Kauffman Foundation News (2/24/11): The State of Entrepreneurship

Ideas and Insights
This edition of Ideas at Work features the 2011 State of Entrepreneurship Address delivered this month by Carl Schramm, president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation.
The State of Entrepreneurship
“Rules for Growth”
By Carl Schramm
President and CEO
Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation

Following President Obama’s increased focus on regulatory reform and his call for innovation during the State of the Union Address, and the launch of the Startup America Partnership (see related story below), Carl Schramm, president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation, delivered the second annual Kauffman State of Entrepreneurship Address. He urged policymakers to adopt specific rule changes that will accelerate economic growth through innovation and entrepreneurship.

During the address, titled “The Rules for Growth,” Schramm cited data illustrating that the majority of all job creation in the United States is driven by young firms and emphasized how changes to specific laws and regulations could enable startups to grow more rapidly without adding to the deficit.

Following the address, a panel of experts and thought leaders on economics, entrepreneurship, and growth shared their views during a discussion moderated by Brink Lindsey of the Kauffman Foundation. The panel included Arthur C. Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute; E.J. Dionne, senior fellow, Governance Studies, Brookings Institution and columnist for The Washington Post; George Priest, director of the John M. Olin Center for Law, Economics and Public Policy at Yale Law School; and Philip K. Howard, founder and chair of the organization, Common Good. Read more…>>http://www.kauffman.org/entrepreneurship/2011-state-of-entrepreneurship-address.aspx?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Opticast&utm_campaign=Ideas_At_Work_02_2011

More news from the Foundation:
Startup America Partnership Launched
The Startup America Partnership was launched at an event at the White House on January 31. With funding from the Kauffman Foundation and the Case Foundation, the independent private-sector alliance is intended to dramatically increase the development, prevalence, and success of innovative, high-growth U.S. firms. Read more…>> http://www.kauffman.org/newsroom/white-house-announces-startup-america-partnership-to-foster-innovative-high-growth-firms-in-the-united-states.aspx?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Opticast&utm_campaign=Ideas_At_Work_02_2011

Kauffman Labs Welcomes Inaugural Class of Education Ventures
Kauffman Labs for Enterprise Creation has selected its inaugural class of the Education Ventures Program, which will immerse twenty-five aspiring entrepreneurs in an intensive, hands-on program designed to catalyze the creation of high-growth companies in the education sector. Read more…>>http://www.kauffman.org/newsroom/kauffman-labs-unveils-inaugural-class-of-education-ventures-program.aspx?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Opticast&utm_campaign=Ideas_At_Work_02_2011

Study Outlines Steps to Improve Charter Schools in Missouri
A new report issued by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, with the support of the Kauffman Foundation, makes recommendations to improve practices to close the state’s lowest-performing public charter schools. “Delivering on the Promise: How Missouri Can Grow Excellent, Accountable Public Charter Schools,” comes on the heels of the first decade of charter schools in Missouri. Read more…>> http://www.kauffman.org/newsroom/new-report-recommends-stricter-authorizing-practices-for-missouri-public-charter-schools.aspx?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Opticast&utm_campaign=Ideas_At_Work_02_2011

Book Compiles Papers from Expeditionary Economics Summit
The collection of papers from the nation’s first summit on expeditionary economics has been published and is available for complimentary download. The summit, c onvened last May by the Kauffman Foundation and the Command and General Staff College Foundation, featured thoughtful and sometimes provocative conversations on the state of American economic development efforts in conflict- and disaster-affected areas, and proposed a new theoretical framework that emphasizes the formation and growth of new companies as the key to growth. Read more…>> http://sites.kauffman.org/eee/proceedings.cfm?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Opticast&utm_campaign=Ideas_At_Work_02_2011

New York City Celebrates FastTrac Entrepreneurs
Leaders in New York City gathered this month to celebrate how small businesses are a driving force for the city’s economic recovery. The event followed an intense entrepreneurial education program initiated by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in March 2009. Working in tandem with the Kauffman FastTrac program, the goal was to educate 1,000 New York entrepreneurs across all industries to help them start new businesses or grow existing firms. Read more…>>http://www.kauffman.org/newsroom/kauffman-fasttrac-provides-entrepreneurial-training-programs-that-result-in-business-start-ups-and-job-creation-across-the-nation.aspx?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Opticast&utm_campaign=Ideas_At_Work_02_2011

Stars Align to Form New Partnership
TechStars, a startup accelerator, and the Kauffman Foundation have announced a partnership to create awareness of and simplify access to the growing number of credible seed accelerator programs globally. As part of the partnership, the Foundation will provide funding to build software used by the TechStars Network. Read more…>> http://www.kauffman.org/newsroom/techstar-and-kauffman-foundation-join-together-to-provide-entrepreneurs-better-access-to-seed-accelerators.aspx?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Opticast&utm_campaign=Ideas_At_Work_02_2011

Economics Bloggers See Glimmer of Hope on the Horizon
Results of the Kauffman Foundation’s first quarter survey of leading economics bloggers reveal a bit of hope on the horizon in 2011. While 77 percent continue to describe the economy’s overall condition as “mixed,” “facing recession,” or “in recession,” 23 percent now believe the economy is “strong and growing” or “strong with uncertain growth”–an increase from last quarter. Read more…>> http://www.kauffman.org/newsroom/leading-economics-bloggers-believe-tax-cuts-extension-may-stimulate-job-growth-but-not-this-year.aspx?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Opticast&utm_campaign=Ideas_At_Work_02_2011