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April 23 - 29, 2007

Innovations in Community Development Venture Capital 

Over the past few years, the community development venture capital (CDVC) movement has been growing by leaps and bounds. CDVC funds operate much like traditional venture capital funds, but are designed with the purpose of pursuing a “double bottom line.” They seek to make money for investors while also promoting social equity and community development. The latest issue of Community Developments Investments, a journal sponsored by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, reviews what’s been happening in the CDVC field. The issue looks at various CDVC models and also profiles some model programs run by Wells Fargo and by the Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation.

Access the Spring 2007 issue of Community Developments Investments, entitled “Community Development Venture Capital: A Catalyst for Double Bottom-Line Results.”

Embracing Open Innovation in Europe

The European Union continues to crank out research examining how to build a stronger innovation economy. The latest missive concerns knowledge transfer policies. In a report released earlier this month, the Commission of the European Communities presents a series of policy proposals to ease the transfer of knowledge from research institutions to private industry. The report contains a review of many ongoing initiatives across Europe. Its big recommendation calls for the creation of a European Institute of Technology (EIT). This concept was first introduced in 2005, but the EU now hopes to have an operational EIT in 2008. Under the EIT umbrella, a host of targeted “Knowledge and Innovation Communities” will seek to build closer research alliances between academia, business, and the public sector. The report also recommends that member states devote more resources to supporting knowledge transfer between researchers and small and medium-sized enterprises.

Access the April 4, 2007 Commission of the European Communities report, “Improving Knowledge Transfer Between Research Institutions Industry across Europe: Embracing Open Innovation.”

Small Business Share of GDP, 1998-2004

A new research study sponsored by the US Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy seeks to quantify the contribution of small business to the American economy. According to the research, small businesses accounted for half of non-farm gross domestic product between 1998 and 2004. This overall level held steady throughout the period, but the importance of small business contributions varies greatly by industrial sector. Two sectors – construction and other services – are very small business intensive, with small firms accounting for eighty percent of the economic contribution of the industries. Not surprisingly, more capital intensive sectors of the economy (mining, utilities, and manufacturing) have small business shares that are smaller than average.

Download the April 2007 US Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy-sponsored report, The Small Business Share of GDP, 1998-2004, by Katherine Kobe.

Invent Now

The US Patent and Trademark Office, along with the Advertising Council and the National Inventors Hall of Fame, has recently unveiled an exciting new initiative to get kids excited about invention and innovation. InventNow targets 8-11 year olds with an exciting media campaign and programs that seek to interest kids in using their imaginations to produce tomorrow’s technological innovations. InventNow has developed a series of public service announcements to be used on TV, radio, the web, and on outdoor advertising. InventNow also sponsors a web page with lots of interesting games and activities for kids.

To learn more, visit www.inventnow.org.

Bio-Pharma in Massachusetts

A new report from Massachusetts profiles the emerging alliance between biotech and pharmaceutical firms in the Bay State. As one of the US’s leading life sciences centers, Massachusetts serves as a bellwether for new trends in the industry – and business is still pretty good. While Massachusetts lags other states in terms of life sciences job creation, the state still leads in key areas such as per capita venture capital investment, employee wages, and federal investments. The report profiles an emerging and interesting trend of closer partnerships between large pharmaceutical firms and new biotech companies. As drug development costs skyrocket, biotechs are reaching out to big Pharma to help close the funding gap. The study highlights 357 such partnerships (with a value of $13.4 billion) in Massachusetts alone. If the state wants to maintain this strong bio-pharma industry, it needs to address the key business challenges identified by industry leaders. These problem areas include, among others: a shortage of affordable workforce housing, high costs of doing business, and a real-estate permitting process that is too slow and cumbersome.

Download the April 11, 2007 report, “A Critical Alliance: The Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals Industries in Massachusetts,” prepared for the Massachusetts High Technology Council by the UMASS Donahue Institute.

The National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship is 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 entrepreneurship around the world. Subscribe now to receive your weekly copy. Archived issues are available online.

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