For the past 10 to 15 years, startup incubators and co-working spaces have been expanding around the world. Entrepreneurs, freelancers and traditional businesses alike are all searching for ways to connect, collaborate and develop relationships with mentors and investors. But there can be some confusion as to the difference between an incubator and a co-working space. Kathleen Bauer of The T-REX Innovation Center helps define the two:

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Marti McMahon was one of the first entrepreneurs I interviewed nearly 20 years ago. As soon as I met her, I immediately felt her palpable passion and her off-the-charts tenacity. I thought, “Surely she must be an outlier on these two qualities.” Marti told me she had three great loves: boats, people, and entertaining. She longed to combine these loves in her own business. Her dream was to own and operate a fleet of yachts that offered gourmet dining during scenic cruises of the San Francisco Harbor, which is how she came to found Pacific Marine Yachts.

The current cultural infatuation with entrepreneurship (particularly in regards to tech businesses) means there are a lot of myths and misconceptions about the process of investing in the digital space. It can be easy for new entrepreneurs to be swept away by the siren call of mentors, advisors, and politicians who talk of “entrepreneurship” despite never having started a company. To try and cut through the hype, below I share some practical, commonsense tips on how entrepreneurs can secure financing, gleaned from my decade’s worth of experience investing in the launch phase of tech companies.

Like taking vitamins or exercising daily, Tom Kelley, General Manager of IDEO, points out that fostering lifelong creativity depends on instituting good, healthy mental habits. This first habit on his list of five encourages thinkers to become hyper-aware of their environment, and to notice the common and everyday with new eyes. Capture fresh ideas and don't be afraid to use them later, he insists.

The investment consultancy firm Mercer has ranked the world's most expensive cities to live in as part of its annual Cost of Living Survey.

Contrary to the assumption that Western cities are the costliest, Southeast Asia and Africa feature heavily in the top 19, continuing the trend of emerging markets adjusting to massive outside investment.

A new study from Baylor University’s Hankamer School of Business helps leaders better understand how to manage innovators, specifically scientists and engineers.

“Our study suggests that leaders who understand how to manage their employees’ commitment to both their organizations and professions may be the most successful at motivating and retaining innovators,” said the study’s lead author, Sara Perry, Ph.D., assistant professor of management in Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business. “Innovators represent a highly valued workforce.”

Deadline: June 30

Applications are now being accepted for the 2016 Awards of Excellence program. We haver revamped our categories for 2016. Be sure to check out our guidelines and download an application. For all of the latest on the Awards program, visit the Awards webpage.

Our webinar from April 20, which provides an excellent overview of the new Awards program and application process, is now archived and available online.

America’s capacity for creativity and invention is a major reason why our economy is the strongest and most durable in the world.

That capacity -- and the uniquely American spirit of innovation that fuels it -- has also inspired admiration from across the globe for generations. And since his first day in office, President Obama has worked to strengthen our innovation advantage -- through investments and reforms to drive technological and scientific breakthroughs that will power our economy and strengthen America’s leadership in the industries of the future.

On June 23, Britain votes on whether to remain in the European Union or to leave it. Either way, the point has been made and registered around the European continent that the British have more faith in the white rabbits of political fairy tales than they do in the sinkhole of Brussels and its economic policies.

Even though the vote is mostly a creature of English party politics — Prime Minister David Cameron chose to have a showdown with the noisome “Eurosceptics” who make up half of his fox-hunting party — the negative consequences of the vote both for Europe and for Great Britain will exceed any advantages that he wrings from the party’s recalcitrant right wing.

Anyone in the economic development industry will tell you that workforce development and attraction are critical factors in creating thriving communities. Many are facing workforce shortages of epic proportion. We often receive calls from economic developers, asking for workforce attraction campaigns to fill available jobs. Of course, this includes efforts that encourage prospective employees to live in their community.

Established companies are often late to spot mortal threats to their business model. Here’s how they should respond when industry disruption strikes.

Digital disruption isn’t just for hip start-ups. Incumbents can not only compete but actually lead radical industry change if they pay attention to the way their business model is shifting and act boldly in response. In this episode of the McKinsey Podcast, McKinsey partner Chris Bradley and senior partner Angus Dawson talk to Cam MacKellar about the life cycle of digital disruption, what it means for incumbents, and how executives should react. An edited transcript of their conversation follows.

A new report adds another layer to the increasingly complex issue of the gender-wage gap.

Comparably, a platform that provides anonymous data on compensation and insights into work culture did an analysis of the self-reported salaries of 10,000 workers in the tech industry.

Using algorithms to detect and remove false reports, Comparably’s researchers averaged the compensation data for all the jobs they have in tech, and broke it down by gender. They then broke the data out by education level, ethnicity, location, department, and age.

Image: Flickr user Keoni Cabral

"Soft skills." Those are the interpersonal, "human" skills—like communication, conflict resolution, and other traits—that companies are prioritizing, experts believe to be more automation-proof, and some recruiters are saying new graduates lack.

But so far, that conversation has focused on a soft-skills gap at the individual level, as something for job seekers to brush up on and emphasize in order to stay competitive. And while it speaks to a growing need for these skill sets among employers, we rarely talk about the organizational costs of that need going unfulfilled—not to mention the risks to businesses that can't measure or predict how people will act within their own walls.

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As I’ve repeatedly re-enforced via my blog and keynotes, most great ideas oftentimes come from unexpected places.

Such is the case with this week’s post.  I came across a creative John Deere commercial that was not only amusing to me, but for some reason, provoked an idea.

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Comstock hearing explores impact of Small Business Innovation Research Act, Small Business Technology Transfer programs

U.S. Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-VA) convened a hearing on Thursday to explore the impacts and results of the Small Business Innovation Research Act (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs.

Authorization for SBIR and STTR programs will expire in September 2017, and Comstock, the chairwoman of the House Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee on Research and Technology, convened the hearing to ensure the effective use of taxpayer dollars.

In the last five years, universities in Chile have become hotspots for applied research and development in technological sectors. Last year, Chile's higher education sector saw a 17.4% growth in patent applications and the number of technology transfer offices (TTOs) has doubled in the last five years. The Chilean government and its development corporation CORFO want to capitalize on this surge of innovation, and in May, announced the establishment of three technology transfer hubs.

Kellogg Co. has launched Eighteen94 Capital, a venture capital fund, that plans to invest $100 million in startup businesses pioneering new ingredients, foods, packaging and technology, the company said Monday.

The fund will make minority investments in companies "pursuing next-generation innovation, bolstering access to cutting-edge ideas and trends," according to a Monday news release. Kellogg's said 1894 will invest in emerging companies in the the Battle Creek food giant's core categories as well as in companies that have developed "new consumer-driven technologies" that could lead to long-term growth.

Age discrimination is the most widely experienced form of discrimination across Europe according to a 2011 Age UK report. In a work context, this can be particularly harmful. Although older workers are sometimes stereotyped in positive ways — as more loyal, reliable, or committed compared to their younger colleagues – negative stereotypes abound.

Leading an organization can sometimes feel like plate spinning: racing from pole to pole, trying to keep each plate aloft and whirling. To lead (and to spin), you have to achieve and maintain balance. Within an enterprise, this means balancing the demands of current operations while laying the groundwork for future opportunities, as well as reviewing past activities and policies that may be holding back your organization.

Too often, leaders focus only on current operations because it is the performance engine that generates the funds necessary to stay in play.

Global PC and smartphone juggernaut Lenovo launched an incubator offering funding, infrastructure and business support for entrepreneurial startups specializing in cutting-edge technologies, including robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and big data.

Known as Lenovo Accelerator, it is run by the Lenovo Capital and Incubator Group (LCIG), one of Lenovo's four major business groups, and its first program is being conducted in partnership with Hong Kong Cyberport and targets startups in Hong Kong and southern China.

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