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Each day, Innovation Daily checks the pulse of global innovation-- courtesy of Innovation America. Here, we take a look at a handful of relevant stories it compiled last week:
An increasing number of developing economies are turning to new firm formation in their efforts to reduce poverty and generate sustainable wealth. A new partnership between Startup Weekend and global humanitarian agency Mercy Corps will add to those efforts, expanding the access and impact of a proven model for business generation.
A fairly slow week on Capitol Hill is punctuated by a Joint Economic Committee hearing on "How the Taxation of Labor and Transfer Payments Affect Growth and Employment." Witnesses for the hearing are: Simon Johnson, entrepreneurship professor from MIT; Richard Rogerson, economics professor from Princeton; and Andrew Biggs, resident scholar at AEI (and former principle deputy commissioner of the Social Security Administration).
A growing number of customers have apparently found a way around tighter economic times—pay late or just sometimes not at all. The latest Kauffman Firm Survey shows an alarming increase of young firms who claim their primary business challenge is customers paying late or simply not making payments—jumping from 2 percent in 2008 to 14 percent in 2010. That may not be as big of a problem for larger established firms, but for startups it can mean the difference between failure and survival.
Last November, Costa Rica joined the global movement to unleash startups by celebrating Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW). The response surprised its local champions. Costa Rica´s host, Yo Emprendedor, managed to get strong support from 28 key partners from across the private, public, NGO and education sectors—including the Ministry of the Economy, the largest media group in the country and angel investors.
As the venture capital industry continues to consolidate, a new report from the Kauffman Foundation examines the cause for its poor long-term returns. But unlike some recent shots, the report's authors don't point the finger of blame directly at VCs. Instead, they issue a challenge to state pension funds, endowments, foundations and other institutional investors in those funds to require deeper due diligence and more rigorous data analysis before investing.
One of the prime reasons I founded the Public Forum Institute was a strong belief in the role ordinary citizens can play in addressing chronic stalemates on vital national policy issues. After moderating hundreds of congressionally-chaired health policy forums over the years, I conclude it will be other developments outside of top-down reform that drive improvements in health care. It seems inevitable that with so many people’s income dependent on our health care industry, even the most well-meaning politicians face a never-ending path of discourse in their efforts to improve health care without disrupting such a large chunk of the American economy. The revolution in consumer data may be just one of those new game changers.
At a time when policymakers throughout the U.S.--and all over the world for that matter--are pointing to the job creating power of entrepreneurs and small business owners, a new study from the Kauffman Foundation points out a worrisome trend. The nation's business startup rate fell below 8 percent for the first time in 2010, marking the lowest point on record for new firm births.
Members of Congress return from a short recess to a handful of committee hearings this week, including a look at how skyrocketing costs on gasoline are impacting small firms by the House Committee on Small Business.
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