Last year, venture firm Kleiner Perkins debuted its plans for a summer internship program to place top engineering talent from colleges at the firm’s portfolio companies. The benefit is two-fold: students get to work at the startup level and are mentored (and have the prestige of Kleiner Perkins on their resume), and startups get access to young engineering talent. After a successful inaugural program this summer, the venture firm is now accepting applications for the 2013 class.
Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!…..An innovative idea on how to do it now! – from Innovation Daily
Everyone is talking about the need to stimulate the depressed economy through job creation, but no one has developed a workable plan that can be implemented quickly. Innovation America, in co-operation with some bright industry and workforce development experts, respectfully submits a potential INNOVATIVE partnership that engages industry, academia and government (emphasis DSC).
The following white paper describes the “American Innovation Corps” a plan to create 200,000 to 400,000 jobs for unemployed or underemployed recent college graduates, America’s next generation of knowledge workers.
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PROPOSED PROGRAM:
Innovation America proposes a plan to place qualified college graduates in full time jobs with growing small businesses utilizing existing mechanisms to establish and implement the following program. We would recommend that America’s community colleges, 4-year public and not-for-profit colleges and graduate universities administer the program at the local level with an estimated 1,000 colleges and universities participating to recruit candidates, link to local businesses and fiscally manage the program. At the national level, an agency with existing ties to institutions of higher education and an established funding mechanism in place will be engaged and given program oversight responsibilities. An example, which has been recently launched, is the Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program of the National Science Foundation. The goal of the I-Corps program is to connect NSF-funded scientific research with the technological, entrepreneurial and business communities to help create a stronger national ecosystem. The result is innovation to couple scientific discovery with technology development and societal needs.
Addendum on 9/8/11:
Over 80% of the respondents to the online survey run by Innovation America voted positively that the proposed American Innovation Corps Jobs program should receive serious consideration by the Obama Administration. There were over 450 unique viewers of the proposed plan and 110 of you voted for or against the plan as illustrated (as of 9/7 at 8:00pm):