The House Small Business Committee recently garnered testimony from industry experts during a hearing exploring entrepreneurship revitalization.
“New and small businesses create the majority of our nation’s jobs and spur innovation,” Rep. Steve Chabot
(R-OH), the committee’s chairman, said. “However, since the Great Recession, there has been a significant decline in entrepreneurship, which may in part explain the slow economic growth experienced in America today.”
The effort provided the committee with an opportunity to understand the entrepreneurship trends, challenges and opportunities that exist in the United States while also examining how entrepreneurship influences leading economic indicators and potential solutions to promote new and existing small businesses
“Universities have an important role to play in the entrepreneurial ecosystem,” Gregory Crawford, one of the hearing’s witnesses and president of Miami University in Oxford Ohio, said. “We can be critical players as the testing ground for the next generation of innovators. This involves not only focusing on what happens in the classroom but also giving students the breadth of knowledge in entrepreneurial thinking and emerging technologies necessary to thrive in any career.”
Crawford said colleges can also provide opportunities for invaluable real-world experience that will prepare students to create their own business or excel in one.