Biographical note

Zoltan J. Acs is University Professor at the School of Public Policy and Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Public Policy, George Mason University, Virginia. He is also a Research Scholar at the Max Planck Institute for Economics in Jena, Germany, and Scholar-in-Residence at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Kansas City, Missouri. In addition, he is a Visiting Professor at the University of Pécs in Hungary, where he received an honorary doctorate. Previously, he held the position of Doris and Robert McCurdy Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Robert G. Merrick School of Business, University of Baltimore. He is co-founder and co-editor of Small Business Economics: An Entrepreneurship Journal. Dr Acs is a leading advocate of the importance of entrepreneurship for economic development. He received the 2001 International Award for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research, on behalf of The Swedish National Board for Industrial and Technical Development. He has published more than 100 articles and 25 books. David B. Audretsch is the Director of the Max Planck Institute of Economics in Jena, Germany. He also serves as a Scholar-in-Residence at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. In addition, he is an Honorary Professor at the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Research Professor at Durham University, a Distinguished Professor and the Ameritech Chair of Economic Development and Director of the Institute for Development Strategies at Indiana University, an External Director of Research at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, and a Research Fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (London). Dr Audretsch's research has focused on the links between entrepreneurship, government policy, innovation, economic development, and global competitiveness. Dr Audretsch is ranked as the 21st most cited scholar in economics and business, 1996–2006. He is co-founder and co-editor of Small Business Economics: An Entrepreneurship Journal. He was awarded the 2001 International Award for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research by the Swedish Foundation for Small Business Research. Robert J. Strom is Director of Research and Policy at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City. His responsibilities include support for academic and policy-oriented research in the field of entrepreneurship. Prior to joining the Foundation in June 1994, Dr Strom was a visiting professor at the Bloch School of Business at the University of Missouri, Kansas City and vice president of the National Council on Economic Education. Dr Strom was assistant vice president for public affairs at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City from 1986 to 1991. He was president of the Missouri Council on Economic Education and a Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Columbia from 1976 to 1986. Dr Strom has also been a member of the economics department at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.