Internet Declaration Highlights SOPA/PIPA Legacy

Ahead of Independence Day in the United States, groups are banding together to highlight principles behind the free and open internet. Entrepreneurs and startups are vital players in the internet economy, and should make their voices heard as the discussion evolves on these critical issues that impact internet culture and commerce.

A coalition representing advocacy groups, civil society organizations, companies, academics, and individuals have launched a “declaration of internet freedom” at www.internetdeclaration.org/freedom. The groups highlight five principles: expression, access, openness, innovation, and privacy.

Startups can take this opportunity to provide feedback on Techdirt, reddit, Cheezburger, and Github.

Nearly six months after the blackout protests and call campaigns derailed SOPA and PIPA, users across the web are coming together to remind lawmakers that these efforts weren’t a one-time groundswell. Startups have a great deal at stake in the open internet discussion and entrepreneurs and innovators should take this opportunity to let the community know about their concerns.

High Skilled Immigrants Driving U.S. Innovation

Immigration reforms similar to those proposed in Startup Act 2.0 would help the United States retain foreign students that are driving innovative patents in the domestic economy, according to a report released June 26. The report, conducted by the Partnership for a New American Economy, found that 76 percent of patents issued in 2011 to the top 10 patent-producing universities had at least one foreign-born inventor.

The partnership’s reviewed 1,466 patents awarded to the top 10 schools and highlighted the endowment of foreign-born inventors on patents in “cutting-edge fields.” These inventors were observed to contribute to as many as 87 percent of patents issued in fields which include semiconductor device manufacturing, information technology, pulse or digital communications, pharmaceutical drugs or drug compounds, and optics.

Patents are one measure of new and innovative products developed in the U.S. economy. The report doesn’t just present the statistics, it also shares some of the stories behind the people and projects these patents protect. Innovators from Cyprus, Malaysia, and India involved in patents for technologies behind seawater purification, enhanced digital photography, and strong-as-steel metal that can be molded like plastic.

Foreign-born innovators like these may blossom as domestic-entrepreneurs after emerging from academia. Engine recently featured one such immigrant entrepreneur Rutul Davè, co-founder of Bright Funds -- one of 18 startups that attended Startup Day on the Hill. Rutul earned a master’s degree in computer science before founding his growing startup.

Research and development spending at U.S. universities has increased five-fold over the past 25 years, growing from about $10 billion in 1985 to nearly $50 billion in 2007. Harnessing spillover benefits of this research is critical to the growth of high tech industries. With STEM job growth anticipated to continue through 2017 and less than half of U.S. college students completing the STEM degrees they start, more highly-skilled workers are needed for the U.S. to remain competitive.

Startup Act

2.0 tackles the issue of highly-educated immigration head-on, creating new visas for MA and PhD recipients in STEM fields and extending their ability to find and accept work with companies in the United States. You can learn more about the measure and contact your representative about immigration at www.engine.is/startupact.

Take Startup Act One Step Further, says Marvin Ammori

Startup Act should include a provision to encourage training in computer programming in the U.S., says Marvin Ammori in a piece for the Atlantic today.

The tech world is coming out in strong support of Startup Act 2.0, a bipartisan bill that eases the way for entrepreneurs to hire the foreign-born high-skilled workers they need to build and scale high-growth startup businesses without moving offshore.

While making changes to the skilled immigration process is an essential measure in getting startup talent in this country, Ammori writes that Startup 2.0 is “a great bill, but it could be better”. The gist of the article is that the key to unlocking success for future generations of startups is in setting up all Americans for success in innovative and technology based new businesses -- this means giving public schools funding and incentives to teach all kids how to code, just like all kids are taught basic math and grammar, Ammori says.

An entrepreneurial mentality will be key in navigating the requirements of today’s job market, and the current education system which encourages an obedient worker mentality is unsuited to an economy that increasingly relies on new startups and innovation. Further than encouraging entrepreneurship in our students, though, we should be equipping kids from an early age with programming skills that are fast becoming as ubiquitous a requirement as learning english or math.

Ammori suggests federal government involvement , suggesting that a new iteration of the bill, “Startup Act 3.0, could fund grants for expanding programming classes, beginning with small-scale pilot programs”.

Ammori’s views might not be revolutionary, but he is dead on the money when it comes to the need for a multilateral approach to the dearth of high-tech graduates coming out of U.S. universities. The short term solution is fixing the skilled immigration system, as Startup 2.0 does. The longer term solution is catching the U.S. education system up to the economy of today and the future. We as a country need to set a course on both of these goals, and we can’t afford to wait.

Click here to learn more about Startup Act 2.0 and connect with your representative to let him or her know that it’s important to you.

Obama Order Ties Broadband Expansion to Infrastructure

President Barack Obama signed an executive order June 14 aiming to expand internet access to underserved areas by making broadband expansion cheaper and easier on federal property. Government agencies that manage these federal assets -- including the country’s roadways and more than 10,000 buildings -- will adopt a uniform approach to allow broadband companies to conduct rollouts around the United States.

Too many Americans lack access to even basic internet service and the move may boost government efforts to encourage companies to expand high speed internet service to underserved areas. The National Broadband Plan and subsequent reports from the Federal Communications Commission have highlighted that about one-third of Americans do not subscribe to broadband internet service. The U.S. ranked 15th among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries with 68.2 percent of households possessing access to broadband, according to 2011 data. Access to these networks provides businesses, consumers, and organizations the ability to connect and thrive in the internet economy, creating jobs and new opportunities in the process.

Why connect deployments to federal properties? The U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Commerce were allocated $7.2 billion in stimulus funds to expand broadband to underserved areas. Almost four years on, USDA has only paid out about $648 million of its $2.23 billion share of stimulus dollars devoted to the “Distance Learning, Telemedicine, and Broadband Program,” according to data reported on recovery.gov.

Congress noticed the lag and demanded answers from the agency about the delay, requiring that misspent or fraudulent contracts be returned to the U.S. Treasury. The problem, however, wasn’t federal government mismanagement necessarily, rather the process of bidding and awarding contracts and the seasonal nature of construction, facing build-out challenges in the winter months.

The uniform approach may increase incentives for service providers to reach new customers, literally breaking ground for projects that would otherwise go unexecuted. The President’s announcement is a promising indicator of the administration’s willingness to cut through red tape and make good on promises to improve broadband access across the United States.

June 13 Midweek Policy Update

This week in Washington: Cybersecurity legislation may move forward in the Senate, ICANN releases a list of proposed generic top-level domains, the United States Patent Office promotes clean energy partnerships.

Cybersecurity

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid put his colleagues “on notice” June 10, calling on democrats and republicans to work together to pass cybersecurity legislation that has stalled in previous Senate sessions. The bill faces stern resistance from many technology-focused groups concerned about its impact on privacy.

Open Data

Representative Darrell Issa announced on June 10 the OpenGov Foundation at the Personal Democracy Forum in New York City. OpenGov would allow citizens to actively engage in the policy-writing process through open, web-based technology. Issa is looking for developers to build the tool.

Patent

The USPTO held a meeting of clean technology stakeholders in an effort to improve and expand its clean technology program. Issues discussed included the importance of regional accelerators and an update on cleantech patents.

Spectrum

The FCC holds an open meeting June 13 in which the commissioners will consider moves to make more efficient use of high frequency spectrum for a nationwide interoperable public safety network.

DNS

Also on June 13, the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) holds a press conference unveiling the generic top-level domains applied for in the organization’s expansion program. The application window for the new domains -- which could include .lol and .nyc -- closed May 30. A release from the organization reports that more than 1,900 applications were received.

Sen. Jerry Moran on Startup Act 2.0

With the House of Representatives introducing parallel legislation to the previously-introduced Senate bill, Startup Act 2.0, this morning, we took the opportunity to sit down with Kansas Senator Jerry Moran to talk about the bill and its prospects. Moran, one of the original sponsors of the Senate bill, and a formidable advocate for entrepreneurship and startups in the Senate, spoke about his views on the bill, the issues, the chances of passing the bill and more.

Tell us a little bit about the Startup Act 2.0. How does it compare to the original Startup Act and what’s new and better about this version?

Startup Act 2.0 is a bipartisan jobs bill written to spur economic growth by targeting policies toward the young companies that are responsible for creating almost all of the net new jobs in America. It contains many of the provisions of the original Startup Act but also adds two new job-creating ideas.

Startup Act 2.0 incorporates language from the Coons-Rubio AGREE Act to eliminate the per-country cap for employment-based immigrant visas, which has been a major factor in causing the backlogs that currently hamstring our legal immigration system.

In addition to eliminating the per-country caps, Startup Act 2.0 creates a targeted research and development (R&D) tax credit for startups less than five years old with less than $5 million in annual receipts. Because the current R&D credit can only be used against income taxes a company pays, startups without taxable profits cannot benefit from the credit. The R&D credit created in Startup Act 2.0 is designed to allow startups to offset employee taxes—helping these young companies grow and create jobs.

How does Startup Act 2.0 help small- and medium-sized companies and startups?

To build a successful startup, an entrepreneur needs a good idea, talented employees, capital, and an environment that fosters growth. Startup Act 2.0 creates new opportunities for talented foreign- born students and workers to stay in America so that they can employ their skills at innovative startups. It also makes smart changes to the tax code that will encourage investment in startups and will reform the federal regulatory process so that entrepreneurs can spend more time growing their company rather than trying to comply with government mandates.

The Startup Act seems pretty uncontroversial -- after all, who is going to argue with enabling job creation in a post-recession America? What kind of shot at getting this legislation passed this year do we really have, and how can Engine and its members help make this happen?

Many Washington critics say nothing gets done in an election year. Yet, our country cannot wait another 6 months or more to act on commonsense job creating ideas. Other countries are not taking this year off and Congress shouldn’t either. Since March 2012, seven countries have changed their laws to attract talent or offer incentives for entrepreneurs and new companies. This is an urgent issue that demands attention now.

Given the stalled immigration bill proposed by Rep. Chaffetz, passed in the House but stalled in the Senate, it seems like there could be definite roadblocks for the Startup Act. Are there some things that are more likely to pass than others? Is this an all or nothing kind of deal? What kind of opposition do you anticipate and what are you planning to do to give this legislation the best chance of passing?

Startup Act 2.0 is more than an immigration bill - it is the jobs package of this Congress. As unemployment remains above 8 percent for nearly 40 months, Americans are losing faith that Congress can help our struggling economy. Despite the hyper-partisan environment in Washington, this legislation has strong bipartisan support in both chambers. Additionally, Startup Act 2.0 creates American jobs at little to no cost to taxpayers, making the package attractive to many members concerned about our country’s fiscal situation.

Cantor: No Limits to Entrepreneurship, Continue the Startup Discussion

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor pushed the cause of entrepreneurs and startups on Capitol Hill today, emphasizing the importance of government’s role in the formation and success of small businesses. America should be the “Startup country,” the Virginia representative said at a conference on entrepreneurism, “We want to be the destination for the world’s best and brightest, for those willing to work hard, to take a risk and make something of themselves.”

Lawmakers are continuing to shift their focus to issues facing entrepreneurs, startups, and small business this year. Despite the presidential election, partisan division, and other seemingly intractable differences, members of both parties have been able to agree that Washington needs to get to work for startups.

Last week, a bipartisan group of Senators -- Jerry Moran, Mark Warner, Marco Rubio, and Chris Coons -- introduced a bill titled Startup Act 2.0 which would make critical reforms to the immigration system, incentivize the rapid commercialization of research and development, and lessen the tax burden on profits made by small, thriving firms. Engine encourages lawmakers in the House of Representatives to take up similar legislation to bolster small business, help startups hire talented workers, and incentivize the development of innovative products and services that grow the American economy.

Midweek Policy Roundup

Immigration

Senators Jerry Moran, Mark Warner, Marco Rubio, and Chris Coons introduced Startup Act 2.0 on May 22, building on measures introduced in December 2011 that create more visas for immigrants with advanced degrees in STEM fields, among other critical reforms for startups. Engine’s coverage here.

Privacy

The Federal Trade Commission announced the final agenda for a May 30 workshop focused on privacy disclosures for advertising and social media on mobile devices. The workshop, titled “In Short: Advertising & Privacy Disclosures in a Digital World,” will include participants from companies such as Facebook, Groupon, and TRUSTe. 

The FTC also announced the hiring of Paul Ohm, an associate professor at the University of Colorado, to serve as senior policy advisor for consumer protection and competition issues in the agency’s Office of Policy Planning. Mr. Ohm specializes in information privacy, computer crime law, intellectual property and criminal procedure, according to his personal website. 

Spectrum

The Federal Communications Commission held a workshop on channel sharing May 22. Channel sharing is an approach to broadcasting where two stations use the same broadcast infrastructure and television channel. This may maximize the amount of spectrum available in new wireless auctions. The commission will also consider a report and order on plans to ease the transition from 2G to more advanced technologies at its open hearing May 24. 

Cybersecurity

On May 21, Senator Ron Wyden gave a speech on the Senate floor opposing any cybersecurity legislation that would limit Americans’ privacy. The speech came as the Senate is said to be considering new cybersecurity legislation. Watch the speech here. 

Policy Update: Startup Act 2.0

Engine has been following closely the evolution of Startup Act, legislation designed to ease the way for startups to access the capital, skilled labor, and research that enables them to grow and prosper. We’re excited to bring to your attention the new and improved Startup Act 2.0, which was released this morning.

We voiced support for S.1965, the original Moran-Warner Startup Act, in March, which promised to provide tax credits for startups, reform the process by which foreign-born STEM graduates of U.S. universities are granted visas, and spur innovation by providing incentives for the commercialization of university research.

Startup 2.0 keeps many of the provisions of the original, and adds key measures for skilled immigration from the Coons-Rubio AGREE act -- in particular, the removal of per-country visa caps. A new R&D tax credit specifically for startups with less than $5 million in annual receipts has been added to allow startups to offset employee taxes and to counterbalance the existing credit which is overwhelmingly used by businesses with over $1 billion in receipts.

After consultation with universities, the new version of the Startup Act modifies the provision dealing with university research to ensure that the rules set forth in the Bayh-Dole Act are not altered. Bayh-Dole, or the Patent and Trademark Law Amendments Act, was adopted in 1980 to ensure that small businesses, universities and nonprofits have ownership of intellectual property created from government funded research.

Some of the earlier measures of Startup Act, such as the call for a comprehensive analysis of the impact of Sarbanes-Oxley on startups, have been removed from the new version due to an overlap with JOBS Act, which was passed earlier this year and dealt with access to capital for startups, most notably legalizing crowdfunding. The income tax credit of S.1965 has also been eliminated as a means to making the bill more fiscally feasible, with Startup 2.0 costing less than 20 percent of the original bill.

We are encouraged by the Senate’s willingness to work on policy initiatives that will have a direct impact on jumpstarting the American economy. We look forward to their colleagues in the House following suit. It’s time to set the table for legislation like Startup Act 2.0 and continue the debate on these fundamental issues that drive our economy.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the capital gains exemption of the original Startup Act has been eliminated. The actual provision removed for the release of Startup 2.0 is an income tax credit. Startup 2.0 features a permanent exemption of the capital gains tax on startup stock held for at least 5 years. 

Federal Trade Commission Review of Facebook-Instagram Gives Pause

The Federal Trade Commission is probing Facebook’s $1 billion purchase of Instagram, according to a May 10 Financial Times report. That the government is looking into the deal is no surprise -- the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act compels companies striking large deals to notify the FTC and Justice Department. While this first look is procedural, a deeper review may signal regulatory concerns about the deal.

Facebook’s purchase dwarfs the threshold for a “large” transaction under antitrust law, which uses an inflation-adjusted figure that was set at $68.2 million for 2012. So the Instagram purchase is literally a “big deal” to regulators, which means there is a 30-day waiting period before the deal can be consummated, or potentially much longer if the FTC decides to apply further scrutiny.

The two regulatory authorities -- the FTC and DOJ -- review transactions to ensure that companies do not possess “market power” that would harm competition. What does this mean? A post-merger company isn’t permitted to raise prices, reduce innovation or output, or otherwise harm consumers. It is important to note that it is harm to consumers, not competitors, that regulators primarily monitor. A transaction’s impact on competitors raises regulatory concern where it hits consumers, such as when a company controls supply of a good, which opens up the opportunity to unilaterally raise its price. An unnamed source suggested to the New York Times Bits Blog that the deal presents a threat to mobile advertising competition, potentially affecting prices.

A May 15 Securities and Exchange Commission filing by Facebook has ignited some speculation that the federal government is initiating a further review of the purchase. Facebook amended its S-1 ahead of the company’s initial public offering to extend the estimated closure of the deal. The filing originally anticipated the deal would close by the end of the second quarter, but the amended filing states that the deal is “expected to close in 2012.” (see page 66) Facebook also agreed to pay a $200 million termination fee to Instagram if the deal falls through.

In-depth antitrust review would likely play out over several months. Reuters reported May 10 that the FTC made inquiries to Google and Twitter about the transaction. Twitter also was rumored to have considered purchasing developer Tap Tap Tap’s Camera+ app after Facebook struck the Instagram deal. Neither the companies nor the agency are commenting on the process, so it is impossible to tell whether moves by other companies may have influenced the agency’s questions.

While a lot of noise has been generated about the regulatory probe, is it really likely that the government will pursue an antitrust injury created by the purchase of Instagram? The Obama administration has increased antitrust enforcement, particularly on horizontal mergers -- deals where companies acquire their direct competitors (think AT&T buying T-Mobile). Vertical mergers -- where one company purchases another in a different line of business -- have tended to see less competitive scrutiny (think Ticketmaster merging with Live Nation).

Moving to block the purchase of Instagram may pose a variety of new questions to antitrust experts, but should startups be concerned about the reports of an FTC probe? At this point, the likely answer is no. Most purchases won’t face the regulatory scrutiny that a buyer like Facebook generates. Between the company’s multi-billion dollar IPO, privacy investigation by the FTC, and acquisition activity, Facebook has repeatedly drawn attention from the government in 2012.

Government scrutiny of large companies’ acquisitions may be of growing importance to startups going forward, especially where industry-leading firms such as AT&T and Verizon aim to make acquisitions and face FTC or Justice Department review. Delaying the close of a deal can impede the development of small businesses and harm startups making the next step in the evolution of their businesses. Engine will update as the review progresses.

Marvin Ammori: One of Fast Company’s Most Creative People

Marvin Ammori was just named number 32 on Fast Company’s “100 most creative people in business” for his stewardship of the takedown of SOPA and PIPA. We caught up with him to talk about SOPA, First Amendment in tech, and what it means to be a creative leader in a digital world.

So, you're on Fast Company's Creative Business list...?

Yes. It's great that Fast Company decided to feature the creativity of the anti-SOPA movement and it was obviously an honor to be chosen as the person to represent that creativity. There were millions of activists involved and perhaps hundreds of leaders in business, academia, entrepreneurship, cybersecurity, music, and civil liberties. 

The Internet itself is the world's greatest engine of creativity -- for speech, culture, and business. The anti-SOPA movement was organized much like the web itself, with loose networks and nodes through which lots of people could contribute their creative ideas, test them, and collaborate to make them a reality. Fast Company profiled me, but I was just one of many devoted people fighting the bills, so many of whom exhibited amazing creativity.

Tell us about what you did for the SOPA fight and why it was important.

To stop SOPA and PIPA from becoming law, you couldn't play the usual inside-the-Beltway DC game. You needed activists, organizers, lobbyists, lawyers, and a coalition of business, civil liberties groups, entrepreneurs, and just ordinary citizens who rely on the Internet. 

I am a First Amendment lawyer. What I could do was interpret the statute as confidently as any of the opposing lawyers, and to analyze the First Amendment implications and problems. I also have experience working on public campaigns for Internet policy issues. So, while the other side would explain what the law did inaccurately, I could provide the right analysis, explain it clearly and simply to allies, congressional staff, and the general public. I was not the only lawyer fighting to stop SOPA, and we all learned a lot collaborating with one another.

Beyond the lawyers, other people were experts in cybersecurity (Paul Vixie), or handled the lobbying (Public Knowledge among others) and public activism (Fight for the Future, Demand Progress, Electronic Frontier Foundation) and organized Silicon Valley entrepreneurs (Engine). They could all rely on my legal analysis, just as I could rely on their skills.

What other tech issues have first amendment implications?

Almost all of them. The Internet is our infrastructure for speech in the 21st Century. We need to ensure all Americans have access to high-speed, open Internet connections, wired and mobile, and that individuals (not Hollywood or the telcos) control how people can use those connections. So network neutrality, bandwidth caps, Internet-for-all initiatives. All of these will determine who can speak to whom in our society, with what tools, and whether they need permission, and from whom.

What’s next for you?

I am thinking through a project on the connection between policies that foster entrepreneurship and those that foster freedom generally (like freedom of speech). And I'm supposed to be writing a book. I will probably call Hamish Chandra, an Engine Advocacy advisor who is my creativity guru, to coach me on becoming as creative as the 32nd most creative person in business should always be.

http://ammorigroup.com/

@marvin_ammori

Midweek Policy Highlights

This week in Washington: the FTC goes deeper on privacy, Facebook amends its SEC filing to account for potential regulatory review, and immigration and spectrum remain hot topics.

Finance

Facebook amended its S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission ahead of its initial public offering May 15. The filing extended the expected closure date of the $1 billion Instragram purchase from the second quarter of 2012 to 2012 generally. The move could signal deeper scrutiny by regulators on the competitive impact of the deal. Currently, the transaction is in a procedural 30-day review under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act premerger notification program. Engine will continue to monitor the review and its potential impact on future startup acquisitions.

Privacy

Associate director of the Federal Trade Commission’s division of privacy and identity protection Maneesha Mithal spoke at a Congressional Internet Caucus event on Monday about the agency’s recent report on privacy. She highlighted recent settlements with social networks including MySpace that involved companies’ adherence to their privacy policies.

Edward Felton, the agency’s chief technologist on leave from Princeton University’s Center for Information and Technology Policy, also blogged this week on the technical details of recent moves by the government to address privacy on social media platforms.

Immigration

Engine blogged earlier this week on moves by the Department of Homeland Security and Congress that may help startups gain access to more highly-skilled immigrant workers. Senator John Cornyn is said to be introducing a bill that would boost the number of visas available to immigrants with graduate degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields.

Spectrum

Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski is slated to give a speech May 17 at 10:30 EST on spectrum reallocated to support “medical body area networks” (MBAN). GE Healthcare and Philips Healthcare are scheduled to demo MBAN devices. Repurposing spectrum for new technologies is a major priority to open innovation across industries and MBAN is a major development in the healthcare field. A live stream can be viewed here.

Congress Weighs STEM Visas as DHS Extends Some Grads’ Stay

The Department of Homeland Security announced Friday an expansion of the number of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) degree programs that qualify students to stay in the United States after they graduate. The move comes as legislation is set to be introduced that would expand the number of visas available to STEM graduate degree holders. Reforms like these are a step in the right direction toward meeting the demand for highly-skilled labor in the United States.

STEM graduates fuel the startup ecosystem by providing skilled labor critical to startups that develop innovative products and grow the American economy. Research has shown that many high-skilled immigrants go on to start successful companies of their own, further boosting job prospects for native-born Americans and generating large amounts of revenue. On Friday, CQ reported that Senator John Cornyn plans to unveil legislation that may increase the allotment of visas for immigrants with graduate degrees. While no specific language has been released yet, Engine will monitor and update on the bill as it emerges.

Bad immigration policy not only constrains the labor market, it also impedes the creation of entire businesses. U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has launched an initiative aimed at easing the visa process for foreign-born entrepreneurs. This is just one step forward in fixing a broken immigration system that is in need of broad reform, but these small changes can have a meaningful impact on small- and medium-sized businesses that are fighting for the talent to make their startups succesful.

Health IT Dashboard Opens More Government Data

Developers have expanded access to government health IT data through a dashboard released Wednesday -- a move which opens up possibilities for the creation of new applications and tools in the health IT sector. The Heath IT Dashboard allows the public to track and analyze data from the Office for the National Coordinator for Health IT. The information is beneficial to the startup ecosystem, expanding a valuable toolkit for the development of products using data.

Open government data can fuel products that empower citizens and

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grow businesses. At a May 7 Code for America event in San Francisco, Ellen Miller of the Sunlight Foundation and Tom Steinberg of MySociety demonstrated tools built on government data that give everyday individuals valuable information on government services and a voice in their communities. These web-based tools demonstrate the potential market for developers to both build businesses and add value to local, state and national governments.

There are plans to expand the dashboard in June. More data are to be added on electronic health records and other health care technologies implemented by the federal government. Technology may play a critical and non-partisan role in making care more affordable, accessible, and straightforward for patients in the United States.

In addition, the expansion of wired and wireless broadband to remote communities may open the door to telemedicine for rural Americans. Mobile medical applications and innovative medical devices offer the opportunity for startups to make a move into the health care market as well. Open government data is one step to opening up data-driven innovation across government and industry, with health care representing just one field for growth.

“New Tech City”: Improve Education, Expand Broadband, Reform Immigration

Image by kaysha.

Education and immigration reform are vital for the continued success of startups and of the American economy as a whole. A study released on Wednesday highlighted startups’ importance to the economy and recommended broader efforts to incorporate technology in schools and more innovative approaches to the U.S. visa system. In no place are these needs more apparent than the focus city for the study, New York.

The study -- “New Tech City” -- was conducted by the Center for an Urban Future with support from AT&T and the Association for a Better New York. The findings of the study demonstrate New York’s place as a tech hub, eclipsed only by Silicon Valley and San Francisco purely in terms of growth. The study identified 486 startups that had received angel, seed, or venture capital funding in the city of New York since 2007 and more than 1,000 web-based startups, most of which haven’t received funding. The number of jobs in the New York information technology industry grew 28.7 percent over the past five years, increasing by about 12,000 according to data the study drew from the New York State Department of Labor.

The study addresses key issues facing startups around the country, emphasizing the need for the reform of key issues that are affecting startups today. We need immigration reform to allow more highly-skilled immigrants to work at startups, enhancements of broadband and wireless infrastructures to connect businesses and consumers, and support for schools to prepare teens for careers in STEM fields.

Silicon Valley and New York City are known centers of innovation, but the startup story of these places can be replicated in communities all across the United States. To achieve these successes, policy should support small companies, which play a vital role by creating new jobs, improving local economies, and providing consumers with innovative products and services.

Fighting a Global Battle with Startup Act

Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) took to the

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Senate floor this morning to urge his colleagues to take action on Startup Act, a bill to facilitate job growth through startup businesses. You can watch the video here.

Startup Act, sponsored by Sen. Moran and Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), aims to create an environment that makes it easier for startups to thrive and by doing so to boost the U.S. economy. Sen. Moran cited evidence that startups are responsible for almost all new net job growth in the last 30 years, and highlighted the fact that startup growth is slowing down for the first time in recent history -- an indicator that should prompt us to act now to pass policies that encourage the growth of this vital sector of our economy.

Among its many provisions, Startup Act aims to retain top talent in America through the expansion of entrepreneurial visas. Moran said that the danger of creating a hostile environment for U.S. businesses to retain foreign-born talent is that it will start to make more sense for them to move their operations overseas, to places like India and Brazil, where there is access to high concentrations of high-skilled STEM workers -- a situation in which

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“The future of our economic competitiveness depends on America winning the global battle for talent,” he said.

Sen. Moran urged Congress to buck conventional wisdom that legislation can’t be passed in an election year and act on these urgent issues. And with an issue as important as securing a place for startups leading the American economy, we hope his colleagues heed his call and begin more work on Startup Act soon.