Entrepreneurial high-tech start-up firms are critical to the creation of new, desirable jobs in Missouri. Unfortunately, Missouri is falling behind.

Mark Parry, Ewing M. Kauffman/Missouri Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurial Leadership and professor of marketing at the Bloch School’s Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, has recently released a paper  that assesses Missouri’s entrepreneurial environment.

The report, “Missouri’s Need for Risk Capital: An Assessment and Recommendations,” was requested by the Missouri Capital Formation Needs Analysis 2007 Steering Committee with funding provided by the Henry W. Bloch School of Business and Public Administration, Advantage Capital, the Kansas City Area Development Council, and the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association.  

Dr. Parry was asked to research how Missouri compares with its peer states in terms of (1) venture capital investment and (2) state investments in programs designed to spur the creation and growth of high-tech new ventures.  The results and recommendations will be used to mobilize policy change.

Here’s what’s news:

1.       Missouri lags behind peer states in creating and sustaining high-tech start-up firms.
Out of the 50 states Missouri ranks 37th in terms of entrepreneurial activity, 35th  in the State New Economy Index, and in the bottom 40 percent of states in terms of university start-ups per million dollars of academic R&D expenditures.

2.       Missouri spends significantly less than other, benchmark states on basic research, applied research, and commercialization programs. 
In 2006 Missouri spent less than 10 cents per resident on capital formation programs. Seven technologically-similar states spent an average of $2.94 per resident on capital formation programs in 2006. 

3.       Missouri needs a sound capital formation strategy to spark entrepreneurial activity.
Drawing on academic research on new venture creation and capital formation as well as the analysis of capital formation programs in other states, Dr. Parry makes strategy recommendations to help Missouri attract investment dollars to the state.

Click here to access Dr. Parry’s full report and recommendations.