Nokia’s Calling All Innovators competition has always been about trying to find the best big ideas for mobile applications from developers around the world. This year, Nokia is taking that desire to find big ideas to a whole new level. We’re looking to invest in an idea that is worth $1 million!

Nokia’s Growth Economy Venture Challenge will provide a venture capital investment in the winning proposal of $1 million (USD). Bear in mind, this is not a gift, grant or prize. It’s an investment aimed at creating a strong, vibrant business that will also improve people’s lives.

Over the past 50 years, the United States has led the world in science and technology innovation. Yet now there are troubling signs of a downward trend in American innovation. Last year, for example, was the first time that non-U.S. innovators filed more patents than Americans; the United States is also falling behind other countries in the percentage of gross domestic product spent on national research and development.

On June 8, the Brookings Institution will host a forum on improving U.S. science and technology innovation and investment. The inaugural A. Alfred Taubman Forum will convene leaders from government, higher education, and business to discuss policy actions that will improve the climate for science and technology in the United States.

New York City and FirstMark Capital LLC, a private equity firm, created a $22 million partnership to help finance new businesses and made its first investment today in MyCityWay, a creator of mobile-device applications.

The fund, described by Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office as the first of its kind outside the Silicon Valley, was created with $19 million from Manhattan-based FirstMark and $3 million from the city, the mayor’s office said in a news release.

This year's 100 Most Creative People offers our own, idiosyncratic perspective on business. The selections reflect he breadth of news ideas and new pursuits at play in our business landscape. From interface designer Yugo Nakamura to HBO Documentary Films president Sheila Nevins to futurist Ray Kurzweil, we can attest that creativity is alive and well in 2010.

JumpStart - President, JumpStart Advisors

Title: President, JumpStart Advisors
Reports to: CEO
Anticipated Hire Date: ASAP
Commitment: Full-time Position
Location: Cleveland, OH preferred but not required

About JumpStart Inc.

JumpStart Inc. is a non-profit venture development organization whose vision is to solidify, celebrate, and continually grow Northeast Ohio as a nationally significant center of entrepreneurship and innovation.

Over the last six years JumpStart has been focused on leading and executing a wide range of programs and initiatives to build an entrepreneurial, high-growth ecosystem in Northeast Ohio. Its work has been recognized with numerous national awards including recognition from the U.S. Commerce Department stating that “JumpStart is the best and brightest example of 21st century economic development”.

Last week, the flagship federal legislation for U.S. competitiveness containing broad support for science, technology, and advanced education - called the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 - collapsed in Congress after it was blocked from passage through the House, despite already being significantly weakened.

Enter the age of American polarization, where bread-and-butter competitiveness and innovation policy is subject to hyper-partisan politics and obstructionism, even in the face of rapidly rising global competition. America COMPETES, which was originally passed with strong bipartisan support under President Bush, may be yet one more casualty of today's extreme political polarization, which according to one major study is at the highest level in over a century.

“God formed the man from the dust in the ground.” —Genesis 2:7

The announcement by Craig Venter last week that his eponymous institute has “rebooted” a cell using a made-from-scratch length of DNA has excited the usual round of pronouncements that a milestone has been reached, that Venter is the first scientist to truly “play God.” This ambiguous assertion is in some cases accompanied by demands that synthetic genomics cease and desist, and that if necessary there should be a government ban. The world of science got a remarkably similar shock in 1828 when Friedrich Wohler first synthesized an organic compound from non-organic chemicals. But more on that in a moment.

Sovereign Wealth Funds, the large investment funds supported by governments, are mostly a positive economic force that can provide a shot in the arm to the companies -- and countries -- they invest in. They are also a stabilizing force for the nation where the investment originates. Those are some of the main takeaways from a new study, "The Brave New World of Sovereign Wealth Funds," conducted by Wharton MBA students and sponsored by the Wharton Leadership Center and the Joseph H. Lauder Institute of Management & International Studies. The research suggests there is little reason to worry about these funds acting from political rather than economic motives. In an interview with Knowledge@Wharton, Wharton management professor Mauro F. Guillén, who helped to oversee the research, and two Wharton MBA candidates present some of the study's key findings. An edited transcript of the interview follows. The complete study can be downloaded as a pdf here.

Is there any questions that the Canadian venture capital industry is in turmoil? There is a change that is happening, it might just not be happening as fast as it could. Mark McQueen talks about the creative destruction of the VC industry in Canada.

“There’s no robust “new class” of VC firms coming in behind the current oligarchy, with a similar amount of capital to deploy as those they are planning to replace. We are witnessing the destruction piece of the equation, for sure, but not the rebirth that is the essence of “creative destruction” if it is to succeed.” – Mark McQueen, Wellington Fund

I see that Forbes has ranked Raleigh one of the most innovative cities in the US.  This was based on a couple of factors:

• Number of technology and science jobs
• Number of "creative" jobs
• Number of patents per capita
• Amount of venture capital invested per capita

Entrepreneurs in every town, city and state are seizing opportunities all around us to create incredibly impactful, relevant and innovative businesses. Nowhere is there a more clear demonstration of this than in Entrepreneur's June issue profiling 100 Companies to Watch in 10 vibrant areas of opportunity.

The 100 Companies to Watch are making their marks in areas as far-ranging as mobile technology, outsourcing, fitness and pets. Take the category of outsourcing with Ian Ippolito, who launched Rent A Coder, a site that connects businesses with a global freelance market of programmers. With more than $24.7 billion of outsourced contracts just in the fourth quarter of last year, Ippolito's business is brilliantly positioned to expand its existing 136,837 buyers.

"Part of the reason MIT is so awesome," Jonathan Seelig just wrote in a tweet, is that "we just voted for a team with a founder with a PhD in concrete as the winner" of the MIT $100K business plan competition.

(Seelig, now a venture capitalist, was part of a team in the very same competition a dozen years ago that didn't win, but was a runner up: Akamai Technologies, now part of the NASDAQ 100 Index.)

Law firm Cooley today released its latest report showing what it called a “solid start” for venture capital fundings during the first quarter of 2010.

The report is based on the 83 deals that Cooley was involved with, so it’s less comprehensive than the MoneyTree report or the data from VentureSource. But Cooley can compile details beyond the money raised and the round of funding.

For example, one of the most encouraging signs was a continued increase in the number of “up” rounds, where the valuation increased from the previous round. That number tumbled to 16 percent during the first quarter of last year, and now it’s up to 58 percent. And there were seven deals where the valuation was more than $100 million.

It’s a risky business, but still, somebody decided to do it. Venture capital is a sort of financing scheme that funds businesses that have been found to have some growth potential.

Venture capital is also called risk capital. For businesses that have very limited start-up capital, they could go find a venture capital investor. But for the venture capitalist, they still need to weigh the various risks involve.

A venture capital is an investment that is basically provided by third-party investors. This investment is usually used for enterprises that were deemed to be too risky that even the standard market investors or banks avoid putting a single cent on them.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is looking for help in setting up a new innovation center created under the health reform legislation.

Under the reform package, CMS is expected to develop new models for care reimbursements to allow for reduction of costs while also preserving quality of care. This may involve accommodating new practices such as telehealth.

The law required establishing a Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation in CMS by January 2011. The center will serve as a research and development arm of CMS.

I read a lot of business books, not just because I want to know what the competition is up to but because I’m always hungry for new insights and understanding. Sadly, many are so packed with frameworks, matrices and checklists that the moment I put them down, I’ve forgotten them. They may be great advertisements for the author’s consulting practice, but often they’re badly written and packed with errors –instead of memorable sources of inspiration or action. So when a good one comes along, it makes a deep impression. A few can even change your game. Here are my top five, each of which changed how I work in some way:

Hidden Value by Jeffrey Pfeffer and Charles O’Reilly. I think this is my all-time favorite because it’s well written, well researched and contains a message that never ages. Pfeffer’s argument is that the people you hire contain more value than most companies ever tap. And he backs it up with great stories and data. Why does SAS Institute needs half the number of quality assurance people that Microsoft requires? Because they treat their people better. In a recession, this argument matters more than ever. This book gave me the evidence I needed to run things the way I wanted to.

Every small business loves the exposure, empathy and sense of community that having a website that's a daily destination for consumers can generate.

But getting people to visit on a regular basis can be a challenge, especially if updates are infrequent or all you have to offer is the occasional monotone press release or product announcement.

Thankfully, building a website that's “sticky” enough to keep users engaged and coming back doesn't have to require investing thousands or reinventing yourself as the next online media empire.

Ambitious European biotech firms still look to the US when they need large sums of venture capital, according to EU officials, who fear home-grown talent is crossing the Atlantic.

Not only is it easier for high-growth start-ups to access funding in the US – enticing young research-based companies to abandon Europe – but Europe's own venture capital industry continues to lose the expertise of talented fund managers.

This is a phenomenal article by Daniel J. Isenberg in the June 2010 Harvard Business Review. One of the best I've read in a long time on entrepreneurship. Well researched, good case study references, excellent country specific examples and terrific insight into the nine prescriptions for creating an entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Isenberg is no stranger to entrepreneurship with international wings. He also authored, "The Global Entrepreneur," December 2008 for HBR.