Tech Giants Invest In Entrepreneurship

Three tech giants are taking President Barack Obama's words to heart and investing in entrepreneurship.

Less than a week after Obama's state of the union speech, Hewlett-Packard, Intel and International Business Machines announced they are investing in entrepreneurship as part of the White House led Startup America campaign. Startup America is a campaign and coalition of big businesses and organization aimed at promoting and investing in startup businesses to help spur the economy.

Entrepreneurs embody the promise of America: the belief that if you have a good idea and are willing to work hard and see it through, you can succeed in this country. And in fulfilling this promise, entrepreneurs also play a critical role in expanding our economy and creating jobs. That's why we're launching Startup America, a national campaign to help win the future by knocking down barriers in the path of men and women in every corner of this country hoping to take a chance, follow a dream, and start a business, President Obama said in a statement.

Heading the Startup America campaign will be former AOL chief executive Steve Case. He will be joined by Carl Schramm, president and chief executive of the Kauffman Foundation, as well as several entrepreneurs throughout the country. The initiative will guarantee $2 billion over the next five years to match private sector investment funding for startups.

The tech companies have enthusiastically gotten in on the action with commitments to their own brand of entrepeurship. Intel said its dedicating $200 million to its Invest in America campaign, which is aimed at emerging tech companies.

Intel is dedicated to creating a culture of investment in the United States that supports American startups and the country's future competitiveness, said Arvind Sodhani, president of Intel Capital and Intel executive vice president, in a statement.

Intel's $200 million comes on top of another $200 million it put in when it launched the Invest in America campaign in February of 2010. HP is also contributing through their own HP Startup Central division, which is strictly focused on getting young companies off the ground.

At HP, we know what it takes to build a startup 'from the garage up,' and we see a huge opportunity for our technology, expertise and relationships to support entrepreneurs, said Stephen DeWitt, senior vice president and general manager, Personal Systems Group, HP, in a statement. Whether their 'garage' days help them grow into small enterprises, move toward successful acquisition or emerge as industry giants, entrepreneurs will find HP is with them all the way.

IBM also joined the Startup America campaign and said it will continue to expand its Global Entrepreneur initiative. The company said last year it launched approximately 500 new businesses as part of the initiative and also has five Innovation Centers across the U.S.

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