The global innovation economy is booming across industries and geographies. Businesses large and small are capitalizing on opportunities in sofware, hardware, cleantech and healthcare. Yet looming challenges temper ambitious plans for growth, as entrepreneurs must overcome hurdles in scaling operations, finding talent and securing funding. Drawing on survey responses from more than 1,200 executives worldwide, we offer targeted and comprehensive analysis of the issues facing these companies worldwide.

By  nearly any account, Philadelphia has a pretty great Chinatown. It’s authentic and has great restaurants and cultural institutions. But likely no one there argues Philadelphia Chinatown should compete with China. If you’re building a technology business corridor outside of Silicon Valley, you need to think similarly. Build for you, not to be something you’re not.

Image: http://technical.ly/ - First Round Capital Managing Partner Josh Kopelman during a January 2013 small business think tank held by Dell in Center City Philadelphia. 

I was having dinner with a friend last night and we were chatting about venture capital and a bit about what I’ve learned. I started in 2007 with a thesis that my primary investment decision would be about the team (70%) and only afterward about the market opportunity (30%).

I was telling him that it was much easier when I started because there were fewer deals, life was less public and somehow the world seemed to be spinning more slowly. A year into my tenure the world went into economic collapse and that seemed to dominate the consciousness more than which deals one was chasing.

The two most important developments in American higher education in the 20th century were, arguably, contradictory. First, building on the foundation laid by the Morrill Act of 1862, which gave federal land to states to create colleges that taught "agriculture and the mechanic arts," we created the world’s first mass higher-education system. When the Carnegie Corporation of New York was founded, in 1911, "to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding," fewer than 3 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 were students in institutions of higher education. About 350,000 young Americans were enrolled in fewer than 1,000 institutions of higher education. 

Image: http://chronicle.com - Andrea Levy for The Chronicle Review  

IT'S NO SECRET THAT THE U.S. HAS PRETTY LOUSY WORK-LIFE POLICIES. BUT IS THE GRASS REALLY GREENER IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD? DEPENDS ON WHAT'S IMPORTANT TO YOU. HERE, WE EXPLORE WHAT WORK WOULD BE LIKE IF YOU LIVED IN ANOTHER COUNTRY.

If you were to make a list of all the things you consider when taking a job, what would be on there? Would you include maternity leave policies, amount of vacation days, or average pay rates?

image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net 

Let us help you tell your story! SSTI’s Excellence in TBED awards program was created to recognize programs and initiatives that are improving the nation’s competitiveness through science, technology and innovation. 

Apply now for the 2014 Excellence in TBED Awards by sending us a narrative that describes how your efforts are improving local, state or regional economies. Winners of this award receive complementary registration (a $675 value) to SSTI’s Annual Conference September 14-16 in Chicago, and are provided a national platform to showcase their achievement. Awards are presented in the following six categories:

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

The deadline to apply is June17. More information is available at: www.sstiawards.org.

On an industrial park next to Liverpool's John Lennon airport, drugs companies are involved in research that is driving a new frenzy of multibillion-dollar takeover deals. The focus on this Merseyside site is on creating what could be the next big thing for the sector: biological medicines, derived from living organisms.

Image: Staff at work for the biological drug company Actavis at its site in Speke, Liverpool. Photograph: Jon Super for the Observer 

In 1961, President Kennedy declared that it was America’s intention to send a man to the moon, and within eight years, we had done it. His aim wasn’t simply to gain bragging rights – instead, he and many others believed that our national security was at stake.

Image: http://medcitynews.com 

Many entrepreneurs fantasize about days longer than 24 hours, convinced that their new venture could change the world, if they just had more time. They don’t realize that a more viable solution is to get more done per existing hour, rather than creating more hours. We all know at least one person who is always “very busy” and works plenty of hours, but generates few significant results.

Image: http://blog.startupprofessionals.com 

Everyone can probably benefit from a few extra Zs at night, but is your lack of sleep at the level of sleep deprivation?

In a new video from YouTube channel In 59 Seconds, Richard Wiseman explains the main indicators of sleep deprivation, including needing several cups of coffee a day, or needing an alarm clock to wake up.

Image: http://mashable.com 

OhioHealth Corp. has set aside $5 million in an investment fund to be managed by TechColumbus exclusively for helping its staff and physicians bring medical devices and other inventions to market. Central Ohio’s largest hospital system is using the fund as a recruitment and retention tool as well as to speed its access to tools to improve patient care, officials said.

Image: http://www.bizjournals.com - Chris Willson was hired in February to head OhioHealth’s commercialization program. 

You know what’s cooler than getting a degree at Stanford? Getting a job.

A new Georgetown University report finds that of the 1.9 million job openings posted online, “application software developer is the most in-demand occupation overall” with 125,000 jobs.

Image: http://venturebeat.com 

Last July, thousands of investors and Silicon Valley watchers received an email about a mobile app that is trying to become the "Uber of shipping." Shyp users snap a picture of the item they want mailed, and a courier--the company calls them "heroes"--arrives to carry it away. The cargo gets packed at a warehouse and sent by U.S. Postal Service, or a private competitor like UPS.

Image: http://www.fastcompany.com 

As anyone who has watched an episode of Hoarders knows, holding on to things (especially fossilized cat skeletons) is almost never about the actual thing. There is usually a strong emotional or psychological undercurrent to all that disorder. So it makes sense that when Natalie Schrier, president of New York City-based organization company Cut the Clutter, enters a space, she's doing way more than just finding a place for her clients' stuff.

Image: http://www.fastcompany.com - Natalie Schrier has had the organizing bug since she was a child. 

With a newly expanded innovation center in San Ramon, General Electric is trying to prove that even a 136-year-old company with more than 300,000 employees can act like a Silicon Valley startup.

The industrial conglomerate founded by Thomas Edison envisions the Design and Experience Center, which debuted in February, as an incubator of innovation for employees who design everything from aircraft engines to sales presentations.

Puzzling, is it not, that two of the world’s leading exponents can have such different perspectives on equity crowdfunding as Crowdcube and Seedrs.

Similarly people often inquire about my own views and that of The Social Foundation – which seem to be almost polar opposites from the ‘party line’ from the UKCFA – the industry body. My recent comment that “on a day like today one has to wonder whether we might not have the worst regulator in the western world” still hangs in the air having been widely quoted (and sometimes mis-quoted). It is, of course, completely at odds with the UKCFA mood music that the regulator has ‘got it about right

Image: http://www.crowdfundinsider.com 

There is widespread consensus that crowdfunding is a boon, an egalitarian means for bringing products and services to market without relying on banks, venture capitalists, or established financial angels. Myriad platforms now allow entrepreneurs and folks with a little (or a lot) of cash to get together without the red tape and angst that so often accompanies the soliciting and procuring of startup funds.

Image: http://www.forbes.com 

A new accelerator, the IBM Alpha Zone, is set to begin in July, making it the tech giant’s first accelerator in the world and first attempt to take full advantage of the Start-Up Nation’s start-ups, said Rick Kaplan, country general manager of IBM Israel.

Image: http://www.timesofisrael.com/ 

Founded in Boulder, Colorado in 2006, Techstars now claims to be the “#1 startup accelerator in the world”. With offices in six U.S. cities and London, Techstars runs three month long, mentor-driven accelerator programs. Those who are interested in a spot, however, will have to compete with a large applicant pool. According to Katie Rae, the Managing Director of Techstars in Boston, for every 10 slots available, Techstars gets over 1,500 startup applicants.

Image: http://venturevillage.eu 

Contrary to popular opinion, viral marketing has not eliminated the need for old-fashioned lead generation to bring customers to a startup. Indeed, while the rules and technologies for lead generation have changed, Forrester and other experts still see it as the most effective way for businesses with limited budgets to maximize their return on marketing investment (ROMI).

Image: http://blog.startupprofessionals.com