U.S. secretaries of state George P. Shultz and Condoleezza Rice and Stanford University president John Hennessy were among the featured speakers at a conference at the Hoover Institution on the “How and Why of Promoting Entrepreneurship Abroad.” Discussion at the conference centered around promoting entrepreneurship abroad and how U.S. diplomatic missions could provide a good platform for such an initiative. Participants at the event explored ideas to help create, develop, and grow new markets and companies.
Shultz, the Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Distinguished Fellow at the Hoover Institution, opened the conference with welcoming remarks. Rice, the Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy at the Hoover Institution, spoke on transformational economic diplomacy. Charles E. Phillips, president of the Oracle Corporation and a member of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, discussed entrepreneurship and public policy. Richard Boly, national security affairs fellow at the Hoover Institution and conference organizer, reviewed a case study on the “Partnership for Growth in Italy–Promoting Entrepreneurship as U.S. Foreign Policy.” Closing remarks were made by Hennessey and Carl Schramm, CEO, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
The daylong seminar, cosponsored by the Hoover Institution and the Kauffman Foundation, included four panel discussions:
“Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth”
Moderator: Ward A. Hanson, Policy Forum Director and Research Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR)
Panelists: Robert E. Litan, vice president for research and policy at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation; and Vivek Wadhwa, fellow with the Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School and executive in residence/adjunct professor at the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University.
“U.S. Embassy Role in Promoting Economic Dynamism Abroad”
Moderator: William H. Draper III, general partner, Draper Richards.
Panelists: James R. Jones, former U.S. ambassador to Mexico; Alec Ross, senior adviser for innovation to the secretary of state; Ronald P. Spogli, former U.S. ambassador to Italy; and former California state controller and managing director of the Westly Group.
“Promoting Entrepreneurship Both at Home and Abroad”
Moderator: Curtis Carlson, president and CEO, SRI International.
Panelists: Suren G. Dutia, CEO, the Indus Entrepreneurs; Carl Schramm, CEO, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation; Bert van der Vaart, chairman, Small Enterprise Assistance Funds; and Paulo Veras, Endeavor Brazil board member.
“An Entrepreneur’s View on Promoting Entrepreneurship Abroad”
Moderator: Alberto Sangiovanni Vincentelli, the Edgar L. and Harold H. Buttner Chair of Electrical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, and cofounder of Cadence and Synopsys.
Panelists: Wences Casares, coCEO of Bling Nation and founder of Lemon Bank, Wanako Games, and Patagon; Vinita Gupta, Chairman, Quick Eagle Networks; Loïc Le Meur, founder of Seesmic and LeWeb onference and one of Business Week's 25 Most Influential People on the Web; Giacomo Marini, cofounder Logitech and founder and managing director at the VC, Noventi; Kanwal Rekhi, serial entrepreneur, philanthropist, and 1987 ArthurYoung/Venture magazine Entrepreneur of the Year; and Don Wood, managing director, Draper Fisher Jurvetson.
