The Lally School of Management & Technology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has announced the launch of the Lally Innovation Competition, designed to attract top innovative and entrepreneurial candidates to the Lally School’s MBA Program. The competition encourages prospective students to develop creative business solutions to societal problems in the areas of entrepreneurship, finance, and global leadership. 

“The competition is really an opportunity for students who have strong imaginations and a passion for innovation to transform their ideas into reality,” said Jill Terry, assistant dean for Master’s and Executive Programs. “We hold a bold vision for the winners of this contest.  Business schools worldwide are examining how management education contributes to the benefit of society and how to train socially innovative and responsible leaders of tomorrow. We hope this competition will stimulate the creativity of the next generation of leaders and encourage them to pursue their solutions to societal problems we will face in the future in an effort to generate ideas and spur economic development.”

Terry also noted that as the global economy continues to deal with the recession, the next generation of entrepreneurs could help to re-engineer the foundations for solid economic recovery. 

Competition entries will be accepted in four rounds, beginning September 15, and continuing through June 15, 2010.  All entrants must be applicants to the Lally School MBA Program. The winners will be chosen by a panel of Lally School faculty and regional entrepreneurs.   Also, members of the general public will have a chance to vote online for the various entries, and this vote will serve as a component of the final award decision. 

Winners will receive a full or partial scholarship for tuition to the Lally School MBA Program, up to $60,000. Those who are selected as scholarship recipients will also receive one-on-one mentoring and may participate in variety of classroom and experiential experiences that will help to increase the potential of successfully launching a new venture. 

Entries will be accepted online, and competitors may also review the entry requirements online at

http://www.lallyschool.rpi.edu/public/academic-programs/d3lally-innovation-competition.

Last year’s winner was Jason Doran.  His proposal, titled “A Business Venture That Co-Develops and Brings to Market the First Technologically Advanced Decontaminant Products in Nearly a Century,” identified the public health problem of healthcare-associated infections and their cost to society.  Doran outlined a potential product line of next generation surface decontaminants to address the issue.  Prior to enrolling at Rensselaer, he worked for two years at software startup MSDSPro, and served as an investment analyst at Capital Source Finance.  Doran received a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Virginia, and has worked as a boating and fly fishing travel guide. 

In his Lally MBA application essay, he stated that “the current economic crisis has inspired me to leave the world of finance, leverage my quantitative background and passion for entrepreneurship, and launch a new career in technological innovation and creative design.  At Rensselaer, and the Lally School in particular, I look to combine my background with the Lally School’s expertise in this area to accelerate my change of career.”

To further prepare students to succeed in the global economy of the future, in addition to the competition, the Lally School has developed an “innovation ecosystem” that incorporates several elements: an innovative curriculum created by faculty and corporate partners to meet the needs of global businesses; experiential learning through activities such as the Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship “Tech Launch Pad” series:  Pre-Seed Workshop, Tech Launch Pad Series, and Tech to Market; and one-on-one leadership development programs that engage students, their colleagues and members of the community to create a network of support for evaluating and developing new ideas and eventually bringing the best ones to market.