Competition Fierce for New York's First Clean-Tech Executive Education Program

NEW YORK, April 5 /PRNewswire/ -- An elite and diverse group of 25 New York business leaders -- each with more than 20 years of experience -- is going back to school to learn the tools of the new clean-tech economy. Selected from a highly competitive pool of 140 applicants, these executives are participating in the inaugural program -- a rigorous academic initiative aimed at turning them into clean-technology business leaders and entrepreneurs.

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CleantechExecs is a unique executive education program created by the Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU-Poly) with the New York State Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). It prepares top talent to help build a clean-tech business cluster in New York City.

"The response to our call for applicants was remarkable, in large part because the business community recognizes that clean technology will soon touch every business in America, not just those dedicated to producing 'green' goods and services," said Dr. Mel Horwitch, professor at NYU-Poly's Department of Technology Management. Horwitch, who headed the curriculum design, said that enrollees seek to prepare themselves for issues ranging from energy efficiency to project development, analytics and financing.

The CleantechExecs program is run through the NYSERDA-funded New York City Accelerator for a Clean and Renewable Economy (NYC ACRE), a business incubator at NYU-Poly that is focused on helping clean technology and renewable energy companies in New York City grow, advancing the city as a role model for a low-carbon future.  

"The CleantechExecs program has attracted the best and the brightest to build green businesses in urban areas and serve as a model for the nation," said Francis J. Murray Jr., president and CEO of NYSERDA. "Together with the NYC ACRE business incubator, this program will foster the next generation of leaders to help New York diversify and grow its economy with technology-based enterprises that will help protect our environment and secure our energy future."

Unlike any other program available in New York, the CleantechExecs coursework is designed to facilitate the application of green business practices and technologies to the needs of an urban market.  The program primes leaders to spearhead clean energy projects in New York City's backbone industries: financial services, real estate, building and architecture, and hospitality. It also provides extensive networking opportunities among the city's growing base of technology developers, entrepreneurs, academics and members of the venture community.

The first participants hold leadership positions at widely diverse institutions including financial, technology, advertising and marketing firms and entrepreneurial ventures.

The program curriculum was designed by Dr. Horwitch and Dr. Ari Ginsburg, professor of management and entrepreneurship at New York University's Leonard N. Stern School of Business. Their design was based on large-scale research to ascertain and develop best practices in clean-tech executive education and to identify the most attractive opportunities for the program's participants. Credit is applicable toward a master's degree at NYU-Poly.

"We're teaming with executives on a peer level to offer the essential technology and operational education that, paired with their management expertise, will perfectly position them to lead the clean-tech market in New York City," said Horwitch. "In the future, transitioning businesses to the realities and opportunities of a low-carbon future will be a mandate -- and, much like the Internet, this technology revolution will have a profound impact on all businesses, both new and established, in all sectors."

CleantechExecs runs through May 7, 2010. For information, visit www.poly.edu/cleantechexecs.

About Polytechnic Institute of New York University

Polytechnic Institute of New York University (formerly Polytechnic University), an affiliate of New York University, is one of New York City's most comprehensive schools of engineering, applied sciences, technology, and research, and is rooted in a 156-year tradition of invention, innovation, and entrepreneurship: i-squared-e. The institution, founded in 1854, is one of the nation's oldest private engineering schools. In addition to its main campus at MetroTech Center in downtown Brooklyn, it offers programs at sites throughout the region and around the globe. NYU-Poly has centers in Long Island, Manhattan and Westchester County; globally, it has programs in Israel, China and will be an integral part of NYU's campus in Abu Dhabi opening in autumn 2010. For more information, visit www.poly.edu.

SOURCE Polytechnic Institute of New York University