As the community celebrates 10 years of the Innevation Center, the University of Nevada, Reno is spotlighting the people and ideas that have shaped its vibrant community.

Below, Innevation Center partner and long-time member Matt Westfield talks about innovation, entrepreneurship and the impact the center has had on him. 

My name is Matt Westfield and I am the founder of the award-winning BizAssembly.org non-profit (formerly Entrepreneurs Assembly).

"The Innevation Center makes it easy to gather diverse founders with diverse startups to help solve each other's challenges."

We were the very first not-for-profit partner in the IC right when they first opened. We moved our workshops, pitch contests, international trade missions and board meetings to the Innevation Center, and it helped us grow with the central proximity and early startup vibe.  We’ve proudly mentored some of the greatest Northern Nevada and California startups in the last decade. 

The BizAssemby.org “Founders Helping Founders" mission has carried through good economies and bad. Only founders know what other founders are going through. The Innevation Center makes it easy to gather diverse founders with diverse startups to help solve each other's challenges. That mission continues at the IC today and for many years to come!

One of the many memories in the building over the last decade was in 2019. I was honored to be asked to have lunch with the President of Poland. It was right there in the same place where we have our monthly workshops. I was the only person permitted to speak aside from President Duda himself. I introduced the six startups I was leading to Poland on a subsequent trade mission on behalf of the University of Nevada, Reno, and the Warsaw School of Economics (SGH) in Poland. It was a surreal sight to have lunch with the Polish Secret Service everywhere in and around the entire building. It was quite an afternoon that I will never forget, and quite a special day at the Innevation Center. There have been many others over the years, too, like hosting over 50 Polish startups in the last six years, and the Young African Leaders, too.

The Innevation Center has been a great asset to Reno, and BizAssembly has been right there the whole time.