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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how university-based entrepreneurship programs, incorporating real-life venture creation into educational design and delivery, can bridge the gap between entrepreneurship education and technology transfer within the university environment. Design/methodology/approach: Based on a literature review and snowball sampling over a two-year period, 18 entrepreneurship education programs were identified as applying a venture creation approach. Ten of these programs were selected for case study, including direct interviews and participatory observation during a two-day workshop. Empirical findings were iteratively related to theory within entrepreneurship education and technology transfer. Findings: The paper identifies the bridging capabilities of venture creation programs (VCP) across five core themes, illustrating the potential benefits of closer collaboration between entrepreneurship education and technology transfer in a university environment. Research limitations/implications: A definition for "VCP" is tested empirically. These programs are shown to be sophisticated laboratory environments, allowing for clinical research towards the understanding of entrepreneurship and technology transfer processes. Practical implications: Findings identify practical benefits of combining entrepreneurship education and technology transfer activities, such as increased value creation through not only new firms, but also an entrepreneurially equipped graduate population. VCPs allow for "spin-through" of innovative ideas in the university environment, while simultaneously contributing to entrepreneurial learning. Originality/value: This paper presents findings from the first multiple case study into entrepreneurship education specifically designed to develop real-life venture as part of the core curriculum. Findings provide basis for investigating the value of integrating entrepreneurship education and technology transfer at the university.

The teaching of entrepreneurship as an academic subject, as opposed to the apprenticeship route, is the subject of ongoing debate. The authors suggest that there is a middle road and that, by integrating the business world into teaching in a significant way, the best of both approaches can be achieved. In a similar vein, the credibility of some university interaction with small business has been called into question. The authors discuss how they have used the role of "entrepreneur in residence" (EIR) to integrate and improve research, teaching and academic-business interaction. The paper describes the experiences of the EIR hosted at Lancaster University Management School's Institute for Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development (IEED) in the UK and examines the outcomes of his work and his perceptions of university life; how his presence challenged internal thinking; and how his fellowship led to service innovation in the host organization. Other formalized EIR activities within and outside the UK are also reviewed; and the authors conclude by proposing how UK HEIs might best make use of similar opportunities, with a challenge to non-management departments. The paper demonstrates one way in which the perceived gulf between entrepreneurship teaching and the business world can be bridged to good effect. (Contains 2 tables and 1 note.)

The emerging field of nanotechnology has created a new frontier for the convergence of university and industrial research. In the United States, major federal investments provided a massive boom for this field over the decade. This paper reports on a case study of how the University at Albany came to establish the first college of nanotechnology in the US, as part of a larger R&D complex oriented towards building a regional nanoelectronics cluster. The case points to the role of entrepreneurs in mobilizing ideas and resources to advance novel organizational forms. This study demonstrates how a mode of technology transfer based on research facilities was deliberately used to build a nanotechnology complex at Albany, highlighting the enabling role of state S&T policies in supporting university engagements in regional economic development. (Contains 2 figures and 18 footnotes.)

Today, many high-tech, professional jobs are being sent overseas. According to TechsUnite.org, more than 150,000 technology jobs have been lost to offshoring since 2000. In this article, the author asserts that American colleges and universities are uniquely poised to help confront this economic challenge by providing basic and applied research efforts to form the foundation for creative and innovative approaches to economic challenges and questions. He describes a University of Kentucky initiative designed to compete with offshoring. This plan, known as "domestic inshoring" benefits both U.S. corporations and the American economy by keeping highly skilled, high-wage technical jobs--and future entrepreneurial leaders--within the U.S. borders. (Contains 2 notes.)

Entrepreneurship is often seen as the cure-all solution for poverty reduction. Proponents argue that it leads to job creation, higher incomes and lower poverty rates in the cities in which it occurs. Others argue that many entrepreneurs are actually creating low-productivity firms serving local markets. Yet, despite this debate, little research has considered the impact of entrepreneurship on poverty in cities. This paper addresses this gap using a panel of US cities for the period between 2005 and 2015. We hypothesize that the impact of entrepreneurship will depend on whether it is in tradeable sectors, so likely to have positive local multiplier effects, or non-tradeable sectors, which may saturate local markets. We find that entrepreneurship in tradeables reduces poverty and increases incomes for non-entrepreneurs, a result we confirm using an instrumental variable approach, taking the inheritance of entrepreneurial traits as the instruments. In contrast, while there are some economic benefits from non-tradeable entrepreneurship, we find these are not large enough to reduce poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes an institutional approach to explaining differences in the levels of entrepreneurship and economic growth across U.S. states. The institutional approach to growth argues that political and economic institutions influence the productivity of resource use. We hypothesize that institutions influence economic growth primarily through their effect on entrepreneurship and discovery. In this paper, we test the hypothesis that institutional quality is a determinant of regional differences in entrepreneurship and economic growth using data from the Economic Freedom of North America index to measure institutional quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a diverse literature on factors relating to successful entrepreneurs but only recently has more attention focused on the importance of diverse institutions and institutional networks in shaping entrepreneurial success. Similarly, there is a gap in the research on rural entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial development. This paper begins with a review of literature regarding the value of institutions and institutional networks in developing and supporting local entrepreneurship. This is followed by an example of a federal policy initiative working to support rural entrepreneurship through state institutions across the Black Belt of the Southeastern United States. Finally, the results of a state level entrepreneurial and economic development survey are discussed, highlighting the institutional and policy barriers that rural communities may face in implementing entrepreneurial development policy. This paper concludes with thoughts for future research and insight on the importance of the wider institutional and policy framework that within which entrepreneurship occurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An optimal pace of business dynamics-encompassing the processes of entry, exit, expansion, and contraction-would balance the benefits of productivity and economic growth against the costs to firms and workers associated with reallocation of productive resources. It is difficult to prescribe what the optimal pace should be, but evidence accumulating from multiple datasets and methodologies suggests that the rate of business startups and the pace of employment dynamism in the US economy has fallen over recent decades and that this downward trend accelerated after 2000. A critical factor in accounting for the decline in business dynamics is a lower rate of business startups and the related decreasing role of dynamic young businesses in the economy. For example, the share of US employment accounted for by young firms has declined by almost 30 percent over the last 30 years. These trends suggest that incentives for entrepreneurs to start new firms in the United States have diminished over time. We do not identify all the factors underlying these trends in this paper but offer some clues based on the empirical patterns for specific sectors and geographic regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Innovation in local economic development strategy is necessary to support struggling regions and foster growth across municipalities with varying resources and needs. This paper presents a case of innovation in local economic development strategy to illustrate how institutional entrepreneurship can be used as a tool to help local governments innovatively approach economic development strategy. Through the creation of the Wireless Research Center of North Carolina, institutional entrepreneurs transformed the institutionalized role for local government in economic development, while simultaneously creating a new institutional form that would support local development goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social enterprise and innovation are inextricably linked in the literature (Chell et al. in Entrepr Reg Dev 22(6):485-493, 2010; Dees in Harv Bus Rev 76:54, 1998; Light in Stanf Soc Innov Rev 4(3):47-51, 2006). To date, research on social enterprise innovation has predominantly focused on micro-level factors, such as the social entrepreneur or organizational attributes. Inversely, recent empirical advances on social enterprise find a country’s social enterprise sector is influenced by macro-institutional factors, including form of government, stage of economic development, culture and model of civil society (Monroe-White and Coskun, in: Shaping social enterprise: understanding institutional context and influence, Emerald Publishing Limited, London, pp 27-48, 2017). Given the link between social enterprise and innovation, recent empirical findings around social enterprise beg the question, do macro-institutional factors similarly predict innovation by social enterprises? This paper uses a hierarchical linear model to examine the influence of national-level variables on social enterprise innovation. Results indicate that similar to social enterprise, macro-institutional factors predict social enterprise innovation. More specifically, macro-institutional factors influence the various types of innovations (product, process and marketing) differently. Moreover, country-level innovation is traditionally defined by economic factors, such as R&D funding and STEM workforce, however, these factors do not help explain social enterprise innovation. Given the social aspects of social enterprise innovation, to capture the full scope of innovation within countries, expanded definitions of national-level innovation should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities are commonly seen by policy makers as being key actors in the knowledge-based economy. In the United States, universities, but particularly research universities, have been the focus of many studies which have sought to document and explain the commercial impact of university-based research on regional economies. For example, studies have analyzed the extent and outcomes of academic entrepreneurship and of university-industry collaborations. The focus of this paper is to review this literature with a specific focus on contradictory and inconclusive results. Data for these studies are obtained from a number of sources such as self-administered surveys, patent office, the National Science Foundation and the Association of University Technology Managers. This paper reviews the literature and highlights the variety of conceptual frameworks, data, and methodology used. It has a specific focus on assessing impact over time as well the difficulty in generalizing the result obtained from one study to another context. In spite of these problems, the evidence from a broad range and increasing volume of literature on trends and characteristics of academic entrepreneurship and university-industry collaborations shows that universities indisputably play a major role in their regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a shift-share decomposition analysis of new firm formation at the three-digit NAICS level in the United States from 1998 to 2003, attributing overall new firm creation, in construction, manufacturing, and service sectors respectively, to three distinct sources, i.e., business cycle, industrial composition, and regional advantage. This research is critical not only because, from a methodological perspective, this is one of the first applications of the shift-share analysis in firm formation and entrepreneurship studies. This research is also significant because it empirically identifies the portion of new start-ups that results exclusively from regional factors, enables researchers and policy makers to uncover the nuanced relations between firm births and regional characteristics, job creation, and economic development, and therefore facilitates effective public policies to promote new businesses and achieve economic success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The purpose of this paper is to examine several dimensions of culture as described by Hofstede and analyze their potential impact on the entrepreneurial process. Differences in scores on Hofstede's variables between several Latin American countries and Canada and the United States are noted and the implications for using a North American model of entrepreneurship for the economic development of Latin LDCs are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the history of fur trade in Mohawk Valley, New York in the 18th century focusing on details on colonial entrepreneurship in the Mohawk Valley. Topics include economic growth in the region due to fur trade, impacts of the American Revolutionary War, and overhunting that lead to the decline in fur supply in the region.

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the role of the business size distribution on income and employment growth in U.S. counties from 1990 to 2000. We measure the business size distribution as the share of employees across nine establishment size categories that range from microfirms (one to four employees) to large firms (1,000+ employees) and using three indices similar to a Gini coefficient. Results show that the business size distribution has a significant impact on county-level growth patterns. Employment shares in small firms increase employment growth, but decrease income growth. One possible conclusion suggests policies emphasizing small firms and entrepreneurship during times of high unemployment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate the impact of loan securitization on entrepreneurial activity in the United States. We first provide evidence that securitization alters the lending strategy for small business by both small and large banks. In particular, we find a positive relation between the banks' overall credit supply to small businesses and the degree of securitization of their loan assets. We also find three potential channels through which banks' loan securitization contributes to the development of entrepreneurship. First, direct securitization of small business loans is positively related to increases in entrepreneurial activity. Second, the increased lending supply induced by securitization of non-small business loans also positively relates to business formation. Third, entrepreneurs appear to benefit from an increased ability to borrow from their real-estate holdings facilitated by mortgage loan securitization. Furthermore, we note that this positive influence is only evident during times of positive economic growth and that the relation was not significant in the 2007 to 2009 economic downturn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments on articles about entrepreneurship and rural development in the U.S. Analysis of the distribution of economic growth; Limitations of the success of entrepreneurial business in rural areas; Nature and meaning of a new economy; Types of development programs.

Economic developers often celebrate making crafts for a living as a growing sector and positive career choice in these difficult economic times. Craft-making has not only been defined as a viable business choice but has also emerged as a thriving multibillion-dollar industry during the global economic recession. What seems like a lucrative business opportunity and successful career, however, is laden with difficulties and contradictions. The current economic drivers of the ‘third wave of crafting’ are not the crafters themselves, but craft support companies whose business strategies often contradict the political ideals on which today’s craft movement is built. This paper sheds light on the differing components of the craft-making sector and addresses some limitations of the creative class thesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For more than a century, white communities across the United States employed strategies to remain all-white, including violent acts, forcibly driving minorities out of town, and local ordinances. One particularly widespread and effective approach used by many towns to exclude certain groups of people from living in their towns was the creation of a ‘sundown town’. This paper seeks to examine the association between past sundown policies and one component of community life that many towns currently struggle with: economic development. By examining the racial histories and economic development activities of 428 towns in the Midwest and nontraditional South, the study examines whether historical legacy can carry over to the present and affect economic development. Findings suggest that former sundown towns currently pursue fewer economic development activities than towns that have a history of being inclusive, even after controlling for a community's assets. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper investigates employment growth in small firms funded by the U.S. Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. Using data collected by the National Research Council for each of five federal agencies, our analysis shows that on average over two-fifths of all projects retained zero employees after completion and over one-third retained only one or two employees. Thus, on average, the direct impact of SBIR funded projects on employment is small, especially when compared to the mean number of employees in the firms. However, there are substantial cross-project differences in the number of retained employees that are explained by differences in the firms and their SBIR projects. We find across funding agencies that projects with intellectual property-patents, copyrights, trademarks, or publications-retained more employees after completion of the project. Also, we find that the public funding of research by the SBIR program is more likely to stimulate employment when the government created a market for the products, processes, or services developed by the research projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this chapter is to advance understanding of regional industry or innovation clusters and the opportunities that the cluster framework provides policy makers for delivering economic impact, clarifying economic priorities, and coordinating disparate programmatic efforts, and to articulate some basic principles for formulating cluster strategies. Methodology/approach - As the cluster concept enters its third decade and the body of related literature reaches a new level of maturity a consensus has emerged among academics and policy thinkers on the economic benefits of clusters. In fact, clusters have emerged as major focus of economic and policy discussion just now - in what the authors dub a "cluster moment" -by dint of their demonstrated practical impact, their value in paradigm discussions, and their potential utility in policy reform. The chapter reviews the benefits of clusters and traces their ascendance -and re-emergence post-recession - among policy thinkers. Findings - New research confirms that strong clusters tend to deliver positive benefits to workers, firms, and regions. As a paradigm, they reflect the nature of the real economy and as a matter of policy making, clusters provide a framework for rethinking and refocusing economic policy. In pursuing cluster-based economic development strategies, policy leaders should not try to create clusters; use data to target interventions, drive design, and track performance; focus initiatives on addressing discrete gaps in performance or binding constraints on cluster growth; maximize impact by leveraging pre-existing cluster-relevant programs; align efforts vertically as well as horizontally; and let the private sector lead. All three tiers of the nation's federalist system have distinct and complementary roles to play in advancing the cluster paradigm. Research limitations/implications (if applicable) - The paper includes no new/original data. Practical implications (if applicable) - Given that clusters have emerged as a major focus of economics and policy, this chapter lays out a core set of general principles for pursuing cluster-based economic development strategies - and for avoiding common pitfalls - to which policy makers can adhere. Originality/value of paper - The chapter advances cluster thinking and cluster strategies as a paradigm with the potential to accelerate regional economic growth and assist with the nation's needed restructuring and rebalancing toward a more productive post-recession economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last 20 years many research universities in the US have added regional business and economic development as a core mission to the traditional ones of instruction and scholarly research. It has been claimed by many critics, however, that this ‘entrepreneurial turn’ presents conflicts with long established academic norms, procedures, and reward systems. This paper utilizes a national survey of faculty attitudes towards academic entrepreneurship to investigate the extent to which the ‘entrepreneurial turn’ has become accepted and taken-for-granted, to identify which academic entrepreneurial activities are deemed appropriate, or legitimate, and those that are widely regarded as inappropriate, and to identify the most salient dimensions by which faculty attitudes vary. The results provide evidence that the entrepreneurial turn within research universities in the US has not yet become ‘taken-for-granted’, that the norm of open science is still widely accepted and conflicts with some academic entrepreneurship activities. There seems to be a broad—though not consensual—agreement on the boundaries of what are deemed appropriate and legitimate entrepreneurial activities that spans disciplines and across prior levels of faculty experience in academic entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Karl Marx and Max Weber were the first to write about the link between culture and the economy. Although both hypothesized different directions of causality - Weber believed that culture influenced the economy, whilst Marx believed the opposite - they were in agreement that the topics were closely related. Economists have been slow to study the hypothesized linkages between culture and economic performance, especially using scientifically falsifiable methods. Some of this apprehension is due to the fact that economic studies largely rely upon mathematical modeling and statistical testing to investigate potential relationships. However, culture is difficult or, as some would argue, impossible to measure. Applying Hofstede's cultural dimensions to a state-level panel dataset spanning from 1998 to 2003, this project attempts empirically to measure the impact of these dimensions on entrepreneurial activity in the United States. The results are mixed - with two dimensions displaying coefficients with the opposite signs to those expected - thereby generating some interesting questions for future study. This is the first known paper to measure the impact of culture on regional entrepreneurial activity across the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This paper describes the proactive culture of support that has been effective in the regional development of a semi-rural area. Design/methodology/approach Information used in this paper came predominately from participative case studies accompanied with formal and informal discussions with principals, including members of associated economic development groups. Oral responses and observations were supported by plans, reports, pro-formas and financial statements that were available as the cases developed. Findings - Two streams of businesses contribute to development. One stream is the businesses started by local entrepreneurs. The other stream comes from individuals who relocate their businesses in particular semi-rural areas. A pro-active culture of support contributes to success in both streams. This culture is affected by the county's center for economic operations, which is described in the paper. Examples of firms from these streams are given along with services provided to them by entities in the county. Research limitations/implications Although, the procedure generally is accepted as providing adequate attention to validity, reliability, and triangulation concerns, one is always careful about accepting generality of case studies. Practical implications - The desirability of having firms locate in a specific area is a pervasive consideration in economic development. Results here indicate that location of industrial businesses in semi-rural areas comes from two streams that can be managed strategically by economic development professionals. Originality/value - The idea of a pass along approach to regional development is fundamental to the management of resources. It should be of particular value to professionals involved in these activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mounting evidence suggests that economic dynamism and entrepreneurial activity are declining in the United States. Over the past 30 years, the annual number of new business startups and the pace of job reallocation have declined significantly. We ask whether this decline in dynamism can be explained by federal regulation. We combine measures of dynamism with RegData, a novel dataset leveraging the text of the Code of Federal Regulations to create annual measures of the total quantity of regulation by industry. We find that rising federal regulation cannot explain secular trends in economic dynamism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We run panel regressions to test the impact of economic freedom in the 50 states on five different measures of Entrepreneurship. We find that higher average levels of economic freedom lead to higher average business birth rates and, in some cases, more patents per capita in a state. When we examine the subcomponents of the freedom index we find that smaller size of government is important for higher levels of business births and patents. We find no consistent significant connection between economic freedom and venture capital per capita, sole proprietorship rates, or the Kauffman index of entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many social scientists believe that supporting entrepreneurship development within low-income communities is a viable development strategy to combat poverty. Some even suggest that if economic development is to be effective, new businesses in low income areas must be started through local initiatives, and that entrepreneurship is critical to the maintenance of a healthy economy. Underpinned by recent scholarship and grass-roots movements that suggest that presence of smaller scale, locally-controlled enterprises can help determine whether communities prosper or decline, this paper explores the links between entrepreneurship and rural development. Using a theory of change framework (Oldsman and Hallberg 2002), the authors examine the USDA 1890 Entrepreneurial Outreach Initiative (USDA 2004) and its use as a local, community-based strategy to spur economic growth and development in rural communities across the South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional macroeconomic approach to poverty alleviation in neighborhoods and communities is to use housing development and job-creation programs to address the income and the opportunity gaps. Entrepreneurship is a much less used poverty alleviation strategy that, in our estimation, can have a significant effect in favorable policy environments. After a brief literature review, we highlight policy approaches that use entrepreneurship as a poverty alleviation strategy. We present several case studies from the United States as evidence of how public policy can empower an entrepreneurial ecosystem to support the self-employed and other low-income entrepreneurs. We conclude with a framework for how public policy can alleviate poverty through entrepreneurship that is generalizable in other contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzes the technological entrepreneurship approach to economic development in the U.S. Dynamics of technological development; Types of high technology entrepreneurship initiatives; Theories of economic development.

This article explores the relationship between knowledge creation, entrepreneurship, and economic growth in the United States over the last 150 years. Distinguishing between general knowledge and economically useful knowledge, we examine the changes over time in the locus and content of new knowledge creation: the role of universities, particularly engineering schools and land-grant universities, industrial laboratories, and corporate research and development (R&D) laboratories prior to World War II. The practical orientation of US academic R&D and the close research interaction between academia and industry are noted. We study the unprecedented increase in R&D spending in the United States during and after World War II and how it was converted into economic activity via incumbent firms in the early postwar period and increasingly via new ventures in the last few decades. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

What kinds of places have high entrepreneurial activities? There has been an emerging body of studies about so-called entrepreneurship ecosystems, but virtually all of the past studies have examined this question from a perspective of which metropolitan areas have higher entrepreneurial activities. In this article, we examine the intrametropolitan scale at the Census tract level. By analyzing thirty metropolitan areas to extend external validity, we demonstrate the concentration of high-growth firms in specific employment nodes in both urban and suburban parts of each metropolitan area. Significant correlations exist between place-based vibrancy indicators and high-growth firm concentrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the impact of Phoenix’s light rail system, which opened in 2008, on new firm formation in specific industries. Individual business data from 1990–2014 are used in a quasi-experimental adjusted-interrupted time series (AITS) regression to compare the impact of the transit system’s construction on new business starts in ‘treatment’ and ‘control’ areas before and after the opening of the line. Findings show that the transit adjacency is worth an 88% increase in knowledge sector new starts, a 40% increase in service sector new starts and a 28% increase in retail new starts at the time the system opened, when compared with automobile-accessible control areas. However, the light rail also appears to suffer from a ‘novelty factor’– after the initial increase in new establishment activity in adjacent block groups, the effect diminishes at the rate of 8%, 6% and 7% per year, respectively. The results also provide insight into the spatial extent of light rail impacts to new business formation, with areas 1 mile from stations observing 21% fewer retail new business starts and 12% fewer knowledge sector new starts than areas within a quarter of a mile of stations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]