When Poets & Quants named ASU’s incubator ecosystem “Best in Class” for 2025, spotlighting Venture Devils and the broader infrastructure we’ve built at Edson E+I, we felt something beyond institutional pride. We felt gratitude—for the entrepreneurs who’ve trusted us with their earliest ideas, for the mentors who’ve given thousands of hours, for the partners who’ve opened doors and for the faculty who’ve championed innovation across every discipline.
This recognition validates what we’ve built together: an ecosystem where bold ideas meet the resources, relationships and resilience required to become something real. At Edson E+I, we’ve long believed that entrepreneurial courage shapes the future. This honor confirms that conviction while deepening our responsibility to the community that made it possible.
Recognition in Context: The Company We Keep
The Poets & Quants Best in Class Awards celebrate institutions distinguished by imagination, courage and a willingness to experiment—places where the future is being shaped, not simply discussed. To be recognized alongside this select group of universities means we’re among institutions that lead rather than follow, that set benchmarks rather than meet them. While W. P. Carey School of Business serves as the academic umbrella for this recognition, the achievement speaks directly to the vision and programming of Edson E+I and our entrepreneurial community.
This milestone reflects something larger than any single program or initiative. It represents Arizona’s entrepreneurial ecosystem—the collective ambition of students who see problems as opportunities, faculty who translate research into impact, community founders who take calculated risks and partners who believe in collaborative innovation. When outcomes become national standards, it’s because people were willing to take risks together, to experiment openly and to build something that hadn’t existed before.
We’re honored by this recognition. More importantly, we’re motivated by what it represents: a community that refuses to accept limitations on what’s possible.
A Pipeline Built Through Partnership
Together, we’ve created a complete, integrated pipeline that moves founders from idea to investment. What makes this architecture effective is that entrepreneurs themselves have shaped these programs through candid feedback and evolving needs.
What Poets & Quants Recognized—And the People Behind It
Venture Devils Programming: Our year-round model meets founders wherever they are in their journey, because entrepreneurship doesn’t follow academic calendars. The recognition specifically called out our mentorship approach—both its exceptional density and its depth of engagement. Behind these metrics are executives who show up for office hours, alumni who guide students through first pitches and experts who invest their credibility and networks in founders they believe in. Nearly $1.5 million in annual prize funding provides validation milestones that prepare founders for investment conversations ahead.
Expanding Infrastructure The Lightning Incubator and Venture Start partnership with the Arizona Commerce Authority brings specialized support and state resources to early-stage ventures, reflecting our partners’ recognition that entrepreneurial capacity serves the entire state’s economic future.
Commercialization Engine SkySong Innovations has filed over 1,800 patents and attracted more than $1.5 billion in external investment to ASU-connected ventures—numbers that represent researchers whose breakthrough thinking moved from laboratory to marketplace.
Regional Presence Our physical spaces were intentionally designed to foster connections that matter most. They were built throughout the region because we believe talent and ambition are distributed everywhere.
Leadership as Stewardship: The Community That Makes Excellence Possible
What makes an ecosystem “best in class” is the people who choose to show up with courage and curiosity and who risk failure in pursuit of something meaningful. Our role has been stewardship: creating conditions where boldness can flourish and building infrastructure that accelerates ideas. We build the framework while entrepreneurs bring the vision, energy and willingness to test and iterate. This is a genuine exchange—we learn as much from founders as they learn from us.
Poets & Quants noted that ASU’s approach is now producing outcomes that the national field uses as a benchmark. That standard was set by this community’s ambition, your willingness to experiment and your commitment to supporting one another through the inevitable challenges of building something new.
Our ecosystem will continue to evolve alongside emerging technologies, shifting markets and changing funding environments, responsive to what entrepreneurs tell us they need. We’re inspired by the founders we haven’t met yet, the ideas still forming and the problems waiting to be solved. To every entrepreneur wondering whether their idea matters—it does. To everyone considering whether there’s room for their vision—there is. We exist to walk alongside you, connecting you with the resources that transform possibility into reality.
A Recognition That Belongs to All of Us
This Poets & Quants recognition belongs to every person who’s taken an entrepreneurial risk within this ecosystem—and to those who will. It belongs to the student who pitched an idea for the first time despite fear of judgment, to the faculty member who pursued commercialization despite institutional uncertainty, to the mentor who invested time in someone else’s dream and to the community entrepreneur who chose Arizona as the place to build.
We’re energized by the responsibility this recognition brings. Most importantly, we’re committed to the ongoing work of ecosystem building—the patient, methodical effort of creating conditions where entrepreneurial courage can flourish and where bold ideas become the innovations that shape our collective future.
Learn more about the recognition and what Poets & Quants observed about entrepreneurial education nationwide: The Future is Being Taught Here: Best in Class Awards for 2025.
If you’re building something that matters, we’d be honored to support your journey. This community exists for you—and because of you. Explore all of our programming here and how you can get involved in whatever way feels meaningful to you here.
