The Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC), headquartered at the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship in Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business, brought leading university entrepreneurship programs together to celebrate creativity and innovation in university-based entrepreneurship education for its annual conference Nov. 14-16. GCEC also announced the top programs in higher education at the event.
The conference, which saw its largest attendance this year, is the flagship event of the GCEC, which facilitates collaboration of global entrepreneurship center leaders with the goal of advancing, strengthening and celebrating the role universities fulfill in educating future entrepreneurs. This year, Babson College hosted more than 700 leaders from universities across the world for more than 90 breakout sessions where entrepreneurship education experts shared their knowledge and highlighted their programs.
At the close of the conference, 16 universities were awarded top honors in nine categories and several others were commended. Here are the 2024 GCEC awardees:
Outstanding Emerging Entrepreneurship Center, schools with less than 7,500 students
Highly Commended: Entrepreneurship Innovation Center at Bowie State University
Winner: Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Tulsa
Outstanding Emerging Entrepreneurship Center, schools with more than 7,500 students
Highly Commended: Veale Institute for Entrepreneurship at Case Western Reserve University
Winner: Tulane Innovation Institute at Tulane University
Exceptional Activities in Entrepreneurship Across Disciplines
Highly Commended: University of Toronto Entrepreneurship
Winner: Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale University
Outstanding Contributions to Venture Creation
Highly Commended: Velocity at the University of Waterloo
Winner 1: Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Chicago
Winner 2: University of Toronto Entrepreneurship
Excellence in Specialty Entrepreneurship Education
Highly Commended: The Frank & Eileen Center for Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership at Babson College
Winner: UCL School of Management at University College London
Outstanding Student Engagement & Leadership, schools with less than 7,500 students
Winner: Joseph C. Prince Entrepreneurship Program at Stetson University
Outstanding Student Engagement & Leadership, schools with more than 7,500 students
Winner: Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Hawaii
Winner: J. Orin Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation at Arizona State University
Exceptional Contributions in Entrepreneurship Research
Highly Commended: The Frank & Eileen Center for Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership at Babson College
Winner: Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship at Iowa State University
Excellence in Entrepreneurship Teaching and Pedagogical Innovation
Highly Commended: The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurial Development UC Santa Cruz
Highly Commended: The SMU Impact Lab at Southern Methodist University
Winner: Simon Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Loyola University Maryland
Nasdaq Center of Entrepreneurial Excellence, schools with less than 7,500 students
Winner: Institute of Entrepreneurship and Private Capital at the London Business School
Nasdaq Center of Entrepreneurial Excellence, schools with more than 7,500 students
Highly Commended: Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at Indiana University
Highly Commended: Schulze School of Entrepreneurship at University of St. Thomas
Winner 1: Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Texas Christian University
Winner 2: Georgetown Entrepreneurship at Georgetown University
GCEC Center of Entrepreneurial Leadership
Winner 1: Babson College
Winner 2: Sasin School of Management
Two legacy awards honored individuals for their pioneering work advancing entrepreneurship in universities and/or directing a university entrepreneurship center that created a legacy impact on the field. The candidates for this award demonstrate a long-term commitment to entrepreneurship in an academic setting, achieve a standard of excellence and make a substantial impact upon students, faculty, staff, startups or their region. This year’s winners:
Winner 1: Jeffrey S. Hornsby, University of Missouri-Kansas City
Winner 2: Tom Byers and Tina Seelig, Stanford University
Under the leadership of executive director Holly DeArmond, who is charged with accelerating the growth and longevity of the institution, GCEC is rolling out more offerings for members. The vision is to facilitate the development of a highly qualified network and seamless global collaboration with continuous learning of best practices over the course of the year, not just condensed into one annual conference. To be more global, GCEC recently hosted the inaugural GCEC Global Summit: Bangkok, the organization’s first convening in Southeast Asia. Members gathered to learn about entrepreneurship education in the region and form global collaborations.
“We are enhancing the GCEC experience by broadening our benefits portfolio to create more opportunities for our members to network, share, learn and benchmark with peers,” DeArmond said. “It was an exciting year for us as we launched new digital resources for our members and hosted two convenings this year, especially our inaugural event in Bangkok, Thailand. It was incredible to see our members immerse themselves in the local startup ecosystem and learn about entrepreneurship education in a new region.”
The 2025 GCEC Conference will be hosted by the University of Calgary Oct. 2-4.