2024 IEP Designee – University of California Riverside

UC Riverside: An Oasis of Innovation and Engagement for Inland Southern California

Two years ago, University of California Riverside’s Chancellor and Provost formed an advisory committee of administrators, staff, faculty, students, and community partners to engage in a rigorous self-study process to pursue the Innovation and Economic Prosperity (IEP) designation through APLU. In the Chancellor’s letter of intent to APLU, he acknowledged his pride in UCR’s recent achievements, especially through UCR’s Office of Technology Partners, in “providing robust support for on and off-campus entrepreneurs and a life sciences incubator space on campus to house young start-up companies.”

The advisory committee, chaired by UCR’s Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development Rodolfo Torres, was charged to build on these recent successes by helping to define our structures, communicate our successes, and strengthen areas where we need to grow. The self-study included more than 100 interviews and focus groups through five synergistic data collection efforts and consulted numerous on- and off-campus reports as secondary data sources. Collaboration was an important factor in the self-study as many partners were interested in collecting data and conducting interviews with similar goals for regional economic development. This collaboration is part of long-standing relationships with the city, county, industry, and community organizations, as well as UCR community advisory groups like the Grier Concerned Citizens, the Chicano/Latino advisory committee, and the Native American advisory committee.

Through the hard work of this committee, UCR is now one of 88 IEP designated universities.

“We join a select group of universities in the nation, including our sister campuses of UC Davis, UC Los Angeles, and UC San Diego,” said Vice Chancellor Torres. “UCR is already recognized by our regional stakeholders as an engine for innovation and economic prosperity in Inland Southern California, and it is great to be recognized by our peer universities in APLU too.”

Torres pointed to the budding SoCal OASIS™ as key to the successful IEP application. SoCal OASIS™, which is an overarching initiative including a technology hub and numerous programmatic activities, is RED’s primary mechanism for building innovation and economic development in the Inland Southern California region.

Rosibel Ochoa, associate vice chancellor in the Office of Technology Partnerships, said the designation “has cemented UC Riverside’s position as a leader in technology innovation and entrepreneurship. It is a culmination of more than eight years of hard work and dedication from the university and its partners.”

The distinction complements two designations UCR has received in the past year that similarly raise the university’s academic profile, while recognizing the university’s commitment to the region. In June 2023, UCR was invited to join the prestigious Association for Universities, or AAU, which includes the 71 top research universities in the nation. In January 2024, UCR also received the 2024 Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement.