1. "That was a good presentation!"

I have to say something positive, but you're not getting me to write a check. The fact is most funding pitches are terrible; they're more product pitches with an appeal for money tacked on at the end. Passion, yes, every entrepreneur has heard by now they must show great enthusiasm for their endeavor, but show me how I can get my money back someday, too. Who will acquire you? Are you going to raise venture capital which will keep me in the deal for 6, 7, 8, or 9 years? Or are you aware of the new trend towards early exits? Show me how I can get my money back in 3-5 years and even I'll be saying, "that was a good presentation!".

The government has launched a UK Space Agency dedicated to coordinating the government's involvement in civilian spaceflight, with responsiblity for looking after policy and budgets.

The national space agency, which officially begins work on 1 April, will negotiate on the UK's behalf with international bodies. In addition, it will take over responsibility for some key UK and European space projects, including Galileo, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) said in a statement on Tuesday.

The agency was set up to help spur growth in the British space and satellite industry, which employs 68,000 workers and generates £6.5bn a year, according to science and technology minister Lord Drayson.

The Chinese government is offering to subsidize the creation of a trans-Eurasian rail system that would have direct, high-speed links between Beijing and London. It would be the largest infrastructure project ever attempted. Trains would also run to India, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Burma and Malaysia.

Wang said Beijing was already in negotiations with 17 countries over the rail lines, which would also allow China to transport raw materials more efficiently.

"It was not China that pushed the idea to start with," said Wang. "It was the other countries that came to us, especially India. These countries cannot fully implement the construction of a high-speed rail network and they hoped to draw on our experience and technology."

French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde wants the EU to create a single access point for trading shares of young, high-growth businesses and has proposed a range of measures to encourage innovative companies to list on European stock exchanges.

Lagarde is also keen to simplify market obligations for small, medium and intermediate companies, allowing them more time to publish quarterly reports, ease accounting standards and produce less detailed prospectuses when listing on stock markets.

"There are many things we disagree about but there is hardly ever disagreement on the importance of small businesses as drivers for growth, employment and R&D," she told a meeting in Brussels, hosted by the European Capital Markets Institute (ECMI).

The proposal for a joint EU system for trading shares in innovative companies is contained in a report by Fabrice Demarigny, a capital markets expert, who produced a a detailed plan for Lagarde which she published last week (18 March).

2010 ACA Summit, May 5 – 7 in San Francisco, CA

C Corporation Versus LLC: Which Entity Should Angels Invest In?

San Diego’s innovation economy obviously imploded last year—dragged down by general economic conditions that were hammered by the collapse in Southern California real estate, the breakdown of the capital markets, and a decline in tourism. Now there are signs that things are stabilizing, and might even be gradually improving, according to several reports released last week.

In a report on San Diego’s innovation economy, the Connect nonprofit group for technology and entrepreneurship found that 319 startups were launched in 2009—including 74 in the fourth quarter. That’s about 13 percent better than the 282 local startups that Connect counted in 2008, but still shy of the 332 startups formed in 2007. In its roundup of San Diego’s innovation economy, Connect also makes these points:

—The value of M&A deals in the San Diego area soared during the fourth quarter. Connect tallied 29 deals totaling nearly $1.3 billion that were closed, compared with 32 deals totaling $99 million in the previous quarter.

From knowing who to hire next, to ethical and legal concerns, to how to interview the best candidates, to how to evaluate them once they're hired - startups have their work cut out for them when it comes to hiring.

If you can afford to hire a trained professional, someone who's skilled in evaluative testing, do so. But if not, you need to learn as much as you can about how to hire the right people. Here's our contribution to your endeavor.

How Does a Startup Know Who to Hire Next?

First it must be said that each startup has different needs. But in general, a startup that's still in pursuit of funding requires a sales-oriented team, whereas a startup with funding sources that have begun to stabilize can focus its team on more specific objectives.

In general, Anthony Cerminaro of AllBusiness says that the classic hiring stage starts with hiring someone to build a prototype. Then a manger is hired to turn the prototype into a product. Then a business manager is hired to coordinate business opportunities for the product. Then a lawyer is hired. Finally, someone is hired to focus on overall business development.

The Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship will convene on April 26-27 at the Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center in Washington, DC. It will include a diverse range of participants hailing from over 50 countries on five continents. The Summit will highlight the role entrepreneurship can play in addressing common challenges while building partnerships that will lead to greater opportunity abroad and at home.

In his June 4, 2009 speech in Cairo, President Obama called for a new relationship between the U.S. and Muslim communities around the world based on mutual respect, mutual interest, and mutual responsibility; a commitment to universal values; and broader engagement on issues including education, economic development, health, and science and technology. The Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship is an example of this broader engagement.

An in-depth look at the economic incentive programs available to support New York City’s emerging bioscience industry

WHAT'S INSIDE

• Biotech Tax Credits
• Financing Programs
• Programs for Mid-stage and Mature Companies
• Key Contact Information

New York City and New York State have a range of valuable tax credits and incentives. This bioscience incentives guide is designed to help you take full advantage of these programs.

Download the PDF

From NYCEDC : New York City Economic Development Corporation

GE has confirmed long-standing speculation that it plans to make thin-film solar panels that use a cadmium- and tellurium-based semiconductor to capture light and convert it into electricity. The GE move could put pressure on the only major cadmium-telluride solar-panel maker, Tempe, AZ-based First Solar, which could drive down prices for solar panels.

Last year, GE seemed to be getting out of the solar industry as it sold off crystalline-silicon solar-panel factories it had acquired in 2004. The company found that the market for such solar panels--which account for most of the solar panels sold worldwide--was too competitive for a relative newcomer, says Danielle Merfeld, GE's solar technology platform leader.

She says cadmium-telluride solar is attractive to GE in part because, compared to silicon, there's still a lot to learn about the physics of cadmium telluride, which suggests it could be made more efficient, which in turn can lower the cost per watt of solar power. It's also potentially cheaper to make cadmium-telluride solar panels than it is to make silicon solar cells, making it easier to compete with established solar-panel makers. Merfeld says GE was encouraged by the example of First Solar, which has consistently undercut the prices of silicon solar panels--and because of this has quickly grown from producing almost no solar panels just a few years ago to being one of the world's largest solar manufacturers today.

If you are interested in innovation and have $1,500 to spare, the place to be the next few days will be at a conference at the Haas School of Business.

The Economist magazine is hosting the gathering, titled “Innovation: Fresh Thinking for the Ideas Economy.”  With its impressive collection of leading thinkers, authors, journalists, academics, designers and businessmen, the conference aims to “expand or overturn established thinking about what innovation is, where it comes from, and how to make it work.”

If the health-care bill signed into law by President Obama today delivers on its promises, it's likely to down as the first ripple in a tidal wave of health-care information-technology innovation.

It buoys last year's economic stimulus act, which slotted almost $20 billion to expanding health information technology (HIT). The new bill puts an even greater emphasis on electronic medical records and payment systems, for example, as the keys to successful health care reform.

And while the government is overhauling its own health care agencies first and foremost, its effects on the use of medical technology will certainly impact the private sector. According to a recent report from Accenture, for example, almost 60% of U.S. physicians in smaller practices who don’t use electronic medical records (EMRs) intend to purchase an EMR system within the next two years. That would be a leap from today's 6%. The biggest reason for the change? Federal legislation, which includes federal penalties for non-adoption.

Many angel investors will tell you, that of the hundreds of business plans they receive each month, only a handful address the due diligence process. Investors will always allow a little puffery in a business plan, but they’ll also want to see the “proof in the pudding”, before any money changes hands. This is commonly referred to in the investment world as doing their “due diligence”.

What is due diligence? Well, let say, you’ve just created the world’s first time machine, but it’s still only on the drawing board. Now, you need an angel investment to procure a few items to test it:

• 1981 DeLorean DMC-12 sports car;
• Photo-electric Chemical Power Converter (converts radioactive plutonium to electricity);
• Flux Capacitor (releases 1.21 gigawatts of energy in a millisecond);
• Plutonium (be careful or you’ll get a visit from Homeland Security);
• Blueprints for construction;
• Well documented preliminary test results and planned prototype testing;
• Michael J. Fox to test drive it “Back to the Future”.

An important theme in nanotechnology is state government pushing for economic development through funding of nanotechnology high-tech start-up companies and university technology transfer. Adding to this push, a recent report suggests that state governments should increasingly fund “home grown” high-tech start-ups rather than provide money to established companies. Home grown, turns out, provides better return for the state. The report, titled "Good Jobs, Strong Industries, a Better Pennsylvania: Towards a 21st Century State Economic Development Policy," was prepared by the Keystone Research Center and focused on developing jobs in Pennsylvania (see, for example, March 21, 2010 edition of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, D1, summarizing the report, case studies, and its implications). The reports’ implications, however, are national. In addition, the Keystone report also advocated for more transparency in how the state funding money is used and the results of the funding.

As reported by General Motors

Burbank, Calif. – General Motors Co. is testing a production-intent hydrogen fuel cell system that can be packaged in the space of a traditional four-cylinder engine and be ready for commercial production in 2015.

The system is half the size, 220 pounds lighter and uses about a third of the platinum of the system in the Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell electric vehicles used in Project Driveway, the world’s largest market test and demonstration fleet of fuel cell electric vehicles that began in late 2007 and has amassed nearly 1.3 million miles of everyday driving in cities around the world.

“Our learning from Project Driveway has been tremendous and these vehicles have been very important to our program,” Charles Freese, executive director of GM's Global Fuel Cell Activities told reporters Tuesday at a news briefing on GM’s fuel cell progress.

The venture industry lately has been singing the praises of small funds, but Castile Ventures has been practicing the strategy for more than a decade.

To understand the firm’s culture, says founder and Managing General Partner Nina Saberi, you have to know how she grew as an entrepreneur, working in the ranks of venture-backed companies after graduating from college in the 1980s and then running them in the 1990s. Along the way she was mentored by the likes of ComVentures co-founder Cliff Higgerson and Crosspoint Venture Partners founder John Mumford, both of whom helped her launch Castile in 1998.

Saberi watched the venture industry grow, with fund sizes ballooning to $300 million, $500 million and eventually north of $1 billion, and didn’t get it. “For someone who comes from the company-building side of things, I was just puzzled by the whole dynamic,” she said. “I didn’t understand why suddenly it should cost $70 million to build a company that you were able to build for maybe $25 million or $35 million just a year before.”

There are a lot of extra acres on wind farms.

That, in part, is the idea behind Wind Harvest International, which says it can double to power output of large wind farms by strategically placing its vertical wind turbines between the large, multi-megawatt horizontal turbines that stand in them now.

In fact, the company's "I am the spare arms of Robby the Robot" turbines might even be able to increase the power output of the existing, multi-megawatt, multimillion-dollar turbines already in the ground.

"We can put a megawatt of turbines between two horizontal megawatt turbines," said Kevin Wolf, the company's chief operating officer. "We can double the power output and maybe increase the power of the other turbines."

Even if a grown man could pull 95,000 kilograms, he still would get shown up by the newly crowned world's strongest insect—proportionally speaking.

Researchers recently discovered that this honor should go to the Onthophagus taurus dung beetle, whose strongest males can pull some 1,140 times their own body weight, the research team reported in a press release. (Consolations to the rhinoceros beetle, which has frequently been given the title for pulling about 850 times its weight.) The findings came about as part of a study published online March 23 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

"Insects are well known for being able to perform amazing feats of strength, and it's all on account of their curious sex lives," Robert Knell, of the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences at Queen Mary University of London, and lead author of the study, said in a prepared statement.

DES MOINES – Governor Chet Culver today signed legislation creating the Iowa Innovation Council, a group of volunteer private business leaders who will work to help ensure Iowa is competitive in the global business economy.
 
House File 2076 consolidates three existing councils within the Iowa Department of Economic Development: the Bioscience Alliance, Advanced Manufacturing Council and Information Technology Council. Leaders of these groups developed the concept of the Iowa Innovation Council, and they will continue to lead in developing strategies and long-term plans for innovation in targeted industries in Iowa.