The Administration Starts Its Start-Up Policy

Are we really going to get serious about fostering innovation - innovative startups?

First came the Obama administration’s embrace a week ago of corporate America, by naming Jeffrey Immelt, chief executive of General Electric, head of a White House advisory board, the Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.

Next up is the administration’s courtship of the nation’s start-up economy, with a public-private sector initiative it calls “Startup America,” announced on Monday at the White House.

Senior administration officials were there in force, including Gary Locke, the commerce secretary; Steven  Chu, the energy secretary; Karen Mills, director of the Small Business Administration; Gene Sperling, head of the National Economic Council; and Austan Goolsbee, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers.

Orchestrating private-sector efforts will be Steve Case, founder of AOL and head of the Case Foundation, and Carl Schramm, chief executive of the Kauffman Foundation.

In his remarks, Mr. Case nodded toward the skepticism that will understandably greet the efforts to champion job-creating small businesses — a singularly uncontroversial initiative. “There is a mom and apple pie aspect to this,” Mr. Case noted.

So strip away the political packaging and what remains?

Link to full article in NYT