National Entrepreneurship Month Wrap-Up

November was National Entrepreneurship Month and in this year’s proclamation designating it as such, President Obama called on all Americans to “come together and help aspiring entrepreneurs take a chance on themselves and their visions for a brighter future.” 

In that spirit, throughout the month of November, OSTP highlighted the inspiring stories of students across America who are rolling up their sleeves, pursuing bright ideas, and starting companies—as well as many of the new tools, services, and programs that are emerging to help even more students blaze entrepreneurial paths to the future.

In case you missed it, here’s a roundup of how we celebrated National Entrepreneurship Month in November:

• At the top of the month, the Department of Commerce released The Innovative and Entrepreneurial University, a new report cataloging more than 50 promising ways to promote cultures of entrepreneurship on university campuses across America.
• Meanwhile, an independent team of undergraduates launched UniversityInnovation.org, a public knowledge-sharing platform where students can help each other catalyze even more entrepreneurship-focused programs.
• On National Entrepreneurs’ Day (November 22), President Obama met with five teenage finalists of the 2013 National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge, all of whom started companies while completing high school. (Check out their cameo in West Wing Week!)
• That same day, I sat down with these young entrepreneurs and other startup founders who launched companies while in college or grad school for a “We the Geeks: Student Startups” Google+ Hangout. Two of our guests were finalists of the Global Student Entrepreneurship Awards (part of Global Entrepreneurship Week) and we were also joined by Barbara Corcoran and Daymond John, two successful entrepreneurs featured on the popular TV show Shark Tank. (Watch a video of the Hangout here).
• Throughout November, we also featured candid advice from successful student entrepreneurs on our blog, including success stories from the Department of Energy’s National Clean Energy Business Plan Competition (“Turning What Stinks into What Sticks”), the Environmental Protection Agency’s People, Prosperity, and the Planet (P3) competition (“Embrace Your Chutzpah”), and the National Science Foundation-supported University Innovation Fellows program (“Be Fearless and Experiment”).
• And finally, we highlighted ways the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and partners are helping social entrepreneurs tackle global development challenges, and how the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is helping train grad students to pursue entrepreneurial pathways in the biomedical sciences.

While National Entrepreneurship Month has ended, our work to celebrate and support student entrepreneurs will continue to move ahead at full speed. Through the White House Startup America initiative, the Administration will continue to work to accelerate entrepreneurship across the country and to inspire students on America’s university campuses to think big.

What’s next at your school?

Doug Rand is Assistant Director for Entrepreneurship at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy