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This afternoon at Facebook headquarters in Silicon Valley, following the President’s national town hall on Shared Responsibility and Shared Prosperity, I’ll join a group of entrepreneurs for a livestreamed panel on Startup America, the White House-led initiative to encourage and accelerate high-growth entrepreneurship across the country.
This initiative is a top priority for President Obama. Entrepreneurship is a key ingredient to economic growth. Startups all across the country play a crucial role in job creation, since these companies generate the lion’s share of net new jobs. Startups are also responsible for developing breakthroughs in industries such as information technology, biotechnology, and clean energy that will allow the United States to compete and win in the global economy.
The Obama Administration is doing its part to create the right environment for high-growth entrepreneurship. We are reducing taxes, streamlining and eliminating burdensome regulations, increasing access to capital, expanding opportunities for high-quality mentorship and entrepreneurial education, and speeding up the commercialization of federally funded research.
Here are some highlights of our progress to date:
However, we know that the private sector, not the government, is the most important driver of entrepreneurial activity. That is why the President issued a call to action to the private sector to dramatically accelerate the success of America’s high-growth entrepreneurs. Today a range of companies and nonprofits are answering that call to action, mobilized by the Startup America Partnership, an alliance of mentors, advisors, funders, major corporations and service providers.
In his State of the Union address, the President reminded us that “America was born to win the future.” The President believes that entrepreneurs will be architects of that future and central to America’s ability to compete and prosper in the 21st century.
We are still in the startup phase of Startup America, but we are already seeing big results. Both the Obama Administration and the private sector are doing what it takes to answer the President’s call to action – enhancing the ability of entrepreneurs across the country to develop new ideas and create new jobs. Stay tuned for more news from the White House and the Startup America Partnership, as these campaigns continue to forge ahead.
Austan Goolsbee is Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers