EPIIC Venture Attractor Program
The EPIIC Venture Attractor™ is on a mission to drive regional economic development and strengthen the startup ecosystem in Colorado Springs. The world’s first venture attractor will accomplish this by engaging in activities to attract innovative people, resources, and startup ventures to the region. We focus on early stage startups in the sectors of sports and outdoors, health innovation, and human performance. Our long-term mission is to spur the organic development of a dynamic regional cluster from these complementary sectors.
UCCS-based Research Initiative
The EPIIC Venture Attractor™ is a university-based research initiative of the El Pomar Institute of Innovation & Commercialization (EPIIC) at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS).
The venture attractor model and mission is based on years of faculty research in entrepreneurship, industry cluster formation (i.e. Silicon Valley), regional economic development, value creation in free-market economies, and mature startup venture ecosystems.
Part of the El Pomar Institute for Innovation and Commercialization (EPIIC)
The University of Colorado’s El Pomar Institute for Innovation and Commercialization (EPIIC) was created in the spring of 2008 at The University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS). The creation of EPIIC was part of a reorganization of a former campus unit, the Colorado Institute for Technology Transfer and Implementation (CITTI). CITTI was originally established in 1991 through a grant from the El Pomar Foundation, which was matched by the University of Colorado.
