Changes in the economy and workforce needs have led many engineering schools to consider offering entrepreneurship education to their students. This study explored engineering student levels of interest in entrepreneurship, their perceptions of its impact on self-efficacy, and characteristics of students who participate. Survey data were collected from 343 senior-level students at three institutions with entrepreneurship programs. Less than one third of those surveyed felt that entrepreneurship was being addressed within their engineering programs and most were interested in learning more about it. Students who took one or more entrepreneurship courses had significantly higher entrepreneurial self-efficacy on a number of measures. Students with international backgrounds, parent entrepreneurs, or who were within certain engineering majors, participated at higher rates. The results of this study provide valuable baseline data that can be useful for program development and evaluation.
This paper reports on a scorecard that can be used to assess the vibrancy of entrepreneurship ecosystems in US cities. It is based on a six-month study of entrepreneurship in Portland, Oregon with in-depth benchmarks against six comparable cites and quantitative comparison to the complete list of 51 metro areas of one million or more in population. The study identifies key indicators of a healthy environment for innovation and entrepreneurship and provides policy recommendations for improving each indicator.
