entrepreneurship

With veteran unemployment rates exceeding the already-high national unemployment rate, organizations and agencies around the country are seeking ways to plug veterans into the innovation economy. These efforts capitalize on the leadership skills and technical knowledge of military veterans by helping them become entrepreneurs. Operation Boots to Business is a new nationwide initiative, backed by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), that will provide entrepreneurship training courses at military bases to help veterans transition into business ownership.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett has signed off on a series of bills intended to give state-owned universities more flexibility in working with regional businesses and creating new advanced degree programs. The bills are collectively known as the Higher Education Modernization Act and apply specifically to the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE), which is the nation's tenth largest state university system, incorporating Pennsylvania's 14 state-owned institutions.

Foreign-born inventors and entrepreneurs play a vital role in the U.S. innovation economy, yet these individuals face many obstacles if they wish to remain in the country. Last year, more than three-quarters of all patents at the top ten patent-producing universities had at least one foreign-born inventor, according to report from the Partnership for a New American Economy. The report lays out several policy changes that could help the country retain more foreign-born innovators trained at U.S.

U.S. immigration policies are irrational and undirected according to a new report from the Partnership for a New American Economy and Partnership for New York City — Not Coming To America: Why the U.S. is Falling Behind in the Global Race for Talent. In sharp contrast, to attract immigrants that drive economic growth and increase international competitiveness, foreign countries have adopted targeted and strategic policies that include:

Northeast Ohio's Lorain County Community College (LCCC) plans to bring its unique approach to entrepreneur assistance to other parts of the country with support from the Kauffman Foundation. On Thursday, LCCC announced a $1 million grant from Kauffman would help establish pilot versions of the community college's Innovation Fund in three U.S. communities. The current Innovation Fund provides entrepreneurship education, mentoring and early stage funding for the region's startups.

Michigan State University (MSU) launched Spartan Innovations, a newly formed subsidiary of the MSU Foundation, to help its faculty and students form spin-off companies based on technology developed at the university. To achieve this goal, it will provide five key resources to increase the MSU startups including:

As global economies shift, developing nations are attempting to transition as suppliers of raw materials to nations that are producers of value-added goods. Africa has been a major supplier of raw materials to the developed world. However, it drastically lagged behind in the production of valued-added goods. Recently, African nations have attempted to reinvent their economic development efforts from suppliers to producers by developing programs to grow tech-based economies.

The pace of business startups in the U.S. has exhibited a long-run decline that started in the early 1980s and has continued through 2010, according to a new report — Where Have All the Young Firms Gone? — from the Kauffman Foundation. Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Business Dynamics Statistics (BDS), the report found several other long-run declines in the business activity of U.S.

Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp. (Dun & Bradstreet) announced the launch of the Entrepreneurial Growth Initiative, a program that will sponsor business plan competitions at universities and colleges across the nation. The top place teams in both undergraduate and graduate programs will receive an award — including Dun & Bradstreet's suite of products — to help their enterprises establish and build business credit. Dun & Bradstreet also will donate discounted products and services to students, staff and alumni at participating schools.

By reducing legal and regulatory barriers to startups, states can harness the power to encourage the formation and growth of new companies, find two recent reports from the Kauffman Foundation. The reports were issued in conjunction with Kaufmann's third annual State of the Entrepreneurship address and call for state level initiatives and policy recommendations that have shown preliminary success but have yet to be widely adopted.