UMD Recognized With Top-10 Ranking for Entrepreneurship

The University of Maryland has again been recognized as a national leader in innovation and entrepreneurship, earning a top-10 spot in The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine’s annual ranking of the best schools for student entrepreneurship and receiving an Association of Public and Land-grant Universities’ (APLU) 2025 Innovation & Economic Prosperity Award. 

Together, the honors underscore UMD’s broad impact in cultivating entrepreneurial talent and driving innovation across disciplines and throughout the state.

UMD placed No. 7 across all institutions and No. 5 among public universities for undergraduate entrepreneurship studies, according to 2026 rankings released Wednesday by The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur—marking Maryland’s 11th straight year in the top 10 of this annual list. The university also ranked No. 15 overall for graduate studies and No. 1 in the mid-Atlantic region.

“Innovation and entrepreneurship are woven into the fabric of the University of Maryland,” said Dean Chang, chief innovation officer. “Our students are not only learning how to launch ventures—they’re also developing the design skills to solve complex challenges in every field. This ranking reflects the strength of Maryland’s entire innovation ecosystem, from engineering and the arts to business, science and social impact, as well as the selfless I&E leaders who overdeliver year after year.”

While many entrepreneurship rankings focus only on a university's business school, The Princeton Review’s reflects a university’s campuswide entrepreneurship ecosystem, analyzing a variety of factors including academic offerings, mentorships, competitions, programs, centers and faculty support.

“At the University of Maryland, innovation and entrepreneurship are essential elements of how we educate and empower every student,” said Jennifer King Rice, UMD's senior vice president and provost. “Our faculty weave creative problem-solving and entrepreneurial thinking into the learning experience across all disciplines to prepare graduates who drive change and advance ideas that make a meaningful impact on our communities and the world.”

Nearly one in four undergraduates—7,318—in 92 majors were enrolled in undergraduate entrepreneurship courses at UMD in 2024-25; they were taught by 60 faculty members across 29 departments. Beyond traditional entrepreneurship, UMD also offers over 100 courses in innovation-related areas like creativity, entrepreneurial mindset, social value creation, business models and design thinking. 

Entrepreneurial UMD students are also routinely selected to participate in national competitions and programs such as the prestigious Y Combinator startup accelerator in Silicon Valley and XFoundry Nexplore, a hands-on innovation summit that brings together students, researchers and industry partners to design solutions for scientific and technological challenges.

The Innovation & Economic Prosperity (IEP) Award in the Innovation category from the APLU  recognizes the university for advancing the innovation landscape in two key areas: community and quantum. This is the fourth APLU IEP award for UMD, which won the 2017 IEP Place Award and the IEP Connections Award in 2015 and 2017 that recognizes excellence in overall economic engagement and impact. 

As the lead university of the NSF Mid-Atlantic Innovation Hub, UMD conceived of and launched the statewide Maryland Innovation Extension effort to expand access to entrepreneurial training and resources by partnering with HBCUs and minority serving institutions. The program provides training courses, workshops, entrepreneurs-in-residence and access to experienced startup founders who mentor faculty, staff and students. The program has helped create new ventures and developed a stronger, more interconnected statewide innovation infrastructure. 

Drawing on its longstanding leadership in quantum computing, UMD also created the Quantum Startup Foundry and the Discovery Fund to attract and support top quantum startups and entrepreneurs, and UMD helped launch the Mid-Atlantic Quantum Alliance, a coalition of academic institutions, small businesses, industry leaders, and nonprofit and government partners dedicated to supporting quantum innovation and talent development in the region.

UMD’s Discovery District will be the home of a new quantum benchmarking hub supported by up to $100 million in matching funds from the state and the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. More than a dozen quantum companies have been selected to participate, and UMD’s Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security  will serve as a major partner in the initiative.

“At the University of Maryland, innovation and entrepreneurship are fundamental to who we are,” said Patrick O’Shea, vice president for research. “These national recognitions highlight the power of our collaborative research community—one that transforms ideas into impact, strengthens Maryland’s innovation economy, and advances discoveries that benefit people everywhere. From quantum science to social innovation, our faculty, students and partners are driving progress on a truly global scale.”

To learn more, visit UMD’s Innovation Gateway at innovate.umd.edu.