President Obama Announces Startup America Partnership, Chaired By Steve Case

President Barack Obama said in the State of the Union address last week that the U.S. needs to out-educate and out-innovate our competition to win the future. One of the biggest ways by doing so is by encouraging entrepreneurship. Today the President announced Startup America, a campaign to accelerate entrepreneurship and it will be headed by Steve Case. Carl Schramm, the President and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation, will be a founding board member of Startup America.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) is committing $2 billion to match private sector over the next 5 years for high-growth companies. Brad Feld and the TechStars team will also mentor startups. Over the next 3 years, the TechStars Network will help 5,000 entrepreneurs and investors.

The government is planning to expand collaborations between large companies and startups as well. Intel Capital is committing $200 million of new investments for U.S. companies and IBM will invest $150 million in 2011 to fund entrepreneur programs. Mark Zuckerberg will be launching a new initiative called Startup Days, where the companies will host 12-15 events around the country to provide entrepreneurs with expertise and resources to accelerate their businesses.