Study: Silicon Valley Entrepreneurship Unique

March 27, 2007 -- Entrepreneurship rates in Silicon Valley continued to grow faster than the national average despite the dot-com bust, suggesting unique factors are driving entrepreneurial activity in the area, according to a study sponsored by the Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy.

While other metropolitan areas had higher rates of entrepreneurship in the late 1990s -- as measured by the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity -- Silicon Valley's rates were unique in continuing to rise as others retreated after the Millennium, the study found.

"There appears to be something special about Silicon Valley," Chad Moutray, the Office of Advocacy's chief economist, said in a statement. "Controlling for factors we know contribute to entrepreneurship still doesn't explain what has happened in the Valley."

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