Rochester Business Journal

The student business incubator at Rochester Institute of Technology has been ranked the best in the nation by BestCollegesOnline.com, a website that assists people in their search for colleges.

The Simone Center for Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship ranks as the top program offered by universities and colleges nationwide, putting it in a top 10 that includes Harvard University and Syracuse University.

The center was formed in 2007 and houses several entrepreneurship programs that let students test business ideas and create commercialization plans under the guidance of faculty mentors, RIT officials said.

“We are proud to receive this recognition from BestCollegesOnline.com,” said Richard DeMartino, the Albert J. Simone Chair and director of the Simone Center for Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship. “RIT’s strategic strengths are in its unique technology, design/art and business academic portfolio combined with the university’s foundation in cooperative education. These factors allow RIT to create a student business incubator that differentiates from other universities and colleges.”

Student startups created in the center are able to transition to Venture Creations, RIT’s business incubator just off the RIT campus. Venture Creations works with startups with high growth potential that are beyond the proof-of-concept stage, RIT officials noted.

“After years of working with them, we see students whose products and business concepts evolve in the commercialization process go on to become client companies at Venture Creations,” DeMartino said. “It’s all part of the innovation ecosystem that RIT has created to build entrepreneurs and innovators from the ground up.”
 
The full list of student incubator rankings is available here.

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