The Global Entrepreneurship Week 2013 Impact Report was recently released to an audience of thousands during the Global Entrepreneurship Congress in Moscow. From the involvement and support of 126 heads of state and cabinet-level ministers to promising young startups emerging around the world, the report outlines the highlights from last November’s GEW and provides a glance at what lies ahead in the upcoming years.
The strength of the GEW network lies in its hosts from 140 countries that inspire and connect entrepreneurs as they work throughout the year to strengthen their local and national ecosystems. 2013 saw 22 new organizations join the network as GEW hosts and launch inspirational campaigns that propelled 9,925 partners to hold 25,621 events, activities and competitions during one week.
At its core, GEW is a platform created to inspire and connect entrepreneurs with mentors, investors as well as their peers -- fellow entrepreneurs. A 2013 report by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundationfound that there is a direct link between people knowing entrepreneurs and deciding to become entrepreneurs themselves. This study further reinforces a belief that GEW has been operating on since its inception in 2008, that creating connections is paramount to further strengthening the global entrepreneurship ecosystem.
While having more than 6 million participants around the world take part in GEW is impressive, its true success is measured in the lives it positively impacts. Jonathan Ortmans, president of Global Entrepreneurship Week, outlined an ambitious agenda for GEW to better support a maturing collection of entrepreneurial ecosystems around the world over the next three years.
- Expanding the number of ordinary citizens working for or starting firms around the world by fully legitimizing entrepreneurs in all cultures and economies. The world needs more entrepreneurs.
- Increasing understanding between the new and traditional elements of emerging startup communities and ecosystems including the constructive engagement of the public sector in supporting entrepreneur designed public programs. It takes a village where everyone collaborates to succeed.
- Supporting the emergence of a new class of global entrepreneurs supported through access to research, programs and networks inside the 140 nation strong GEW network. National boundaries are porous to innovation and a new creative class of risk takers is hard-wired to a global network.
- Connecting an emerging community of national startup policy advisors with a next generation network of world-class entrepreneurship research institutions in an effort to generate more robust research and data to support evidence- based policymaking and more effective entrepreneurial support programming. In short, data and analysis on what works and what does not in helping new firm formation.
With the successes of 2013 come challenges in years ahead. To face these challenges and support new missions created to better support entrepreneurial ecosystems on a global scale, GEW is launching a slate of new partnerships and initiatives including GEC2, the GEW Startup Nations network, theGlobal Entrepreneurship Library, Global Creativity United, the GEW Mindset Project and more.
Global Entrepreneurship Week 2014 will be taking place November 17 – 23, 2014.