Entrepreneur magazine has ranked the technological entrepreneurship program at Rensselaer’s Lally School of Management and Technology sixth in the nation in its April 2005 issue.

The “Top 10 National/Regional Programs” ranking is judged by directors, faculty, and alumni of programs across the country, and places the Lally School among “the top tier of the very best programs in the country,” according to the magazine.

Rankings are based on more than 30 criteria including course offerings, teaching and research faculty, business-community outreach, research centers and institutes, advisory boards, off-campus programs, entrepreneurial initiatives, degrees and certificates offered, and alumni evaluations. This year, business plan competitions that “give winners access to financiers with the possibility of significant funding” also helped determine rankings.

The Tech Valley Collegiate Business Plan Competition, sponsored by the Lally School’s Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship, offers winners up to $50,000 in cash and prizes and the opportunity to present their plans to investors through regional Venture B-Plan forums held throughout the United States in cooperation with Rensselaer’s Incubator Program and Alumni Association. More than 400 Lally alumni participate in the Rensselaer Entrepreneurs Network, a global network of entrepreneurs who have started successful ventures.

“The Entrepreneur ranking is an affirmation of the Lally School’s commitment to educating the next generation of business innovators with the entrepreneurial mindset to succeed in new ventures as well as established companies in today’s technology-driven global economy,” says Iftekhar Hasan, acting Lally School dean. “Our excellent faculty, seven of whom are recognized scholars in entrepreneurship, provide the experiential learning required to develop tomorrow’s innovators, as we participate in The Rensselaer Plan to ‘change the world’ for the good of society.”

Through the Severino Center, Lally offers startup companies access to support mechanisms at every level — from advice and assistance to the facility infrastructure needed to help fund and grow a start-up business. Rensselaer has a strong record of student teams developing business concepts in class, moving on to create new companies at Rensselaer’s business incubator, and eventually, moving to facilities at the Rensselaer Technology Park. A class assignment in the 2004 MBA program led to the successful start-up Orca Gear, which is featured in an article that accompanies the rankings.

Entrepreneur researched more than 700 entrepreneurship programs for the list. Colleges are by tiers and listed alphabetically within each tier.

Published April 1, 2005