Entrepreneurship and Innovation at MIT - Edward D. Roberts

Entrepreneurship and Innovation at MIT: Continuing Global Growth and Impact updates an earlier survey (Entrepreneurial Impact: The Role of MIT) to explore the continuing contribution of MIT alumni to innovation and entrepreneurship in the United States and worldwide. This update is particularly salient given the burgeoning interest in the role of universities in economic growth and the fact that students who graduated between 2004 and 2014 faced a more difficult economic climate. On the one hand, fund raising and capital access became more challenging as the U.S. economy entered a period of deep recession starting at the end of 2007, and venture capital assets and investments declined. On the other hand, entrepreneurship concurrently became a potentially more appealing career choice due both to structural and perceptual changes in traditional employment and occupations, as well as to an apparent groundswell in young people’s interests in entrepreneurial endeavors. Overall, our new findings indicate that MIT alumni are engaged in entrepreneurship and innovation at ever increasing rates, and at earlier and earlier stages in their lives.