You may have seen the equation someplace before.

E=MC2.

Well, there's another one like it that has to do with energy, too.

It goes like this: E=MC. Entrepreneurship equals a Marketplace challenge.

An objective has come out of this year's Marketplace event to increase entrepreneurship in North Dakota. And the event's organizers have been kind enough to come up with a blueprint on how that might be done.

Sen. Kent Conrad and Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson on Thursday released a report that identifies ways the state could improve its economy by fostering the entrepreneurial spirit. The "2005 Marketplace E-Report" is available online at conrad.senate.gov.

"We want to make it easier for people to start up their businesses in North Dakota," Conrad, D-N.D., said. "Š This report synthesizes a series of broad goals to help our state become a natural home to entrepreneurs and the economic growth (they) bring."

The report says that "if North Dakota can grow entrepreneurs, North Dakota can grow its economy." That idea is the foundation for Marketplace, the annual event that is being held this week in Bismarck. The event was founded 16 years ago to help people find new sources of income during a depressed farm economy. The focus now is on entrepreneurship.

The Marketplace report concludes that the state can increase entrepreneurship by creating an environment in which those businesspeople can flourish. That includes a series of new efforts focused on mentoring, networking, outreach to students and hands-on business education. The report identified agriculture, energy and technology as fields where entrepreneurs can succeed in North Dakota.

Also on Thursday, Conrad and Johnson announced the state's Entrepreneur of the Year.

Annie Kirschenmann, of Medina, won the award. She is president and CEO of International Certification Systems, an organic certification company founded 20 years ago by her father, Fred Kirschenmann.

The award was based on entrepreneurial success, contributions to others' entrepreneurial efforts and experience with Marketplace for Entrepreneurs.

(Reach Tony Spilde at 250-8260 or tspilde@ndonline.com.)