Gov. Herbert cuts ribbon at UVU Business Resource Center opening

Utah Valley University opened its new Business Resource Center on Tuesday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony led by Gov. Gary Herbert, UVU President Matthew Holland and more than 150 area business, government, education and community leaders.

The new center will offer services that capitalize on the numerous resources, programs and activities provided by UVU faculty, staff and students to entrepreneurs and businesses in surrounding counties.

"I appreciate the fact," Herbert said, "that this Business Resource Center, ... in order to help the entrepreneur, that 70 percent of the space here is going to be dedicated to start-ups, to incubator-type businesses to help start them and accelerate them and give them every opportunity, as we have fledgling new businesses."

The center will serve budding entrepreneurs and business owners through an economic development office, a technology commercialization office, the state's largest Small Business Development Center, representatives from the Utah Science Technology Research initiative and the nationally ranked Manufacturing Extension Partnership.

Holland said the Business Resource Center is crucial to economic development, as it houses many of the programs and initiatives connected to the university's business engagement strategy. This strategy led to the creation of the technology commercialization office which currently has four new patents pending for marketable technologies.

In addition to its role as a business incubator, the center will encourage student involvement through research projects and activites.

The center will begin full services this month and is located at 815 W. 1250 South, in Orem.

EMAIL: tackerman@desnews.com