SCALING INCLUSIVE DIGITAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP: BUILDING DIVERSE TALENT PIPELINE FOR U.S INNOVATION

This paper explores questions like how to scale inclusive digital entrepreneurship in the United States by
developing and assessing initiatives that build enduring and diverse talent pipelines into the digital economy.
The structural issue of persistent discrepancies in venture financing, new venture formation, and access to labor
means that women, Black, Latino, Native, disabled, rural, and low-income communities are not represented in
high-growth digital ventures, a problem that has equity and national innovation capacity implications. More
current data indicate that specific interventions (culturally competent technical support, stackable microcredentials, employer-based apprenticeship, and community-based capital) can lead to better short-term results,
yet intensive long-term evaluation and alignment to the policy is underwhelming. Based on ecosystem theory,
intersectionality, and the capability approach, this paper proposes a program-design and evaluation framework
that utilizes a mixed method to achieve (a) enhanced participation and success rates among underrepresented
groups, (b) institutional-level practice change within investment and hiring systems, and (c) scale-replicable and
costed, models. It defines research questions, testable hypotheses, and an empirical strategy (quasi-experimental
and participatory designs) that will be used to measure the individual, ecosystem, and structural outcomes. The
findings are meant to guide scholars, policy makers, funders, and those in practice to find evidence-based ways
of expanding the beneficiaries of the digital revolution