We empower entrepreneurs.
The Innovation Incubator at CSU Dominguez Hills started as a presidential task force in 2015 and opened its doors in January 2017. Its first three years set the pattern that still guides it: coachable founders, generous volunteer mentors, and a focus on businesses that do good while doing well.
"We empower social entrepreneurs to serve the South Bay community and beyond."
Mission statement, 2018
President Willie J. Hagan creates the Business & Industry Incubator Task Force, chaired by his chief of staff, Naomi Goodwin. Its 13 members include faculty such as Michael Grimshaw, Jose Martinez, Kim McNutt, and Thomas Norman.
After benchmarking nine university incubators and visiting five, the task force recommends making an incubator a high university priority, building entrepreneurship programs, and growing an innovation culture on campus.
The Toro Innovation Incubator sets out its three program pillars and proposes an Entrepreneur Academy of practitioner-taught workshops.
The Innovation Incubator opens under founding Executive Director Gary Polk, with the slogan "We Empower Entrepreneurs." The first clients join that spring.
The Incubator focuses on social entrepreneurs, people who want to do good while doing well. Gary Polk's "Big Hairy Audacious Goal" presentation to the President and Cabinet earns $40,000 from the President's budget, and the Entrepreneur Academy pilot begins.
Incubator offices open in Welch Hall. By December, 20 clients, 12 mentors, and 9 Entrepreneur Academy workshops have brought 1,263 people to campus.
More than 100 people attend the 1st Annual Leadership Symposium and Leaders Meet Students Luncheon. Zico founder Mark Rampolla gives the keynote, and CSUDH alumna and CEO Chiraz Kelly leads the panel.
The University Budget Committee approves a $250,000 baseline budget line for the Incubator.
The Incubator produces its "Empowering Social Entrepreneurs" video series. By December, 18 clients, 9 primary mentors, and 11 workshops have brought 893 people to campus that year.
President Thomas Parham names Gary Polk the Incubator's first permanent Executive Director.
The Incubator becomes a satellite of the National Science Foundation I-Corps program at USC.
38 clients served (14 women-led, and 21 led by entrepreneurs from underrepresented groups), supported by 789 volunteer hours from 16 mentors.
The Incubator opens its dedicated office in the Innovation and Instruction Building. Gary Polk launches the Polk Institute Foundation to carry the social entrepreneurship mission forward.
Under Executive Director David Ochi, the City of Carson pilot that becomes the Small Business Growth Academy is approved, and the Incubator shifts toward high-volume programs built around its community.
CSUDH hosts the CSU system's startup competition: 33 teams from 17 campuses.
Alpha Start bootcamps, Catapult micro-internships with CPaCE funding, EPUC LA, eight Carson cohorts, and the AIRE competition, where CSUDH teams won 7 of 8 prizes in 2026.
Founders who joined the incubation and accelerator tracks between 2017 and 2019.
2017-18 cohort
2018-19 cohort
Executives, attorneys, CPAs, investors, and CSUDH faculty volunteered as mentors to the Incubator's first clients. Through May 2019, 16 of them logged 789 hours. Their coaching made the model work.