North Idaho College

North Idaho College will launch the North Idaho College Venture Center (NIC Venture Center) to provide access to equipment, space, and programming for entrepreneurs in rural North Idaho. The NIC Venture Center will be a community-oriented, proof-of-concept center on North Idaho College’s campus, which will enable the rural communities of North Idaho to develop new product-concepts for commercialized purposes, filling a critical gap in the regional development pipeline.

The North Idaho College Venture Center will be comprised of two complimentary programs: the equipment and physical space of the Rapid Prototype Lab, and the educational programming of the Venture Academy. The Rapid Prototype Lab will be a regional one-stop resource for NIC students, staff, and the larger business community to access the tools, education and expertise needed to design and fabricate new product-concepts for market validation. The Venture Academy will be a suite of non-credit educational programs providing opportunities for the community to gain real-world experience in developing new products and learning the process of commercialization.

At the end of the three-year grant period, the program anticipates that 20 new businesses will be created, directly supporting a minimum of 25 new jobs. North Idaho College estimates that five years after the end of the grant, in total the program will have assisted 400 entrepreneurs and businesses, facilitated the development of 40 prototypes, and supported the creation of 53 new businesses.