Meet Sonavex, the winner of our first Annual Crab Trap Competition! The competition was the final part of the two-day 2016 BioHealth Capital Region Forum, during which world renowned speakers, industry luminaries and commercial giants convened to highlight the accomplishments of today and chart our successes of tomorrow.

The Queensland government is bolstering its efforts to become a leading innovation destination, announcing several multimillion-dollar innovation-focused initiations including an $8 million program to lure startups from other states and around the world.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced the raft of new policies at the Advance Queensland Innovation and Investment Summit last week, including a $4 million investment to develop the state’s largest startup hub and a major international innovation festival setting up in Brisbane.

Researchers at McMaster University have found that a single minute of very intense exercise within a 10-minute session produces health benefits similar to those from 50 minutes of moderate-intensity continuous exercise.

Brief bursts of intense exercise are remarkably effective, a very time-efficient workout strategy, according to Martin Gibala, a professor of kinesiology at McMaster and lead author on the study, published online in an open-access paper in the journal PLOS ONE

The old adage that money doesn’t change everything could well be said of this year’s Top 10 U.S. biopharma clusters as listed by GEN. Nearly all regions saw significant increases in NIH funding (thanks to the $2 billion boost agreed upon by Congress for the current fiscal year) and in venture capital or “VC” funding (thanks to a market that was bullish on biopharma until this fall).

Thirty years ago most psychologists, philosophers and psychiatrists thought that babies and young children were irrational, egocentric and amoral. They believed children were locked in the concrete here and now—unable to understand cause and effect, imagine the experiences of other people, or appreciate the difference between reality and fantasy. People still often think of children as defective adults.

AMES, Iowa - Martin Thuo likes to look for new, affordable and clean ways to put science and technology to work in the world.

His lab is dedicated to an idea called frugal innovation: "How do you do very high-level science or engineering with very little?" said Thuo, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering at Iowa State University and an associate of the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory. "How can you solve a problem with the least amount of resources?"

Image: MARTIN THUO HOLDS A VIAL OF THE LIQUID-METAL PARTICLES PRODUCED BY HIS RESEARCH GROUP. WORKING BEHIND HIM ARE, LEFT TO RIGHT, SIMGE CINAR, JIAHAO CHEN AND IAN TEVIS. http://www.eurekalert.org

Venture capital firms in Michigan do better than their counterparts nationally, but women and minorities still account for a small number of investment professionals who work in the industry and the entrepreneurs it supports.

Of the 128 venture capital professionals working in Michigan, 15 percent are people of color, versus 13 percent nationally, and 16 percent are women, compared to 11 percent nationally, according to a diversity study included in this year’s research report by the Michigan Venture Capital Association.

Image: https://mibiz.com 

Gartner Research predicts that the typical family home will contain as many as 500 networked devices by 2020. Similarly, Ericsson forecasts 50 billion connected “things” by the same date. Reaching these lofty projections over the next four years, however, will require a fundamental reorientation in the way that technologists and product designers work together to create successful “connected” personal devices and home appliance products. This evolution to “Internet of Things (IoT) 2.0” will be difficult for many companies to achieve — not for lack of technological expertise but because they’ll fail to recognize the value of design in connected product development.

Just in time for graduation, reports are examining the economic prospects for the newly minted class of 2016. But one thing is less obvious to both the graduates and their prospective employers: who will make the best leader?

A study from DDI, a global leadership consultancy, made a surprising discovery: Humanities graduates did better than MBAs in a number of areas essential to performing as a leader. As an earlier analysis of DDI’s data revealed, good leadership is rooted in successful conversations. Beyond interpersonal skills, those with humanities degrees had stronger entrepreneurial skills and were more results-oriented.

Image: Flickr user rawdonfox 

There’s plenty of evidence, both anecdotal and scientific, that indicates that entrepreneurs who are able to take a break and unplug from time to time are happier, healthier, and more productive than their stressed-out counterparts.

Over 100 SBIR-funded companies will showcase new and promising biotechnology in the expanded exhibit floor space

April 29, 2016 10:24 AM Eastern Daylight Time

WASHINGTON--The Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) today announced an agreement to feature Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)-funded early-stage biomedical companies in an expanded Innovation Zone at the 2016 BIO International Convention. The Innovation Zone companies, focused on drug discovery, diagnostics and other therapeutic platform technologies, will have dedicated exhibit space and participate in BIO’s One-on-One Partnering™. Select companies will make 15-minute company presentations in the BIO Business Forum.

City planners are rightly on guard for fads. Think the festival marketplaces of the 1970s, or naming neighborhoods to sound like New York’s fabled SoHo. This year’s model—the Innovation District—may be next in line for a dose of healthy skepticism.

As an economic development strategy, the basic idea is perfectly sound: Gathering together a critical mass of tech start-ups, incubators, and lab space in one part of town, and paving the way with rezoning, redevelopment, and adaptive re-use. As a city-building exercise, Innovation Districts are generally dense, walkable, bike-friendly, transit-oriented areas with a strong sense of place—all good.

When West Virginia native Brad Smith, chairman and CEO of Intuit, joined TechConnect recently to headline a forum about strategies for growing innovation in the Mountain State, he urged state leaders to “lean into what we don’t know.”

“We’re capable of becoming the next version of who we want to be in this state without losing what makes us special in the process,” Smith said.  

“When I look at the state with fresh eyes, I see nothing but opportunity. For us to get there, we’re going to have to embrace change. We’re going to have to lean into the unknown.”

Businessman and presidential hopeful Donald Trump has talked a lot about business over the years but not that much about small business. Yet small business owners seem to be favoring him as the candidate who best represents their interests.

A Manta poll of 2,527 small business owners who plan to vote in the primaries found that 60 percent think Trump is the best Republican candidate for small business.

Image: http://smallbiztrends.com

Every entrepreneur and business executive knows that continuous innovation is required to survive, but most struggle with this more than any other challenge they face. They know they need to act proactively, but still are often blindsided by a new competitor coming out of the blue with a future they never imagined. Innovation driven by the next crisis is not leadership.

If you've got a hot new product or service, chances are you're wondering at what point you should seek out financing to take your idea to market.

It’s a perpetual challenge faced by all startups. After all, most investors will want to see proof of concept and some traction first — and that's hard when you're just getting started.

Kansas City has a new venture capital firm. The Collective Funds will target Kansas City-based seed-stage companies that have a developed product and their first customer already lined up.

The firm intends to deploy $10 million in the next two to four years. It will look to invest in about 20 to 30 companies, with an average investment of about $250,000. Targets will include startups in technology, hardware, goods and services.

This is, we are constantly told, the age of the freelancer and the entrepreneur. In the U.K., the number of start-ups passed the 600,000-mark – a record, while official statistics suggest that the number of workers classified as freelancers has grown steadily since 2011, from 1.4 million to 1.88 million. The situation is little different in the U.S., traditionally a hot-bed of entrepreneurial activity. Indeed, a study by the software company Intuit predicted in 2010 that by 2020 40% of U.S. workers would be freelance.

DENVER BUSINESS JOURNAL - Some people think that being an entrepreneur is easy because you get to be your own boss and make your own schedule.

Sometimes it is, especially when you have a passion for your work and business.

But most of the time, being an entrepreneur and business owner is easier said than done.

"Dating an entrepreneur can be the most exhilarating thing you ever do in your life, or it can be insane if you don't know how entrepreneurs are wired," says Entrepreneur Network partner Patrick Bet-David.

In this video, the finance entrepreneur covers 15 different things you need to know, whether you are already in a relationship with an entrepreneur or are thinking about dating one.