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MAGNET USA
NVCA's Global Innovation Leadership Initiative
NVCA's MAGNET USA (Maximizing America's Growth for the
Nation's Entrepreneurs and Technologists) initiative concentrates the
collective insights and efforts of the venture capital industry on strengthening
America's competitive pull in the global marketplace.
Born of the belief that innovation is the key driver of U.S.
competitiveness, MAGNET USA pulls together four priorities for continued
innovation leadership and supports them through public education, public
affairs and thought leadership at the national and community levels.
MAGNET's Four
Components
Education lays the foundation.
Maintaining a culture of innovation in the United States
will require a larger home-grown pool of energized and creative mathematicians
and scientists. The US education system must produce more creative thinkers in
math and science to maintain this pool. As an industry, venture capital is
especially well positioned to communicate the opportunities afforded to math and
science students in the United States because our industry was built by
individuals with such backgrounds.
NVCA Actions:
- Employ
national communications programs and individual member involvement at the
community level to draw K-12 students toward careers and future courses of
study in mathematics and the sciences.
- Support
legislation that supports enhancements to education in math and science
for all students.
Immigration fuels innovation.
The United States must continue to attract and retain the
best and brightest minds from abroad. As a nation of immigrants, America has
harnessed the intellectual firepower and derring-do of foreign nationals for
300 years. Today, they remain the unsung heroes of American innovation and
entrepreneurship - founding and building strong US companies. Economic and
political changes across the globe will require the US to concentrate as much
on retaining foreign innovators as it does on attracting them.
NVCA Actions:
- Educate
the public by quantifying the impact of foreign born nationals on the US
economy and by telling the stories of immigrant innovators. Click here for NVCA's American Made Study that documents the important role that foreign
born nationals are playing at venture-backed companies.
- Support
legislative efforts to ease restrictions on the participation of foreign
born nationals in the US innovation economy.
Research primes the pump of development.
Basic research and development must remain a priority for
Congress, government agencies, educational institutions, and corporations
because it sows the seeds for bringing innovation to market. Advances in
aerospace, biotechnology and information technology over the last 50 years
provide illustrative examples of the value of basic R&D to the commercial
innovation development process.
NVCA Actions:
- Continue
to meet with House and Senate Appropriators with a focus on securing continued
federal investment in federal
basic research programs.
- Play a
pivotal role in the patent reform debate
- Work
with members of the House Small Business Committee on legislation aimed at
clarifying the Congressional intent of SBIR grants to restore eligibility
for venture-backed companies.
Access to capital equals access to growth.
The US must ensure that the best young companies have
appropriate access to capital for innovation and growth. The US capital market
system remains an important competitive tool in attracting and nurturing
innovation, but it is not immune to ill-effects caused by overregulation and
over-taxation. We need to work consistently for the right balance of
transparency and opportunity for all investors.
NVCA Actions:
- Work
with all participants in the entrepreneurial ecosystem - venture
capitalists, entrepreneurs, accountants, lawyers, investment banker and
others - to develop recommendations addressing the current IPO crisis and
share the call to action with Members of Congress and the Administration
as appropriate.
- Work
on Capitol Hill to keep the tax burden on capital low.
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