NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, June 20, 2016

The 7th annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES), set to open this week in Silicon Valley, has attracted over 1,000 conferees out of 4,500 applicants from around the world. It will be hosted by President Barack Obama who, starting with the inaugural summit in 2009, has made entrepreneurship promotion an element of his foreign policy.

The Summit, to be organized at Stanford University, aims to connect investors and entrepreneurs – 100 from each of six global regions plus 100 from the United States – with opportunities for investment and collaboration.

The sponsorship of the GES movement by the US government is more than promotion of “brand USA” around the world, the State Department’s Public Affairs chief, Rick Stengel, said during a summit announcement event earlier this year. He said: “It is a tool for development, for empowering marginalized groups and for combating violent extremism. It’s vital to creating the conditions for global growth and prosperity, particularly in regions where chaos and war have shattered dreams.”

The social change agenda is only one element of the Summit, which addresses a host of challenges and opportunities for global entrepreneurs.