Decades of research shows that entrepreneurship empowers individuals, improves standards of living throughout a community, and creates economic development, wealth, and innovation in the economy. Studies show that new and young companies, which are started by entrepreneurs, are the primary source of job creation in the American economy.
 
Despite the numerous positive effects of entrepreneurship, most regions do not have a strongly articulated and widely understood strategy to support entrepreneurs. In fact, entrepreneurial activity has mostly stagnated or declined over the past 30 years in all but a few regions of the United States. Compounding these problems, entrepreneurs from rural communities, immigrants and those who identify as women, LGBTQ+ and people of color are seeing unprecedented challenges during the ongoing pandemic and still face significant barriers to finding entrepreneurial success.
 
Exponential growth in technology and connectivity are changing the nature of our society and altering all aspects of our communities. Entrepreneurs can help us overcome these challenges and move our communities forward. Traditional methods of helping entrepreneurs that have been practiced for decades are not enough to overcome all of today’s challenges, while the impacts of COVID19 are creating a sense of overwhelm for many people working in entrepreneurial support. 
 
In response to these challenges, a new approach to entrepreneurial support and entrepreneurial-focused economic development has been emerging over the past few decades.  Often referred to as "entrepreneurial ecosystem building,” this approach takes a system level view of a community to consider the entire entrepreneurial environment beyond just one or two individual support programs. The growing professional practice of ecosystem building centers around fostering more connections, collaboration, and a robust more inclusive network of support for entrepreneurs across an entire community.
 
In this session, we’ll get an introduction to the practice of entrepreneurial ecosystem building, and explore the global forces accelerating its emergence.