Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Business & Economy
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Business & Economy

Students Can Pitch for Up to $10,000 at Annual RvD IDEA Awards

Friday, January 30, 2015, By News Staff
Share
entrepreneurship

There is no shortage of creative students with innovative, entrepreneurial ideas on the SU campus. Students from all majors on campus have exciting ideas, from creating a nonprofit to improve access to drinking water in West Africa to establishing companies that sell delicious desserts or unique sporting equipment. Many students on campus ask, how can I get my nonprofit or for-profit venture off the ground?

IDEA logo_DeeEditThey can enter the RvD IDEA Awards competition and pitch on April 11 for up to $10,000 in seed funding.

The RvD IDEA Awards fund students to execute their ideas. The application is short and simple. All applicants are invited to a 30-minute interview that will determine whether they go on to pitch as a finalist on April 11.

The RvD IDEA Awards help Central New York college and university students start for profit or nonprofit ventures.  The RvD IDEA Awards are the seed funding arm of the IDEA office at Syracuse University.

This year, the Syracuse Center of Excellence (CoE) is providing sponsorship for the energy/sustainability category of the competition. Students from CoE partner institutions are eligible to compete in this category of the competition, including our student neighbors at SUNY-ESF.

“Over the past seven years, we’ve been working hard to create an entrepreneurial ecosystem on campus and connect it to Central New York. There is now a tangible, contagious excitement about entrepreneurship coming from all directions,” says Stacey Keefe, executive director of the RvD IDEA.  “The RvD IDEA Awards directly support student entrepreneurs. We want to support students and help them plant roots in Central New York to grow their ventures.”

Students can enter their idea or venture in one of six categories: biotech/health care, energy/sustainability, products and services, software/IT, nanotech/high-tech or social/nonprofit.

The seed funding competition started in 2010 and was renamed the RvD IDEA Awards in 2011, when Gisela von Dran, director emerita of the iSchool’s MSLIS program, directed the Raymond F. von Dran Fund endowment toward seeding student ventures. Ray von Dran served as dean of the iSchool at Syracuse University from 1995 to 2007, when he passed away. Ray  von Dran was a long-time academic entrepreneur who started many innovative programs in higher education and supported student innovation and entrepreneurship.

IDEA encourages all students who want to apply for the RvD IDEA Awards to meet with Keefe (sekeefe@syr.edu) to make their applications as strong as possible. There will also be pitch workshops in March and April to help prepare students for the competition.

For more information, visit http://idea.syr.edu/competitions/rvd-idea-awards/.

  • Author

News Staff

  • Recent
  • 250 Years Later, Declaration of Independence Still Challenges, Inspires a Nation: A Conversation With Professor Carol Faulkner
    Monday, June 30, 2025, By Kathleen Haley
  • Philanthropy Driven by Passion, Potential and Purpose
    Monday, June 30, 2025, By Eileen Korey
  • Libraries Receives Grant for Book Repair Workshop
    Monday, June 30, 2025, By Cristina Hatem
  • Calling All Alumni Entrepreneurs: Apply for ’CUSE50 Awards
    Tuesday, June 24, 2025, By John Boccacino
  • Swinging Into Summer: Syracuse International Jazz Fest Returns With Star Power, Student Talent and a Soulful Campus Finale
    Tuesday, June 24, 2025, By Kathleen Haley

More In Business & Economy

Libraries Receives Grant for Book Repair Workshop

Syracuse University Libraries’ Department of Access and Resource Sharing received a Central New York Library Resources Council Catalyst Grant for $2,000 to provide train-the-trainer workshops on book repair to local school district media specialists. Preservation librarian Marianne Hanley submitted the…

Boom! Where to Watch Fireworks in CNY This Fourth of July

Get ready to light up your Independence Day with a bang! From lakeside launches to park-side pyrotechnics, Central New York (CNY) is bursting with fireworks displays to celebrate the Fourth of July. Here’s your guide to the best local shows…

Calling All Alumni Entrepreneurs: Apply for ’CUSE50 Awards

Did you cultivate your entrepreneurial skills as a student at Syracuse University and either founded or currently own your own business as an Orange alumnus? If so, you’re encouraged to apply for the University’s third annual ’CUSE50 Alumni Entrepreneur Award,…

Retiring University Professor and Decorated Public Servant Sean O’Keefe G’78 Reflects on a Legacy of Service

For most of his time as a public servant, Sean O’Keefe G’78 adhered to a few guiding principles: Step up when someone calls upon you to serve. Be open to anything. Challenge yourself. Those values helped O’Keefe navigate a career…

Jorge Morales ’26 Named a 2025 Beinecke Scholar

Jorge Morales ’26, a double major in history and anthropology in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs with a minor in English and textual studies in the College of Arts and Sciences, has been awarded the highly competitive…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2025 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.