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Week of April 17 - 23, 2006

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.

Small Business Week 2006

More than 100 entrepreneurs and small business owners were formally recognized for being the engines of economic growth during this year’s Small Business Week conference hosted by the Small Business Administration. Eric Hoover, president of Excalibur Machine Company in Pennsylvania, was named the 2006 Small Business Person of the Year. The first runner up was Andrew Field, a serial entrepreneur from Montana whose latest company, PrintingForLess.com, has been named to Inc. magazine’s 500 fastest growing U.S. companies for three consecutive years. President Bush outlined his small business agenda on the final day of activities, calling for: an extension of the tax cuts on dividends and capital gains; a line-item veto to curtail federal spending; and, an expansion of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and the passage of legislation on Association Health Plans (AHPs) to rein in the cost of health care.

Small Business Week 2006 was sponsored in part by the Kauffman Foundation. To learn more, visit http://www.sba.gov/sbw

The Sleeping Giant of University Commercialization

A new study shows that the current reliance on publicly available modes for measuring the commercialization of university innovation – patents and Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants, along with figures provided by university Technology Transfer Offices -- is failing to capture the true number of business start-ups in which scientists are engaged. The study, funded by the Kauffman Foundation and conducted by Indiana University researchers reveals that cancer scientists, in addition to commercializing their research through licensing, are starting new businesses which largely go unrecorded. While location of the university to a technology corridor such as Boston’s Route 128 or Silicon Valley contributes to the propensity of scientist entrepreneurship, the researchers found that having a good social network can more than compensate for not being located in a “hot spot”. Such social networks with other scientists or business executives often involve co-publishing of articles, co-patenting with other scientists, or being on the board of a company.

“The Knowledge Filter and Economic Growth: The Role of Scientist Entrepreneurship” was conducted by David B. Audretsch, director of the Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy division at the Max Planck Institute of Economics and the Ameritech Chair of Economic Development, Indiana University, and Taylor Aldridge, chief of staff of the Institute. Further information can be downloaded about the study at www.kauffman.org

Optimism and the Thirst for Capital in China

Mid-sized firms in China claim to see a rosy future, but at the same time are more worried about access to capital and skilled workers. The International Business Outlook Survey found that Chinese companies were 79 percentage points more optimistic than pessimistic. That figure was topped by only three countries: India (93 points higher), Ireland (84 points higher) and South Africa (80 points higher). However, that optimism was tempered by business owners’ pessimism about access to capital. Thirty-nine percent of Chinese companies responded that the cost of finance and a shortage of working capital were big constraints to business expansion – 17 percent higher than the global average. Experts contend that the constraints are forcing those business owners to look outside the country for capital. When asked to identify which countries posed the biggest threat to their business interests, only 14 percent said the United States.

Download the global summary report.

New Philanthropists and the Future of Medical Research Funding

The ‘Davos of the West’ starts next Monday in Los Angeles. Global Conference 2006: Expanding Opportunities in the Global Marketplace will explore a number of critical matters including the global competition for human capital – the ideas, skills and innovations from people – that is accelerating and changing business and the world. Also slated for discussion is innovation in medical research. One of the panels – “The New Philanthropists and the Future of Medical Research Funding” – will feature Kauffman Foundation president and CEO Carl Schramm along with champion cyclist Lance Armstrong and Eli Broad, the founder and chairman of AIG Retirement Services. The baby boomers are turning 60, and they've got over a trillion dollars in accumulated wealth to invest philanthropically in the search for cures to disease. At the same time, funding for medical research from the National Institutes of Health is declining in real terms, and many are frustrated at the slow pace of progress within the traditional NIH-funded academic research environment. Can the attitudes and expectations that the new generation of philanthropists bring from other fields accelerate the pace of results?

Learn more about the panel, sponsored by the Kauffman Foundation, at www.milkeninstitute.org/gc2006.

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All stories © 2006 The Public Forum Institute
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