Here we highlight selected innovation related articles from around the world on a daily basis. These articles related to innovation and funding for innovative companies, and best practices for innovation based economic development.
Major waves from ocean storms can fracture ice hundreds of miles from its edge, researchers say.
These new findings suggest large waves could help explain mysteries about how Antarctic ice behaves in response to changes in climate, scientists added.
Image: The sun setting over a field of broken sea ice, or frozen seawater that floats on the ocean, in Antarctica. Credit: Rob Johnson
Looking to Mötley Crüe for advice about business might sound a little like asking Warren Buffett for tips on headbanging. Are there really lessons to be learned from the band who, in their 1980s heyday, were as well known for their over-the-top debauchery as for their music? “Looking from the outside,” says bassist and co-founder Nikki Sixx, “I totally understand why people would think there’s no way this band should even still be here.”
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As of 2009, the majority of people across the globe lives in cities and by 2050 that share is expected to reach 70%. In mature and emerging economies alike, cities are the engines of the global economy—in 2011, just the 300 largest metro areas accounted for 48% of total global output.
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When it comes to workers rights, the U.S. scores shockingly low compared to other countries. Right on par with Iraq, Haiti, and Iran. The best countries? Mostly just where you'd expect.
It's no surprise Norway and Denmark get top marks in a global ranking of workers rights. These countries have long labor traditions, as well as laws and enforcement to back up their principles. Likewise, it's no surprise that Qatar comes low in the ranking, where hundreds of workers are dying building stadiums for the 2022 World Cup.
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Bulking up on venture capital doesn’t always result in a happy payday down the line. It can actually lead to a less valuable exit, a new study from the research group Exitround finds.
Lots of startups talk about staying “lean and mean” capital-wise during scale-up, but the temptation to take on new investment can be tough to resist given the growing number of seed investors.
Conventional wisdom says this is how to raise money:
That’s how it works, right? Not always. I’ve developed a somewhat different, streamlined approach. My method compresses the time it takes to raise money and lowers the transaction costs by a considerable degree.
SAN DIEGO – The main sources of dissatisfaction for international undergraduate students at U.S. institutions relate to finances, according to new research on retention released today at the annual NAFSA: Association of International Educators conference.
International students who responded to a national survey cite access to jobs or internships (37 percent), affordability (36 percent) and availability of scholarships (34 percent) as their main reasons for dissatisfaction, followed distantly by meal plans (26 percent) and quality of housing (17 percent).
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It’s commencement season, so it’s no surprise that the “Is college worth it?” question is making headlines (again) this week. Perhaps fueled by nervous graduates and parents wondering if they’ve just flushed four (or more) years and many thousands of dollars down the drain, a column on that question by David Leonhardt of The New York Times became the most-read and most-emailed article on the newspaper’s website.
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Welcome to the second episode of our brand new YouTube show VentureTV — a show for entrepreneurs where we’ll share tools, tips and insights to help you run your startup better, or anything we think will add value to your startup journey.
You’ve probably heard of The Lean Startup by Eric Ries, potentially the quintessential book on the principles of being lean in the startup world.
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Try as I might, I just can’t seem to let it go.
When Laszlo Bock, of Google, tells the columnist Thomas Friedman, of The New York Times, that he would prefer to hire a computer-science student with B grades over an A-plus student who studies English, it doesn’t surprise me. Google is in the business of computing, after all.
But then I read Bock’s rationale, and that’s when I nearly lose a mouthful of Cheerios: Unlike English—and presumably other non-STEM fields—computer science “signals a rigor in your thinking,” an ability “to think in a formal and logical and structured way.” He said what?
Federal health officials estimate that nearly 48 million people are sickened by food contaminated with harmful germs each year, and some of the causes might surprise you.
Although most people know animal products must be handled carefully to prevent illness, many don’t realize that produce can also be the culprit in outbreaks of foodborne illness. In recent years, the United States has had several large outbreaks of illness caused by contaminated fruits and vegetables—including spinach, tomatoes, and lettuce.
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Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh has heard the concerns about the innovation economy having unintended consequences — such as gentrification — that only make economic inequality worse in Boston. But he’s not convinced.
In Dudley Square, for instance, Walsh said he’s heard complaints about the incubator space slated to open in the Ferdinand Building in Roxbury’s Dudley Square, also the future headquarters of the Boston Public Schools.
Image: Mayor Martin J. Walsh spoke Wednesday during a Rappaport Institute event at the Langham Hotel in Boston (Kyle Alspach photo)
Snapchat and WhatsApp both account for 700 million photos shared daily. The average Google user is six times more valuable than the average Facebook user. Buzzfeed is big on Facebook but not as big on Twitter, where BBC is the top media brand. And 25 percent of global Internet use is on mobile, but only 4 percent of ad dollars is.
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I’m an investor in a bunch of VC funds. Some of them recycle their management fees; others don’t. I’ve never really understood why funds don’t recycle their management fees.
Understanding what “recycling management fees” means is a fundamental part of understanding the economics of a venture firm. Here’s how it works.
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Innovation Ireland: The latest announcement from Richard Bruton, enterprise & innovation minister, of the launch of Knowledge Transfer Ireland, provides the possibility of "making it easier to commercialise, and ultimately create jobs from, ideas developed through publicly funded research, which currently receives total funding of over €800m per year."
Knowledge Transfer Ireland (KTI) - - claimed to be the first resource of its kind in Europe - - is the State-funded central technology transfer office, located in Enterprise Ireland and operated collaboratively by Enterprise Ireland and the Irish Universities Association.
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WHEN YOU MAKE A MISTAKE, IT'S NATURAL TO PANIC, APOLOGIZE PROFUSELY, OR GET DEFENSIVE--AND AGGRAVATE THE SITUATION MORE. HERE'S HOW TO FAIL GRACEFULLY.
BY AVERY BLANK
We all make mistakes. As much as we wish they didn’t happen, they do. And that pit in your stomach won’t go away until you turn the situation around. The key to recovery: Demonstrate confidence and credibility. Here’s how.
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If there is any agreement in Washington about transportation funding these days, it is that any new federal funding will be hard to come by. That's why Congress and transportation experts are exploring how best to attract and use private money to pay for infrastructure projects.
Image: Onlookers take photos of one of the first trucks to drive through the new Port of Miami Tunnel, which opened last week and was partially financed through a public-private partnership. AP/J Pat Carter
Mash together most of today's hot technology buzzwords, and you'd have a good approximation of Samsung’s newly announced cloud platform for tracking health data via wearables and sensors.
Slipping in just ahead of Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference next week—during which Cupertino might well feature some new quantified health initiatives and even a possible iWatch fitness tracker—Samsung laid out its own plans for an "open platform" that would track vital health statistics and tie them to cloud services for real-time monitoring.
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When do you pass the buck and when do you take the blame? New research shows most of us only cop to failures if they can’t be attributed to something – or someone – else. But when we dodge accountability, we prevent ourselves from learning.
In their recent HBS working paper, Christopher G. Myers, Bradley R. Staats, and Francesca Gino identify what they call an ambiguity of responsibility, which plays a powerful role in determining when you learn from failure and when you don’t.
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Those of you familiar with the word “crowdfunding” know it’s quickly evolving into an industry itself. In fact, crowdfunding is predicted to create at least 270,000 jobs and inject $65 billion into the economy by 2014’s end.
As an entrepreneur (current, or aspiring), how can crowdfunding grow your business? To find out, it’s helpful to understand the trends driving the most successful campaigns and choose the right platform for your project.
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