Drivers of the innovation economy

 
“The great competitive advantage of India is that it draws on the entrepreneurial and creative energy of 1.2 billion people. The great strength of America is that it draws on the entrepreneurial and creative energy of almost 7 billion people.”

- Indian Media and Tech Entrepreneur, Mumbai India, Spring 2011

Entrepreneurship is one of the most significant ways in which immigrants have positively impacted the United States and Massachusetts in particular. Immigrant entrepreneurs have contributed to economic gain, job creation, rise in intellectual capital, neighborhood revitalization and cultural enrichment.

For this reason, The ILC Public Education Institute has made a specialty of researching and broadcasting current statistics, stories and studies about immigrant entrepreneurship. These include:

1. An ILC-authored study Immigrant Entrepreneurs: Creating Jobs and Strengthening the Economy, published by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Immigration Policy Center.

2. Eight ILC-published and two forthcoming studies

3. A Hall of Fame dedicated to immigrant entrepreneurs who have had a lasting impact on the U.S. economy.

4. An Immigration Research and Information website that serves as the definitive source of immigration information.

5. Immigrant Entrepreneurship Month, which was declared for the first time in Massachusetts in October 2011.

6. Conferences on Immigrant Entrepreneurship, the first of which was held November 2010 at Babson College.