February 17, 2009 - MIT-alumni companies generates $2 Trillon a Year
February 17, 2009 - MIT-alumni companies generates $2 Trillon a Year
It is not a secret that Massachusetts economy benefits from the presence of large and prestigious universities and the companies started by their faculty and graduates. Harvard published recently a report taking credit for nearly $5 billion in economic activity around Boston area in fiscal 2008. According to a report released today by the Kauffman Foundation, companies founded by the alumni of the only MIT are responsible for more than a quarter of all sales by Massachusetts companies, or some $164 billion per year. Moreover, if the revenues of all active companies around the world formed by MIT graduates were aggregated, they would surpass $2 trillion a year—which is more than the GDP figures of all but the 10 largest nations in the world. The study was conducted by MIT Sloan School of Management professor Ed Roberts and doctoral candidate Charles Eesley. The goal of the survey was to build a detailed, quantitative picture of how one university’s entrepreneurial alumni—especially those in technology fields—contribute to regional economic growth. “We found that the MIT alumni-founded companies have a disproportionate importance to their local economies because so many of them are manufacturing, biotech, software or consulting firms that sell to national and world markets,” Roberts said.
The Kauffman Foundation focuses its spending on programs that foster entrepreneurship and innovation. It paid for the study in part because it needed more ammunition in its fight to get more universities and state and local governments to support university-industry exchanges, says Lesa Mitchell, a vice president at the organization.
Source : http://www.xconomy.com
The study is available here.
