&#62; First of all, the job of the entrepreneur and the cronies he takes with him from the source of the innovation are a job loss to the source and a job gain to small business. This on its own does not represent a net gain in jobs for the economy.<p>Wait, if someone quits a research job, and makes a new job for themselves, that leaves the original position vacant. So a new job is created.<p>On the other hand, it is probably impossible to get funding for doing research as a business. So the initial steps in innovation most likely do happen at universities and big companies. Some actual numbers on this would be nice.