Harvard Business School’s Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship named the 2026 cohort of its Rock Venture Catalyst, a flagship summer program supporting MBA founders as they build and scale ventures. The redesigned program—formerly the Rock Summer Fellows—selects 61 students through a competitive application process to pursue ventures full time over the summer with funding, mentorship, and immersive execution support. The cohort spans early-stage efforts in artificial intelligence, healthcare, climate technology, fintech, and consumer products. The center described the program as a bridge between classroom learning and real-world product, customer, and funding momentum, with Thara Pillai, director of the Rock Center, emphasizing that founders use the program to turn ideas into tangible ventures. The development matters to higher education stakeholders because it signals continued expansion of structured venture pipelines inside MBA curricula, tying funding and mentorship directly to early execution cycles. It also reinforces the competitive ecosystem among top business schools for hands-on entrepreneurship programming that attracts students with scalable, venture-ready projects.