Council on Competitiveness Reviews Status of U.S. Entrepreneurship

America’s laurels for its record of innovation and entrepreneurship are great but there is no time to rest on those past accomplishments given the changing global economy, a recent paper by the Council on Competitiveness concludes. Where America Stands: Entrepreneurship draws from dozens of other research papers, studies and articles to provide an overview of the current entrepreneurial climate in the U.S.

 

In addition to pointing out some of the challenges presented by globalization, the paper cites others’ findings of many missed opportunities for even greater returns:

• Only 10 percent of patents are commercialized (Lemelson-MIT Program);
• Only seven out of every 1,000 business plans receive external funding (Hill and Power, 2001); and,
• Sixty-six percent of VC investments occur in four regions of the country (Dow Jones VentureOne).

Regional inequality of successful entrepreneurship is singled out in Where America States as a great challenge and opportunity to increase the nation’s economic output. The paper calls attention to three approaches adopted by successful regions to encourage entrepreneurial growth: 1) creating angel investment networks; 2) leveraging knowledge assets; and, 3) catalyzing connectivity.

 

The paper closes with a strong sense of urgency for America to do more, stating, “[The nation's] early lead and risk-friendly climate created a comfortable, but probably unsustainable, margin of leadership for the United States. ... Running in place is not an option for us.”

 

Where America Stands: Entrepreneurship is available at: http://www.compete.org/pdf/ew_deeper_dive.pdf