San Diego State University - ZIP Launchpad Incubator Program -
United States

Located just over 20 miles from the California-Mexico border, San Diego State University is recognized for its sunshine, palm trees, and stunning campus. It’s also known for being a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI), an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution (AANAPISI), and a land grant institution with a mission to serve people in its community.

The university is committed to providing opportunities for every student to succeed — from first generation college students to PhD students — and to help them become valuable, productive members of the city and working community that SDSU serves. In fact, over 60% of alumni stay in San Diego upon graduation.

One such opportunity is the Zahn Innovation Platform (ZIP) Launchpad incubator program. While a part of the Division of Research and Innovation, the incubator invites students from every major to work together, connect with local mentors, and create start‑ups that can be funded by investors to become real businesses. And SDSU chooses to power the program with Apple technology.

Students and staff use Mac to support ideation, designing, planning, marketing, and ultimately, product development. Once students have created and pressure tested an idea, they develop a business plan that they pitch to angel investors who also serve as ZIP Launchpad mentors and domain experts. And whether they secure funding or not, students create prototypes for their future companies, ranging from 3D printed models created with Fusion 360®* to dynamic, native apps built using Xcode and Swift on Mac.

“We train our students on UI and UX best practices and app development based on Apple tools and resources. We’ve found them to be cutting-edge and really easy for the students to pick up on,” says Executive Director Cathy Pucher. “And we’re talking about students that aren’t coming from computer science backgrounds.”

Since the start of ZIP Launchpad, more than 400 student teams have come through the program — and nearly $40 million has been raised for over 40 start‑ups. But above all, San Diego State University has created an environment for students to learn entrepreneurial skills, test out their most ambitious ideas, and gain valuable business experience. Whether they launch their start‑up or not, students who participate in ZIP Launchpad develop many of the skills needed to find success and drive innovation.