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Teams from �鶹��ý�Ŷ�’s entrepreneurship program won six of the 12 awards presented last night at the regional semifinals of the New York Business Plan Competition (NYBPC) in Rochester. The six teams will advance to the statewide competition in Albany April 24, where they will compete with finalists from nine other Regional Economic Development Council zones.

There were two winners in each of six tracks. �鶹��ý�Ŷ� won both awards in the biotechnology/healthcare track and single awards in the energy/sustainability, nanotechnology, information technology/software, and products and services tracks. �鶹��ý�Ŷ� had 33 students in the competition, all part of the college’s entrepreneurship program under the guidance of Judy Albers, who holds the VanArsdale Chair in Entrepreneurship in the college’s School of Business.

Competing in the regional competition were teams from �鶹��ý�Ŷ�, the University of Rochester, Rochester Institute of Technology, St. John Fisher College and Hobart and William Smith Colleges.

“I couldn’t be more pleased with the performance of these students, who work very hard as team members and have proved they have the skills to be successful,” said Denise Rotondo, dean of the School of Business. “My congratulations to them all and to Dr. Albers. They have my best wishes for victory in Albany.”

Albers was appointed two years ago to the college’s first endowed professorship in the college’s 142-year history, the Charles L. “Bud” VanArsdale Endowed Chair for Entrepreneurship.

“I'm so proud of our students but I'm also grateful to our collaborators,” said Albers. “We actually had one intercollegiate teams that paired �鶹��ý�Ŷ� and RIT students and one team working to help advance a technology from the University of Rochester Medical Center.  It's been great fun to successfully collaborate on these business opportunities with colleagues from other institutions and the community.” 

Albers also said she and her students work closely with �鶹��ý�Ŷ�’s Small Business Development Center and mentors from around the region. 

“It was a tough competition, but the �鶹��ý�Ŷ� teams are looking forward to the finals," said Luciano Scala, a senior international relations major from Naples, Italy, whose team VisoWorld won in the information technology/software category (VisoWorld is a study abroad digital matchmaking platform). "I think our strong showing speaks to how �鶹��ý�Ŷ� unites liberal arts and entrepreneurship, bringing vision and action to fix real problems. We all agree that Dr. Albers played a special role in this success."

The NYBPC competition began five years ago. Three �鶹��ý�Ŷ� teams advanced to the statewide competition last year. The NYBPC is a venture creation and innovation competition to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship throughout New York’s colleges and universities. It encourages New York colleges and universities to submit business plans around an innovation to address an unmet need. They pitch their ideas to panels of investor judges to compete for more than $500,000 in prizes.