Yesterday, I called attention to a new Kauffman Foundation report that explores the effect that a growing financial sector has on entrepreneurship and the creation of robust new companies, perhaps through their recruitment of STEM talent.

In their discussion, the authors remark on the modern opportunities for STEM-trained entrepreneurs to create products that have more social value that complex financial service products like CDOs:

What sets [modern social problems] apart in the contemporary context is their sheer economic, and political, and social complexity. Saying that the United States, indeed the globe, faces an energy challenge implies a host of issues: climate change, regulatory barriers, infrastructure shortcomings, national security issues, developing alternative sources to fossil fuels, and so on. The same could be said of other areas. But it is their very complexity that, perhaps ironically, makes them perfect areas for entrepreneurship, new ideas, and new entrants.

Moreover, makes them a perfect area for entrepreneurship by teams involving STEM experts.

Startup firms specialize–in a way that larger and more-established companies can barely contemplate–in attacking complex problems in cheaper and more efficient ways. For the leading areas in need of entrepreneurship today, scientists and engineers are essential to start firms or join new companies.