Center for Innovation Foundation

The North Dakota / Northwest Minnesota EB-5 Regional Center is located in the Center for Innovation at the University of North Dakota (UND) in Grand Forks. Developed in 1984, the Center for Innovation is an ideal location for the Regional Center. It provides assistance to innovators, entrepreneurs and researchers to launch new ventures, commercialize new technologies and secure access to capital from private and public sources.

The Center for Innovation Foundation manages two tech incubators in the UND Tech Park, provides Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) outreach to the state’s tech community and facilitates venture capital “angel funds” in Grand Forks, Fargo and Bismarck. These angel funds are investments for early- to mid-stage private companies located in North Dakota and Minnesota with high growth potential. The Center for Innovation is also home to Dakota Venture Group, the only student managed venture fund in the nation where students make the investment decisions. The Center for Innovation Foundation has fostered more than 400 startups, which employ more than 4,000 people and have attracted more than $110 million in investment. The center was named a Center for Excellence in Economic Development in 2003.

The Center for Innovation Foundation’s mission is to maintain national leadership in entrepreneur outreach and education, and become the leader in tech entrepreneurship in rural America. Its goals are to:

Grow entrepreneurial ventures
Foster innovation
Secure access to entrepreneurial capital
Provide superb entrepreneurial infrastructure
Provide world-class entrepreneurial education with the UND Entrepreneur Program

The Center for Innovation Foundation has won five national awards for excellence in innovation and entrepreneurship, plus two national rankings among the nation’s 700 entrepreneur programs. In 2003, the Center for Innovation received the Small Business Administration Research Advocate of the Year award for North Dakota and six western states.