Are You Ready To Startup America?

Today at the White House, members of President Obama’s economic team and leading entrepreneurs are launching Startup America.  As President Obama put it, Startup America is a “national campaign to help ‘win the future’ by knocking down barriers in the path of men and women in every corner of this country hoping to take a chance, follow a dream, and start a business.”

The White House is focused on entrepreneurship as a core element of the President’s innovation strategy because of the critical role that startups play in job creation in the United States.  Startups are also responsible for developing many of the breakthrough products and services that will allow the United States to compete and win in the global economy – such as low-cost solar cells, new life-saving treatments for diseases, or the next breakthrough in wireless technology.

Answering the President’s call to action to invest in job-creating startups, leaders in the private sector launched the Startup America Partnership, an independent alliance to mobilize additional private sector commitments.  Steve Case, co-founder of AOL and Chairman of the Case Foundation, will chair the Partnership, and Carl Schramm, President and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation will be a founding board member.

OSTP is incredibly excited about Startup America.  Today is just the beginning of a sustained national effort.  As the President noted, Startup America is an “historic partnership with business leaders, investors, universities, foundations, and non-profits, and we're urging others to join them in this effort.”

One of our goals in the months ahead is to create what Tim O’Reilly calls “an architecture of participation” that allows more people and organizations to get involved in Startup America.

This could lead to more:

• Creative ideas for new or expanded initiatives to meet the goals of Startup America;
• Fortune 500 companies partnering with and investing in startups, and sharing best practices on how to do this effectively;
• States, regions and cities putting innovation and entrepreneurship at the center of their economic development and job creation strategies;
• Successful entrepreneurs and investors nurturing the innovation ecosystem in regions that currently do not attract much investment for startups; and
• Universities “mainstreaming” entrepreneurship as a career option, and accelerating the transition of ideas from the lab to the marketplace.

What are your ideas?  How do you want to answer the President’s call to action?  Drop us a line at startup@ostp.gov.