Globalization is redefining the face of commercial enterprise, the roles of developing countries, and the power of individuals. Changing business practices and technological capabilities have had lasting effects on the future competitiveness of both established and emerging economies.
With financial support from the Kauffman Foundation, the Duke GVC Center engaged in research on engineering and entrepreneurship between 2006 and 2010. The research projects dealt with the state of engineering education competitiveness in the United States, the phenomenon of immigrant entrepreneurship, and sources of innovation and workforce development in varied overseas locations, such as India and China.
A narrow band of firms in China and India in particular are utilizing top talent to explore high-value research and development, and design work rather than low-skilled outsourcing activities. As these trends evolve, the United States, which is known as a fertile startup environment with strong contributions from skilled immigrants, may have difficulty retaining and attracting future generations of immigrant entrepreneurs due to current visa policies. To understand and explore these issues, the Global Engineering and Entrepreneurship (GEE) research group conducted studies on a range of topics, including:
The Global Engineering and Entrepreneurship @ Duke research group consisted of an interdisciplinary team of engineers, sociologists, and industry experts. Many of the individuals involved in this research have interests in corporate management, global economics and intellectual property.
