The Virtual Incubation Network is a two-year Charles Stewart Mott Foundation grant-funded initiative led by the American Association of Community Colleges and 11 community colleges. The effort encourages the creation of more start-up businesses through virtual business incubation services and supports by community colleges and their partners.
The development of the Virtual Incubator Network recognizes that incubation services need not depend on a traditional brick-and-mortar facility. Instead the new network will “test-drive” new delivery mechanisms that include support provided at the business site and hybrid in-person and technology processes. The AACC hopes its member colleges will eventually be able to bring this work to scale at hundreds of community colleges, particularly in geographically isolated, depressed and hard-to-serve communities where they are needed most.
The Virtual Incubator Initiative will be implemented by AACC in collaboration with the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE), and through partnerships with the U.S. Small Business Administration including with the national network of Small Business Development Centers, many of which are operated on community college campuses.
The 11 colleges involved in this effort are:
- Rio Salado College, Phoenix, AZ
- Long Beach City College, Long Beach, CA
- Indian River State College, Fort Pierce, FL
- North Iowa Area Community College, Mason City, IA
- Mott Community College, Flint, MI
- Southeast Community College, Lincoln, NE
- White Mountains Community College, Berlin, NH
- Burlington County College, Burlington, NJ
- Santa Fe Community College, Santa Fe, NM
- Lorain County Community College, Elyria, OH
- Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, Green Bay, WI
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