This week, millions of people in more than 100 countries across the globe will participate in activities, forums and competitions geared toward helping young people develop the skills and knowledge needed to grow innovative companies as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week 2010. The third annual celebration co-founded by the Kauffman Foundation and Enterprise UK boasts participation from students, educators, entrepreneurs, business leaders, and government officials. In tandem with the global celebration, President Obama proclaimed Nov.

The Kauffman Labs for Enterprise Creation announced its first Women in Science and Engineering Business Idea Competition to encourage female scientists and engineers to pursue entrepreneurial ventures. The competition's goal is totap into the "growing pool of highly educated women who have the potential to start scalable science and engineering-related ventures".

Encouraging university researchers to bring their discoveries to market is a key component of many regional innovation strategies, but entrepreneurial activity by faculty may come at a cost, according to several recent scholarly articles by Andrew A. Toole and Dirk Czarnitzki. Toole and Czarnitzki examined the publication and commercialization histories of U.S. university-based life scientists and found that engaging in entrepreneurial activities tends to lower their publication rate, even after returning to the university full-time.

The 11th Annual Tech Talkin' Govs series highlights new and expanded TBED proposals from governors' State of the State, Budget and Inaugural Addresses across the nation. The first edition includes excerpts from speeches delivered in the following states:

The third installment of SSTI's Tech Talkin' Govs' series includes excerpts from speeches delivered in Colorado, Georgia, Nebraska, and South Dakota. The first and second installments are available in the Jan. 5 and Jan. 12 editions of the Digest.

Sixteen percent of all high-impact, high-tech companies include at least one immigrant, according to a new report by the Center for Technology Innovation at Brookings. They survey and consequent case studies found significant trends among immigrant entrepreneurs in the high-tech field. Respondents were found to be heavily rooted in the U.S. — 77 percent of them have become American citizens and almost 75 percent have lived in the U.S. for more than 15 years.

Following up on President Barack Obama's State of the Union pledge to focus on American competitiveness and innovation, the White House announced the Startup America initiative, a program to support and celebrate U.S. entrepreneurs. On Monday, a panel of cabinet members, White House officials, executives and economic development leaders provided an outline of the public/private effort, which has already generated $400 million in private commitments.

The fourth installment of SSTI's Tech Talkin' Govs series includes excerpts from speeches delivered in Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, and Vermont. The first three installments are available in the Jan. 5, Jan. 12 and Jan. 19 issues of the Digest.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) announced a new pilot program that will to support more than 1,000 startup and earlystage firms across the country. The goal of the Entrepreneurial Mentor Corps' (EMC) is to mobilize members of the current generation of successful business owners to mentor and support startups and entrepreneurs to help them become the next generation of great American companies. In February, SBA Administrator Karen Mills announced one of the EMC's first initiatives to match approximately 100 clean energy startups with mentors.

Lawmakers approved many of Gov. Bob McDonnell's proposals aimed at growing Virginia's technology and life sciences industries by dedicating about half of the funding requested by the governor to support R&D, commercialization, SBIR matching grants, and funding for early stage equity investments.

A plan to provide loans and specialized training to foster entrepreneurship recently was announced by Gov. Jennifer Granholm. The two-pronged, $43 million strategy consists of a loan partnership between credit unions and Michigan Small Business and Technology Development Centers with specialized training provided through the Michigan Economic Development Corporation's FastTrac NewVenture Program.

Last week, many states, universities and groups in the U.S. observed the fourth annual National Entrepreneurship Week. The Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education sponsored activities around the country and Canada, including educational events, competitions and entrepreneurship summits.

In last week's edition of the the Digest, we highlighted the three most pressing needs for state and local TBED organizations: Federal, Commercialization & Entrepreneurship and Universities. This special section of the Digest will focus on the Capital, "How To" and Strategy & Alliance Building tracks and how they can navigate your region towards prosperity.

Two recent reports from Wisconsin economic development organizations suggest different paths for the state's economic initiatives. A white paper from the Wisconsin Technology Council (WTC) lays out a plan to increase access to capital for Wisconsin entrepreneurs, create new workforce development strategies, improve the state's infrastructure and business climate, and implement technology development and transfer strategies. Another report calls for greater coordination and streamlining of Wisconsin's existing programs through the creation of two new entities with a statewide reach.

Everyday more organizations are realizing the potential of mentoring programs to help assist high-tech entrepreneurs and to build stronger tech industries. In recognition of this growing trend, SSTI will feature two sessions on entrepreneurial mentoring at this year's Annual Conference. The first, Sustaining Entrepreneur-in-Residence & Mentoring Programs, will examine how these programs recruit, retain and support experieinced mentors.

The United States finished third out of 71 countries in entrepreneurship on the Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index (GEDI) according to a report commissioned by the SBA's Office of Advocacy. Denmark and Canada, respectively, were first and second due to strong scores across the three sub-indexes (i.e., Attitude, Activities, Aspirations). ). The U.S. finished first in the entrepreneurial aspiration sub-index but lagged behind in entrepreneurial attitude (6th) and activities (8th). The authors —Zoltan J.

In an attempt to solve the nation's challenges, the Obama administration recently launched challenge.gov. Challenge.gov — a prize platform that cultivates social problem solving — provides Americans with the opportunity to participate in federal government challenges. For their efforts, entrepreneurs, innovators and citizen solvers will be rewarded with prizes and recognition for solving tough problems. In the future, the site will promote and publish challenges from all the federal agencies.

Minority and women entrepreneurs continue to experience lower survival rates than their white (and Asian), male counterparts, according to a recent U.S. Census Bureau report by Ron Jarmin and C.J. Krizan of the Bureau's Center for Economic Studies. Jarmin and Krizan link several databases on business activity in 2005 in order to track how race, gender, education and experience of the entrepreneur relate to survival rates, profits, size, employment growth and exports.

A consortium of Michigan’s 15 public universities recently announced a decade-long initiative to launch 200 new businesses in the state. The Michigan Initiative for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (MIIE) plans to raise and distribute $75 million over the next seven years through grants for commercialization projects, university-industry partnerships and entrepreneurship education.

Last month, Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced legislative approval of two TBED priorities unveiled during her State of the State Address, a program supporting in-state entrepreneurs and continued investment in an initiative to train displaced workers. 

This week an estimated five million people will celebrate the first annual Global Entrepreneurship Week by taking part in one of the 13,000 events planned worldwide.