New knowledge in the form of products, processes and organizations leads to opportunities that can be exploited commercially. However, converting new ideas into economic growth requires turning new knowledge into economic knowledge that constitutes a commercial opportunity. Acs, Audretsch, Braunerhjelm, and Carlsson (2003) develop a model that introduces a "knowledge filter" between new knowledge and economic knowledge and identifies both new ventures and incumbent firms as the mechanism that reduces the knowledge filter and increases regional growth. This paper tests the hypotheses that new venture creation is a better mechanism than the absorptive capacity of incumbent firms for converting new knowledge into economic knowledge. Our results support the contention that new venture creation is a superior method of penetrating the regional "knowledge filer" than incumbent firms.