For one week, millions of young people around the world will join a growing movement to generate new ideas and seek better ways of doing things. More than 70 countries are coming together for the first time to host Global Entrepreneurship Week, a global initiative to inspire young people to embrace innovation, imagination, and creativity. To think big. To turn their ideas into reality. To make their mark.

The Week builds off of the phenomenal success of Entrepreneurship Week USA in 2007. More than 1,300 organizations planned 3,700 activities celebrating innovation and entrepreneurship throughout all 50 states. The idea inspired dozens of countries to pledge their support for a global initiative, and in November 2007, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Carl Schramm, the president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation, formally announced Global Entrepreneurship Week.

While it may be global in scope, at its heart the Week remains a local initiative driven by community-based activities. Sponsored by the Kauffman Foundation, Global Entrepreneurship Week/USA will inspire and inform young people through these activities—online and face-to-face—helping them explore their potential as self-starters and innovators. The Week will harness the energy of social networking and connect people—students, educators, entrepreneurs, business leaders, employees, non-profit leaders, government officials, and others— taking action to catalyze an entrepreneurial society.

Global Entrepreneurship Week/USA will weave into the fabric of everyday life, engaging young people in school, at home, on the web, and at work. Through this initiative, the next generation of entrepreneurs will emerge—acquiring the knowledge, skills, networks, and values needed to grow innovative, sustainable enterprises with a positive impact on their lives and the lives of those around them.