Amazing findings: "if the active companies founded by MIT graduates formed an independent nation, conservative estimates indicate that their revenues would make that nation at least the seventeenth-largest economy in the world."
"Economic Impact of MIT Alumni Entrepreneurs
Research- and technology-intensive universities,
especially via their entrepreneurial spinoffs, have a
dramatic impact on the economies of the United
States and its fifty states. This report is an in-depth
case study, carried out during the past few years,
of a single research/technology university, the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and of the
significant consequences it has helped to produce for
the nation and the world via its broad-based
entrepreneurial ecosystem. From our extensive data
collection and analyses, we conclude that, if the
active companies founded by MIT graduates formed
an independent nation, conservative estimates
indicate that their revenues would make that nation
at least the seventeenth-largest economy in the
world. A less-conservative direct extrapolation of the
underlying survey data boosts the numbers to 25,800
currently active companies founded by MIT alumni
that employ about 3.3 million people and generate
annual world revenues of $2 trillion, producing the
equivalent of the eleventh-largest economy in the world.
The ultimate value of this study is to help us understand the economic impact of the entrepreneurial ventures of university graduates. We know that some universities play an important role in many economies through their core education, research and development, and other spillovers. But in order to support economic growth through entrepreneurship, universities must create programs and a culture that make entrepreneurship widely accessible to students. While MIT's leadership in developing successful entrepreneurs has been evident anecdotally, this study - one of the largest surveys of entrepreneur alumni ever conducted, quantifies the significant impact of MIT's entrepreneurial ecosystem that supports firm startups. And, while MIT is more unique and unusual in the programs it offers and in its historical culture of entrepreneurship, MIT provides a benchmark by which other institutions can gauge the economic impact of their alumni entrepreneurs. The report also provides numerous examples of programs and practices that might be adopted, intact or modified as needed, by other universities that seek enhanced entrepreneurial development."
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I have a dream that one day we could see a similar impact arising from IST alumni!
It is no longer a dream of my time, sadly enough, but it could certainly be a dream of your time because you could make it happen!