Palo Alto, CA – Following the conclusion of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit at Stanford University, the Global Innovation Forum commended the Obama Administration for its commitment to support the effective participation of entrepreneurs in the global marketplace and released details of an event it held during the conference.
GIF Executive Director Jake Colvin applauded President Obama for championing the development of innovation ecosystems around the world and recognizing the importance of American leadership in connecting communities of global innovators together to improve their ability to access international markets.
“President Obama rightfully observed that open flows of goods, services, data and ideas are essential to economic development and fostering a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship,” said Colvin. “If access to global information and ideas are blocked, it’s difficult to access global opportunities.”
On June 22nd, the Global Innovation Forum, the Copia Institute, Startup Chile, Allied for Startups, and the Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC) co-hosted a discussion that touched on the issue of global access to information and ideas and broader themes surrounding how governments and public policy initiatives can support ecosystems that foster entrepreneurship and innovation in the Google for Entrepreneurs lounge space.
The discussion featured 40 entrepreneurs from over 20 countries, including Chile, Kenya, Germany, Malaysia, Nepal, Aruba, Estonia, Israel, Jordan, Brazil, China, France, Norway, Ireland, and Indonesia, who came together to share experiences, build a network of globally-minded thinkers, and discuss shared priorities and challenges for the future with select global companies including Google, eBay, Pinterest and Reddit, government officials and international organizations including the World Bank.
Key themes across startups included the importance of access to capital, STEM education, safe harbors for online platforms, immigration reform and ease of movement for entrepreneurs, the role of trade agreements in the success of startups, and how startups can support each other to match established industries who have spent decades on government affairs — in addition to global flows of information.
A summary is available here.
GIF also commended the president for signing an executive order institutionalizing GES and other programs to support U.S. leadership in support of global entrepreneurship including the Global Connect Initiative. GIF also recognized USAID’s Global Development Lab for taking its Global Innovation Exchange — an online marketplace for innovators, funders and subject matter experts to connect and share valuable insights and resources to accelerate global development innovation and better address major global issues — public.
The Global Innovation Forum is a nonprofit startup that connects entrepreneur, small business, development, and university communities with policymakers and select corporations to explore the opportunities and challenges of engaging in the global marketplace. GIF serves as a hub for startup, university and development communities around the world to communicate with officials and corporations, discover public and private resources to help them succeed, and improve the public policy landscape to enable global innovation. GIF is a project of the 501(c)(3) National Foreign Trade Council Foundation.