The United States and India: A Partnership for Entrepreneurship

This project seeks to spur a nascent culture of entrepreneurship in India and to strengthen linkages between a new generation of Indian and U.S. entrepreneurs. AEI's project will examine the most innovative firms in four fast-growing geographical clusters in India and draw lessons - in terms of both business practices and the policy environment in which firms operate - that can be replicated in other parts of India and the developing world. This project will involve primary source research in India; a simplified weighted business climate index; four working groups (two in India and two in the United States); a U.S. public conference; an essay in a major policy journal; and a series of op-eds and a final published report. Research findings will be disseminated among U.S. and Indian policymakers, entrepreneurs, journalists, and academics. By studying and promoting links between Indian and U.S. entrepreneurs, this project will deepen the commercial and creative relationship between the two countries, leading to increased economic freedom. Furthermore, this project will create a 'strategic community' of U.S. and Indian entrepreneurs, intellectuals, and business leaders to highlight the importance of entrepreneurship in India's path to prosperity and in our countries' bilateral relationship. The knowledge garnered from this project, as well as the networks generated by it, will seed an organized nationwide constituency that encourages private initiative and entrepreneurship in India, and link that constituency firmly with the United States. Over time, this will act as a powerful catalyst for economic growth and human flourishing in India and beyond.