Highlighting policies and initiatives to advance innovation and drive economic growth

Entrepreneurship in the Arab World: A Report from Dubai

It is an important week for entrepreneurship in the Middle East. Here in Dubai, two important global summits will be convened by His Excellency, Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, United Arab Emirates Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, and Carl Schramm, President of the Kauffman F... [More]
Posted By: Jonathan Ortmans at 03/08/2010 16:23 PM | Comments (0)
Actions: RSS Print

Rockstar Entrepreneurs in DC to Push for a StartUp Visa

More than a dozen rockstar entrepreneurs and startup financiers have decided it was time to visit Washington, DC. They have taken three days of their busy schedules this week to push for the passage StartUp Visa Act of 2010, a bill that would make it easier for foreign entrepreneurs to start high ... [More]
Posted By: Jonathan Ortmans at 03/08/2010 08:43 AM | Comments (1)
Actions: RSS Print

A Role for Entrepreneurs in Haiti

Haitians have received help from governments, the private sector and the philanthropic community around the world to deal with the awful devastation, but the long term goal of rebuilding a nation and constructing institutions from scratch will require sustained commitment to the country. I can&rsquo... [More]
Posted By: Jonathan Ortmans at 03/01/2010 11:25 AM | Comments (7)
Actions: RSS Print

A Note on Bayh-Dole

Last week PDE posted a note about an idea to improve the effectiveness of university technology transfer in the U.S. There seems to have been some confusion following this about the nature of the breakthrough idea to improve the U.S. model for commercialization of university-develo... [More]
Posted By: Jonathan Ortmans at 02/22/2010 15:53 PM | Comments (6)
Actions: RSS Print

Reevaluating Sarbanes-Oxley

At a time when we need risk-takers to start companies and create jobs, we need to do everything we can to remove unnecessarily burdensome regulations that dampen entrepreneurship. A high-impact, low-cost reform would be to make some of the more onerous requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2... [More]
Posted By: Jonathan Ortmans at 02/22/2010 14:15 PM | Comments (9)
Actions: RSS Print

The Untapped Potential of Research Universities

Everyone surely owns an innovative product that has its roots in a university lab, or knows someone that has benefited from the presence of start-ups that formed through the dissemination of knowledge and technologies from the university to the marketplace. Universities have been the lifeblood of ... [More]
Posted By: Jonathan Ortmans at 02/15/2010 13:12 PM | Comments (16)
Actions: RSS Print

Rationalize Our Immigration System

In the hopes to continue a much-needed conversation on how to revamp the economy, this week I would like to highlight another policy recommendation that emerged from the Kauffman Foundation’s State of Entrepreneurship address: reform immigration policy to attract migrants who want to star... [More]
Posted By: Jonathan Ortmans at 02/08/2010 11:24 AM | Comments (12)
Actions: RSS Print

Young Firms (and our Nation) Need a Payroll Tax Holiday

The unemployment pressure does not appear to abate. Layoffs continue every day and despite massive government intervention for economic recovery, there is little evidence of anything more than a slow, prolonged recovery. It is time to give a payroll tax holiday for young firms.Different forms of hir... [More]
Posted By: Jonathan Ortmans at 02/01/2010 09:23 AM | Comments (11)
Actions: RSS Print

Real Support for Entrepreneurs: What Are We Waiting For?

So we know that entrepreneurs are the primary engines of job creation in the United States. Research study after research study has confirmed that it is young firms that drive improvements in the employment situation. From 1980–2005, firms less than five years old accounted for all net jo... [More]
Posted By: Jonathan Ortmans at 01/25/2010 09:09 AM | Comments (14)
Actions: RSS Print

The State of Start-ups

When President Obama will deliver his first State of the Union address is still unclear. However, with 80 percent of the population believing that new economic growth and jobs will come from entrepreneurs, discussion around what his address should include in terms of policies that encourage new star... [More]
Posted By: Jonathan Ortmans at 01/18/2010 09:30 AM | Comments (8)
Actions: RSS Print