FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Mary Lynn Fernau
Rice Alliance for
Technology & Entrepreneurship
713-348-5374
mlfernau@rice.edu
Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship Receives National Recognition for Technology Entrepreneurship Program
United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship Awards Rice Alliance Outstanding Specialty Entrepreneurship Program Award at 2009 National Conference
HOUSTON – January 15, 2009 –The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship (Rice Alliance) was recognized by the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) as having the most Outstanding Specialty Entrepreneurship Program at the 2009 National Conference held last week in Los Angeles. It is the largest annual entrepreneurship and small business conference in the world.
The Rice Alliance, the flagship entrepreneurship center at Rice University, presented their technology entrepreneurship programs to a national panel of judges at the conference. The Outstanding Specialty Entrepreneurship Program category recognizes the most outstanding U.S. entrepreneurship programs that focus on unique ways of teaching entrepreneurs and supporting the creation of new companies.
“We are extremely pleased and humbled to be recognized by USASBE. The best entrepreneurship programs in the world are represented by this prestigious organization,” said Brad Burke, managing director of the Rice Alliance. “We are committed to helping build successful technology start-up companies through education, guidance and connections. To be acknowledged by USASBE is a confirmation of our work to advance entrepreneurial education and new business ventures.”
USASBE’s mission is to advance knowledge and foster business development through entrepreneurship education and research. The USASBE Entrepreneurship Education National Awards are the premier national awards program for entrepreneurship educators. Nearly a dozen schools submitted their programs for consideration in this category, but only three were selected to present a program overview at the conference: the Rice Alliance from Rice University, University of Maryland, and Wake Forest University.
The Evaluation Criteria were:
• Innovativeness and uniqueness
• Quality and effectiveness
• Completeness and comprehensiveness
• Sustainability
• Transferability
The Rice Alliance highlighted several aspects of its program:
• Annual venture capital forums in four sectors: Energy and Clean Technology, Information Technology and Web 2.0, Nanotechnology and Sustainability, and Life Sciences
• Entrepreneurship classes – more than 25 courses offered
• Faculty and their recognition – nearly 20 world-class entrepreneurial faculty
• Rice Business Plan Competition – largest and richest competition in the world
• Program funding and sustainability – more than 150 corporations support the Rice Alliance
• Professional and media recognition
USASBE is the largest university entrepreneurship organization in the country. The conference was attended by more than 500 of USASBE’s 1,000 member organization.
About the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship
The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship (Rice Alliance) is Rice University's flagship initiative devoted to the support of entrepreneurship. The mission of the Rice Alliance is to provide entrepreneurship education and to support the commercialization of technology innovations and the creation of new companies in the Texas and Houston region.
Since inception in 1999, the Rice Alliance has assisted in the launch of over 230 new technology companies, which have raised more than one-half-billion dollars in early stage funding. Of these, approximately 30 companies have been launched based on technology developed by Rice faculty and researchers and licensed from the Rice Office of Technology Transfer.
Unique among many entrepreneurship centers, the Rice Alliance was formed as a strategic alliance of three schools at Rice University: the George R. Brown School of Engineering, the Wiess School of Natural Sciences, and the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management.
In 2008 and 2007, Rice University was recognized as one of the top 25 Best Graduate Entrepreneurship Programs in the U.S. by The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine. In 2008, the Rice Alliance was awarded the Outstanding Specialty Entrepreneurship Program in the U.S. by the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship and Houston’s Greatest Economic Development Ally by the Greater Houston Partnership. In 2007, the Rice Alliance was recognized as the #1 University Entrepreneurship Center in the U.S. for Enterprise Creation by the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers.
United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship
For more information www.usasbe.org
###
