FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 12, 2017

Contact: Candice Conti
805-756-5171; clconti@calpoly.edu

SAN LUIS OBISPO — Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE), which is providing workplace solutions for freelancers, startups and entrepreneurs, has space for new members at its new SLO HotHouse location in the heart of downtown.

Business professionals looking for a welcoming coworking space to set up shop with other business-minded members, a place to launch the next big idea or American dream, or a convenient place to meet with clients, now have affordable solutions.

The CIE SLO HotHouse offers its members a comfortable work environment with fast Internet, 24/7 access, educational and social events plus business consulting at an all-inclusive price. Members also have access to meeting rooms, high-quality printers and a full kitchen with premium coffee.

With more than 15,000-square-feet of space, the SLO HotHouse offers flexible short- and long-term memberships, an open area for coworking as well as a private phone booth, a lounge, three conference rooms, private offices, dedicated desk spaces and event space.

“As hotel brokers, the HotHouse has provided us with an energetic and progressive environment for building our business,” said Aaron Graves, principal of California Hotel Brokers and a SLO HotHouse coworker. “We are able to collaborate with other companies involved in technology, tourism and sustainability all under one roof. The input from other cutting-edge entrepreneurs helps to challenge us, and forces California Hotel Brokers to become the best in the industry.”

The SLO HotHouse is a community hub with more than 50 individuals and over two-dozen companies working out of the space. Members include experts in real estate, marketing, law, photography, and development.

“The SLO HotHouse was created for the community,” said Tod Nelson, CIE executive director. “San Luis Obispo is full of talented entrepreneurs and visionaries and the SLO HotHouse provides a collaborative environments. Our coworking space is a melting pot of creativity that generates a level of synergy that results from the proximity and collaboration of like-minded people. New relationships are developed. Ideas are challenged. Problems are solved.”

The SLO HotHouse is at 872 Higuera St. in downtown San Luis Obispo. For more information, go to https://calpolycie.wpengine.com/slo-hothouse.

About the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

The CIE opens a world of entrepreneurial opportunity to Cal Poly students, faculty and community members by promoting entrepreneurial activity and dialogue across the university and throughout San Luis Obispo County. For more information, go to cie.calpoly.edu.

About the SLO HotHouse
The SLO HotHouse is a community space created through the efforts of Cal Poly and the city and county of San Luis Obispo, the business community and the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The goal of the SLO HotHouse is to support students and community members create new innovations and start business ventures.

# # #

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 1, 2016

Contact: Candice Conti

805-756-5171; clconti@calpoly.edu

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – Cal Poly’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) will host a grand opening from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 15, to celebrate its new 15,000-square-foot SLO HotHouse location in the heart of downtown San Luis Obispo.

The SLO HotHouse is a collaborative effort with the county, city and local business community aimed at supporting innovators and entrepreneurs to build a unique startup culture in San Luis Obispo County.

“The grand opening of the SLO HotHouse is a major investment in the future of San Luis Obispo that will benefit our community for generations,” said CIE Executive Director Tod Nelson. “Working with our partners in the county, city, and the business community, the possibilities are limitless. Increasing economic development opportunities will have a ripple effect across our region.”

Attendees to the grand opening celebration will tour the biggest tech startup community in San Luis Obispo and have the opportunity to speak to the innovative individuals in the SLO HotHouse Incubator, a two-year program for Cal Poly students and recent graduates devoted to transforming their businesses from startup to sustainable.

Entrepreneurs can also learn about all the CIE programs and resources available to them at SLO HotHouse. They include the new business incubator — now open to community startups, expanded co-working services, and the Small Business Development Center, which helps startups and established companies launch businesses, attract capital investment, and create jobs.

“The partnership the county has made with the SLO HotHouse is even more important now, in the light of the announced closure of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant,” said County Supervisor Adam Hill. “Everyone we speak to is very pleased to know we are working together to help young companies.”

Heritage Oaks Bank is sponsoring the event. The public is invited to the SLO HotHouse Grand Opening at 872 Higuera St., directly above the Ross Dress for Less store. Advance registration is required. To register, go to https://slohothousegrandopening.eventbrite.com.

For more information on the SLO HotHouse programs and the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, visit cie.calpoly.edu.

.

About the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

The CIE opens a world of entrepreneurial opportunity to Cal Poly students, faculty and community members by promoting entrepreneurial activity and dialogue across the university and throughout San Luis Obispo County. For more information, go to cie.calpoly.edu.

About the SLO HotHouse

The SLO HotHouse is a community space created through the efforts of Cal Poly and the city and county of San Luis Obispo, the business community, and the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The goal of the SLO HotHouse is to support students and community members create new innovations and start business ventures.

# # #

SAN LUIS OBISPO — Cal Poly’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) has accepted eight startup companies into this year’s SLO HotHouse Summer Accelerator program, an intense 13-week program designed for students and recent graduates who have developed new ventures and want help making them succeed.

Read More

SAN LUIS OBISPO — An interdisciplinary team of four Cal Poly students earned the $15,000 first-place prize in Cal Poly’s 13th annual Innovation Quest (iQ) Competition for their startup Mantis Composites, a company that is developing carbon fiber 3-D printing technology to provide full service design-to-manufacturing of high performance materials for automotive, aerospace and biomedical applications.

Read More

SAN LUIS OBISPO — Cal Poly’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) and Extended Education are accepting applications for Launch It!, a five-day summer entrepreneurship camp for kids in grades five through eight.

Students in the Launch It! program will be introduced to the concept of innovation and entrepreneurship in a fun and engaging way. Through hands-on, team-based activities, students will learn about the process of customer development, marketing and basic finance. They will learn how to identify and solve problems, build a prototype, and pitch a product.

Read More

The Innovation Quest finalists have been announced. Check out the following list and find out who will be competing for the $15,000 grand prize in the spring:

Brandplug: Software that allows marketers to pay social media celebrities for promotion in content on their social media accounts based on the amount of impressions or engagements their promotional content generates.

Bubble: A mobile app that aims to provide quick, once a day exercises to help users increase real interactions with family, friends, and strangers as well as develop a healthier state of mind.

Current: To prevent sexual assault on college campuses, Current has developed a phone case with a built-in stun gun that automatically calls the police, texts a user’s emergency contacts, and activates the phone’s video camera to identify suspects afterward.

DroneFox: Employing a hierarchy of countermeasures, DroneFox detects, identifies, and intercepts unauthorized drones.

Hemp-Shiv Nanoparticle Composite Insulating Material: We are creating a hemp-shiv nanoparticle insulating material that is both carbon-negative and carbon sequestering, that can replace current insulation in commercial and residential projects.

Mantis Composites: Provides a full service design-to-testing platform that allows our customers to create a new era of high performance machines and devices with stronger, lighter, and more intricate composite parts than current technologies allow.

ObserVR: A virtual reality application that allows a user to stream multiple 2D videos in a 3D environment, creating an immersive experience by allowing them to self-producing gameplay and increasing their interaction with what they’re watching.

Pivot: We are helping independent sustainable waste management firms lower fuel costs and increase operational efficiency with a smart network of dumpster volume sensors paired with GIS-powered route optimization software.

Quench: The only company that keeps customers fully hydrated without adding any contaminants to your water, we track hydration with our smartphone app and a revolutionary water displacement disc that measures the amount of water leaving your bottle

Saffron: A mobile app regional marketplace that allows experienced and qualified chefs to connect and sell their specialty, homemade creations with foodies looking for the most delicious and exciting food trends.

Smart Irrigation: We are revolutionizing wine-grape growing by reducing water consumption and simultaneously improving crop quality by providing growers with a smart network of soil moisture probes and precision valves all in pursuit of making the best bottle of wine.

U-Farm: The U-Farm is a fully-automated and sustainable vertical farm for urban environments.

Contact: Candice Conti
805-756-5171;clconti@calpoly.edu

SAN LUIS OBISPO — Three new companies recently graduated from the SLO HotHouse Incubator, a Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) program devoted to taking businesses from startup to sustainable.

“CIE provides a structured, two-year program for startups to receive individual coaching from subject-matter expert mentors, including assistance with product development and business management,” said Judy Mahan, CIE incubator director. “CIE has worked closely with these startups to move them through the commercialization process and successfully launch.”

Read More

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Candice Conti
805-756-5171;clconti@calpoly.edu

SAN LUIS OBISPO —SESLOC Federal Credit Union has teamed up with future business leaders as the first corporate sponsor for Cal Poly’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE). Cal Poly’s CIE is a Learn by Doing experience where students get the tools to develop the skills and cultivate the mindset of an entrepreneur. SESLOC joins the Corporate Founders Circle Sponsorship level with a $25,000 contribution to the center.

“SESLOC has been part of this community since 1942, committed to our educational roots, and this opportunity is in great synergy with our Cal Poly legacy,” said SESLOC President and CEO, Geri LaChance. “We are honored to partner with a program that fosters support for bright, energetic learners.”

Read More

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Candice Conti
805-756-5171; clconti@calpoly.edu

SAN LUIS OBISPO — Cal Poly’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) has named three professors to its Faculty Fellows program: graphic communication Professor Charmaine Farber, computer science Professor David Janzen, and architecture professor Clare Olsen join the multidisciplinary cohort in preparing students to become emerging entrepreneurial leaders.

“CIE faculty fellows become part of an interdisciplinary community that is committed to inspiring the next generation of entrepreneurs,” said Lynn Metcalf, CIE senior faculty fellow and Hood Professor of Marketing and Entrepreneurship. “They raise awareness of CIE programs and provide guidance to students and faculty with an interest in innovation and entrepreneurship.”Read More

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Candice Conti
805-756-5171; clconti@calpoly.edu

Cal Poly Announces New Location, Expansion Plans for SLO HotHouse Programs

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Cal Poly has leased a 15,000-square-foot space in downtown San Luis Obispo to relocate and expand its SLO HotHouse — a collaborative effort with the city and local business community aimed at supporting promising innovators, entrepreneurs and building a unique and passionate startup culture in San Luis Obispo.

The university recently signed a 10-year lease on the space along the 800 block of Higuera Street, directly above the Ross Dress for Less store.

Read More