Some ideas hatched in university research labs need a little nudge to take off into the real world. Take the robotic hand designed by Harvard engineering professor Robert Howe and his research team. Grasping and manipulating irregular objects is an incredibly challenging task for robots, but in 2012, Howe’s robotic hand managed to outperform its rivals in a competition sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Autonomously picking up a basketball, swinging a hammer, and lifting a door key off a table, the hand proved itself adaptable and robust.

Image: http://www.seas.harvard.edu

TechConnect World The TechConnect World Innovation Conference is an annual event uniquely designed to accelerate the commercialization of innovations out of the lab and into industry. The Technical Program spotlights applications focused innovations, materials and devices emerging from industrial, government and academic laboratories worldwide. The Innovation Partnering Program gathers market-ready, commercially-viable, innovations into the largest global technology accelerator program.

Each year, SSTI recognizes initiatives that greatly impact state and regional economies through a national competition showcasing effective and innovative approaches to building tech-based economies.

The Excellence in TBED Awards are presented to organizations demonstrating successful local, state and regional efforts across six categories:

• Expanding the Research Capacity 
• Commercializing Research 
• Building Entrepreneurial Capacity 
• Increasing Access to Capital 
• Improving Competitiveness of Existing Industries 
• Most Promising TBED Initiative

 Image: http://www.sstiawards.org

One of the two boards that oversee the Virginia Biotechnology Research Park has adopted bylaw changes and added members as part of a plan to support innovation in the entire Richmond region economy. The Virginia Biotechnology Park Corporation Board, which is the nonprofit leadership entity for the 34-acre park in downtown Richmond, has changed its named to the Innovation Council — a “placeholder” name, for now, that is expected to change as the council works on a rebranding program.

 Image: http://www.richmond.com

One thing’s for sure: in 20 years, people will still complain about the weather. Other than that, death, and taxes, pretty much anything goes.

We’re thinking a lot about the long-range future of the New England innovation cluster. As part of our Boston 2035 conference on June 17, we’ve asked a number of speakers to give us their 20-year predictions on the local tech and business climate. (You can see the full agenda for the day and register for the event here.)

More than half the world lives in cities, and that figure is likely to increase to 60 percent by 2030, adding 1.4 billion more people than today. The rush to urban centers, particularly in emerging economies, is driven by a desire for a better life with more opportunities—as economies start to centralize in cities, so do people. The McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) has estimated that between now and 2025, the world’s urban population will grow by 65 million people a year, or almost 179,000 every day.1 Meeting the needs of this changing demographic will be challenging. What has to happen to make a good city? Or a great one?

Did you know that Belgium ranks third among OECD countries in work-life balance and ninth in the world in gender equality?

That’s great news, because when Belgians are not busy eating waffles, nibbling chocolates, drinking beer or watching the Smurfs, thousands of them are taking part in Belgium’s emerging startup scene.

Image: http://www.geektime.com

In their several years of working together, Jin-Yung had never really negotiated with her manager. She would simply say yes even if it threw her life into temporary turmoil, as it often did. She had given unknowable hours to executing every request and task, diligently delivering them in neat and complete packages, no matter the sacrifice.

Revolution LLC plans to raise $450 million for its next fund, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The raise comes right as the previous fund — which backs growth-stage companies and was also valued at $450 million — is reaching its limit for initial investments. D.C.-based Revolution has invested in 11 companies from that fund since its 2011 inception, with one or two more new investments expected.

Bioresearch just got a shot in the arm. On March 23, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that three proof-of-concept hubs would join three already existing Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hubs (REACH).

Those new REACH awardees are:

Image: http://www.areadevelopment.com

What does it mean to be a leader? It’s relatively easier to answer that question when you’re a founder & CEO and have total control over hiring & firing. If your company is successful and valuable people generally do what you ask. It can sometimes create confusion about whether or not you’re truly a great leader or whether people feel they must just follow your orders. A truer measure is when you must persuade purely through logic, performance, respect, effort, guidance and empathy.

Conventional wisdom used to be that Wharton was strictly a finance school. At a certain point, Wharton became known as a factory that churned out bankers and consultants. But this stereotype is wildly outdated. (To an extent, was it ever accurate in the first place?) Exhibit A: The new dean, Geoffrey Garrett, has put innovation and data analytics at the center of where Wharton is going. This is exciting because it reflects not only the future direction of the institution but also validates the foundations that already exist.

Image: http://beacon.wharton.upenn.edu

At the ripe old age of 66, George Zimmer is joining the ranks of startup founders who take Uber as an inspiration.

Zimmer, best known for founding and serving as the public face of Men's Wearhouse before getting fired in a very public fashion in 2013, officially launched a new company on Monday called zTailors, which will let customers book tailors across the U.S. to come to their homes or offices and make alterations. To promote the new venture, Zimmer has borrowed the startup phrase du jour, describing zTailors as "Uber for tailors."

Considering that the entrepreneur wave is at an all-time high the world over, the ecosystem too has been responding positively to keep up the tempo and give the rising trend a further boost. The fact remains that a majority of startups that are launched fail to survive past the crucial first year and the ‘great idea’ often dies with it. To better their chances of succeeding in the long run, they need handholding at various levels. They require mentorship and understanding of the business which can help them scale up. And to get the necessary support, they now have angel networks, mentors/advisors and accelerators/incubators to count on.

Penn just chose the first class of startups for its National Science Foundation-backed accelerator, I-Corps.

Participating ventures range from a group workout mobile app to a diagnostic tool for concussions to a company that’s trying to make eyelash extensions better. Founders of the startups, which are ultra early-stage (Penn is referring to them as “teams,” rather than companies), are students, faculty and alumni.

Image: (Courtesy photo)

The culture of working enormously long hours is ingrained in many workplaces. But for men in particular, it also has a lot to do with comparing themselves to peers. When men don’t work as much as colleagues and friends, they report being unhappy and shift their work schedule to match or better them, according to a new working paper from researchers at Maastricht University and Erasmus University in the Netherlands.

The definition of leadership is changing. Societal expectations of the workplace, fed by economic and demographic trends, are morphing the leadership job description. From emerging organizational structures like Holacracy, to changing expectations of the millennial generation, your kid’s boss isn’t going to resemble the one you reported to the first day of your job.

Boulder-based Techstars said this morning that it has launched the June, 2015 Techstars++ Class, which is being held at the Mayo Clinic Business Accelerator

Kansas City is leaving millions of dollars on the table that could be used to spur small businesses. The fact was cited more as a rallying cry than complaint at the launch of an effort Monday to increase the amount of capital available for startups and early-stage companies. KCSourceLink founder Maria Meyers said the region's long-standing shortage of early-stage capital is exacerbated by a failure to take full advantage of federal programs. The region also risks losing the benefit of innovative new businesses through a lack of local investment, ranging from seed capital to angel investments to venture capital.

Chief Innovator at PUP, Michael Bricker, pens a brief article on the need for stamina in the design field.  

I and others have often argued here that "design" doesn't end after the initial concept sketch, that in fact this is where design begins: in the wrestling of the idea into reality and the multiple thousands of decisions that have to be made along the way.