Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Emerging Ventures Ecosystem)

The Emerging Ventures Ecosystem (EVE) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute was launched in February 2011 to accelerate the growth of new businesses and boost the transfer of scientific and technological breakthroughs from the laboratory and classroom to the marketplace, for social and economic impact. EVE links Rensselaer institutional resources and alumni/ae expertise symbiotically with community strengths, in a multi-faceted partnership for mutual benefit. The Emerging Ventures Ecosystem builds on more than 30 years of the Institute's previous incubator program, the nation's first such program wholly sponsored and operated by a university. Capital Region companies ranging from MapInfo to successful video game company Vicarious Visions grew out of the previous incubator. The new EVE program will utilize an innovative distributed incubation model, maintaining a central office in the Rice Building. Under EVE, businesses that are accepted into the program will receive a series of specific services that will help accelerate their growth. Once a new company completes the application process - through which Rensselaer will determine, in part, whether the entrepreneur is willing to put in the effort to make the company successful - the program will assign a status to the company: pre-seed, emerging, or early stage. EVE will promote and introduce its companies to investors, assist them in identifying and seeking grant opportunities (NYSERDA, SBIR, etc), and help them prepare for business plan competitions. The Institute also is exploring the creation of an alumni/ae supported angel investment fund to provide funding ranging from $50,000 to $150,000 to augment some of the alumni-sponsored grant programs already available.