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For Immediate Release
CONTACT: Jenny Brennan (703) 919-6292




Philadelphia, PA – The Weiss Tech House at the University of Pennsylvania has joined EntrepreneurshipWeek USA as a program partner adding its support and resources to a national effort to inspire and encourage young people to consider entrepreneurship as a career choice and to celebrate America’s unique culture of inventiveness.

As a program partner to EntrepreneurshipWeek USA, the Weiss Tech House will hold events during and around the week designed to inspire, educate and prepare young people, primarily ages 14 to 25, to be among America’s next great entrepreneurs and innovators.

Programs will include presentations by industry experts in regards to product design and development and marketing.

With the theme, "What’s Your Big Idea? Take it On!" EntrepreneurshipWeek USA will be conducted Feb. 24 – March 3, 2007. The initiative is designed to serve as an inspiration for young people to think creatively and to turn their ideas into action – whether that means starting a new business, developing an innovation for an existing company or solving a problem that makes society better. Official events are being planned in cities across the county, culminating in Washington, D.C, where the focus will be on the importance of policy to the nation’s entrepreneurs.

EntrepreneurshipWeek USA is sponsored by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and by government, not-for-profit organizations and businesses, including The New York Times and Inc. magazine. Additionally, the House of Representatives noted the importance of entrepreneurship education by enacting a Resolution (HR 699) in early June in support of a national entrepreneurship week.

“We are delighted with the leadership and expertise that the Weiss Tech House brings to EntrepreneurshipWeek USA as a program partner,” said Carl Schramm, president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation. “Educating our young people about entrepreneurship and reinforcing the value that entrepreneurs and innovators bring to our economy is critical to America’s long-term prosperity – more so now than ever before.”

According to Kauffman Foundation research, 41 percent of children ages 9 -12 say they would like to start their own business. “Young people have a natural desire for the independence and control that come with owning a business and being their own boss,” Schramm said.

“It's important to encourage technological innovation and entrepreneurship in students at a time when they have very little to lose and everything to gain,” said Weiss Tech House Faculty Director Karl Ulrich. “Entrepreneurship Week USA will help aspiring entrepreneurs make their ideas a reality, and I'm proud to be a part of it."

Entrepreneurship is a driving force of the U.S. economy. During the past 15 years, businesses less than five years old have accounted for about 70 percent of the net job creation in the United States. However, while America presently maintains the edge as an entrepreneurial society, there are clear signs of massive economic competition from abroad. More Americans in the future will need to be generating more ideas and better innovations if the United States is to stay ahead of the large populations of educated citizens in emerging and globally savvy economies.

For more information on events and activities across the country and information to engage young people on how to get involved in EntrepreneurshipWeek USA, please visit: www.EntrepeneurshipWeekUSA.com.

For the past two years, the United Kingdom has conducted a similar program, initiated by Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, called Enterprise Week. Last year, as part of the second annual Enterprise Week, more than 11,000 young Britons participated in more than 2,200 events across the UK.



About the Weiss Tech House
The Weiss Tech House is a student-run hub of technological innovation on Penn’s campus that provides a unique intellectual experience and resource-rich environment to help students create, develop and commercialize innovative technologies. Signature programs include a mentoring program, distinguished speaker series, Innovation Fund, and the annual student inventors’ competition, PennVention. For more information visit www.tech-house.upenn.edu.

About the Kauffman Foundation
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City is a private, nonpartisan foundation that works with partners to advance entrepreneurship in America and improve the education of children and youth. The Kauffman Foundation was established in the mid-1960s by the late entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing Marion Kauffman. Information about the Kauffman Foundation is available at www.kauffman.org.