Birthplace of ideas – Fort Collins, CO tops SBA list of hot spots for entrepreneurs – Colorado No. 1 in entrepreneurship

Coloradans have a knack for brainstorming business ideas and parlaying those thoughts into profits.

Several Colorado cities appeared near the top of a national study released Tuesday measuring entrepreneurial activity and innovation. Fort Collins was ranked No. 1 in the U.S., and a few other Colorado spots, including Denver, also received high marks.

The state can point to plenty of examples. A trio of Colorado State University professors, for instance, developed new technology to track cattle by scanning the animals’ retinas. A startup outfit, Optibrand, was born at CSU in Fort Collins several years ago and was built around the scientists’ software.

Several laid-off StorageTek executives in the early 1980s, meanwhile, founded McData Corp. in a Boulder garage. The storage technology company now is based in Broomfield.

By James Paton, Rocky Mountain News

Full Story: http://www.insidedenver.com/drmn/business/article/0,1299,DRMN_4_3713451,00.html

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State No. 1 in entrepreneurship

Study bodes well for Colorado business cultivation

By Alicia Wallace, Camera Business Writer

LONGMONT — Colorado tops the the nation in entrepreneurship and innovation, according to a study released here Tuesday.

And those two factors have a direct correlation with positive regional economic growth, said the study, conducted by the Edward Lowe Foundation and the Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

"You want to be high on that list if you want your local economy to do well," said Brian Headd, an economist with the SBA, to a crowd of about 50 people at the Magellan Center, 1951 S. Fordham St.

The study looked at 394 regions between 1990 and 2001, evaluating such factors as employment, productivity, wages and new firm births.

The Glenwood Springs region lead the nation in entrepreneurial capacity. Fort Collins was ranked the No. 1 innovative/entrepreneurial region and three other Colorado regions placed in the top 20. The Denver region, which includes Boulder and Broomfield counties, was No. 6.

Full Story: http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/local_business/article/0,1713,BDC_2461_3713009,00.html