entrepreneurship

The third annual National Apprenticeship week will be celebrated next week, with more than 700 activities planned across the country to showcase programs, facilities and apprentices. For those still interested in participating through an open house, skills competition, or other event, there is still time to register your event.

Entrepreneurial growth continues to rebound and is spreading to different industries and geographies, according to the 2017 Kauffman Index of Growth Entrepreneurship, yet the report also states that entrepreneurial growth “continues to be a rare phenomenon. Most firms are not growth firms.” The five metropolitan areas with the highest levels of entrepreneurship were, in order: Washington, D.C.; Austin; Columbus, Ohio; Nashville; and Atlanta, according to the report.

Initial public offerings (IPOs) can alleviate financing constraints and help support important activities such as operations, R&D, and expansion. Despite these perceived benefits, new research finds that the transition to public equity – and the financial windfalls that follow – prompt many of a company’s early innovators to depart the firm, which has impacts on both innovation internally and at other firms.

Two recent reports provide good news and bad news regarding innovation in America’s rural areas. Only one in six individuals living in rural areas was self-employed in 2016 — down from one in four in 1988, according to a new issue brief from the Small Business Administration (SBA). This represents a decline of nearly 20 percent over that span of time.

Over the last several months, economic development organizations, universities, and their partners have announced new efforts to create the building blocks for entrepreneurial development in rural communities. Examples include i2e announcing new efforts to expand entrepreneurial support services to rural communities in Oklahoma and three Indiana universities partnering to support startup growth in rural regions across the state.

On the heels of delaying the International Entrepreneur Rule (IER), the White House has endorsed a bill that would grade candidates for immigration. A total of 60 organizations, including SSTI and many of our member organizations, stated their opposition to the move in a new letter. It is not clear why the IER’s standard of investible businesses would not fit into the legislation’s merit-based system.

Startup innovators from around the country have the opportunity to exhibit their ideas and win $10,000 during the Catalysts of the Climate Economy national innovation summit in Burlington, Vermont, Sept. 6-8. Innovators in the climate economy are encouraged to enter a contest that will result in five competitors pitching their ideas to a panel of judges, with the winning idea garnering the top prize.

The Blackstone Charitable Foundation has announced its first cohort of eight organizations in the Chicago-area entrepreneurship challenge. Named the BX Challenge, up to $3 million in grant funding will be provided over three years to innovative organizations that effectively recruit and support diverse entrepreneurs and scale startups in the Chicago area. The selected programs will serve underserved populations, including communities of color, women, veterans, and immigrants.

The Kauffman Foundation’s recently updated Index of Startup Activity finds that startup activity has increased for the third consecutive year and has now reached pre-recession levels. Nationally, the index, which measures business startup activity from 1997 to 2016, increased moderately after two years of sharp growth.

The Kauffman Foundation released a new report analyzing entrepreneur development in St. Louis and Kansas City. Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Momentum and Maturity, The Important Role of Entrepreneur Development Organizations and Their Activities, by Ken Harrington, proposes a framework that names a four-step entrepreneur development process from problems and ideas to customer-funded venture that feeds into higher-stage venture development and, ultimately, economic development. Under this framework, Harrington explores how entrepreneurship is supported in each community by organizations such as KCSourceLink and BioSTL.