Millennials. Gen Y. Echo Boomers. Regardless of the name, this generation is unquestionably an influential cohort—particularly in our industry, where generational differences are often a driver of workplace design. As the biggest generation in the U.S. workforce, much has been made of how to design workplaces that attract, inspire, and enhance the productivity of Millennials. But there may be a better demographic filter.

The doubts crept in, just a year into the life of the tax-break program known as Start-Up New York, with revelations that New York State had spent nearly $50 million to promote a job-creation initiative that in its first year had created all of 76 jobs.

They grew into heavy skepticism last summer, when the state quietly acknowledged in a footnote to a long-delayed report that Start-Up — once the darling of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who promised it would “supercharge” economic development — had produced just 408 jobs in its first two years, even as its marketing price tag rose past $53 million.

JANUARY 04, 2017 As we head into a new year, a question that may be on the minds of many business owners is where to concentrate their marketing efforts. With the dizzying array of possibilities, it can seem difficult to sift through the different marketing trends. To help improve your marketing plans, several experts offer their predictions of where marketing is headed in 2017.

Kickstarter projects are having real impact, according to a new study. 

The success of crowdfunding platforms and projects completed through those platforms has helped to expand investment by venture capitalists outside Silicon Valley, University of California — Berkeley and Yale University researchers found. 

When Kickstarter projects in areas of the country that don't see interest from venture capitalists succeed, investors seem to become more interested in those parts of the country. Successful crowdfunding campaigns attract VC interest both to the people running campaigns outside major tech hubs and to those parts of the country in general. 

OAKLAND, Calif. — It’s been more than a decade since California launched an unprecedented experiment in medical research by direct democracy, when voters created a $3 billion fund to kick-start the hunt for stem cell therapies.

The bold plan, a response to federal funding limits for embryonic stem cell research, was sold with a simple pitch: The money would rapidly yield cures for devastating human diseases such as Parkinson’s and ALS.

Welcome to 2017. It is going to be an interesting year. We have not seen so much creativity, innovation and evolution before in history. Trend watchers go berserk with all the cool new ideas born every minute and futurologist see their predictions come true sooner than expected. The second machine age is here and what an exciting time to live. Running a competitive business is challenging as we tumble from one paradigm into another. This blog is not about predictions for 2017. Instead I highlight seven trends that step towards mainstream in 2017 and change the world and the way we do business.

The Moche people lived on Peru’s north coast long before the Spanish conquest of the Americas. They grew corn and squash, built monumental adobe temples and were master craftsmen in gold and ceramics.

They never had the chance to sell their wares on Etsy, and yet they anticipated some of our most modern anxieties.

Like us, they saw themselves living in a vulnerable world where the technology created to make their lives better was just as likely to turn against them. While we worry about our baby monitors and home routers being hijacked by malicious hackers, they perceived a world in which everyday objects like jugs and clothes might come to life with ominous consequences.

It’s widely accepted that the first computer program was written by Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, in 1842, although a device for which it was intended wasn’t built in her lifetime. But a reader asks: what is the oldest computer program that was not only written and put into use, but remains active today?

Image: https://www.technologyreview.com

The last decade expanded what we could do online, but the Web’s basic programming couldn’t keep up. That threatened to fracture the world’s greatest innovation engine—until a small group of Web rivals joined forces to save it.

The Web has been showing its age.

Superficially, it appears healthy: websites have grown more powerful and clever over the past decade. Unlike the sites of the 1990s, which mainly showed static text and images, sites in the 2000s could do things.

Image: https://www.technologyreview.com

The German Center for Research and Innovation and the Delegation of the European Union to the United States of America will host an event about Horizon 2020. 

NEW YORK - Jan. 20, 2017 - PRLog -- Discovering solutions to societal challenges requires a strong global knowledge economy. On Wednesday, January 25, renowned policy experts and researchers will convene at the German Center for Research and Innovation (GCRI) in New York to discuss the European Union's largest research and innovation initiative.

With nearly €80 billion in funding allocated for over seven years, Horizon 2020 is the E.U.'s largest research and innovation initiative. By taking great ideas from the lab to the market, this program promises many breakthroughs, which are intended to enhance Europe's global competitiveness. Established as a means of driving economic growth and creating jobs, Horizon 2020 will make it easier for public and private sectors to work together to push the frontiers of innovation.

STEM workers are in fierce demand and not just in the global epicenter of high tech known as Silicon Valley. According to estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — professions will expand 1.7 times faster than non-STEM occupations between 2010 and 2020. That should be welcome news to job seekers with skills in these areas, half of which do not even require a four-year college degree.

KALAMAZOO, Michigan – Consultant Connect, a consulting agency designed to bridge the gap between economic developers and site consultants, announces its 2017 list of North America’s Top 50 Economic Developers. The economic development professionals selected for this list were nominated by their colleagues in both the economic development industry and the site consultant community for excellent practices, innovation and success in building the communities they serve.

WASHINGTON—Dr. Francis Collins is being held over as the director of the National Institutes of Health by the Trump administration, his office announced Thursday afternoon. Collins had been prepared to step down from the post on Friday, after Trump’s inauguration, and return to his lab at the NIH Bethesda campus. However, with Thursday’s news, he will remain as director for the time being.

Image: Official portrait of NIH Director Francis Collins - Public Domain

As Donald Trump is sworn into office today, we look at what the next 100 days and indeed the next four years could mean for the biopharma industry through his recent candidates for the top healthcare roles, his policies (which are still coming into focus), and the power that 140 characters can have.

One way we biotech journalists try to gauge these things is to ask biotech CEOs, but many, including those at this year’s J.P. Morgan event, wouldn’t even mention Trump by name (“incoming administration” just about replacing He Who Shall Not Be Named), with few willing to make any predictions about his presidency, and what mark it may leave on the industry.

Asia’s innovation growth, 2017 tech trends and the threat to jobs from artificial intelligence

At Davos this week, one press release said that the US and EU must learn to share power as Asia takes a larger role. This seems to sum up the state of the world economy. Leaders agreed that with the United States looking set to step back from the international arena, China will likely take on a larger role to preserve the global economic system of which it has been a major beneficiary.

It adds, “The future looks distinctly multipolar, with no single leader emerging to fill the leadership vacuum created by a US retreat. It is important that incumbent powers such as the US and the European Union make space for the rise of Asia and other centres of power.”

First, let me tell you what entrepreneurs should not think really hard about in 2017: who is president. Of all the factors that could determine one’s success, if you think who sits in the Oval Office is the key, you’re deluding yourself.

The quality of your product or service, the way you support it, and how fast you enhance it are a thousand times more important than who’s president, who runs Congress, and who’s on the Supreme Court.

Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Kawasaki#/media/File:Guy_Kawasaki_at_Wikimania_2015_-_2.jpg

In his recent Harvard Law Review opus, President Barack Obama highlighted the yawning opportunity for leaders on both sides of the political aisle to repair the criminal justice system, in part by changing sentencing laws and ending the “school-to-prison pipeline.”

Despite the economic and social benefits, there are fears that reform will not be a priority for the new administration or congressional leaders. Fortunately, private funders are ramping up their efforts to help tackle not only criminal justice reform but also several other social and environmental challenges facing the U.S., including conservation, immigration, and education reform.

These days everyone knows that finding a mentor is valuable. But it’s increasingly rare that we actually have one. In an in-depth study of professional service firms, Harvard Business School professor Thomas DeLong and his colleagues discovered: “Everyone we spoke with over age 40 could name a mentor in his or her professional life, but younger people often could not.” They note, “Junior professionals joining a firm 20 years ago could count on the partners treating them like protégés.” Today job turnover, layoffs, and increased bottom-line pressures have taken a hatchet to that “implicit agreement.” The answer isn’t to give up on finding a mentor, however — it’s to broaden our search.

Economic inequality, societal polarization and environmental dangers are the three trends that will create the most challenging problems for the world over the next 10 years, according to an annual report that was released at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, this week.

World leaders are gathering in Davos to discuss some of the greatest risks facing the world, and how they might collaborate in solving them. They will be guided in their deliberations in part by the annual Global Risks Report, developed in collaboration with the Wharton Risk Management and Decision Processes Center.

A number of businesses have been around since before our nation was even established. In fact, some of the oldest businesses in the U.S. date back to the early 1600s.

These companies have consistently offered their products and services for centuries. In some cases, they’ve become the backbone of their communities.