Funding Opportunities for Student Entrepreneurs
The Severino Center supports student entrepreneurs as they seek to learn more about the business aspects of start-ups and early stage companies.
Through the SCTE, faculty and experienced entrepreneurs mentor students who are developing business plans or who want to work with early stage companies. SCTE also helps student teams perfect their business plans and presentations for entry into local, regional and national business plan funding competitions.
Rensselaer undergraduates and graduate students can benefit from the following programs and resources:
Buhrmaster Grants
Small grants for student-based ventures.
Mr. Bob Buhrmaster ’69, friend of the Lally School and member of its advisory council, and his wife Maureen, have given a gift that enables the Severino Center to offer small grants to help student-based ventures test the market feasibility of their business concepts.
Grant amounts are $1,000-$2,000, and are determined by the Director of the Severino Center.
Class of '51 Entrepreneurship Fund
An annual competition for RPI undergraduate and graduate students to encourage early development of entrepreneurial ideas.
$5,000 in prizes
Price Chopper Ultimate Innovation Competition
An opportunity to get your most innovative ideas noticed by the retail industry.
$30,000 in Prizes
Rensselaer's Change the World Challenge
A bi-annual contest to develop innovative, technological ideas with the potential of changing the world.
Open to all current RPI students.
$10,000 in prizes
Rensselaer Entrepreneur Internship Program (REIP)
Designed to assist MBA students in the understanding of the opportunities and challenges of a startup or early stage company.
Students engage in ten-week, intensive internships with their firms, gaining invaluable firsthand experience. In turn, the companies have gained the help of top-notch students, through the provision of supplemental salary for the period of the internship, in projects that otherwise might not have been undertaken.
Rice University Business Plan Competition
The world’s richest and largest business plan competition in the world.
This competition attracts teams from across the globe to pitch their new technology business plans to more than 250 judges who themselves are successful venture capital investors, entrepreneurs, and business leaders.
Total awards in 2010 competition exceeded $1 million.
Selected Venture Summits
Life Sciences and Healthcare
- 10.21.10 NYC
An opportunity to be one of the 50 Top Innovators to present in front of more than 35 investorsFEES:
By 09.14
by 10.14
Walk-in
Investors $495 $595 $795 Entrepreneurs $495 $595 $795 Service Providers $695 $795 $995 Students* $295 $395 $495 - New England 12.2010
- New York TBA
Tech Valley Business Plan Competition
The area's first business plan competition focusing on renewable energy and sustainable innovations.
$27,000 in Prizes
Venture BPlan Series
A collaboration of the Center for Economic Growth and the RPI Incubator Program.
This forum offers a first-look for the business community at the best and brightest early-stage growth companies in our region. Up to two businesses present each month to a panel of investment experts. This forum offers visibility for entrepreneurs to the region’s angel and institutional investors, business service providers, advisors, students, faculty, alumni and the early-stage business community.
Forums are held every fourth Wednesday of the month at the RPI Alumni Center at 7:30AM.
Walmart Better Living Business Plan Challenge
Designed to recognize and award grants for outstanding student entrepreneurship in the area of environmental sustainability.
$20,000 Prize
Please contact the Severino Center Director for further funding sources: SCTE@rpi.edu.
SCTE Home | Entrepreneurship Continuum | Calendar | About Us | Join Our Mailing List | SCTE Newsletter
Last Updated 08.02.10