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News Release

Last modified: Wednesday, October 30, 2002

Research work by SPEA, Dutch students published as book on entrepreneurship

Graduate students from the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) at Bloomington have collaborated with Dutch students from Erasmus University in Rotterdam on a research project that resulted in a published book on entrepreneurship.

SPEA faculty member David Audretsch said 18 IUB students in SPEA's doctoral and master's programs were involved in the project, which included a ceremonial presentation at the U.S. Embassy in The Hague. "It is very unusual to have work by students published in a book, and even more unusual when that work is the result of international exchange and cooperation," said Audretsch, Ameritech Chair for Economic Development, director of the Institute for Development Strategies at SPEA, and director of the Institute for West European Studies at IU Bloomington.

Entrepreneurship: Determinants and Policy in a European-U.S. Comparison (Kluwer Academic Publishers) is the title of the book that addresses entrepreneurship in France, the Netherlands, Germany and the United States. Audretsch, a co-editor of the book, said it will interest policy-makers and academics concerned with economic development and promoting entrepreneurship, which he defined as the process of people starting new businesses.

"This book deals with research work by the IU and Dutch students that identifies how entrepreneurship policies have helped to promote economic growth, employment and competitiveness in the four countries," explained Audretsch, whose expertise includes the links between entrepreneurship, government policy, innovation, economic development and global competitiveness.

Over a period of several months, Audretsch said, the students linked their research on economic development, globalization and entrepreneurship into a common, integrated, interactive course with extensive use of Web sites and the Internet. The Dutch students spent 10 days at IU Bloomington working on the project with their American colleagues.

A copy of the book, which was published with assistance from EIM Business and Policy Research, a Dutch think tank in Zoetemeer, was presented earlier this year in ceremonies at the U.S. Embassy in The Hague to the U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands. Several U.S., Dutch and European education leaders attended the event.

Co-editors of the book with Audretsch are Professor Roy Thurik from Erasmus University, Sander Wennekers of EIM and Ingrid Verheul from EIM and Erasmus.

For more information, contact Audretsch at 812-855-6766 or daudrets@indiana.edu.

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