Platforms are taking the world by storm. The open business models that allow for the exchange of goods, services or ideas are increasingly favoured as a low-cost, high value alternative to traditional “pipeline” companies that buy and sell and set their prices. But there is much to do when building a platform. As we described in our last post, there are numerous factors to consider from enabling smooth interaction to pulling users.

Big issues are best tackled with massive creativity — and sometimes that creativity leads to world-changing innovation. 

From clothing that changes color to alert the wearer of nearby toxins to a boot that alerts health care workers if a baby stops breathing, inventors are putting their good ideas into motion.

Interested in raising money for your small business through equity crowdfunding?

The Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities has some advice for you.

The department has just issued a two-page primer (PDF) on the new fundraising method, which became legal nationwide this spring.

It's posted in the "Entrepreneur Education" section of the department's website, which offers in-depth information on various ways of raising capital.

It has a proven track record of teaching leadership, strategic planning, creative problem-solving, task execution, and resiliency—all traits essential to business ownership. It is not a fancy MBA or university program.

The organization is the United States military.

Image: Sgt. 1st Class Justin Hathaway, United States Forces-Iraq Provost Marshal Office operations non-commissioned officer in charge, braves a sandstorm after leaving the 9th Air and Space Expeditionary Task Force-Iraq and U.S. Forces-Iraq Provost Marshal Office at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, Sept. 27, 2011. U.S. Air Forces Central, Baghdad Media Outreach Team Photo by Master Sgt. Cecilio Ricardo Date Taken:09.27.2011 Location:AL ASAD, IQ Related Photos: dvidshub.net/r/9kxg9i 

Imagine if we could leave behind the Hollywood concept of inspirational social entrepreneurs delivering the poor and needy from hardship through their sustainable business-like charities. If we could move away from social enterprises that take their branded interventions to every last town and village, and instead think about a knowledge economy where concepts and ideas are shared and disseminated – rather than protected and “scaled.”

The majority of managers and executives expect there will be significant digital disruption in the future, though few are adequately prepared.

That’s according to a major report from Deloitte, which saw 3,700 business executives across 131 countries, in 27 different industries, surveyed on their views on all things digital.

Innovation is the key to survival in business.

This doesn't seem to be a universally accepted proposition in New Zealand. The total innovation rate for New Zealand businesses is less than 50 per cent.

Think Walkman and iPod. Innovation can kill a product. Think Blockbuster and Netflix. Innovation can kill a company.

Image: http://www.stuff.co.nz

There’s been no shortage of talk about innovation recently, with the federal government’s National Innovation and Science Agenda calling for new ideas in innovation and science to:

harness new sources of growth to deliver the next age of economic prosperity in Australia.

Delivering economic prosperity for all Australians will require an inclusive and collaborative approach across all parts of society, whether near or far from its cities and research hubs. But what would that look like in practice – and how can it help bolster the future of NSW?

Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lennykphotography/18227060466/sizes/l

Recent numbers show it is becoming tougher for startups to raise money. Someone forgot to send that memo to Silicon Valley accelerators like 500 Startups and Y Combinator.

I spent Tuesday attending standing-room-only events at both seed-stage startup accelerators, and while the current downturn in funding and valuations was brought up, the energetic mood was clearly not impacted. Dave McClure, founding partner of 500 Startups, kicked off his fund’s 17th “Demo Day” donning a sparkly, rainbow-colored wig and unicorn horn.

We know that mergers and acquisitions are challenging for the companies involved. But we spend less time thinking about the challenge they pose for antitrust authorities. This regulator has to decide whether to approve a merger based on its predicted outcome for the businesses and society as a whole. Generally, if consumers are likely to be harmed, authorities prefer to block the merger. If not, it gets the nod. Sometimes, approval is granted on certain conditions.

In today’s workplaces, multigenerational challenges and conflicts are all too common. In addition, many companies are also in a state of generational flux as the median employee age at most companies is rapidly dropping and throngs of baby boomers are now eligible and potentially gearing up for retirement. According to an April 2016 Pew Research Center article, “Millennials have surpassed Baby Boomers as the nation’s largest living generation, according to population estimates released this month by the U.S. Census Bureau. Millennials, whom we define as those ages 18-34 in 2015, now number 75.4 million, surpassing the 74.9 million Baby Boomers (ages 51-69). And Generation X (ages 35-50 in 2015) is projected to pass the Boomers in population by 2028.”

At a recent workshop at a global entrepreneurship summit, participants were asked to imagine a world 10 years from now in which women no longer struggled to raise money for their ventures, compared to men — a world in which perceptions of competence were based on merit and performance and in which women were equally represented in entrepreneurship. Those in the workshop were asked to explain just how the changes happened. Among the solutions they came up with were:

LOS ANGELES — A 42-year-old skydiver with more than 18,000 jumps made history Saturday when he became the first person to leap without a parachute and land in a net instead.

After a two-minute freefall, Luke Aikins landed dead center in the 100-by-100-foot net at the Big Sky movie ranch on the outskirts of Simi Valley.

Image: http://mashable.com

British Growth Fund (BGF) — a £2.5 billion investment company that backs businesses across the UK — decided to allocate £200 million to an early stage venture capital (VC) fund almost exactly a year ago to the day.

Twelve months down the line, and that VC pot (BGF Ventures) has been put to use on no less than nine occasions, backing the likes of food delivery startup Gousto, NHS doctor provider Network Locum, and children's craft supplier toucanBox along the way.

Image: BGF Ventures cofounders Rory Stirling (left), Simon Calver (centre), and Harry Briggs (right). BGF Ventures

Local merchant banker tells Senate committee that Congress need to act because many startups face difficulties in raising money and new business formation has declined.

Share story Wonder how often members of Congress hear from people who are at the headwaters of where new companies, industries and jobs are being created?

If you’re of a certain age, the Kodak name evinces a simpler era — a time when taking a picture was a revelation, and photographs were precious — each exposure was finite, a “roll of film” only offered 24 or 36 shots, and it cost money (and time) to actually see your work developed. Selfies? Who had time for selfies?! During that era, Kodak was Instagram, Apple, and Sony all rolled into one, a massive, 140,000-person icon of American capitalism. The company’s market cap peaked at $30 billion — huge for its time. But the relentless advances of digital drove Kodak to a humiliating bankruptcy in 2012, one that became emblematic of how large companies can fail to innovate.

Three counties in California signed on to use emocha’s apps for managing tuberculosis.

The Johns Hopkins spinout is implementing miDOT in Fresno, Merced and Contra Costa counties.

It continues national growth for the DreamIt Health Baltimore alum, which is among a group of local health IT startups generating buzz in the space. The company began implementing its technology at the city’s health department and remains active in Maryland. Last year, the company signed a county in Texas for the product. A second tuberculosis treatment app is in use in South Africa.

Image: http://technical.ly/baltimore

SEATTLE — Inside an office in this city’s South Lake Union neighborhood, engineers in lab coats fuss over a contraption unlike the usual creations flowing from Amazon, Facebook and other technology companies with offices nearby.

It’s a satellite the size of a large duffel bag that will be lobbed into orbit in August, as part of a constellation of cameras that will take aerial pictures of Earth and deliver them to customers faster and cheaper than in the past. The company building it, Spaceflight Industries, is one of a growing number of start-ups springing up in Seattle for the same reasons the area has been so hospitable to internet and software companies.

Image: Vulcan Aerospace, the Seattle-based space investment vehicle of the Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, is funding the creation of Stratolaunch, the world’s largest plane by wingspan, being built in Mojave, Calif. Credit - Vulcan Industries

HONG KONG — Snapchat and Kik, the messaging services, use bar codes that look like drunken checkerboards to connect people and share information with a snap of their smartphone cameras. Facebook is working on adding the ability to hail rides and make payments within its Messenger app. Facebook and Twitter have begun live-streaming video.

All of these developments have something in common: The technology was first popularized in China.

WeChat and Alipay, two Chinese apps, have long used the bar-codelike symbols — called QR codes — to let people pay for purchases and transfer money. Both let users hail a taxi or order a pizza without switching to another app.

Image: A cellphone user in Shenzhen, China. China’s tech industry has popularized some technologies that are just getting started in the United States. - Credit An Rong Xu

For the average job-seeker or any parent wondering what kind of livelihood awaits the next generation, the current headlines are the stuff of anxiety attacks. Last month, the Associated Press announced that it would begin using an automated writing service to cover more than 10,000 minor league baseball games each year. Driverless trucks may soon be taking over from humans, elbowing out an entire profession. New technology purports to bring great change to a surprising number of fields, including law, medicine and financial services. What will be the human toll and net effect on the economy? Has the U.S. reached an epoch of irreversible job loss?