• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, October 16, 2013

Google and UP Global have formed an extended partnership to support entrepreneurs and their work. The agreement, announced Wednesday, aims to bring assistance to hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs worldwide, doubling support from 500 to 1,000 cities during the next three years.

The work will grow the Google-powered project, Startup Weekend, which helps to launch a startup in 54 hours. At a press conference, Marc Nager, CEO and president of UP Global, said the organization is the parent company of programs for entrepreneurs such as Startup Digest and NEXT. The programs put training and resources in front of entrepreneurs through UP Global.

The goal is to hit 500,000 entrepreneurs in the next few years, developing a sustainable presence. Nager said before meeting the folks at Google two years ago that the goal sat at 200 cities.

Empowering entrepreneurs can power the economy because it leads to better and faster growth, according to Mary Grove, director of Google for Entrepreneurs.

The U.S. economy improved modestly in the past six weeks, but job growth sputtered as business uncertainty mounted due to the federal government shutdown and debt-ceiling standoff, according to a Federal Reserve report released Wednesday.

Young companies can drive the economy. Google and UP Global are trying to determine how that works.

Innovative ideas can create jobs and demand for services or products. Some believe entrepreneurship is contagious. A study from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation set out to determine the viral nature of being an entrepreneur, calling attention to few-and far-between companies that manage to gain 20% annual growth and more than $1 million in sales.

"Woman business owner" photo from Shutterstock.