Battered by rising ocean temperatures and this year’s powerful El Niño, many of the world’s coral reefs are slowly dying. Scientists have found that Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is experiencing the worst coral bleaching event they’ve ever seen (bleaching happens when warm water temperatures cause the corals to expel the symbiotic algae that supply the reef with oxygen and nutrients). As a result, the focus of marine biologists has moved from protecting existing reefs to finding ways to restore and rebuild them.

Image: https://www.technologyreview.com

That's how MedImmune and a collection of regional stakeholders say Greater Washington should brand itself to better promote its biotech and life sciences industry. The name was introduced Monday as part of the BioHealth Capital Region forum at MedImmune headquarters in Gaithersburg.

In 2003, as a single mother with a young son, I sold my house to start JBK Associates International, a business that has since become a multimillion-dollar firm. On my path to success as a single working mother, I’ve made thousands of mistakes. Here are three principles that should make your path easier.

1. Set boundaries

Single working mothers either prioritize or get dragged around by conflicting demands. There is no such thing as working 24/7. You have to sleep. You have to recharge. You have to spend time with your family.

The past 11 months have been the hottest such months in 135 years of recordkeeping, a streak that has itself set a record and puts in clear terms just how much the planet has warmed due to the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

New global temperature data released on Friday by NASA put March at 2.3°F (1.28°C) above the 1951-1980 average for the month, making it the warmest March on record. It beat out the previous warmest March, from 2010, by 0.65°F (0.36°C)—a handy margin.

Image: Global temperatures for January - March 2016. Credit: NASA 

I was watching my favorite show on TV this morning – GPS (Global Public Square) with Fareed Zakaria. It is a hugely compelling show because Zakaria covers world issues that will affect all of us in ways that are accessible and with frameworks for processing disparate information. He brings knowledgable experts from varying points of view but never books anybody that engages in yelling matches.

We all know that innovation is becoming increasingly important to the competitive advantage of nations around the world.

As the OECD recently noted, innovation and job creation go hand in hand over the long term to help create an inclusive and high-employment economy that all nations aspire to.

Despite this, there seems to be little we know about those amazing people who drive forward technological progress by creating innovative products and services that, in turn, raise incomes and improve the quality of life for everyone.

An entrepreneur has become my favorite type of person to date. I’m only able to compare that to two other relationships, but it has definitely been different in many different ways. When I read relationship advice columns, I find myself trying to justify things they say to watch out for, but it’s because entrepreneurs have so much more going on in their lives than other people.

Image: Columbia PIctures

SIKI MGABADELI:  It is Entrepreneur Friday and today we are focusing on the state of entrepreneurship in South Africa. We are talking about whether it’s in a good state. We’ve seen so many efforts. We know when we look at all the talk around entrepreneurship, around small business and so on, there are all sorts of institutions trying to support it, from the public to the private sector, private individuals. There is private equity, there are people throwing money into the situation – but is it all coming together and actually creating an entrepreneurial society? Are we even an entrepreneurial society? When you look around you, do you see people hustling, trying to build businesses? For those who are, do you find that they have the kind of support that they need?

Assistant Minister for Innovation Wyatt Roy today announced the release of the Australian Intellectual Property Report 2016, which provides a detailed breakdown of the nation’s intellectual property (IP) trends.

“Intellectual property is a powerful tool to support and drive innovation, consistent with the Government’s National Innovation and Science Agenda,” Mr Roy said.

“This 2016 report provides valuable insights for industry, stakeholders, innovators and researchers into the Australian innovation landscape.

Tokyo-Yokohama continues to be the largest city in the world, with nearly 38 million residents, according to the just released Demographia World Urban Areas (12th Annual Edition). Demographia World Urban Areas (Built-Up Urban Areas or Urban Agglomerations) provides annual estimates of the population, urban land area and urban population density of all identified built-up urban areas in the world. This year's edition includes 1,022 large urban areas (with 500,000 or more residents), with a total population of 2.12 billion, representing 53 percent of the world urban population.

Image: http://www.newgeography.com

Listening to a traffic report before leaving for work or school may be part of your daily routine. But how does your brain sort through the entire report and only recall the fastest route to your destination, and then forget that information the next day when listening to a new report? Avery Rizio, a Penn State postdoc in the Language and Aging Lab in the Center for Language Science, and Nancy Dennis, associate professor of psychology, recently published research in the journal Cognitive Neuroscience that demonstrates how forgetting unimportant or outdated information is not accidental, but is an active neurological process.

Northeast Ohio companies, angel and seed-stage funds, and education institutions were major beneficiaries of a statewide total of $16.35 million the Ohio Third Frontier Commission approved on Thursday, April 14, to, as the organization puts it, “get innovative ideas and products to market.”

In total, Northeast Ohio-based organizations received about $11.5 million. The statewide list of recipients is here.

In the “pre-seed and seed plus” awards category, Northeast Ohio recipients were as follows:

• North Coast Venture Fund L.P. in Mayfield Heights, $3.625 million

• Valley Growth Ventures LLC in Youngstown was awarded $3 million

• Mutual Capital Partners Fund III LP in Westlake, $2.079 million

• North Coast Angel Fund III LLC in Mayfield Heights, $1.65 million.

After listening and working with hundreds of entrepreneurs, I have heard many focused only on their next million dollar idea, but very few make any money from an idea alone. On the other end of the spectrum, others focus totally on building a product, assuming a great product will assure business success. Both groups are missing the essence of an entrepreneur – the business focus.

It's time to recruit more angel investors to help launch startups in Michigan, and it's almost time to raise the Michigan Angel Fund III, said Skip Simms, a senior vice president and director of entrepreneurial services at Ann Arbor Spark and the managing member of the MAF, an Ann Arbor-based angel organization that has raised two previous funds.

The Michigan Angel Fund was launched in 2011, and its first fund raised $2.1 million from 72 accredited investors. The second fund of $2.05 million was raised in 2014 from 62 investors. Simms said he would like to raise more than $2 million for the third fund but declined to specify a target.

Image: Skip Simms, Michigan Angel Fund III: “If we’re serious about diversifying the economy, we need to focus on early-stage companies that can scale and serve a global marketplace.” 

Illumina is committing $100 million over 10 years to a new venture capital firm whose investment priorities will be in line with the company’s vision.

Illumina said the new firm—to be called Illumina Ventures—will be managed independently of the sequencing giant. However, Illumina will be the majority limited partner in the firm’s first fund as a result of its commitment.

Here are seven metaphors to help you drive innovative behaviour as a creative leader.

1. Lift the veil - why does your organisation want to innovate?

If your top management team plans to launch an innovation initiative, have them answer three questions first:

a. What value will it bring in business terms?

Will it drive more revenue, save costs, differentiate you from the competition, or improve staff retention? How will you quantify this in business terms?

Image: http://www.innovationexcellence.com

While, we might see a rise in a number of startups every day. There is an equal number of them shutting down on a daily basis. We heard about Lady Gaga’s startup Backplane crashing and now Uber for kids startup “Shuddle” has shut down. The list of start-ups who have laid people off or shut down in recent months is really long.  While, startups are facing a lot of issues, one major problem on the rise is funding. Shuddle was failing to raise more venture capital and hence announced plans to shut on Thursday.

The 2015 Midwest Technology Seed Financing Survey provides a look at what normal looks like for deals in the region. It's based on information from deals completed last year in Kansas City, as well as an area stretching from Wichita to Nebraska to St. Louis.

There seems to be a big debate these days about the best approach to starting a new business. Some argue the only way to start is to drop everything and jump in with both feet, while others recommend an overlapped approach to the lifestyle, including not quitting your day job until you have revenue and a proven business model. I’m definitely a proponent of this latter approach.

Image: http://blog.startupprofessionals.com

Earlier last month I headed out Medellin, Colombia, to learn from one of the world’s most innovative cities and the thousands of entrepreneurs, investors, and policymakers that gathered there from more than 160 countries for the Global Entrepreneurship Congress.

The Congress is an annual event that in 2016 was hosted by the Global Entrepreneurship Network, ANDI, the government of the city of Medellin, and the Kauffman Foundation. More info about the event at the end of the post, if you are curious.