America's Innovation Factory

The United States university system is among our country’s greatest economic advantages, and the next decade of American economic power will disproportionately come from the halls of academia.

The Assembly Line

At K. Ventures, we believe entrepreneurs are made, not born. To source great companies, we consistently look to the American university system. Over the last decade, these institutions have invested in the infrastructure to produce great start-ups. Today, over 5,000 entrepreneurship courses are offered across U.S. colleges and universities, a number that has doubled since 2014. Schools have also added hundreds of start-up accelerators and incubators to their campuses. At New York University there are 11 entrepreneurial centers including the NYU Future Lab, the MedTech Venture Fund, The Endless Frontier Lab, and the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute. Each is equipped with resources, mentors and a ready supply of highly educated potential employees. The results are undeniable. Columbia University proudly boasts that Columbia Startups have raised over $13.2 billion in the last 12 months.

Funding

If the university is the factory line, then R&D funding is the lubricant that keeps it running. In 2022, nearly $100 billion in R&D funding was allocated to non-profit universities

These dollars underwrite breakthrough research in life sciences, robotics, chips, AI, and energy and they flow through specialized labs like MIT's Media Lab and Harvard's Wyss Institute. The recent passage of the CHIPs Act and Build Back Better promises to increase these dollars and diversify the recipients. SUNY Binghamton recently won the Build Back Better regional challenge securing nearly $114 million in federal and state investment to create a national hub for battery research and manufacturing in upstate New York.

Top Talent

In the war on talent, the U.S. university system is a recruitment powerhouse that attracts the brightest minds globally. In 2023 over 1 million international students were studying at American schools. The demand for U.S. education creates a powerful flywheel and 700,000 international applicants recently applied for an F1 visa, with about 65% securing admission. While there is still a significant amount of brain drain post-graduation, those with degrees in STEM may continue working in the U.S. for up to three years before requiring an employer-sponsored visa.

American exceptionalism is not a myth. It is soldered, coded, researched, and tested every day at universities across America. These institutions are not perfect, but they are indispensable to the technical and economic prosperity of America and the world.

The future is bright.

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