From 2010 to 2019, the Kauffman Index reports, Entrepreneurship Policy Map, and the Kauffman Indicators of Entrepreneurship provided the pulse of American entrepreneurship at the national and state level.
As a leader and leading funder of economic research through the lens of entrepreneurship and education, the Foundation used the annual address to elevate the critical importance of entrepreneurship for job creation, innovation, and vibrant economies.
The Foundation shared new data, exposed policy barriers, and launched initiatives such as “Zero Barriers” in 2017, including a report of the same name – “Three Mega Trends Shaping the Future of Entrepreneurship.”
Speaking to the crowd of policy makers, staffers, researchers, entrepreneurs, ecosystem builders, economic developers, and journalists, in Washington D.C. for the 2017 address, Victor Hwang, vice president of entrepreneurship from 2016-2019, said:
“Our responsibility is to clear the path for the makers, the doers, the dreamers. We’re launching a movement to break down the barriers that obstruct entrepreneurs whether based on race, gender, class, geography, regulations or laws, or access to opportunity, capital, skills, or connections.
“Kauffman does not have all the ideas. We are not in an ivory tower. We’re not on a pedestal. We need to be in the trenches with you, dirt under the fingernails, sweat on the brow. That’s where solutions to tough problems are created. Zero barriers, zero pretense, zero limitations.”
This was the Foundation’s strategic focus the next several years informing grant initiatives, research, and storytelling.