Barack Obama: What efforts has President Obama made while in office to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation?
I'm looking for specific examples of things the Administration has done to foster innovation in the US.
6 Answers
Todd Park
220 votes by Anon User, Marc Bodnick, Anon User, (more)Loading...
President Obama’s efforts to fuel innovation and entrepreneurship are wide-ranging and unprecedented. As Chief Technology Officer of the United States (a position created for the first time by President Obama), I see these efforts first-hand throughout the Administration—and as an entrepreneur who cofounded a company at age 24 and took it public ten years later, I have a special appreciation for how startups and innovation create jobs and prosperity across the country
Let’s focus on three areas where the President’s leadership is making a huge impact: promoting high-growth entrepreneurship, helping accelerate technology breakthroughs, and investing in the “building blocks” of innovation. This is by no means a comprehensive list of every Administration effort to foster innovation across the United States, but every example below is specific, impactful, and well underway.
Promoting high-growth entrepreneurship
Unlocking capital: This spring President Obama signed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act (http://wh.gov/QBy), a bipartisan bill that allows startups to raise capital from investors more efficiently, among other initiatives, by allowing small-dollar crowdfunding investments (http://wh.gov/3Buf), expanding mini-public offerings, and creating an “IPO on-ramp” consistent with investor protections. This is on top of an Administration commitment of $2 billion to match private investment in high-growth companies over the next five years through vehicles such as Impact Investment Funds (http://1.usa.gov/rfYCI8) and Early Stage Innovation Funds (http://1.usa.gov/JFf36a)
Nurturing entrepreneurial talent: President Obama has taken executive action to make it much easier for graduates to manage student loan debt (http://wh.gov/uc1) and pursue an entrepreneurial path (http://wh.gov/TX5). The Administration has launched new mentorship and training opportunities for thousands of entrepreneurs starting new high-growth companies—including military veterans (http://1.usa.gov/NHNTE8)
Speeding up “lab to market” research: The President has directed all federal research agencies to help accelerate innovation (http://wh.gov/Tuh) by speeding up grants to startups. The National Science Foundation launched an Innovation Corps (http://1.usa.gov/pQSt45) to get teams of scientists out of the lab and starting new companies. Over twenty federal agencies have cooperated to fund regional entrepreneurial ecosystems (http://1.usa.gov/qV9X0e)
Liberating data to fuel innovation: The Administration has launched a series of Open Data Initiatives—in health (http://wh.gov/5bg), public safety (http://wh.gov/v9W), education (http://wh.gov/uDZ), and energy (http://wh.gov/OGKY) —to stimulate entrepreneurial innovation using newly unleashed data from government and other sources. As a model, decades ago, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (http://noaa.gov) began making weather data available for free electronic download by anyone. Entrepreneurs utilized these data (http://data.gov) to create weather newscasts, websites, mobile applications, insurance, and much more. Today, entrepreneurs are using freely available government data and building apps and services that help Americans in an expanding number of ways – e.g., apps and service... (more)
Let’s focus on three areas where the President’s leadership is making a huge impact: promoting high-growth entrepreneurship, helping accelerate technology breakthroughs, and investing in the “building blocks” of innovation. This is by no means a comprehensive list of every Administration effort to foster innovation across the United States, but every example below is specific, impactful, and well underway.
Promoting high-growth entrepreneurship
Unlocking capital: This spring President Obama signed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act (http://wh.gov/QBy), a bipartisan bill that allows startups to raise capital from investors more efficiently, among other initiatives, by allowing small-dollar crowdfunding investments (http://wh.gov/3Buf), expanding mini-public offerings, and creating an “IPO on-ramp” consistent with investor protections. This is on top of an Administration commitment of $2 billion to match private investment in high-growth companies over the next five years through vehicles such as Impact Investment Funds (http://1.usa.gov/rfYCI8) and Early Stage Innovation Funds (http://1.usa.gov/JFf36a)
Nurturing entrepreneurial talent: President Obama has taken executive action to make it much easier for graduates to manage student loan debt (http://wh.gov/uc1) and pursue an entrepreneurial path (http://wh.gov/TX5). The Administration has launched new mentorship and training opportunities for thousands of entrepreneurs starting new high-growth companies—including military veterans (http://1.usa.gov/NHNTE8)
Speeding up “lab to market” research: The President has directed all federal research agencies to help accelerate innovation (http://wh.gov/Tuh) by speeding up grants to startups. The National Science Foundation launched an Innovation Corps (http://1.usa.gov/pQSt45) to get teams of scientists out of the lab and starting new companies. Over twenty federal agencies have cooperated to fund regional entrepreneurial ecosystems (http://1.usa.gov/qV9X0e)
Liberating data to fuel innovation: The Administration has launched a series of Open Data Initiatives—in health (http://wh.gov/5bg), public safety (http://wh.gov/v9W), education (http://wh.gov/uDZ), and energy (http://wh.gov/OGKY) —to stimulate entrepreneurial innovation using newly unleashed data from government and other sources. As a model, decades ago, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (http://noaa.gov) began making weather data available for free electronic download by anyone. Entrepreneurs utilized these data (http://data.gov) to create weather newscasts, websites, mobile applications, insurance, and much more. Today, entrepreneurs are using freely available government data and building apps and services that help Americans in an expanding number of ways – e.g., apps and service... (more)
Kati Sipp, union organizerunion organizer
12 votes by Anon User, Anon User, Craig Montuori, (more)Loading...
I'm by no means an expert on entrerpreneurship and do not feel at all qualified to comment on the JOBS Act.
However, I would argue that the eventual outcome of Obama's health care reform efforts will include easier access to health insurance for the self-employed & small business owners--which could certainly be a factor in encouraging people to strike out on their own, business-wise.
However, I would argue that the eventual outcome of Obama's health care reform efforts will include easier access to health insurance for the self-employed & small business owners--which could certainly be a factor in encouraging people to strike out on their own, business-wise.
Bryan Guido Hassin, Founded/led/joined six startups and t... (more) Founded/led/joined six startups and teach entrepreneurship at a top university
6 votes by Craig Montuori, Jae Won Joh, James Kelly, (more)Loading...
Last week I was honored to be asked to advise the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness about what we are doing here in Houston that has led to so much job creation while the rest of the country has been so economically stagnant. The meeting was held at Rice University and was an informal roundtable discussion rather than a formal, public affair - a format which I found to be much more productive for meaningful discourse. Following is a summary of my recommendations in three key areas (the three "E"s) - what do you think of them?
ENERGY - One of the Council's existing foci is to go "all in" on energy. Awesome. I can envision scenarios in the not-too-distant future when energy will be more strategic for national competitiveness than will be the strength of the military. As Rice's own Nobel laureate Dick Smalley was fond of touting, if you take the top 10 challenges facing the world today and solve energy, most of the rest of them kind of take care of themselves. Rather than make big bets on individual initiatives like Solyndra, though, I think the government's most effective role would be to create a stable energy policy that captures the *true* cost (including the cost to our environment) of energy production, transmission, storage, and use. Create a level playing field, ensure that it will be in place for a long time to encourage long-term investment, and watch innovation happen.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP - I just delivered a keynote Friday in which I showed how entrepreneurship not only creates jobs, but even more specifically it creates the right kinds of jobs. A timely article in The Economist illustrated how the US's entrepreneur-oriented culture helped it evolve from the industrial age to the information age while Europe has largely been left lagging. In short, entrepreneurship is the engine of economic Darwinism. We can't sit on our laurels, though, as Asia and even Africa are developing their own brands of entrepreneurial culture.
The difference between a job "taker" and a job "maker" is often psychological. Someone who is laid off or whose company fails might file for unemployment benefits and complain about the lack of opportunities while someone else in the exact same situation with the exact same means might start a new business, launch a consulting practice, or use the transition as a time for a major career change. What can we do to "empower" the former to feel more like the latter?
One of the greatest barriers to would-be entrepreneurs taking the plunge is not having a "secure base." As children we gain confidence to learn to walk, for example, because we have the secure base of our parents to pick us back up when we fall and this mentality stays with us for life. Secure bases for entrepreneurs can be personal finances, friends and loved-ones, or even missions/values. I proposed that the POTUS could be a secure base for potential and existent entrepreneurs alike, inciting them to take the plunge as part of a US "strategic imperative." In much the same way as JFK inspired engineers in the 60s for the Space Race, the POTUS could inspire entrepreneurs today. I have to imagine that such visible support of entrepreneurship would be embraced by both sides of the aisle.
Thomas Friedman recently posted a piece on how the US should be THE destination for people of any country who want to launch a new venture. In fact, it was after reading Friedman's book, "Hot, Flat, and Crowded," that I left a lucrative job in Switzerland to return to the US and launch my current startup. I don't believe I'm the only one with whom a message of "entrepreneurship as patriotic duty" would resonate.
EDUCATION - The Council also recommends improving education to better prepare today's and tomorrow's workers for jobs. IF you believe me that entrepreneurship is critical to the future of America's economy / competitiveness, then our system of education must be updated, especially K-12. I mentioned in our meeting the difference between convergent thinking ("What are the walls of this building made of?") and divergent thinking ("How many different uses can you think of for a brick?"). The former is the focus of most education but the latter is significantly more useful in entrepreneurship (albeit perhaps harder to test with standardized exams).
Add to that our changing world of ubiquitous information access (shifting the value from memorizing facts to efficient searching for answers and critical thinking/judgment) and the growing importance of cross-disciplinary . . . everything! Our world is too complex for people to learn in "silo'ed" environments. Reading, writing, and 'rithmetic as separate areas of learning makes no sense in the business, academic, or public sectors anymore. The rate of change is so fast that employees must be able to perform in highly uncertain environments rather than closed, predictable, just-one-right-answer fantasies. In order to develop the new heuristics, mindsets, and skillsets to compete in this new world, we need much more integrated, experiential development rather than silo'ed, academic teaching.
ENERGY - One of the Council's existing foci is to go "all in" on energy. Awesome. I can envision scenarios in the not-too-distant future when energy will be more strategic for national competitiveness than will be the strength of the military. As Rice's own Nobel laureate Dick Smalley was fond of touting, if you take the top 10 challenges facing the world today and solve energy, most of the rest of them kind of take care of themselves. Rather than make big bets on individual initiatives like Solyndra, though, I think the government's most effective role would be to create a stable energy policy that captures the *true* cost (including the cost to our environment) of energy production, transmission, storage, and use. Create a level playing field, ensure that it will be in place for a long time to encourage long-term investment, and watch innovation happen.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP - I just delivered a keynote Friday in which I showed how entrepreneurship not only creates jobs, but even more specifically it creates the right kinds of jobs. A timely article in The Economist illustrated how the US's entrepreneur-oriented culture helped it evolve from the industrial age to the information age while Europe has largely been left lagging. In short, entrepreneurship is the engine of economic Darwinism. We can't sit on our laurels, though, as Asia and even Africa are developing their own brands of entrepreneurial culture.
The difference between a job "taker" and a job "maker" is often psychological. Someone who is laid off or whose company fails might file for unemployment benefits and complain about the lack of opportunities while someone else in the exact same situation with the exact same means might start a new business, launch a consulting practice, or use the transition as a time for a major career change. What can we do to "empower" the former to feel more like the latter?
One of the greatest barriers to would-be entrepreneurs taking the plunge is not having a "secure base." As children we gain confidence to learn to walk, for example, because we have the secure base of our parents to pick us back up when we fall and this mentality stays with us for life. Secure bases for entrepreneurs can be personal finances, friends and loved-ones, or even missions/values. I proposed that the POTUS could be a secure base for potential and existent entrepreneurs alike, inciting them to take the plunge as part of a US "strategic imperative." In much the same way as JFK inspired engineers in the 60s for the Space Race, the POTUS could inspire entrepreneurs today. I have to imagine that such visible support of entrepreneurship would be embraced by both sides of the aisle.
Thomas Friedman recently posted a piece on how the US should be THE destination for people of any country who want to launch a new venture. In fact, it was after reading Friedman's book, "Hot, Flat, and Crowded," that I left a lucrative job in Switzerland to return to the US and launch my current startup. I don't believe I'm the only one with whom a message of "entrepreneurship as patriotic duty" would resonate.
EDUCATION - The Council also recommends improving education to better prepare today's and tomorrow's workers for jobs. IF you believe me that entrepreneurship is critical to the future of America's economy / competitiveness, then our system of education must be updated, especially K-12. I mentioned in our meeting the difference between convergent thinking ("What are the walls of this building made of?") and divergent thinking ("How many different uses can you think of for a brick?"). The former is the focus of most education but the latter is significantly more useful in entrepreneurship (albeit perhaps harder to test with standardized exams).
Add to that our changing world of ubiquitous information access (shifting the value from memorizing facts to efficient searching for answers and critical thinking/judgment) and the growing importance of cross-disciplinary . . . everything! Our world is too complex for people to learn in "silo'ed" environments. Reading, writing, and 'rithmetic as separate areas of learning makes no sense in the business, academic, or public sectors anymore. The rate of change is so fast that employees must be able to perform in highly uncertain environments rather than closed, predictable, just-one-right-answer fantasies. In order to develop the new heuristics, mindsets, and skillsets to compete in this new world, we need much more integrated, experiential development rather than silo'ed, academic teaching.
Shawnee Cook
9 votes by Craig Montuori, Anon User, James Kelly, (more)Loading...
Here are some excellent changes to the tax laws that HELP entrepreneurs.
(From a workshop I gave at HackerDojo: "Taxes for Hax0rs")
New for 2010 & beyond:
Source: http://www.whitehouse.gov
Full talk -- http://transparentaccount
(From a workshop I gave at HackerDojo: "Taxes for Hax0rs")
New for 2010 & beyond:
- $10K of start-up expenses deductible in FIRST year of business! w/phase-out @ $60K (Used to be $5K / $50K ... thanks Obama!)
- $500K capital expenditures can be written off! W/phase-out @ $2M (Used to be only $200K .. if this doesn't help small businesses, nothing will)
- Bonus depreciation! Used to have to amortize over time (15 years / 180 months), but can write off up to 50 percent of NEW equipment first year of operations.
- Can deduct cell phone costs without excessive documentation!
- Self-employed people can deduct cost of health insurance!
Source: http://www.whitehouse.gov
Full talk -- http://transparentaccount
Gale Jake Jacobs, Created an Angel funded ($1.5M) start... (more) Created an Angel funded ($1.5M) start-up company.
5 votes by James Kelly, Ron Mideiros, Craig Montuori, (more)Loading...
Entrepreneurs create jobs and profits., not the government. But the government can help with infrastructure. For example, a significant tax credit to angel investors - at the time of investment - would be an excellent incentive to create capital access.
Remember the investment tax credit, remember the alternative energy incentives? They worked. Angel investment tax credits would motivate more angels in making these high-risk investments.
Remember the investment tax credit, remember the alternative energy incentives? They worked. Angel investment tax credits would motivate more angels in making these high-risk investments.
Craig Hubley, integratorintegrator
2 votes by Joe Geronimo Martinez and Andrew T. Pham
Successes: Strong support for critical infrastructure sectors like broadband and smart grid and energy/building efficiency technology, plus electric drive transport and high speed rail. Innovations in these "cleantech" areas are very profitable as they result in global exports and more trades jobs than say subsidzing dirty oil.
Failures: Not shutting down or heavily taxing the Wall Street casino fake economy to force money into real enterprises and out of real estate ponzi schemes, oil price speculation and other scams. Japan and Germany had punitive tax rates on real estate speculation thorugh their whole period of industrial dominance and fast growth. China puts monetary level restrictions on fossil fuel industries (notably car dealers and parking lots) for similar reasons. To let US banksters continue to profit from destructive speculation and building more dirty/heavy oil and coal infrastructure, letting them write off dirty oil pipelines and bitumen processing and hydraulic fracking equipment, just keeps money out of the innovative export sectors and maltrains people for careers in industries with more liabilities than benefits.
Failures: Not shutting down or heavily taxing the Wall Street casino fake economy to force money into real enterprises and out of real estate ponzi schemes, oil price speculation and other scams. Japan and Germany had punitive tax rates on real estate speculation thorugh their whole period of industrial dominance and fast growth. China puts monetary level restrictions on fossil fuel industries (notably car dealers and parking lots) for similar reasons. To let US banksters continue to profit from destructive speculation and building more dirty/heavy oil and coal infrastructure, letting them write off dirty oil pipelines and bitumen processing and hydraulic fracking equipment, just keeps money out of the innovative export sectors and maltrains people for careers in industries with more liabilities than benefits.
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