Economic development executives from 11 large Canadian cities across the country agreed today to create a new unified brand called ConsiderCanada.ca after meeting this week in Quebec City with 22 members of the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service from Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada. 

The new branding recognizes the dominant role of urban economies and will be used to attract trade and investment opportunities around the world. According to members of “C-11”, Canada’s large cities represent more than 50 per cent of Canada’s economic activity. Similarly, the globe’s top 25 mega-cities, including Beijing, Mumbai and Mexico City, account for more than half of the world’s wealth, while the top 40 mega-regions account for 66 per cent of all economic activity and about 85 per cent of technological and scientific innovation, according to the United Nations’ biannual State of World Cities report.  

U.S. COMMERCE SECRETARY GARY LOCKE ANNOUNCES WINNERS OF I6 CHALLENGE
NIH, NSF & EDA Partner to Recognize Six Projects in Competition to Reward American Innovation

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke today announced the winners of the i6 Challenge, a new $12 million innovation competition led by the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration (EDA), in partnership with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Locke made the announcement during his keynote remarks at an event on regional innovation clusters co-hosted by The Brookings Institution.

The i6 Challenge seeks to identify and support the nation's best ideas for technology commercialization and entrepreneurship in six different regions of the country. The winning team from each region will receive $1 million from EDA to support their project and may be eligible for additional awards from NIH and NSF. Projects include efforts to drive innovative technologies in the medical and bioscience industries to market more quickly by bringing experts in science and academia together with public and private sector businesses and entrepreneurs.

Each year, the Intelligent Community Forum presents an awards program for Intelligent Communities and the public-sector and private-sector partners who contribute to them.  The awards program has two goals: to salute the accomplishments of communities in developing inclusive prosperity on a foundation of information and communications technology, and to gather data for ICF's research programs.  See the event calendar for upcoming dates. 

“There’s not so much new in the debate,” said Hans Martens, the chief executive of the Brussels-based European Policy Centre. Discussions about innovation have been going on for years in Brussels and work on the Innovation Union document itself began in 2009. “It’s now all about getting action. Action, action, action.”

One big difference now is that innovation has been pushed up the EU agenda, moving beyond being a concern of R&D or industry directorates, with the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, deciding to dedicate the summit of heads of state in December to the subject.

Journalist Tom Friedman interviewed GE's CEO and Chairman Jeffrey R. Immelt on the last day of the GridWide Global Forum in Washington, D.C.

"We have to have an energy policy. It's stupid what we have today," Immelt said. "Somehow we've allowed the whole discussion of clean energy investing to get wrapped up in green and climate discussions," he said.

According to Immelt, in some ways, the smart grid is controversial. The customer isn't asking for it. It might add more cost at first.

NEW YORK, Sept. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) today announced the launch of the Global Innovation Initiative (GII), a program designed to support Science, Technology, Math and Engineering (STEM) educators and students in solving the problems of global poverty in environmentally and economically sustainable ways. Focusing especially on STEM Education, the NCIIA and its partners seek to identify and train the next generation of inventors and entrepreneurs in countries where these opportunities are not widely available.

Armed with fifteen years of experience working with U.S.-based student entrepreneurs to develop and commercialize products and technology that address needs in global health, clean water, sustainable energy and consumer technology, the NCIIA will build a network of more than 100 universities around the world to train and equip the next generation of STEM students to stimulate the development and distribution of innovative scalable products and businesses. The Global Innovation Initiative will impact universities in countries in Africa, Asia, Central North and South America.

There are many reasons to venture to Omaha, Nebraska: a love of all things corn, the Freedom Park Navy Museum, or just a great steak, but did you know Omaha tops the list of the most recession-proof cities?

The Brookings Institute MetroMonitor has been tracking the best (and worst) places to live during the recession based on unemployment rates, industry recovery, and the local housing market. And the research says: If you want a recession-proof city, check out the Midwest.

I work hard for my money. I leave my two gorgeous kids every morning to make money because I have to. So, I hate taxes. I hate politicians who waste my tax dollars. I hate politicians who can’t say no to wasteful spending, and then throw salt on the wound and increase taxes to escalate the rape of hardworking, law abiding taxpayers. So let’s take a look at the states that are doing this the most, the most socialist ones.

How do we know whether a state is socialist? Very easy. By definition, socialist states (or countries) tax and spend a higher percentage of their GDP. Instead of returning state revenue back to taxpayers, these states think they know how to spend hard-earned taxpayer dollars better. So we only need two pieces of data to determine which states are the most socialist: total state revenue and the state’s GDP.

Welcome to the Digital 100: The World's Most Valuable Internet Startups!

In this year's list, we've looked at and evaluated more than 300 startups and ranked the top 100.

We're looking at common stock value here--the price the public market might put on the company (not the valuations achieved using sweetheart terms in some preferred stock deals).

So what are the 100 most valuable digital startups in the world?

Image: NASA's satellite-derived map of air pollution, throughout planet earth, between 2001-2006.
Specifically, the "warmer" areas of the color map (yellow, orange, red)
indicate higher densities of problematic particles known as fine
particulate matter, or PM2.5. These are 2.5 micrometers or less in
diameter, roughly 1/10 the width of a strand of human hair. They're
small enough to sneak past your body's defenses, and lodge inside your
lungs.

A large part of my job is to host a parade of entrepreneurs through my office as they pitch me on their business plans. When I tell people that our firm invests in less than .003% of the companies we hear from in a given year, they are shocked that the number is so low. Sometimes I’m shocked that the number is so high.

That’s because there is a stunning lack of effective communications skills among the people who present to us.  Their inability to tell a compelling story may well be the number one barrier to success in getting venture financing.  If only people knew how to connect with us more effectively, our percentage might actually go up.

Signs of U.S. decline in global competitiveness over the past five years suggest that Americans must not abandon future innovation in hard economic times, according to a report announced today (Sept. 23).

Investment in American innovation is necessary to ensure the economic strength to provide health care, social security, national security, and other basic services for citizens, said the report commissioned by the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine.

With the recession seemingly on the wane, it is time to tap into that spirit of innovation that has always succeeded in moving America forward, President Obama said Aug. 1.

Pull up your bootstraps and invent stuff, in other words.

Historically, Americans have had no trouble leading the way in scientific and technological advancement, especially in the 20th century, and it's that leadership that has pulled the country out of tough economic times. Foster the innate potential with policies and education and this recession can be a thing of the past too, according to Obama.

Older industrial areas such as Pittsburgh (pictured here), Cleveland, Akron, and Youngstown are places with substantial infrastructure and a proud industrial heritage that are struggling to redefine themselves in the global economy. Entrepreneurship and innovation are the most viable strategies for the economic future of the region.

By Victor W. Hwang

I am not a typical venture capitalist. I started out wanting to change the world through political leadership, and my career has been a winding pursuit of a dream that has⎯somewhat unexpectedly⎯led me to this point. In this article, I share the story of my journey and the insights I gained along the way. In particular, I present nontraditional insights into the nature of venture capital, and describe how those insights have inspired the current phase of my personal and somewhat idealistic pursuit of change.

Download the PDF

Is your business ready for the influx of “digital natives”? Maybe you’re already experiencing it.

I’m not talking about characters from a video game. “Digital natives” is another name for the newest generation in the workforce. Also called the Millennials, this generation was born between the early 1980s and 2000s (definitions differ). Essentially, they’re today’s young 20-somethings, and they grew up in a world where technology was a a part of their early childhood experiences.

While there are many rewards that come with running your own business there are also a lot of drawbacks that can quickly turn your dream into a nightmare. Here are some things you should consider before starting down the path to entrepreneurship:

There are no guarantees

Every business venture carries some degree of risk. No matter how well you understand your market, can articulate the need for your business or write up a rock-solid business plan there’s still an excellent chance your business will fail.