When global economic advisors track innovation across 50 U.S. states and countries worldwide, they are asking one core question:
Where does entrepreneurship flourish, and why?
The purpose of the Draper Innovation Index (DII) is to find out the answer to that exact question.
What Is the Draper Innovation Index?
The Draper Innovation Index (DII) is a monthly global ranking that evaluates how easy, safe, and profitable it is to:
- Start a business
- Invent something new
- Invest in transformative ideas
It analyzes over 5,000 data points, including:
- Venture capital momentum
- AI and crypto activity
- New business formation
- Tax and regulatory climate
- Economic and personal freedom (thanks to the Cato Human Freedom Index)
Unlike traditional economic rankings that look backward, the DII is predictive. It identifies the environments where innovation is likely to thrive next.
As Wallace Walrod, Chief Economic Advisor of the DII, explained:
“The DII shows where innovation is actually happening and flourishing.”
But here is the bigger question:
What creates those environments in the first place?
Innovation Is Not Accidental – It Is Cultivated
According to the DII data, innovation flourishes where there is:
- Economic freedom
- Regulatory clarity
- Access to capital
- Supportive leadership
- A culture of risk-taking and creativity
But Wallace emphasized something even more foundational:
“Creativity and risk-taking are two of the highest things associated with innovation and entrepreneurship.”
That is not a tax policy.
That is not a venture capital metric.
That is mindset.
And mindset begins long before someone starts a company.
The Missing Link: Entrepreneurship Education
During the interview, Wallace reflected on why many universities struggle to teach entrepreneurship effectively.
His insight?
Traditional academia prefers structure and certainty. Entrepreneurship is creative, unpredictable, and driven by experimentation.
Which raises an important question for educators:
If entrepreneurial thinking is difficult to teach at the university level, shouldn’t we start earlier?
This is where BizWorld comes in.
🔗 Learn more about BizWorld’s programs here:
https://www.bizworld.org/
The Connection Between the DII and BizWorld
When asked directly about the relationship between the DII and BizWorld, Wallace said:
“The DII shows where innovation is happening. BizWorld shows how to make it happen.”
The DII measures outcomes.
BizWorld develops the mindset behind those outcomes.
BizWorld equips students with:
- Financial literacy
- Creative problem-solving
- Collaboration skills
- Leadership confidence
- Risk tolerance
- Entrepreneurial thinking
These are the same human skills Wallace’s research identified as “defensible” in an age of automation and AI.
His studies found that creativity, teamwork, and adaptability were more future-proof than technical memorization.
In other words:
The skills BizWorld cultivates are the skills that will protect the next generation in a rapidly changing economy.
“BizWorld is really onto something that’s increasingly important for US and global economies.”
It’s clear that innovation ecosystems do not begin in venture capital firms. They begin in classrooms.
Are Entrepreneurs Born or Bred?
Near the end of an interview with Wallace, he shared a striking reflection:
“Probably everybody is somewhat born as an entrepreneur. Then it gets beaten out of them over time. It’s in their brains. It’s innate. BizWorld is just in the business of bringing that back out and then growing it.”
Children naturally:
- Experiment
- Take risks
- Try again after failure
- Dream beyond limitations
BizWorld protects and strengthens that instinct instead of allowing it to fade.
For educators, this means you are not adding “one more program.”
You are activating something already present in your students.
For supporters, this means your investment multiplies across decades.
For young professionals, this means the entrepreneurial mindset is not reserved for startup founders – it is essential for navigating AI, automation, and economic change.
The Future of Innovation Starts Earlier Than We Think
The Draper Innovation Index demonstrates that countries can rise or fall rapidly based on leadership, policy, and freedom.
But those shifts are influenced by something deeper:
the people within those economies.
If we want future innovation leaders – whether in Wyoming, Florida, Canada, Singapore, or Estonia — we must start by cultivating entrepreneurial thinking in youth.
The DII measures the landscape.
BizWorld cultivates the next generation who will shape that landscape.
And when the chief economic advisor of a global innovation index says that BizWorld is onto something increasingly important, that should give every educator, policymaker, and entrepreneur confidence.
Explore Further
Learn more about how the partnership between the DII and BizWorld is helping to share our future global economy; one data point and one young entrepreneur at a time.
🔹 The Draper Innovation Index
https://draperinnovationindex.com/
🔹 BizWorld Entrepreneurship Education
https://www.bizworld.org/
