CU Boulder Named an Ignition School for Second Consecutive Year
Inc. and Fast Company have released their second annual list of “Ignition Schools,” honoring institutions that impact society through innovation and entrepreneurship. The Թ of Colorado Boulder has once again been recognized for its role in fostering this impact.
For the second year in a row, CU Boulder has been named to the prestigious , a collaboration between Inc. and Fast Company that highlights the top 50 institutions leading in entrepreneurship and innovation.
The Leeds School of Business and the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship are integral to CU’s culture of innovation, shaping trailblazing entrepreneurs through dynamic teaching and research long before they graduate.
Brad Werner, the Deming Center’s faculty director of the New Venture Launch program and the JRN Faculty Scholar, has seen Leeds grow tremendously in its entrepreneurial programming.He teaches the fundamentals of starting a business and shows students how to understand and solve complex problems. The classes go beyond memorizing facts; they teach students how to think.
“I think it’s really eye-opening for the students,” Werner said. “They become empowered.”
Whether students launch businesses or not, they can still bring entrepreneurial problem-solving skills to the table at large companies. “It’s not just starting businesses; it’s creative problem-solving, which goes everywhere,” Werner added.
Erick Mueller, an adjunct professor and Deming’s executive director, says classes are unique because they use existing partnerships that give students revenue to pursue ideas. Faculty often leverage their own connections in the business world to support students.
“We connect students with world-leading experts and scientists,” Mueller said. “There’s all this breadth of opportunities for them.”
Another differentiator is how faculty members guide their students and graduates to scale up after their businesses launch. “We meet them where they’re at, and we help them move a step or two forward,” Mueller added.
“CU has built a name for itself, with many schools around the country asking for the playbook."
Matt Brady, Leeds Assistant Teaching Professor
Deming stands above
Leeds was ranked the 15th best public undergraduate entrepreneurship program by U.S. News & World Report in its 2025 Best Undergraduate Business Program rankings, thanks to award-winning professors and programs at the Deming Center.
The center has been in the spotlight before, winning multiple awards over the years fromAACSB International and the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers—the preeminent organization in entrepreneurship education worldwide—including the Exceptional Activities in Entrepreneurship Across Disciplines award and the Excellence in Entrepreneurship Teaching and Pedagogical Innovation award.
In addition, Deming hosted the preeminent Global Entrepreneurship and Innovation Research Conference (GEIRC) last year, which drew attendees from Taiwan, Australia, China, the United Kingdom, Italy and more to explore the wide-ranging impacts of entrepreneurship and innovation.
More recently, the Deming Center joined Leeds’ Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility in launching Boulder Climate Ventures, a collaboration with Breakthrough Energy to turn student-driven climate tech initiatives into startups. Boulder Climate Ventures (BCV) is part of Breakthrough Energy’s Թ Climate Ventures network, joining Stanford Թ, MIT and others.CU Boulder is the first public university to be included in the network.
From world-class to worldwide
The New Venture Launch (NVL) program, a class open to about 20 students each spring, has produced over a dozen companies in the last three years. Students in the program compete in the New Venture Challenge, a competition that unites students and the greater Boulder community to formulate and fund ideas.
The Colorado Sustainability Challenge is a powerful reflection of CU Boulder’s growing innovation ecosystem—especially at Leeds. Originally launched in 2021 as the Sustainability Hackathon by Matt Brady, assistant teaching professor in Organizational Leadership and Information Analytics, the event has doubled in size each year. In 2025, it expanded statewide, drawing teams from across the Front Range to compete for $21,000 in prizes. The first-place team included CU students from both Leeds and the College of Engineering and Applied Science.
Brady sees even greater potential ahead. “CU has built a name for itself,” he said, "with many schools around the country asking for the playbook." He’s confident that some of this year’s winning ideas will become real businesses. “It will definitely happen that some of these ideas will come to life and go to market.” As a feeder to CU Boulder’s New Venture Challenge, the hackathon has already helped launch ventures like —and Brady expects more to follow.
Deming’s podcast, “Creative Distillation,” hosted by Werner and Jeff York, faculty director of the Deming Center, has helped put the program on the map. It brings together entrepreneurs and researchers from around the globe to review research and share insights.
“We’re not only doing work that’s important to Boulder…we’re doing work that’s world-class,” Werner pointed out.
Colorado, one of the technology hubs for , leads the world in terms of quantum organizations and jobs. Faculty and students engage with these startups, and several graduates are even leading them.
Deming also brings in leaders from the entrepreneurial world to serve as instructors. David Brown, who co-founded the massive commercial accelerator Techstars in Boulder, is now a faculty member associated with the Deming Center.
In addition to sending students to South Africa and Israel as consultants to local entrepreneurs, the school runs a five-year program to help rural areas and native communities in Colorado grow ventures. “It’s not just helping students; it’s helping Colorado,” Mueller said.
York has published several studies on environmental entrepreneurship, which is the intersection of creating eco-friendly and economically friendly startups. The fusion of sustainability and business is a big focus in the Boulder region.
“It’s a place where people care deeply about environmental issues but also social issues,” York said. This special interest—along with the university’s involvement in environmental ventures—is unique to CU Boulder.
Today’s innovators, future igniters
Student success contributes to Deming’s notoriety in the entrepreneurial education arena.
For example, Jamie Saunders (center), a Leeds MBA graduate, took part in the New Venture Launch, where she developed her idea for Affix Communities. The startup makes tiny homes that become legal year-round residences, paving the way for more affordable homeownership.
Icarus Quantum, pioneered by Poolad Imany, Kaden Sisk, and Christian Wagner, is developing quantum dot technology to further secure quantum communications. It provides expanded data security that’s about 70 times more efficient than competitors, according to Werner.
Sristy Agrawal, Cameron Ghia, Ty Silver and Madeline Maersk Moller founded Mesa Quantum to build next-generation quantum devices. The company makes chip-sized atomic clocks that enable high-bandwidth use and precision GPS navigation.
“One of the most valuable skills I gained through the course was the practical knowledge of entrepreneurship, which was transformative for me, coming from an academic background,” said Agrawal, the current CEO. She completed her PhD in physics from CU and took the New Venture Launch class.
“[The] course gave me the tools to not only register my company but also build my first pitch deck, secure my initial grant and launch Mesa Quantum Systems,” added Agrawal, whose company has raised $4 million in venture capital and secured a $2 million government grant.
Aloukika Patro, a sophomore pursuing an entrepreneurship certificate, is grateful for the resources and support from Deming. “They give us insights on the business basics and how to bring it to reality,” said Patro.
“One skill that I have taken away from these workshops is the importance of having a growth mindset ... I believe that having a growth mindset and persevering through challenges in the journey is what is going to lead us to success.”