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DEARBORN --- The cities of Ann Arbor, Auburn Hills, Troy and Wixom were identified “as top performers at attracting and retaining entrepreneurial firms,” in a study recently completely by faculty and students at the University of Michigan-Dearborn College of Business's Center for Innovation Research – iLabs.

Representatives of the four cities will be honored at a ceremony at the UM-Dearborn campus on March 22.

“The Entrepreneurial Cities Index is a research study that examines the factors—at the community level—that influence entrepreneurship, economic development and job growth,” according to Prof. Kim Schatzel, director of iLabs. Schatzel led the study with Tim Davis, senior research manager for iLabs.

“The focus is on entrepreneurship because of its importance to expansion and diversification of regional economies and small businesses’ impact on job creation,” Schatzel said.  “Nationally in 2006, small or entrepreneurial firms added 12.3 million payroll jobs while large firms had job losses of 6.1 million.”

The UM-Dearborn study used public records to assemble a six-factor, 25-item index to measure entrepreneurial activity, looking at such factors as “clustering,” incentives, growth, community and education.

The researchers examined a representative sample of 14 communities in four different counties in southeast Michigan, ranging from populations of fewer than 5,000 to more than 100,000 residents and included communities from four different counties.

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