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Week of September 1 - 7, 2008 |
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The latest issue of Technology Review
profiles thirty-five leading innovators all under the age of 35--the
TR35. This year’s list of innovators includes scientists and
technologists working in a wide variety of fields, from nanotechnology
to medicine to computers to communications. J.B. Straubel of Tesla
Motors is the 2008 Innovator of the Year. Tesla, based in San Carlos,
CA, is fairly well-known as the producer of a hot new electric sports
car, the Tesla Roadster. Straubel, who serves as Tesla’s Chief
Technology Officer, was one of the prime forces behind the Roadster’s
engineering and production. Aimee Rose was highlighted as this year’s
TR35 Humanitarian of the Year. Rose is one of the brains behind the
development of new technologies that can chemically sniff the presence
of explosives in the air. These chemical sensors can sniff out land
mines and other explosives, and thus will have a huge potential impact
in the homeland security marketplace. |
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Hispanic Business 100: 25th Anniversary Edition For twenty-five
years, Hispanic Business magazine has been tracking the progress of the
fastest growing Hispanic-owned firms in the US. Each year’s list
includes lots of impressive companies and this year’s list is no
exception. This year’s top performer is El Paso’s Venegas Engineering
Management and Construction (VEMAC), which, thanks to major growth in El
Paso, seems to be somewhat immune from doldrums in the construction
industry. The move of 16,000 jobs to Ft. Bliss, a local US Army base,
has helped spark VEMAC’s impressive annual growth rate of more than 4965
percent. The firm now employs 195 people and enjoys annual sales of
nearly $35 million. Overall, the Hispanic Business 100 firms boast
impressive results with average annual revenue growth of 223 percent.
Service sector firms, especially health and information technology
providers dominate the list, with service firms hold fifty spots in the
rankings. Construction firms took the biggest hits in 2007. Only 17
construction firms were ranked in 2007, down from 24 in the previous
year. |
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Where are America’s wealthiest communities
located? According to a new analysis from Bizjournals, it pays to
be located in the suburbs of a major metro area. The analysis tracked
communities with high income levels and large inventories of expensive
homes. The wealthiest places tend to be small exclusive communities like
Fisher Island, FL, which is home to only 467 residents who enjoy annual
average earnings over $236,000 per person. The truly impressive wealth
centers combine relatively large size (over 100,000 people) and
relatively high wealth. By this measure, Arlington, VA, emerges as the
top US wealth center. Arlington, with a population nearing 200,000,
enjoys average annual per capita income of more than $53,000—more than
twice the national average of $25,267. Arlington’s strong performance is
based on the high educational attainment of its residents, as well as
its proximity to major job centers in Washington, DC and Northern
Virginia. Other large centers in the top five rankings include (in
order): Thousand Oaks, CA; Naperville, IL; Alexandria, VA; and Stamford,
CT. |
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European VC Investment Continues Decline
The latest numbers from Dow Jones
VentureSource show that the European venture capital (VC) sector
continues to remain in the doldrums. During the second quarter of 2008,
European VCs invested in only 167 deals—the lowest total in nine years.
These deals were valued at only €858 million, a 35% drop from the same
period last year. One of the few pieces of good news concerned
early-stage investing. Early stage deals accounted for 44% of total deal
flow, perhaps indicating that more entrepreneurial ventures are entering
the market. As in the US, experts point to a slow market for exits,
either initial public offerings or acquisitions, as a major cause for
the poor performance. The biggest drop-offs occurred in France and Great
Britain, while investing levels in Germany rose. |
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The Agglomeration of Ethnic Inventors
Researchers at Harvard Business School have
been trying to get a handle on the changing nature of innovation through
an interesting technique: by studying a database that tracks the
ethnicity of the names of US-based inventors. The study identifies a
large increase in the number of Chinese and Indian inventors over the
course of the 1990s. This result should come as no surprise to those who
have followed recent research on the composition of US technology
entrepreneurs. An interesting related finding concerns the location of
these inventors. During the 1990s, the largest portions of patenting by
ethnic inventors occurred in three locations: San Francisco, Los Angeles
and New York. Moreover, 80 percent of all ethnic patenting occurs in the
US’s largest metro areas. Overall, 72 percent of total patenting occurs
in these communities. These concentration effects are most pronounced in
private industry as opposed to government agencies or universities,
which are in fixed locations. |
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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 © 2008 The Public Forum Institute
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