DECATUR - Seventy-one percent of Central Illinois adults see an opportunity for starting their own business.

But courage doesn't always accompany bright ideas.

Fear of failure would motivate 49 percent of residents to shy away from actually starting a business - two times the national average.

The statistics come from a 16-month study commissioned by Millikin University and released Tuesday morning.

"Accelerating Entrepreneurship in Central Illinois: A Catalyst for Regional Opportunity" received funding from Teagle Foundation Inc. of New York and research expertise from Cambridge-based Advanced Research Technologies Inc. More than 250 stakeholders in the region participated.

The findings were surprising to local entrepreneur Bruce Nims, who recently was selected to be Millikin's first entrepreneur in residence.

"I didn't anticipate they'd come up with that," he said. "But I do see they're right."

In the past, residents perceived that the way to be safe and comfortable was to work for an established business, he said.

"Those times have changed. - It's not that there aren't stable organizations. It's not the only way, and for many people, it's not the best way."

While there's no shortage of ideas and innovation in the region, which includes Champaign, Douglas, Ford, Macon, Moultrie, Piatt and Shelby counties, many of them are being exported out of the area for commercialization.

The region is near the national average when it comes to the number of patents it receives annually, but only 35 percent of the patents achieved in 2003 were assigned to a regional company, according to the report.

"We are producing the intellectual property here - the problem is we're not using it here," said Kathryn Studwell, a researcher who presented the findings for her colleague who worked on the report, Jennifer Montana.

Adequate funding, government support and a talented work force also make regions particularly attractive to entrepreneurs. There's capital in the region to help - it's just a matter of thinking differently about how that capital is invested, Millikin president Doug Zemke pointed out. Studwell said the best way to create companies locally is to start with local talent, encouraging students to become scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs.

It's a hard perception to change in a region where even entrepreneurs believe that they receive less status and respect than a mid-level manager of a large, established company, as researchers documented in the report. The change is especially important, considering many of the jobs created in the past decade are in younger, smaller companies.

Part of changing the attitudes means exposing children to entrepreneurial concepts from as early as elementary school, said Sharon Alpi, director of Millikin's entrepreneurship center. It also means getting them through school and into college.

"We can't afford to lose human capital because they can't get through high school," she said after the presentation.

The university hopes to take the findings and continue the discussion with business leaders, inching toward the long-term goal of increasing the number of new businesses that take root in the region.

"If we're going to have a vibrant economy in the future - we have to embrace the entrepreneurial spirit and be ready to deal with the realities of it," said Craig Coil, president of the Economic Development Corporation of Decatur and Macon County. "It does involve risk, but the upside is huge if you do it right."

Amy Hoak can be reached at ahoak@;herald-review.com or 421-7972.