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Week of November 12 - 18, 2007 |
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Kauffman, Commerce Announce Plans for entrepreneurship.gov Other countries seeking guidance on how to invigorate their economies through the creation of high-growth businesses will soon have a new resource available to them. The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the U.S. Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration announced last week that they are creating a new web resource—available at entrepreneurship.gov—for entrepreneurship research educational content, policy papers and entrepreneurship events worldwide. Additionally, symposia held in key markets outside the US will further disseminate the information provided through the site. Intended to assist other countries in developing the environment to empower entrepreneurs, the first phase of the site is scheduled for launch later this year. For a preview and to sign up for the site launch announcement, visit www.Entrepreneurship.gov. |
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OECD Innovation Scorecard Released The biennial Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Scoreboard of national performance in science, technology, and industry has just been released. This OECD report is a massive research exercise that tracks the performance of OECD’s thirty member nations across 200 different indicators. This useful compendium provides much valuable information about how each economy is performing in terms of R&D, information technology use, the development of human capital, and numerous other areas. It also highlights some interesting trends across OECD countries. Employment in technology-related sectors is growing across these countries, largely due to increased female workforce participation and the growth of new service sectors. The study also notes that the innovation process is becoming increasingly collective and internationalized. Several indicators point to this global diffusion of knowledge. For example, cross-border ownership of patented inventions rose to 16% of total patents (up from 11% in the 1990s). Similarly, global value chains are becoming a critical part of the world economy. Intermediates (the middle parts of a product’s value chain) now account for anywhere from 20-30% of total imports in OECD countries. Learn more about the 2007 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard. |
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Symposium Highlights New Datasets, Calls for Proposals
Earlier this month, the
Kauffman Foundation hosted the first ever Kauffman Symposium on
Entrepreneurship and Innovation Data, bringing together some of the
world’s leading experts on tracking and measuring entrepreneurial and
innovation activity. More than 30 new or updated data sets were
presented and are available through a partnership with the Social
Science Research Network (SSRN) to share data overviews and
presentations from the Symposium. Highlighting the event was an
announcement that the Kauffman Foundation will be awarding grants for
researchers interested in analyzing one or more of the datasets
presented--$10,000 for individual scholars and $20,000 for groups of
scholars. The deadline is January 15, 2008. Get more information on the small grants program. |
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A new paper from Harvard University economist Edward Glaeser examines whether there is something about the nature of certain cities that makes them more conducive to entrepreneurial activity. The research seeks to explain why entrepreneurship rates differ so greatly across different cities. Glaeser finds mixed evidence for the concept of a city’s entrepreneurial culture. Cities with entrepreneurial industries tend to have more self-employed individuals, but they do not seem to spin off many new businesses in unrelated industries. Glaeser’s strongest findings concern labor supply. He finds that cities with a skilled and appropriate work force tend to have higher rates of self-employment and higher relative numbers of small firms. As he puts it, “local entrepreneurship depends mainly on having the right kind of people,” suggesting that policymakers should focus on initiatives that build a strong local workforce. Download a copy of the October 17, 2007 Harvard Institute of Economic Research Discussion Paper (No. 2139), “Entrepreneurship and the City,” by Edward L. Glaeser. |
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Top 50 Women Entrepreneurs See the profile of the Top 50 Fastest Growing Women-led companies, as developed by Entrepreneur magazine and the Women President’s Organization. The list also appears in Entrepreneur’s November 2007 issue. |
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Research Parks Shifting Toward Entrepreneurial Companies University research parks are a big and growing part of America’s innovation system, according to a new study published by the Association of University Research Parks and Battelle. Characteristics and Trends in North American Research Parks: 21st Century Directions. The study surveyed 134 research parks in the US and Canada. Overall, these parks encompass more than 47,000 acres and 124 million square feet of building space. Collectively, the research parks employ more than 300,000 people. Some trends are appearing in this market. Interestingly, research parks are starting to place more emphasis on incubating and nurturing entrepreneurial companies (as opposed to housing established firms) as a means to grow their future tenant base. Another promising trend is that research parks are reaching out more aggressively to support economic development in the surrounding region. As universities become more engaged in these activities are being viewed not simply as business locations, but as key drivers of the local economy. Download the October 2007 report, Characteristics and Trends in North American Research Parks: 21st Century Directions, by the Association of University Research Parks and Battelle. |
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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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National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship
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All
stories © 2007 The Public Forum Institute
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