The Student Start-up Accelerator has been renamed the Raymond von Dran Innovative and Disruptive Entrepreneurship Accelerator, or IDEA, university officials announced Monday.

The Student Start-up Accelerator, a partnership between Syracuse University and the Syracuse Technology Garden, helps Central New York college and university students start nonprofit and for-profit businesses.

Gisela von Dran, Raymond’s widow and a School of Information Studies Board of Advisers member, announced the new name at the annual student-run conference, Emerging Talk, held on March 31 and April 1 at the Syracuse Technology Garden, said Bruce Kingma, associate provost for entrepreneurship and innovation at SU. The conference, in its second year, is held to bring together organizations, entrepreneurs, investors and students.

Raymond von Dran, dean of the iSchool from 1995 to 2007, died suddenly on July 23, 2007, before his 61st birthday.

During his time at the iSchool, the number of faculty and students nearly tripled, and the school’s master’s degree program in information management and the Ph.D. program in information science and technology were ranked second in the country by U.S. News & World Report, according to an iSchool website created in his memory. Raymond also helped bring the iSchool to the Quad in Hinds Hall.

‘Ray von Dran was a real academic entrepreneur,’ Kingma said. ‘I served as his associate dean for seven years, and it’s hard to over-describe his impact in higher education because he really created the idea of an iSchool.’

Faculty, staff, students and SU alumni were able to submit suggestions to rename the Student Start-up Accelerator until March 20. Kingma said Gisela chose IDEA from more than 80 name submissions. The student who came up with IDEA decided to donate the $1,000 cash prize back into the Raymond F. von Dran Fund, Kingma said. Four participants in the contest received $250 honorable mention awards, although their suggestions were not chosen.

On Feb. 16, the iSchool announced the $1.7 million pledged to the von Dran fund through individual gifts over the past three years would go to the Student Start-up Accelerator. With the renaming of the initiative, those funds are committed to IDEA.

The original purpose of the von Dran fund was to name the iSchool after Raymond, but Gisela saw the need for money toward student innovation and dedicated the funds to the Student Start-up Accelerator, now known as IDEA, according to a Feb. 23 article published in The Daily Orange.

Gisela’s involvement continues today as students pitch their venture ideas to judges, including Gisela, at the annual Emerging Talk conference.

Kingma said the conference has exploded in growth, as 200 to 300 people were at Emerging Talk this year. Students from SU, the Morrisville State College and LeMoyne College were among those who pitched their ventures at the conference, he said.

This year’s conference marked the first time the Ray von Dran Awards were given out, Kingma said. Twelve SU student startups out of 39 startups that applied for funding won a total of $70,000 in seed funding on April 1, he said. The Ray von Dran Awards, previously the Orange Tree Fund, are part of IDEA and allocate seed funding to aid student entrepreneurs in starting their ventures.

‘Of the 39 ventures that applied for funding, all of them are legitimate ventures,’ Kingma said. ‘They didn’t all get funding at Emerging Talk from the Ray von Dran Awards, but they’re all legitimate ventures, and I’m certain that many of them will do extremely well.’

Kingma said 15 ventures applied for funding at last year’s conference, with eight of the startups receiving funds.

‘The growth on this is unbelievable,’ he said.

Since IDEA is partnered with the Syracuse Technology Garden, a $3.5 million facility located on Harrison Street in Syracuse, students who are starting ventures are able to get support from mentors in the community and use the facility’s resources, Kingma said.

Despite the name change of the Student Start-up Accelerator, the intention of the initiative will not change, Kingma said.

‘The purpose is to support student ventures at Syracuse University and in Central New York,’ he said. ‘And the partnership with the Technology Garden has made the difference. So connecting what the university is doing with the community and the people that promote entrepreneurship locally is just a perfect partnership, and it will continue down that path.’

jdharr04@syr.edu

Published on April 12, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Jon: jdharr04@syr.edu