Oregon Public Broadcasting

A new national ranking of entrepreneur-friendly states puts Oregon fifth in the nation for small business growth.

Measurements of how well states encourage entrepreneurs vary, depending on what questions researchers ask.

This study, from the University of Nebraska, looked at the growth in the number of businesses and the number of patents per capita.

James Sinks of the Oregon State Treasury says the state is seeing all kinds of new start-ups.

"We've seen several statistics lately that shows that the amount of money that's coming into Oregon for venture capital has increased dramatically over the last few years. And remember Oregon is also putting resources into things like signature research centers through universities and then the Oregon Growth account to help stimulate the growth of these small emerging growth companies," Sinks said.

The same researchers ranked Oregon 45th in the nation, in 2008.

A different study last year by the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council ranked Oregon 39th in the nation. It focused on government-imposed regulations like taxes and health care policy.