The local-government focus on fostering innovation and entrepreneurs echoes a larger effort underway at the federal level, such as the Obama administration's
Startup America program, which made its stop in the Twin Cities earlier this month.
Federal officials from the Commerce Department,Patent and Trademark Office, Small Business Administration, and Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs led a number of "Reducing Barriers" roundtable discussions with local small businesses and large corporations to gauge what changes might be made to improve the environment for entrepreneurship and innovation.
Medronic hosted the event at its Fridley headquarters.
Officials intend to take the ideas that come out of the roundtable tour of eight U.S. cities back to Washington "to streamline and simplify unnecessary barriers," according to a description of the April 6 event. President Obama has given an executive order for federal agencies to "identify and take steps to eliminate or reduce regulations that are outdated or overly burdensome to entrepreneurs."
Ideas are also being collected online, where a
list of strategies is growing daily.
Specifics from the Twin Cities roundtables were not yet available, but Nancy Libersky, district director of the Minnesota office of the SBA, says the ideas similarly ran the gamut-- "anything from small-government to big-government to non-government questions," says Libersky.
Likewise, changes implemented could range from the congressional level to local fixes, she said.
In similar news, the SBA held the first class this week for its
e200 Emerging Leaders Program, through which selected small businesses receive training, mentoring, and other resources. As with Startup America, the Twin Cities is one of a select group to take part in the program.
"I think that Minnesota is really on the forefront of being highlighted, and I'm really hoping that this continues," says Libersky of the momentum of the programs.
Libersky sees both as part of a larger, necessary collaboration to improve the economic atmosphere for entrepreneurs.
"I think that everybody needs to work together," she says. "I think we have a huge gap that the entrepreneurs really need to fill, and the only way that they're going to be stronger is to help them. It's these types of programs that are really helping these entrepreneurs grow."
Source: Nancy Libersky, Minnesota Office of the Small Business Administration
Writer: Jeremy Stratton