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The Obama administration is seeking closer economic cooperation with Latin America to enhance opportunities for startups and SMEs in the U.S. and across the hemisphere. This week, the U.S. State Department is launching the Small Business Network of the Americas to promote international cooperation between TBED institutions in the Americas.

U.S. research universities have launched several new initiatives to impact international development across Africa by leveraging their institutional knowledge to support tech-based economic growth on the continent. The African Development Bank, a regional multilateral development bank, also announced that it will commit $45 million for the creation of a Pan African University consisting of five thematic institutes focused primarily on science, technology and innovation.

The rapid proliferation of accelerators world-wide has raised questions about whether this model is viable and sustainable. Though many accelerators have been founded and funded by private investors, accelerators are now getting a public boost on both sides of the Atlantic. The European Commission and the U.S. Small Business Administration are both becoming involved in the accelerator phenomenon, perhaps representing an expanded role for national (and quasi-national) public support for accelerators.

On her last day, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced several State Department initiatives that aim to have a global impact. A number of those that will be funded focus on technology-based development. The program wPower seeks to advance women's clean energy entrepreneurship around the world by supporting 7,000 women to launch small businesses around energytechnologies that might increase energy access in their area.

Babson University researchers report that nearly half of all the world's entrepreneurs are between the ages of 25-35 years, according to the 2012 edition of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. Also, in all geographic regions, 25-34 year olds reported the highest rates of entrepreneurship. Babson researchers, however, emphasize that large numbers of entrepreneurs are found at all age ranges. Read more...

This week (Nov. 14-20, 2011), more than 25,000 organizations in 123 countries will host events celebrating entrepreneurship and connecting entrepreneurs to potential mentors, inventors, collaborators and peers. Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) activities include Startup Weekends, in which groups come together to create a new business in three days, startup competitions and showcases, social entrepreneurship forums and venture capital summits.

Indian and Chinese immigrant professionals trained in the U.S. are increasingly returning to their home countries with aspirations of becoming entrepreneurs, according to the Grass is Indeed Greener in India and China for Returnee Entrepreneurs — a new report funded by the Kauffman Foundation.

Generous individuals and foundations are stepping up to support university-based initiatives designed to expand research and encourage young people to create high-growth jobs at a time when operating budgets for higher education are facing drastic funding cuts across the U.S. Colleges in Michigan and Ontario will establish endowed chairs in medical research and entrepreneurship with funding from individual donors, and a 23-year-old former student of the University of Waterloo is launching a $1 million seed fund for student startups.