the Tongva and Acjachemen Nations and their spiritual connection as the first stewards and the traditional caretakers of this land. We thank them for their strength, perseverance and resistance.
