Mike Loya Center for Innovation and Commerce
The Mike Loya Center for Innovation and Commerce (MLCIC) was established in 2012 at UTEP, with the aim of engaging faculty and student-led research at the intersection of business administration and engineering. The center’s core values focus on supporting multidisciplinary collaborative research to discover unique solutions to business and technology challenges. At the center, students are encouraged to be committed to their community, work collaboratively, and strive for excellence. These practices, along with innovative educational programs, allow the Mike Loya Center to empower UTEP students and faculty to be successful throughout their professional lives and contribute to the university’s objective of serving as a major economic engine in the Paso del Norte region.
Blackstone LaunchPad
LaunchPad builds next-generation companies and careers. We provide proven startup resources, facilitate access to a global network of mentors and advisors, and offer unique virtual and physical convening opportunities so UTEP students can go further, faster. Students learn by doing, gaining knowledge and critical skills to help them succeed as a founder or contributor to the 21st century economy. The Blackstone LaunchPad network makes entrepreneurship accessible and relevant for all college students, regardless of their background, starting point, or future plans.
Studio G
Studio G is a business accelerator designed specifically for college students who are eager to turn their entrepreneurial ideas into successful startups. Studio G facilitates the exploration of entrepreneurial ideas among college students through the application of the lean methodology.
The Ecosystem Map is made of multiple organizations and services that can give support to all entrepreneurs. The purpose of the El Paso Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Map is to help students, alumni, faculty, and other entrepreneurs to find an organization of their interest that can allow them to learn how to start and grow their own business. The map is composed of 6 different areas involving:
- Ideation: Collaborate with others to share, learn, build, and innovate
- Research & Development: Increase your Education
- Go-To-Market: Get support from Business Organizations
- Showcasing: Search for Pitch Events & Funding for your Business
- Validation: Grow your Business with Accelerators and Incubators
- Proof of Concept: Learn how to start your Business with Startup Events & Training Programs
In order to navigate through the map, please click on the side arrows or just click on your area of interest. To access the website of each entrepreneurship center, click on the logo of the particular center and the map will take you to their website.
El Paso Ecosystem Map 2022 by mikeloyacenter
FEATURED NEWS
UTEP Professor's Discovery: A Breakthrough in Cancer Treatment by Renato J. Aguilera
Dr. Renato J. Aguilera is a scientist and professor at UTEP. He and his team found something incredible that can help people with cancer. They discovered special chemicals called pyrazole derivatives. These chemicals are like superheroes because they fight against cancer cells in our bodies.
UTEP doctoral student wins competition
El Paso Inc. Staff Writer • APRIL 14, 2021 – Antonio Avila, a doctoral student at the University of Texas at El Paso, above, was one of 10 finalists who pitched their ventures before a panel of judges in an effort to win up to $5,000. Avila took home the first-place prize at the annual Miners Pitch Competition April 5 at the UTEP Undergraduate Learning Center.
The competition is hosted by Blackstone LaunchPad and the Mike Loya Center for Innovation and Commerce. Avila pitched his venture, Opti-EV Fleet Charging, which would optimize EV charging with virtual engineering consultations to align operations and reduce costs. Diego Valencia and Uziel Rodriguez won second place and Mariana Casas third place.
University of Texas at El Paso holds annual Miners Pitch Ideas Competition
Jocelyn Flores, KTSM • APRIL 5, 2024 – Get your thinking caps on.The University of El Paso (UTEP), Blackstone LaunchPad and the Mike Loya Center for Innovation and Commerce hosted the annual Miners Pitch Competition on Friday, April 5.
Student entrepreneurs will compete for cash prizes for their grand ideas, according to a press release by UTEP. Each student has had a one-on-one mentorship from a civic and business leader and participated in workshops on market research, financials and presentations.
UTEP Senior Wins National Entrepreneurship Competition
EL PASO, Texas (Feb. 29, 2024) – Arat Fraga, a 23-year-old senior in management in the Woody L. Hunt College of Business at The University of Texas at El Paso, has emerged as one of four national winners of the latest Blackstone LaunchPad Ideas Competition. Fraga's concept, Health Tag, a rapid test kit to measure fabric toxicity, secured him the top spot in the Consumer Products and Services Track category.
Businesses get busy at UTEP's Miner Market
Gianluca Cuevas, Contributor • NOVEMBER 18, 2022 – The Mike Loya Center for Innovation and Commerce, Blackstone LaunchPad and Studio G is an entrepreneurship platform that serves UTEP students. They provide guidance for students seeking to create their brand or a new business, encourage them to join organizations and serve as a welcome platform for incoming freshmen.
Center for Innovation and Commerce provides UTEP students resources for developing successful businesses
Sophia Villalobos, Contributor • SEPTEMBER 9, 2022 – The Mike Loya Center for Innovation and Commerce, Blackstone LaunchPad and Studio G is an entrepreneurship platform that serves UTEP students. They provide guidance for students seeking to create their brand or a new business, encourage them to join organizations and serve as a welcome platform for incoming freshmen.
UTEP alumni create career development platform for students
Maria L. Guerrero Duran, Web Editor • AUGUST 23, 2022 – Internbytes was launched in March by Jesus Maximino Hernandez, Timothy McCrary and Erik Rivera as a career development platform for underrepresented students.
The platform allows students from a variety of backgrounds and fields of interests such as communications, sports, technology and sciences to express their opinions and share tips with fellow students who are in the quest of securing job experiences through internships.
UTEP Hosts First Border FinTech Conference
EL PASO, Texas (Nov. 03, 2021) – Whether it’s mobile banking, automated payments or buying and selling cryptocurrency, fintech, or financial technology, has disrupted the financial industry by creating new and more efficient ways for commercial institutions to deliver financial services to consumers.
The subjects of fintech and insurtech, a new form of insurance technology, provided the backdrop for The University of Texas at El Paso’s first Border FinTech 2021 Conference on Oct. 21, 2021. The event was sponsored by the Prudential Risk Management Academy and Blackstone LaunchPad (BLP) in UTEP’s College of Business Administration and was geared toward preparing students for future careers in the financial and insurance technology sectors.
Student Engineering Teams Receive Grants, Mentoring for their Startups
EL PASO, Texas (Oct. 05, 2021) – A pair of student teams from The University of Texas at El Paso’s College of Engineering were selected to take part in the Blackstone LaunchPad (BLP) Summer 2021 Fellowship to advance their winning startups that use technological solutions to address some of today’s pressing issues in education.
UTEP Blackstone Launchpad Grand Pitch Competition Highlights Student Startups
EL PASO, Texas (Jun. 01, 2021) – Aspiring entrepreneurs got down to business during the Spring 2021 Grand Pitch Competition hosted by The University of Texas at El Paso Blackstone LaunchPad and the Mike Loya Center for Innovation and Commerce, where they began to lay the groundwork for their startups while receiving one-on-one coaching from business leaders.
A conversation with Gen. David Goldfein on El Paso, UTEP and entrepreneurship
Robert Gray, El Paso Inc. Editor • MAY 17, 2021 – El Pasoans are sometimes El Paso’s toughest critics, and sometimes it takes a person from the outside to remind us just how great something is here.
Last week, that reassurance came from a four star general who retired from the Air Force and as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff last year. Gen. David Goldfein was in El Paso Tuesday, and in a brief interview, had a lot to say about the University of Texas at El Paso, the region and its future.
He recently joined the UTEP faculty as a professor of practice in the College of Business and was in El Paso Tuesday for orientation. He is also helping to establish the Blackstone LaunchPad program at UTEP.
UTEP LaunchPad Primes Students for Sucess as Entrepreneurs
EL PASO, Texas (Feb. 23, 2021) – Jesus Hernandez, Timothy McCary and Erick Rivera are now better equipped to run a successful business, thanks to a new entrepreneurship program available to students at The University of Texas at El Paso that has the potential to positively impact the region’s economy.
The team that includes two computer science undergraduates and a software engineering graduate student was invited to represent UTEP at the Blackstone LaunchPad and Techstars global network’s Annual LaunchPad Pitch Competition for their startup company, InternBytes. The team was selected as one of 30 semifinalists among 100 student startups across the national LaunchPad network.
UTEP LaunchPad Primes Students for Sucess as Entrepreneurs
EL PASO, Texas (Jan. 28, 2021) – The Blackstone Charitable Foundation announced today the expansion of its signature Blackstone LaunchPad student entrepreneurship programming from two to eight campuses in The University of Texas System, bringing the initiative’s network and resources to a more diverse set of students.
