entrepreneurship

Academic institutions throughout the nation are committing themselves to the Maker movement, with the hopes of empowering a culture on their campus that promotes student confidence, STEM education, and hands-on creativity, according to a recent report by the MakeSchools Higher Education Alliance. Created in response to the Obama administration’s activities around Maker spaces, such as the White House Maker Faire in June 2014, the MakeSchools Higher Education Alliance is a consortium of more than 150 higher education institutions (research universities, colleges, and community colleges) committed to supporting Maker activities as an element of STEM education. Coordinated by Carnegie Mellon University and seven other schools, the network seeks to establish K-12 pipelines that provide higher-level education through Maker portfolios, enhance and expand Maker facilities on campuses, and develop new scholarships and opportunities for aspiring Makers.

Over the last month, several universities have announced new initiatives to support entrepreneurship among faculty, students, alumni, and the community that surrounds them. These efforts focus on providing individual and teams of entrepreneurs with access to capital, education, and other resources. In an effort to reshape their entrepreneurial ecosystem, Princeton University released a new report to guide the university’s entrepreneurial education and support efforts. 

Nearly one million U.S. workers have gone to work for themselves since February 2015, according to recent survey results from the Department of Labor as reported by Bloomberg Business. In May, the number of U.S. self-employed workers surged by 370,000, the largest single-month gain since the Great Recession. The Kauffman Foundation reports that U.S. startup activity improved in 2014, reversing its post-recession downward trend, with startup activity growing in 32 states. In addition, the annual Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2014 Global Report suggests that most Americans believe there are good opportunities for entrepreneurship in the current economy.

Veolia, The Water Council, and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation have reached an agreement to launch the emPowering Opportunities in Water (POW!) program – a two-year national competition to support entrepreneurship and economic development while fostering sustainability efforts in the field of water. Sometime this year, Veolia, a leading water and wastewater treatment company, and The Water Council should issue a nationwide challenge to fast-track water-related ideas by entrepreneurs and startups revolving around specific areas of interest.  Startups that have the highest likelihood of solving the challenge, will be chosen to enter the program that will be housed at The Water Council’s Global Water Center located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  Read the announcement…

Throughout the United States, policymakers continuously call on entrepreneurs to be an important cog in the economic engine. One of the key barriers to entrepreneurship, however, has grown largely as a result of state policies: burdensome student loan debt.  In the United States, the total amount of student debt is estimated at $1.2 trillion, a record high, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Writing for the Wall Street Journal, Purdue University President Mitch Daniels, who previously served as Indiana’s governor, discusses the many ways that persistent student loan debt is a long-term threat to the inventiveness and innovation that has long been dependent on solving the nation’s economic problems. Several recent analyses have pointed to some of the potential impacts that student loan debt may have on American entrepreneurship, though few states have explicitly tied student loan debt to their debates over innovation policy.  

Over the last couple months, the San Francisco-based Uber, a mobile-app-based transportation network, announced partnerships with institutions of higher education in the Northeast. In February, Uber and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) launched a strategic partnership that includes the launch of the Uber Advanced Technologies Center, a Pittsburgh-based research laboratory to advance Uber’s mission of bringing safe, reliable transportation to everyone, everywhere. The center will focus on the areas of mapping and vehicle safety and autonomy technology. The agreement also will include funding from Uber for faculty chairs and graduate fellowships at CMU.

The White House announced plans to host its first ever Demo Day, a new initiative to empower a variety of entrepreneurs from around the country to launch and scale innovative companies. Unlike a private-sector demo day, where investors watch and react to the pitches of entrepreneurs, the White House Demo Day, to be held this summer, will highlight success stories from entrepreneurs across the country, with an emphasis on best practices for inclusive entrepreneurship. Minority entrepreneurs are the fastest growing entrepreneurial segment in the United States, growing four times faster than their non-minority-owned counterparts between 1997 and 2007, according to a blog post to publicize the event written by Jeff Zients, the Director of the National Economic Council, and Megan Smith, the U.S. Chief Technology Officer. Although details have yet to be announced, the White House Demo Day will also emphasize the following four themes as part of the event: growing local innovation economies; training startup-ready students; expanding on-ramps to entrepreneurship; connecting diverse talent to capital; and, local open gatherings.  Read more…

Last week, Johns Hopkins University released an action plan to cultivate and support a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship throughout the university and the Baltimore region. The implementation plan, which represents $40 million in new university investments in innovation initiatives over five years, is a response to the 22 specific recommendations for university innovation included in a May 2014 innovation report. The initiatives included in the implementation plan will be carried out by Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures, a new organization that encompasses technology licensing, corporate and industry relations, and FastForward, the university’s business accelerators.

The Financial Solutions Lab – a $30 million, five-year initiative managed by the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) with founding partner JPMorgan Chase & Co. – released its funding competition focused on tech-enabled financial solutions for managing household budgets. This is the Financial Solutions Lab’s first competition in a series of challenges to identify, test, and expand the availability of promising technologies and tools that help Americans increase savings, improve credit, and build assets. An anticipated eight awardees will receive up to $250,000 each in capital and technical assistance, including national partnership opportunities, industry expertise, mentorship, and cutting-edge consumer and design insights necessary to build the next generation of leading financial services organizations. The Financial Solutions Lab will accept applications until April 7, 2015. Read the announcement…

One of the few surveys based on the international collection of primary data on individual entrepreneurial activities, the sixteenth annual Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) report was released earlier this month at the annual GEM meeting in Monterrey, Mexico. Across 73 economies representing 72.4 percent of the world’s population and 90 percent of the world’s GDP, more than 206,000 individuals were surveyed for the 2014 report. The sheer scope and size of the report leads to many findings regarding the current state of global entrepreneurship, including: