In this way, policy makers can double as partners for entrepreneurs.
Encourage patient, long-term investments
We need better medicine, clean technology, cybersecurity tools and more computing power. However, it takes many years to set up and scale such pioneering companies. To demonstrate that patient, long-term investments are rewarded, we need to maintain a globally competitive rate of return on capital that encourages talented individuals to take risks and create new jobs from scratch. Congress should also support the growth company model by improving tax policy through laws such as the bipartisan IGNITE American Innovation Act and the American Innovation Act.
More opportunities in the US
An underestimated trend in recent years has been the increase in venture investments and startup activities off the coast. Silicon Valley is known for startups, but some of the states with the highest VC growth rates in recent years include Ohio, Illinois, Georgia, and Michigan. These regions were helped when federal regulators changed the Volcker rule to allow banks to reinvest in venture capital funds. This change is helping to launch venture funds in emerging regions where access to institutional capital is limited. Congress should build on this dynamic and adopt the bipartisan Endless Frontier Act, a bold commitment to promoting regional economic growth through innovation. This bill would leverage the existing strengths of regions across the country to increase economic activity in future core technology areas such as quantum computing, advanced manufacturing, energy and new materials.
Recruit the world’s best entrepreneurs
The United States has benefited tremendously from the contributions of immigrant entrepreneurs who founded famous companies like Moderna, Tesla, and Intel. But increasingly, the world’s best entrepreneurs have the choice of starting a new high-growth company. Other countries have set up startup ecosystems through policy changes, have available capital, and are recruiting foreign-born entrepreneurs through startup visas. What is frustrating is that the US is not well positioned to enjoy the “free lunch” where foreign-born entrepreneurs start new businesses in our country because our immigration laws are pushing those business owners away. We need to create a startup visa tailored to the business model so that our country can take full advantage of new business growth such as employment, tax revenue and intellectual property. The Biden government can take immediate action by officially introducing the International Entrepreneur Rule, an Obama Era regulation that works similarly to a startup visa.
Use entrepreneurship to solve the climate crisis
Speed is crucial to the development and deployment of technologies to combat climate change, both for environmental and economic competitiveness reasons. Policymakers should prioritize strategies that focus the tremendous innovative strength of our startup ecosystem on climate technologies and build on the momentum we see today to develop climate-related technology industries into key components of the US economy.
