We Want to Hear from You on Quora: Announcing the Startup America Policy Challenge
Yesterday, the White House announced $2 billion in public and private resources to help entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses. In the spirit of open and participatory government, we also announced the Startup America Policy Challenge. We're calling on entrepreneurs and the broader public to share their ideas on how to accelerate entrepreneurial innovation in the areas of healthcare, energy and education. Aneesh Chopra, US Chief Technology Officer, kicked off the challenge in a post on Quora and asked a few questions to get the dialogue going.
Read Aneesh's post below and participate in the challenge by sharing your ideas on Quora:
Startup America is President Obama’s initiative to celebrate, promote, and inspire high-growth entrepreneurship throughout the nation. We’re working to expand access to private sector capital, accelerate the time it takes to get technologies from lab-to-market, and promote mentorship and entrepreneurship education.
We’re also working to reduce barriers for entrepreneurs. I was part of an eight-city listening tour earlier this year, where top Obama Administration officials heard ideas from over 1,000 entrepreneurs across the country about how we can make government work better for startups. The tour helped lead to recenthigh-skill immigration reforms and a new initiative to help reduce student loan burdens —relevant to startup founders who are living cheap and pouring every dollar into their big idea.
And we’re just getting started. Especially in areas of national priority—like energy, education, and health care—we need keep building on historic investments to accelerate innovation and unleash entrepreneurial disruption.
New market opportunities are emerging for entrepreneurs and innovators as we shift to clean energy, digital learning, and a smarter health care system. How do we get there faster?
- In the U.S. education system, what can the government do to best enable the use of new learning technologies?
- In the U.S. energy system, what can the government do to best enable the use of new clean energy technologies?
- In the U.S. healthcare system, what can the government do to best enable the use of new health information technologies?
All Americans are invited to reply. But I’m especially interested in hearing from entrepreneurs in these areas – and so is President Obama’s Cabinet, particularly Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
You don’t have to be a policy wonk to respond, and you don’t need to describe a detailed policy solution—there are others in government and in academia who will help us with that, as part of the Startup America Policy Challenge. Just tell us what’s on your mind.
So have a good idea? Let us know…
Learn more about the Startup America Policy Challenge at Challenge.gov and stay tuned for more from the White House on Quora.