On the Road to an Entrepreneurial Economy: A Research and Policy Guide from The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation

Among the factors contributing to the success of the U.S. economy over the past decade—as reflected in the doubling of productivity growth compared to the preceding two decades—is the continued transformation of the U.S. economy toward a more entrepreneurial form of capitalism.

In such a system, innovative new firms play an unusually central role in developing and commercializing the radical technologies that provide the underpinnings to whole new ways of doing things and enjoying life. In the last century, innovations which have changed the social and economic landscape in the United States and in much of the rest of the world such as the automobile, airplane, air conditioner, the personal computer and its operating system, and, most recently, many of the leading Internet-based business models, all were commercialized by entrepreneurs.

The United States and other countries face daunting challenges in this century. Aging populations and the retirement and medical needs they require, global warming, and new security concerns—to name just a few—all demand the resources that can come only from continued rapid economic growth. Economic growth, in turn, will require continued entrepreneurial innovation. Ideally, much of that innovation and entrepreneurship will take place here in the United States, where it historically has occurred.

How best can this outcome be assured? For over a decade, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation has been supporting basic research into this and related questions surrounding entrepreneurship. The officers and staff of the Kauffman Foundation are in constant touch with all elements of the entrepreneurial community.

In the essay that follows, we distill what we’ve been learning through the research we sponsor and the feedback we receive from entrepreneurs, both
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about the specific challenges to continued innovative entrepreneurship that confront the United States in the coming years, and how those challenges might be addressed. In particular, we outline some of our views on policies that we believe the best research suggests are likely to be most conducive to innovative entrepreneurship, as well as those subject areas that could benefit from future research.

Full Report: http://www.kauffman.org/pdf/Entrepreneurial_Roadmap_web.pdf