National Engineers Week (February 14 to 20) is celebrated this week. You may not be aware but engineers are playing a much larger role in your life than you think. Every single product that you consume or use was conceived in the mind of an engineer, designed by an engineer, and made by engineers. From the toothbrush you use to the toilets you flush, everything we use has been created by engineers. There are only about 1 million engineers in this country. This is a tiny fraction of the 120 million+ workforce. And yet 80% of the income growth in this country is directly related to engineering inventions and innovations.

Since the Declaration of Independence, the United States of America has captured the imagination of the world. The 20th century can rightfully be called as the century of American influence. Unlike England or France, America did not have colonies to loot. Instead America had its own internal engine of growth. Two centuries of unprecedented economic growth and wealth creation propelled America into an enviable position. America became a beacon of hope, freedom and prosperity.

Today most Americans seem to be unaware of the people who created this all powerful, unstoppable Engine – the Engine of invention, innovation and entrepreneurship. One of its early pioneers was Benjamin Franklin, one of our founding fathers. He was not merely a politician, but also a problem solver and inventor. He created the first bifocals, invented the lightening rod, built a safer stove for heating, invented the first odometer and studied how to design better ships. Ben Franklin can be truly called as the Father of American Engineering. A number of great engineering entrepreneurs followed the trail blazed by Ben Franklin.

Discussions of China tend to focus on size – a nation of over 1.3 billion people certainly deserves attention from business and investors worldwide. But, ‘total’ numbers reveal little about underlying social and market dynamics nor the opportunities they may present.

China is undergoing a ‘gray’ revolution. While discussions of aging and innovation almost exclusively focus on the industrialized economies of Europe, North America, Japan and the tiger economies of Asia, China may be the venue to watch, and for innovators to engage in what’s new in aging. A convergence of forces -- demographic transition, family dynamics, and institutional readiness provide a promising market for innovations in health delivery, eldercare and aging services.

Disruptive Demographics in the Middle Kingdom

Gray China – Asia Studies Monitor data indicate that life expectancy in China was a young 41 years old compared to 65 and older in Europe and North America in 1950. China is closing the longevity gap. Today, life expectancy in China has jumped to nearly 79 years compared to 82+ years in western industrialized economies.

Sometimes business leaders need a rally cry to get themselves in gear.  For his call to arms, George Coultier choose to twist the old football axiom (“winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing”) for his book, Profits Aren’t Everything,They Are The Only Thing.

Coultier, founder of American Management Services, used his 30-year career of turning around financially troubled businesses to assemble “rules” for hot to prevent your business from falling into financial and operational collapse. He wrote the book as an “attitude adjustment” for business owners. He espouses “the need to run over anyone or anything that gets in the way of your company’s paramount need for profits.” I bought a copy to understand this adjustment better.

Great Discipline Leads to Results

Profits Aren't EverythingProfits sets a clear tone that unrelenting discipline and execution is a key to profits. Coultier’s perspective shines when applied to addressing tough questions and to operations judged by measurement. For example, Coultier is a pay-for-performance advocate, emphasizing it on sales teams specifically, but also for all employees to achieve profitability. He denounces sweat equity, insists on a plan on which the business lives or die, and contends owners must get closer to the sales process. He also suggests no great leader abdicates on financials:

“No one should know your financials better than you. Your balance sheet is something that is in your control.”

You probably know about the NCAA, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, but did you know that there is a National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA)?  It has approximately 200 college and university members, and more than 5,000 students at these institutions are on entrepreneurial inventor teams (E-Teams).  Now, 15 of those teams are getting ready for a face-off at the March Madness for the Mind showcase in San Francisco.

The three-day event, March 25 - March 27, 2010 at the San Francisco Hilton, Financial District, will feature lectures and panels but, most importantly, it will bring the "E-Teams" together with venture capitalists who can further the advancement of the student inventions. Additionally, the 15 E-Teams, which received grants from the NCIIA last year, will exhibit their inventions to the public at the March Madness for the Mind showcase at San Francisco's Exploratorium® in the Palace of Fine Arts on March 27, 2010.

Box of Crayons founder, Michael Bungay Stanier, has a pretty awesome job…

He goes into companies and teaches people how to do great work. Not good work, but great, butterfly in the stomach, soaring with delight, serving the world in a powerful way work. In this interview, we spend time exploring how to make this happen in your career and life.

And, we get into some of the exercises from Michael’s new book, Do More Great Work

In our interview, Michael talks about a video he created, called The Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun. It’s a great example of how to seed an idea and create something powerful, useful and delightful with the potential to go viral. To date, it’s been viewed something like 3 million times. Click on the image to play it…

As an entrepreneurship educator at a major university, I agree with much of Robert Kiyosaki's column, "We need two school systems" (The Forum, Feb. 9).

However, I must take issue with the notion that such an approach would have a meaningful impact on our country's ability to "create entrepreneurs."

Casting as wide a net of entrepreneurship education as possible would be far more effective in encouraging a cadre of new entrepreneurs than the creation of a highly selective, exam-based academy.

We need to encourage as large a pool of nascent entrepreneurs as possible. The type of training and exposure to successful entrepreneurs Kiyosaki proposes is already available in virtually all of the better university entrepreneurship programs, and entrepreneurship education is already being extended to both secondary and primary schools.

Question:  We just got an offer to buy our company for a sweet pile of cash, but we don’t know what the next step is.  My father said we should hire an investment banker and let him handle the negotiations.  Do you agree?

Answer:  Congratulations!  Without knowing more about the deal and the proposed purchase price, it’s hard to say.  I practiced law for a number of years in New York City, and it was pretty rare not to have an investment banker involved in an M&A transaction.  Here in California, it’s a little different since most of the deals tend to be relatively small.

A strong investment banker can add a lot of value — not only in connection with negotiating the material terms of the transaction, but also valuing the company and making sure that you’re not selling too low. A strong banker will also create a competitive environment (or the perception of one) and play bidders off of each other to make sure you get the best possible deal terms.

A serious geek I know asked me how many people with gray hair were at Internet conference I had just attended. I answered that there were quite a few. He shook his head and said that when the suits take over, it's the beginning of the end of innovation.

There are two things happening here. First, the suits are taking over and, second, the pioneers are going gray. Together they make up the startup establishment. But things have changed since the early days, and this establishment hasn't kept up with the times. The current startup system essentially excludes the untapped pool of innovators who aren't developers - for example, women who want to launch Internet startups.

At a time when we need risk-takers to start companies and create jobs, we need to do everything we can to remove unnecessarily burdensome regulations that dampen entrepreneurship. A high-impact, low-cost reform would be to make some of the more onerous requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 optional. This would permit companies whose shareholders don’t feel that the benefits of “SOX” requirements outweigh compliance costs to access public capital more quickly and less expensively. This kind of access to capital is critical for the survival of young firms, which have accounted for all net job growth in the United States in the past two decades.

The logic behind this recommendation, laid out cogently in the Kauffman Foundation’s State of Entrepreneurship Address, is that SOX was enacted in the aftermath of corporate financial reporting scandals, after all, to protect shareholders. So why not allow shareholders to vote on whether their companies will fulfill certain SOX requirements?

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines has the right tools, proper environment, motivated entrepreneurs, and knowledgeable scientists to advance biotechnology, said a ranking official of the Department of Agriculture (DA).

DA Undersecretary Segfredo Serrano said biotechnology, or technology based on biology, agriculture, food science, and medicine, remains an “uncharted territory” which the country should cash in on. “We should exploit biotechnology. It’s the big market of the future,” he said before an audience of biotechnology stakeholders convened by the DA Biotech.

Serrano said the problem lies on the habit of many Filipinos to show great enthusiasm in the beginning followed by an abrupt loss of interest. “The truth is, we need political will to support our resources, no matter how meager it may be,” he said.

Unofficial estimates place the unemployment rate in Iraqi Kurdistan right around a daunting 50%, where most people would conclude that the glass is half empty. Highlighting more economic weakness, the U.S. Department of State’s latest Human Rights Report on Iraq cited that the national minimum wage in Iraq is under 10,500 dinars per day for skilled workers and under 5,250 dinars per day for unskilled workers. At the time of the 2008 report, this translated to roughly $7.00 and $3.50 per day, respectively, with the average worker earning a meager salary of approximately 1.875 million dinars ($1,250) a year.

The notion that Iraqi Kurdistan is, at the moment, economically weak is not in dispute, but the policies being suggested to fix this problem are. Some say that the government should do more to help the working class earn a wage that provides a reasonable standard of living, while others say that government action would only deepen the structural instability. But there is too much talk over what the government can do and not enough talk over what the market can do.

To the Kurdistan Regional Government’s credit, they have done a lot to motivate and pave the way for businesses to create branches in the region, but they have ignored a principal component of a country’s economic machine: entrepreneurship. It is not enough to promote policies that encourage already established businesses to expand their operations into Iraqi Kurdistan when there is an abundance of innovation and ingenuity within the region’s own borders that goes largely ignored and unutilized. The developed world has learned the hard way that one of the most effective methods of increasing employment is to allow people to employ themselves to do work in areas where they have the market-determined ability, and Iraqi Kurdistan has all of the ingredients for this recipe. The government has the responsibility of ensuring that the right economic policies are put in place to help these individuals get the most important thing they need to start their businesses: capital.

While it is relatively cheap to get a web startup off the ground these days, other industries aren't as lucky. Take green-tech or medical technology for instance; at TED this year Bill Gates said that the minimum investment the world needs to create sustainable eco-friendly renewable energy is "only" in the range of hundreds of millions of dollars - and that's just to get started. It's industries like these that require Angel and VC investments at the early-stage level to get significant innovations off the ground, and a government tax credit proposed for angels in Minnestoa could encourage them to dole out more cash for high-tech ventures.

Earlier this month in St. Paul, "witness after witness" spoke in support of a bill that would create $32 million in tax credits available to angel investors, writes Thomas Lee of MedCity News. "Entrepreneurs, investors, university officials, industry groups warned lawmakers that the lack of early stage capital meant innovative start-ups in Minnesota would either die or move to another state," Lee adds.

With a growing community of medical innovation, Minnesota is attempting to play catch-up with its neighbor state Wisconsin whose similar tax credit has provided rocket fuel for innovation. Lee quotes a report from the Wisconsin Angel Network which says that angel investments and number of deals tripled in the first three years of the state's program. He adds that three bio-tech spin-offs from the University of Wisconsin were bought for more money in the last three years than in the last 25 years of Minnesota-based university spin-offs.

"VitalMedix Inc., a promising drug company from the University of Minnesota, recently moved to Hudson, [Wisconsin]" Lee says. Hudson is just across the Minnesota/Wisconsin border less than 20 miles from St. Paul. "Miromatrix Inc., based on the work of Dr. Doris Taylor, warn they will leave the state if they can't find angel financing."

STATE ANGEL CAPITAL TAX CREDIT PROGRAMS  HAVE PROVEN TO BE AN EFFECTIVE STIMULUS FOR PRIVATE INVESTORS TO INVEST IN INNOVATIVE ENTREPRENEURS.......WITH THE GROWING "VALLEY OF DEATH" INVESTMENT GAP MORE STATES NEED TO ADOPT THESE PROGRAMS AND INNOVATION AMERICA AND NASVF ALSO HAVE MADE A RECOMMENDATION TO THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO DEVELOP A NATIONAL ANGEL CAPITAL INVESTMENT FEDERAL TAX INCENTIVE PROGRAM TO HELP ADDRESS THE EQUITY CHALLENGES FACING OUR INNOVATIVE ENTREPRENEURS IN AMERICA..THE TIME TO ACRT IS NOW OR WE MIGHT LOSE A GENERATION OF ENTREPRENEURS CRITICAL TO THE INNOVATION ECONOMY IN AMERICA......!

COMMENTS BY RICH BENDIS OF INNOVATION AMERICA AND EDITOR OF innovationDAILY

NUI Galway and the University of Limerick today announced a  Strategic Alliance which will support the development of the wider region to encourage indigenous enterprises and foreign direct investment, strengthen research and industry partnerships, and further a shared commitment to academic excellence. The Alliance will have an international dimension, through a partnership with Georgia Institute of Technology in the US, in the exploitation of research from both Irish universities.

Key and immediate initiatives resulting from the Alliance include:

• Supporting key industry sectors
• Technology Transfer
• Academic Excellence
• Civic Engagement
• Shared Services

Famous Entrepreneur Trading Cards Launch In Support Of Kiva Charity

33 Top Business Bloggers Team Up To Unveil “Entrepreneur Heroes” Series
http://www.evancarmichael.com/Heroes/

EvanCarmichael.com has partnered up with bloggers Seth Godin, Guy Kawasaki, Darren Rowse, Tim Ferriss, Chris Brogan, Tom Peters, and others to create a line of famous entrepreneur trading cards called “Entrepreneur Heroes” – the profits from the sale of the cards go to support entrepreneurs in Africa through Kiva, a micro-financing non-profit organization. So far over 825 new business owners in Africa have been helped!

Get the Ultimate Entrepreneur Collector’s Item

The Entrepreneur Heroes trading cards are instant collectibles. Each of our top 33 business bloggers were asked to pick who their favorite famous entrepreneurs were and gave reasons why. A trading card was then created for each entrepreneur chosen and includes an artistic picture on the front, an inspirational quote on the back, a true story / fun fact about the entrepreneur and other personal information. If you’ve ever collected cards of your favorite sports stars, the Entrepreneur Heroes trading card series gives you a chance to collect your favorite business founders from Steve Jobs to Richard Branson to Benjamin Franklin.

Arundeep S. Pradhan urges policymakers to keep intact the Bayh-Dole Act and support the current system used to commercialize federally-funded academic research

In 1980, Congress passed the Bayh-Dole Act, named for the two Senators who sponsored it—Indiana Democrat Birch Bayh and Kanasas Republican Bob Dole—to allow universities to own and license to the private sector intellectual property based on their discoveries made with federal funding. The primary purpose of the act was to energize the U.S. economy. Few may have realized at the time how great an effect Bayh-Dole would have in the following 30 years. In fact, the impact has been so positive that in a December 2002 issue of The Economist, the Act was referred to as "Innovation's Golden Goose."

According to a recent study by the Biotechnology Industry Organization, the economic benefits of university patent licensing from 1996 to 2007 were staggering: a $187 billion impact on U.S. gross domestic product, a $457 billion impact on U.S. gross industrial output, and 279,000 new jobs created as a result of university inventions. Just as important, however, are the stories behind those numbers. Innovations originating in university labs and transferred to industry for development and distribution have improved the quality of life for people across the U.S. and around the world. Examples include the hepatitis B vaccine, the prostate-specific antigen test, Google (GOOG), the Honeycrisp apple, and FluMist.

One would think the combination of public benefit and the productive, job-creating effects of the Bayh-Dole Act would be a winner in every sense—a model to retain in challenging economic times. Not according to a small cadre of critics such as the Kauffman Foundation. In a November editorial in The Wall Street Journal and in a January article in the Harvard Business Review, Kauffman leadership opined on alleged weaknesses of the Bayh-Dole Act and of academic technology transfer in general, offering thoughts on how to produce more rapid commercialization of government-funded research at universities. As president of the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), I would like to provide an informed perspective on the development and commercialization of academic discoveries and the benefits on the Bayh-Dole Act.

BOSTON (February 8, 2010) - - The French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs is pleased to announce the results of the fifth edition of the Young Entrepreneurs Initiative (YEi). YEi’10 rewards 10 innovative entrepreneurs based in the U.S. who wish to settle in France.

Since YEi’s launch in 2005, a total of 174 applications have been submitted, thirty-four of whom applied this year with a common purpose: expand their innovative development in France. Candidates come from all over US, from California (12 candidates) to Massachusetts (9 candidates), from Illinois to Florida, New Jersey, and other states, the YEi’10 candidates show great maturity and cover a wide spectrum of innovative fields. A third of the applicants originate from the life sciences industry (35%) and another third from IT (32%). The winners for this year are:

There was a leap in the pace of launching new technology companies in the second quarter of 2009, CONNECT’s newly released Second Quarter 2009 Innovation Report shows.    Start-ups were up 53% with 102 companies launched. In the first quarter of 2009 only 66 compa- nies were created. The increase over second quarter last year was 34% with 76 companies launched in the second quarter of 2008.

The CONNECT Innovation Report (CIR) is the first to provide an economic indicator of the strength and impact of the innovation economy in San Diego. Published each quarter by CONNECT, San Diego’s technology and life sciences accelerator, the Report includes:

• New innovation start-ups
• Venture capital investment
• Mergers and acquisition activity
• New patent applications and patents granted
• Research grants
• Research employment and wage

Overall, San Diego accounted for 14% of new technology businesses started in California, in the second quarter of 2009, ranking third after Los Angeles (LA) and Santa Clara counties. LA had 140 start-ups and Santa Clara had 117.

I’d like to share with you 10 young entrepreneur themed blogs that you should definitely be following. Feel free to leave suggestions… Enjoy!

Under30CEO

Under30CEO is a great blog for “Leading Gen Y to stop doing sh*t they hate.”  Read start-up advice, start-up profiles, interviews with entrepreneurs and more.

Quick Sprout

Quick Sprout is one of the best young entrepreneur blogs out there. Neil Patel, the blogger, has founded many companies and will teach you a ton, while accommodating a vibrant community.

Welcome to our latest listing  of contests, competitions, and awards for small businesses. We update it every two weeks and it is brought to you as a community service by Small Business Trends and Smallbiztechnology.com.

I read this week’s Wall Street Journal article “Fleeting Youth, Fading Creativity” (WSJ, Feb 20, 1010, p. W3) with fascination…

The article, by Jonah Lehrer, suggests the following:

• Scientific & technical revolutions are often led by younger minds (think Newton, Watson, Einstein, Madame Curie, Jobs, Andreessen)
  
• Certain fields lend themselves to innovation by younger minds, including Physics, Math & Poetry, Chess
• There seems to be an inverted U-curve that describes human capacity for creative thought, with the top of the u-curve coming somewhere between the ages of 25 and 50.
• The disciplines of  Biology, History, Novel-writing, and Philosophy might not peak until their late 40’s
• Many individuals have increased their creativity later in life by switching fields of study (thus potentially applying learnings from one field to another in a “intersectional” manner (see my prior blog post on this called “Intersectional Creativity& Mash-ups”)

One key part of this argument I do buy is this: when we are young, we are likely to take more risks and we are likely to be less encumbered by rules bestowed upon us by marriage, work, community, church, etc. In other words the YOUNGER MIND, in general, does have the advantage of being FREE to make key connections that the older mind has to work harder to achieve amidst a cadre of society-driven rules which have been enforced for a longer period of time.

While I don’t disagree with the premise that certain professions require young/fresh minds to attack them, the author neglected to mention the wide variety of creative careers that have taken off for LATE BLOOMERS in many fields.