Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship and Rice University receive top award at 2011 Global Entrepreneurship Conferen

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Rice Alliance receives the 2011 NASDAQ OMX Center of Entrepreneurial Excellence Award

Houston, TX - Oct. 24, 2011 -- Rice University’s Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship received the top honor at the 2011 Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC) annual conference on Saturday evening in Los Angeles.  Rice was the recipient of the 2011 NASDAQ OMX Center of Entrepreneurial Excellence Award, the highest award that an entrepreneurship center can receive.

This special award was created by NASDAQ OMX in association with the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers for the purpose of recognizing the unique achievements and outstanding efforts of entrepreneurship centers across the world. The NASDAQ OMX Center of Entrepreneurial Excellence award honors those centers that have made and will continue to make enormous contributions in advancing entrepreneurship as the force in economic growth throughout the world.

The Center of Entrepreneurial Excellence Award winner is selected by a panel of top peer universities, along with members of the NASDAQ OMX executive team.

Rice University’s entrepreneurship program was recognized for making remarkable advancements in the entrepreneurial field in the areas of entrepreneurship curriculum, outreach to emerging ventures, community impact and collaborations, entrepreneurship research, contributions to other university centers, and overall prestige and recognition in the entrepreneurship field. Brad Burke, managing director, Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship, accepted the award on behalf of the Rice Alliance and Rice University, at the 2011 Awards Banquet on the USC Campus in Los Angeles, California.

The GCEC is the premier international organization of university entrepreneurship centers devoted to advancing entrepreneurship excellence in entrepreneurship in the academic and business communities.  The entrepreneurship centers at over 200 leading university entrepreneurship centers participate in the GCEC. 

“It is a great honor for the Rice Alliance of Technology and Entrepreneurship and Rice University to receive this prestigious award,” said Bill Glick, Dean, Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business (Jones School) at Rice University.  “The award recognizes the quality of the depth and breadth of Rice’s entrepreneurship programs, both curricular and non-curricular. We are committed to helping educate the next generation of successful entrepreneurs, to commercializing innovative research, and to creating jobs and economic development through the launch of successful entrepreneurial companies.  To be acknowledged by this esteemed organization is a confirmation of our work to advance entrepreneurial education, research, and new business ventures.”

The Rice Alliance is supported by a number of leading firms and organizations including Insperity, DFJ Mercury, Fortune, Greater Houston Partnership and Opportunity HoustonSM, GOOSE Society of Texas, Kauffman Foundation, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers (KPCB), NASA Johnson Space Center, NASDAQ OMX, SURGE Accelerator, U.S. Department of Energy, and Waste Management.

The Jones School’s entrepreneurship curricular programs are led by nationally recognized educator, Dr. Al Napier, together with Dr. Ed Williams, a co-founder of Rice’s entrepreneurship programs, recognized as one of the top entrepreneurship faculty in the U.S. by Business Week, together with a world-class group of tenured and adjunct faculty.

The award also recognizes the efforts of the Rice Alliance team:  Mary Lynn Fernau, Dr. Tom Kraft, Lea Aden Lueck, Quynhmai Nguyen, Kerri Smith, and Erin Wyatt.

The following criteria were used in aggregate by the judging panel to assess the worthiness of an award winning center:

1. National prestige of the entrepreneurship program/center
2. National/state recognition achieved
3. Entrepreneurship program quality and longevity of the program
4. Entrepreneurship curriculum development
5. Contributions to entrepreneurship research
6. Outreach activities
7. Community collaborations
8. Special projects or accomplishments
9. University/community commitment to the entrepreneurship center
10. Commitment and contributions to the GCEC organization

Past winners include: MIT, Stanford University, University of California - Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon University, Indiana University, University of Virginia, and Babson College. 

About the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship

The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship (Rice Alliance) is Rice University’s nationally recognized initiative devoted to the support of technology commercialization, entrepreneurship education and the launch of technology companies.

The Rice Alliance was formed in 2000 as a strategic alliance of three schools at Rice: the George R. Brown School of Engineering, the Wiess School of Natural Sciences and the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business in collaboration with the Vice Provost and the Office of Research. Since its inception, the Rice Alliance has assisted in the launch of more than 435 startups which have raised more than $1.0 billion in early stage capital. More than 1,300 start-up ventures have presented at the more 130 Rice Alliance programs and have raised more than $2 billion in total funding.

The Rice Alliance hosts the world’s richest and largest business plan competition, the Rice Business Plan Competition, where 42 top graduate universities from around the world compete for more than $1.3 million. More than 133 past teams have successfully launched their business after competing at Rice and are in business today.  Past competitors have raised more than $396 million in funding.

Rice’s Entrepreneurship Program has received several recent accolades:
  - 2011 NASDAQ OMX Center of Entrepreneurial Excellence Award
  - 2011, 2010, 2009 Top Ten U.S. Graduate Entrepreneurship Program – Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine
  - 2011Top U.S. Graduate Entrepreneurship Program – US News & World Report
  - 2011 National Model MBA Entrepreneurship Program - USASBE
  - 2009 Outstanding Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership & Excellence in Specialty Entrepreneurship Education – GCEC
  - 2009 Outstanding Specialty Entrepreneurship Program – USASBE
  - 2009 Marketer of the Year – American Marketing Association
  - 2008 Houston’s Greatest Economic Development Ally – Greater Houston Partnership
  - 2007 Outstanding Enterprise Creation Award – GCEC

About the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC)
The Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC) was established in 1997 for the purpose of becoming the key junction for university-based entrepreneurship centers across the U.S. to collaborate, communicate, and jointly advance excellence in entrepreneurship through the unique role and position of the centers in the academic and business communities.

Today, GCEC stands as the premier leadership organization addressing the emerging topics of importance to the nation’s university-based centers for entrepreneurship. It has become the industry vehicle by which the top, established entrepreneurship centers, as well as emerging centers, can work together to share information, develop programs and initiatives, and collaborate and assist each other in advancing, strengthening, and celebrating the contributions and impact of individual centers--as well as the overall role of university-based entrepreneurship center.

News Source : Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship and Rice University receive top award at 2011 Global Entrepreneurship Conference