Obama Seeks to Accelerate Entrepreneurship with Public-Private Partnership

Startup America seeks to strengthen federally funded R&D commercialization, expand access to capital for high-growth startups, identify and remove unnecessary barriers to high-growth startups, expand collaborations between large companies and startups and expand entrepreneurship education and mentoring programs, said Gene Sperling, director of the National Economic Council. The Department of Commerce is finishing work on a plan to allow entrepreneurs to request faster review of their patents, a change that should lower patent pendency times overall and speed the deployment of new ideas to market, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said. An applicant could request prioritized examination, get processing under the current procedure, or request a delay as long as 30 months, he said.

The partnership with business seeks to clear the path to market for primary research at additional universities through regional ecosystem development, faculty engagement, and streamlined technology licensing, officials said. Crucial to removing barriers is the president’s executive order seeking to drop outdated and overly burdensome regulations, said Karen Mills, administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA). The agency will offer the public online-suggestion tools and visit innovation centers like Silicon Valley to hear from entrepreneurs, she said. The SBA will also commit $2 billion to match private investment in promising high-growth companies over the next five years, Mills said. USTelecom President Walter McCormick praised the president’s commitment to repealing regulations that he believes hold back innovation and capital formation. The executive order doesn’t apply to the FCC, McCormick said, but “it’s our hope that the commission will initiate the kind of comprehensive review that the president has asked of executive branch agencies.”

The president’s new budget will propose making permanent the elimination of capital gains taxes on key investments in small businesses, passed as a temporary provision in the Small Business Jobs Act that the president signed in September, Sperling said. The budget will also propose expanding the new markets tax credit to encourage private investment in startups and small businesses operating in lower-income communities. TIA welcomes Startup America, President Grant Seiffert told us. Most TIA member companies are small or midsize, and any tax relief or credits, or actions to eliminate regulatory uncertainty and barriers, would help, especially in this economy, he said. The industry hasn’t has as many IPOs as it would have liked since the recession started, Seiffert said.

In the partnership with the administration, Intel, in connection with its Invest in America effort, will invest $200 million in American technology companies. Invest in America covers technologies like cloud computing, educational gaming and dynamic mobile video optimization. And the company joined the industry campaign’s board of advisers. Facebook will host 12 “Startup Days” this year aimed at providing early-stage companies with engineering and design support on the Facebook platform. These will be monthly events for building apps and sites that incorporate social technologies. The company also plans to remain active regarding open source technologies.

IBM will invest $150 million to fund programs that promote entrepreneurs and new business opportunities in the U.S. The investment seeks to encourage collaboration and innovation in areas like smarter healthcare, energy and transportation, the company said. IBM said it will coach and mentor start-up business throughout the U.S., expand education, build skills and mentorship programs in collaboration with the academic and venture capital communities and offer skills and business opportunities to the growing community of software developers who collaborate on emerging technologies. Google’s contributions weren’t disclosed.