From SSTI Weekly digest:Where America Stands: Entrepreneurship, February 2007, draws from dozens of other research papers, studies and articles to provide an overview of the current entrepreneurial climate in the U.S. In addition to pointing out some of the challenges presented by globalization, the paper cites others’ findings of many missed opportunities for even greater returns: Only 10 percent of patents are commercialized (Lemelson-MIT Program); Only seven out of every 1,000 business plans receive external funding (Hill and Power, 2001); and, Sixty-six percent of VC investments occur in four regions of the country (Dow Jones VentureOne).

Regional inequality of successful entrepreneurship is singled out in Where America States as a great challenge and opportunity to increase the nation’s economic output. The paper calls attention to three approaches adopted by successful regions to encourage entrepreneurial growth: 1) creating angel investment networks; 2) leveraging knowledge assets; and, 3) catalyzing connectivity. http://www.compete.org/pdf/ew_deeper_dive.pdf