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

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
Version 2.0 On the Road to an Entrepreneurial Economy 2
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.

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

Full Paper: http://www.kauffman.org/pdf/entrepreneurial_roadmap_2.pdf