Mason EnterpriseTM is a George Mason University-based economic development division that focuses the energy, skills, and intellectual capital of Virginians on new company creation and small business expansion. Through 24 intertwined, complementary programs that include business counseling, workshops, training, and connection to university assets (research, class projects, interns), Mason Enterprise strengthens the strategy development and operations of businesses, governments, and other institutions throughout Virginia and the Greater Washington Metropolitan Region.
Small Business isn’t Small
Last year the client companies Mason Enterprise supported received more than $3.7 Billion in venture capital, angel investment, bank loans,government contracts, and new revenues. Mason Enterprise success is evaluated by the success of its client companies – a total portfolio of more than 30,000 businesses.
Business Advisory Services
Mason Enterprise’s broad team of 200+ business and technical professionals have experience as inventors and entrepreneurs, driven by a passion for helping others succeed. Business counselors offer a plethora of experiences and expertise: food and beverage, international business, therapeutic development, artificial intelligence, cyber security, and much more. Mason Enterprise staff are most excited when our clients successfully launch a new product or service, hire an employee, increase sales, or receive financing.
Incubation Space
Five Mason Enterprise Centers offer leased office space for businesses to release their full-potential, transform and achieve their goals and create a “soft landing” for companies moving to the region. MEC clients receive preference for intern and class project placement, access to group health insurance and payroll support, special “master class” programs, and several other benefits. Locations: City of Fairfax, Springfield, Herndon, Warrenton, and Arlington.
Talent
As the largest provider of talent in Virginia in a university that was created BY the business community 50 years ago, more than 40,000 students across three campuses in Northern Virginia attend programs that meet the region’s business needs. For example, Mason offered the first cyber security and the first cloud computing degrees in the country, developed in partnership with local companies.
Training & Education
More than 40,000 entrepreneurs and small business owners attended over 900 workshops last year, learning everything from how to start a business, to acquiring a government contract, to launching a new technical product. Whether a 1-hour workshop or an 8-week cyber accelerator, entrepreneurs and small businesses have a menu of no-cost educational training from which to select.
Everyone Benefits
More than 62 percent of Mason Enterprise clients are women-owned businesses, more than 42 percent are minority-owned, and 16 percent are veteran-owned. The team strives to serve its local communities with a national and global set of resources, which includes offering a variety of language options and expertise for the types of businesses and communities served.
Northern Virginia Innovation Corridor
The developing corridor that runs East to West through the three campuses of George Mason University – the largest university in Virginia and largest producer of tech talent – starts in Arlington. Mason’s Arlington campus houses the Institute for Digital Innovation, along with law, policy, business, and peace and conflict resolution. The next building to be finished on the rapidly expanding Arlington campus is the FUSE building, designed to foster interdisciplinary learning, research, and entrepreneurship. It is here that students, corporations, researchers, federal agencies, and entrepreneurs come together to take on this generation’s grand challenges.
Partners
Mason Enterprise is grateful to many partners across Virginia, including Arlington County who supports our Entrepreneur in Residence program. Arlington County is also one of the key supporters of the annual Accelerate Investor Conference and our Accelerate Breakfast Series (acceleratedeals.org). Mason also operates the federal programs: SBA Small Business Development Center, DoD APEX Accelerator, NSF I-Corps, NIH REACH, Women’s Business Center, a Community Development Finance Institution, and a state-wide Innovation and Commercialization Assistant Program (ICAP) and an ICAP mentor program. A network of the counties of Northern Virginia are active and engaged partners and supporters, as are communities throughout Virginia who collaborate to build their local small business economies.
Technology Focus
Mason Enterprise sits in the George Mason University Office of Research and Economic Impact, working in concert with faculty across all schools. Operating programs in partnership with the public universities and incubators across the Commonwealth, Mason Enterprise also closely aligns with federal innovation departments and their technology needs. Mason Enterprise leverages the Institute for Digital Innovation, the Institute for Sustainable Earth, and the Institute for BioHealth Innovation, as well as the Northern Virginia Node of the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative, to bring real-world problems to our applied researchers, and bring cutting edge federal research to the market.
