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Week of December 12 - 16, 2005

Welcome to the National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship, an initiative of the Public Forum Institute made possible by a grant from the Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City. Through NDE-news, we bring you short summaries and analyses of various trends driving the innovation economy. Subscribe now to receive your weekly copy. Archived issues are available online. Links to the day's entrepreneurship stories from across the nation and around the world are posted each weekday on the NDE main page - bookmark it and stay informed about the latest entrepreneurship news.

Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year

While most of us were getting ready for Thanksgiving and the holiday season, the folks at Ernst & Young were handing out their prestigious Entrepreneur of the Year Award, sponsored nationally by the Kauffman Foundation. This year’s overall winner is Arthur M. Blank, best known as co-founder of Home Depot and owner of the Atlanta Falcons football team. Blank is also a big backer of entrepreneurship education. He is, among other things, a chief benefactor of Babson College’s Blank Center for Entrepreneurship. The list of this year’s winners includes some impressive entrepreneurs, including American Century Investments’ James E. Stowers, Jr. (Financial Services) and SAS’ James H. Goodnight (Technology). Ernst and Young also selected a national Supporter of Entrepreneurship. This year’s winners are Nancy T. Richards and Lisa Barrentine of First Preston Management, a real-estate management firm based in Addison, Texas.

To learn more about the 2005 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, visit http://www.ey.com/global/content.nsf/US/EGCS_-_Entrepreneur_of_the_Year_Awards_-_Overview

The Year of Microcredit: A Status Report

2005 has been the United Nations’ Year of Microcredit, so there has been a great deal of international attention on how to improve access to finance and credit. In an effort to assess progress, the Microcredit Summit Campaign, an international coalition of microcredit providers and supporters, has published a year-end report that examines the state of international microcredit. The numbers are pretty impressive. In 2004 (the latest data available), 3,100 institutions reported that they had served 92 million customers, with 66 million of these falling into the category of the very poor (i.e., those earning less than one dollar per day). The Microcredit Summit campaign has set a goal of serving 100 million customers by the end of 2005. These services are having a big impact in terms of assisting people to climb out of poverty. In Bangladesh, a related World Bank study found that three percent of microcredit clients leave poverty each year.

To access The State of the Microcredit Summit Campaign Report 2005, by Sam Daley-Harris, visit
http://www.microcreditsummit.org/pubs/reports/socr/2005/SOCR05.pdf

New Numbers on Tech Transfer

The Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) has recently released its latest survey (FY 2004) of technology licensing at US research institutions. This year’s survey – of 198 schools – adds a new twist. In addition to asking about licensing activity, AUTM also asked researchers to identify the initial funding sources for their start-up companies. Like all start-ups, most university spin-offs (50%) are backed by individuals (friends, family, or angel investors). Unlike most start-ups, these spin-offs have decent access to institutional finance. Forty-three percent of firms were backed by venture capitalists, corporate partnerships, or university/state funding. FY 2004 was a good year for university licensing, as licensing activity grew by 7.1 percent over the previous year. Four hundred and sixty-two new companies based on academic discovery were created over the course of the year.

To learn more about the Association of University Technology Managers’ US Licensing Survey: 2004, visit http://www.autm.net/surveys/dsp.surveyDetail.cfm?pid=28

New Data on Foreign Graduate Students

The Council of Graduate Schools has released a new report that sounds yet another alarm about the continuing decline in the number of foreign-born graduate students in the US. This influx of global talent has been a key driver of America’s entrepreneurial economy, and declining enrollments should be a concern of all who hope to strengthen American competitiveness. Overall, 57% of respondents (140 schools) saw declines in the number of foreign students applying for admission. This figure represents a 5% decline from the previous year. While applications were down, admissions of foreign-born students were up slightly (3%) as US institutions appear to have become slightly less selective in their admissions policies. The biggest decline in applications came from China. The researchers suggest that improved educational opportunities in China are leading more students to pursue their education at home. The development of new international programs in Great Britain, Australia, and elsewhere is also creating a new source of competition for American graduate school programs.

To review the Council on Graduate Schools’ report, Findings from the 2005 CGS International Graduate Admissions Survey II: Final Applications and Admissions, visit http://www.cgsnet.org/pdf/CGSIntGradReportII2005.pdf

Entrepreneurship Movie-Clip Database

There are a number of interesting movies that can teach us about entrepreneurship. In fact, some of our greatest films, such as Citizen Kane, chronicle the lives of real or fictional entrepreneurs. An interesting new project based at Syracuse University, Lessons from Hollywood, hopes to be more systematic about linking films to entrepreneurship education. Syracuse’s Whitman School of Management is sponsoring a competition to find the best and most effective movie clips that portray key aspects of the entrepreneurial process. The competition is open to all, and the winner will receive a grand prize of $1,000. Through the competition and their own research, the Syracuse team plans to develop a movie clip database that can be utilized by entrepreneurship educators around the world. Contest submissions are due by March 1, 2006.

To learn more about the Lessons from Hollywood project and the Entrepreneurship-Movie Clip Database (E-MCD) at Syracuse University, visit http://whitman.syr.edu/eee/falcone/film/index.html

Venture Capital and Silicon Valley

Silicon Gulch, Silicon Mesa, Silicon Snowbank, Silicon Swamp. Spurred by the remarkable growth of Silicon Valley, communities throughout the country competed with one another to be the next hotbed of high-tech operations. At a recent Hudson Institute seminar entitled "Venture Capital for Entrepreneurs: Too Little or Too Much?", Junfu Zhang of the Public Policy Institute of California presented a new paper on access to capital in Silicon Valley. While the data shows that start-ups in the area get it earlier, receive more and complete more rounds of financing, the author contends that boosting the availability of venture capital isn’t necessarily the best approach to fostering local start-ups. In particular, Zhang points to the accumulation of human capital – the knowledge, experience and reputation of venture capitalists – and social capital – the informal networks and trust among venture capitalists and entrepreneurs.

The paper, Easier access to venture capital in Silicon Valley: Some empirical evidence is available in the Research Spotlight on the Kauffman Foundation Research Portal at http://research.kauffman.org.

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All stories © 2005 The Public Forum Institute
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