Why do some regions of the United States flourish while others flounder? Economists have long studied such questions, of course. What has changed recently is the federal government’s active commitment to address regional disparities and inequities. This introduces new demand for practical answers as well as new occasions for experimentation and data collection—not to mention new opportunities to influence billions in new spending, much of it specifically intended to help turn technological innovations into sustainable businesses.   In response, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) proposes to unite three of its traditional initiatives: the Entrepreneurship Working Group, the Entrepreneurship Research Boot Camp, and the Productivity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship Program. Led by co-PIs David Robinson (Duke), Sabrina Howell (NYU Stern), and Josh Lerner (Harvard Business School), this joint project will specifically focus on how economic processes and policies can encourage or impede the launch of new businesses that commercialize innovations and help regions prosper.   The project will, for example, run a workshop each fall on place-based questions in entrepreneurship and innovation. Rather than solely featuring new results from academic research, however, these gatherings will also include presentations from private investors and government officials—including representatives from the NSF and the Commerce Department—who can discuss the structure of new federal programs for promoting innovation in areas of the country that have historically been left, or pushed, behind. Near the end of the project, NBER will host a capstone conference for policymakers, practitioners, and journalists in Washington. Papers from that meeting will distill practical lessons learned for publication in an edited volume.   To support graduate students and other early-career researchers, NBER’s Entrepreneurship Boot Camp meets for a week each summer and has an excellent reputation. Sloan funding will specifically provide lectures and training about spatial disparities in economic development. Campers will further discuss, dissect, and disseminate research presented at other meetings funded by this grant as well.   Guiding all these activities will be an advisory panel of public officials and private entrepreneurs. They will not only help prioritize research directions, but also help plan and participate in the NBER meetings. Above all, they will help make sure researchers are asking the right questions, accessing the right data, accumulating the right connections, and accelerating our understanding of regional innovation.