Each laboratory provides all basic biomedical research utilities and equipment within an open, flexible, and secure space to conduct significant research in an urban university setting close to biomedical firms and talent. Spaces will be for lease and will be focused on bioscience innovation, development, and ultimately job creation. The two overarching goals are to provide critical laboratory space and help emerging entrepreneurs turn their scientific discoveries into job-creating businesses.

The Cal State LA BioSpace initiative was created to foster a culture of inclusive entrepreneurship and promote the bioscience industry in the heart of Los Angeles. The initiative aligns with the University’s mission of engagement and service for the public good. Cal State LA BioSpace is providing training, laboratory space and resources for emerging entrepreneurs and their startup companies. Initiatives to create a bioscience ecosystem in Los Angeles date back to the mid-1970s. Those efforts were stymied by weak relational infrastructure and outdated organizational practices, resulting in a drain of human capital to places such as the Bay Area. To address this disparity, leaders in government, academia, private industry and the nonprofit sector began working together to build bioscience hubs, or clusters, to spur bioscience entrepreneurship and job creation across the Los Angeles region. The incubator is being developed with investment from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, the Economic Development Administration (EDA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce, and philanthropic support.