Kansas City has many of the attributes it needs to become an entrepreneurial hot spot: talented innovators, investors and large firms specialized in technology and life sciences. The problem is, Kansas City is not aware of those assets. Yet.

The pace of recovery in hiring and job creation since 2008 is stronger in newer firms — those two years old or younger — than in more established companies, according to this report.

High-skilled immigrants have provided one of America’s greatest competitive advantages. Their education and skills, their hunger to share in the American dream, their knowledge of world markets, their entrepreneurial drive, and hundreds of thousands of jobs created as a result all have fueled growth in the American economy. Yet their contributions have not been well-documented. […]

This paper discusses investment options for entrepreneurial ventures and discusses appropriateness of private equity as an option.

This study finds that the number of high-tech, immigrant-founded startups — a critical source of fuel for the U.S. economy — has stagnated and is on the verge of decline.

Graduate and post-doctoral students are critical participants in university commercialization efforts, according to this study, which examines students’ roles in university startups and compares the functions and responsibilities of faculty, entrepreneurs and students in successfully moving university innovations to market.

U.S. colleges and universities nationally are seeing increasing numbers of international students with a passion for entrepreneurship, and many of those students want to start new ventures in the United States. However, current immigration laws make it difficult – if not impossible – for these budding innovators to establish startups while in school, or to remain in the country after graduation to grow their companies and create jobs that could bolster the U.S. economy.

New companies with high growth potential – and with high potential to create jobs – often struggle to obtain sufficient capital to cross the so-called “Valley of Death” in the process from concept to prototype. With continued economic uncertainty, government funding is no longer a guaranteed solution, and private investors have become increasingly risk averse. According to a report released by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, both startup activity and investment would be increased by a permanent tax exemption on capital gains on investments in startups held for at least five years.

Building on a long-term trend, the nation’s business startup rate fell below 8 percent for the first time in 2010, marking the lowest point on record for new firm births. New firms as a percentage of all firms continued a steady downward trend in 2010 – going from a high of 13 percent (as a percentage of all firms) in the 1980s to just under 11 percent in 2006 before making a steep decline to the 8 percent in 2010 – the most current year of data available.

A study released from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation tests claims by some economists and commentators who have argued that annual turnover on the Fortune 500 list — and its rise over time — is evidence of the strength of U.S. innovation and productivity.