NMSU’s Hunt Center launches AI initiative to strengthen Borderplex entrepreneurship ecosystem

WRITER: Alejandro Najera-Acosta, a_najera@nmsu.edu 
SOURCE: Carlos Murguia, cmurguia@nmsu.edu  

The Hunt Center for Entrepreneurship at New Mexico State University’s Arrowhead Center is launching a new regional initiative to help entrepreneurship-support organizations across the Borderplex build practical artificial intelligence capabilities and strengthen their ability to serve entrepreneurs and startups. 

The Hunt Center Regional AI Readiness Initiative will work with entrepreneurship centers, incubators, accelerators, economic development organizations, university entrepreneurship programs and other ecosystem partners to identify where artificial intelligence can improve operations, increase productivity and expand organizational capacity. 

The initiative is the next step in the Hunt Center’s work at the intersection of entrepreneurship and artificial intelligence. Over the past year, the center has delivered AI-focused programming for founders and supported AI-driven student innovation across New Mexico and the Borderplex. The new initiative extends that work from individual entrepreneurs and startups to the organizations that support them. 

“Entrepreneurship organizations across our region are being asked to do more with limited resources, while artificial intelligence is rapidly changing what small teams can accomplish,” said Carlos Murguia, director of the Hunt Center for Entrepreneurship. “We see an opportunity for the Hunt Center to help our partners move beyond simply learning about AI and begin applying it to the real challenges they face every day.” 

Rather than offering general AI instruction alone, the initiative will take a problem-driven approach. Participating organizations will be encouraged to identify operational challenges within their own organizations that could benefit from AI-enabled tools, redesigned workflows or new approaches to managing information and repetitive work. 

Potential applications include grant and funding research, knowledge management, application and program administration, marketing and communications, reporting, research and other operational functions common among entrepreneurship-support organizations. 

“Every organization operates differently, so we don’t want to approach this with a predetermined set of AI solutions,” Murguia said. “We want our partners to bring us the problems that consume their time or limit their capacity. From there, we can work together to determine where AI can actually be useful.” 

The initiative is also designed to strengthen collaboration among organizations serving entrepreneurs across the Borderplex. By working with multiple ecosystem partners, the Hunt Center aims to build shared knowledge around practical AI adoption while allowing each organization to develop approaches suited to its own operations, staff and communities. 

The effort builds on existing Hunt Center partnerships throughout the region, including collaborations with entrepreneurship and innovation organizations in Las Cruces, El Paso and the broader Borderplex. 

“An entrepreneurship ecosystem is only as strong as the organizations and people supporting its founders,” Murguia said. “If we can help those organizations become more capable, more productive and better equipped for the AI economy, we believe that strengthens the entire regional entrepreneurship ecosystem.” 

The Regional AI Readiness Initiative is supported by the Woody and Gayle Hunt Family Foundation as part of its continued investment in the Hunt Center for Entrepreneurship and the development of a stronger, more connected entrepreneurial ecosystem across the Borderplex. 

Additional details about the initiative, including how regional entrepreneurship-support organizations can participate, will be announced this fall. 

Arrowhead Center is a hub of innovation and entrepreneurship, committed to catalyzing economic development and fostering a culture of innovation. The Hunt Center for Entrepreneurship, established through a transformative gift from the Woody and Gayle Hunt Family Foundation, is at the forefront of these efforts, empowering diverse entrepreneurs, nurturing student startups, and fueling economic progress. 

For more information about the Hunt Center for Entrepreneurship, contact Carlos Murguia at cmurguia@nmsu.edu or visit https://arrowheadcenter.nmsu.edu/program/the-hunt-center/.