I’ve kept track of my time for several weeks over the years, but in April, I decided to try something new: logging it continuously. I wanted to know what trends I’d see over months, not just days. My timesheet starts on Mondays, but I made a strategic decision as I started this habit. I began tracking my time on a Thursday.

“Direct digital manufacturing (also known as 3-D printing) is the future of the automotive industry,” said John "Jay" Rogers, CEO of Local Motors, as he was making a splash at the Detroit Auto Show by building a printed car right there in front of the world’s press.

Image: http://www.mnn.com 

One of the biggest challenges a company can face is changing people’s behavior — getting them to collaborate and be humble, for example, or put the company’s long-term interests first. Most behavior-change initiatives accomplish little, at best.

As a mentor to startups and new entrepreneurs, I continue to hear the refrain that business plans are no longer required for a new startup, since investors never read them anyway. People cite sources like this BusinessWeek story a while back “Real Entrepreneurs Don’t Write Business Plans,” or even my own article on this subject, “10 Reasons Not To Write A Business Plan First.”

Since the mid-1990s, the source of competitive advantage has been shifting. Leading companies used to be diverse conglomerates that based their competitive strategy on assets, positions, and economies of scale. Today’s market leaders, by contrast, are more focused enterprises. They do not follow the traditional portfolio strategies of seeking short-term profitability or growth wherever they can find it. Rather, they recognize that value is created by their distinctive capabilities: what they can do consistently well. Their strategic approach, which is based on a single powerful value proposition backed up by a few mutually reinforcing capabilities, gives them a continuing advantage over their rivals. As they consolidate their efforts around this approach, they fundamentally reshape their industries.

Researchers who are developing miniature models of human organs on plastic chips have touted the nascent technology as a way to replace animal models. Although that goal is still far off, it is starting to come into focus as large pharmaceutical companies begin using these in vitro systems in drug development.

Image: Emulate Miniature devices that mimic human organs could help to replace animals used in drug testing. 

Following a call from Minister for Finance Michael Noonan for public submissions on ways the Government could help ignite and support entrepreneurial activity, a new organisation called the Startup Leaders Group put in a suggestion that demands serious consideration. Formed in February at the behest of Dublin commissioner for start-ups Niamh Bushnell, the group comprises about 40 individuals, who are all involved with start-ups. Some are entrepreneurs and some investors, while others come from a wide range of industry groups, accelerators, incubators, policy organisations and so on.

Habits form our lives. They provide a framework on which we build professional success and personal happiness. As a society, we’re fascinated with the habits of others, usually prominent figures – celebrities, political figures, and, of course, famous entrepreneurs.  (Think: Richard Branson, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, to name just a few.)

You feel like you’re going to be successful (someday). You feel powerful (almost). You’re going to make it big (very soon). You’re worth a million bucks (in your mind). You’re famous (just about). All you need is a little bit more time...and it’s all going to come together.

The corporate culture at Sudabank (not its real name) was toxic, some even described it as “Darwinian”. The working environment was survival of the fittest; everyone seemed to be out for themselves and teamwork was nonexistent. Greed, bullying, and illegal behaviour were rampant. Focused on profits and bonuses, the senior leadership team whittled away at their employees’ self-confidence, health and sanity. Productivity was decreasing, morale was low, there was serious absenteeism and a disturbingly high employee turnover. For many, working at the bank, had become an emotionally draining experience.

Even if you lack the resources of Tony Stark, you can obtain a high-tech suit to enhance your natural abilities, or at least help you avoid a backache. Mechanical outfits, known as exoskeletons, are gaining a foothold in the real world.

The Japanese company Panasonic announced recently that it will start selling an exoskeleton designed to help workers lift and carry objects more easily and with less risk of injury. The suit was developed in collaboration with a subsidiary company called ActiveLink. It weighs just over 13 pounds and attaches to the back, thighs, and feet, enabling the wearer to carry 33 pounds of extra load. The device has been tested by warehouse handlers in Osaka, Japan, and is currently in trials with forestry workers in the region.

Image: A powerful prototype exoskeleton is being developed by a Panasonic subsidiary, ActiveLink. 

High school students who take part in pre-college programs that focus on science are much more likely to pursue higher education and, eventually, careers in science, technology, engineering and medicine – the STEM disciplines.

In a paper published in the Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, Michigan State University researchers from the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, the Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics and the College of Education used an MSU program as a case study for why these programs are key to training tomorrow’s generation of scientists.

On the surface, patents provide an easy way to measure innovation. After all, patent statistics are readily available, they are objective and they are quantifiable, so you can quickly tally up the number of patents by company, city or nation, and immediately have a sense of how innovation varies by geography, industry or even time period. It’s no wonder patent data is often used as a leading indicator of innovation.

Horizon 2020, the European Union’s flagship R&D programme, is big but is it enough to keep ambitious entrepreneurs in Europe? What it needs is a new shop window – an initiative to attract innovators, and help them find their way to the right part of the programme for support. That, says EU Research Commissioner Carlos Moedas in an interview with Science|Business, is the main idea behind his latest proposal, the creation of a “European Innovation Council” (EIC).

Image: http://www.sciencebusiness.net

Knowledge@Wharton: Professor Kimberly, tell us about your research.

Kimberly: This is a project that we’re undertaking with the support of the Mack Institute here at Penn. This research examines a phenomenon that is literally sweeping the country in the world of health care. Innovation is all the buzz these days, and what we’re finding is that a number of hospitals and academic medical centers, in particular, have created a new role in their organization called the chief innovation officer. Sometimes, it’s called vice present for innovation. But the person who occupies this role is tasked with trying to develop new approaches, new solutions and innovative ideas, and drive them through the organization.

Katherine Klein: What is a social entrepreneur?

Jonathan Greenblatt: I (use) a definition that was laid out many years ago by Sally Osberg of the Skoll Foundation, and Roger Martin, who’s the dean of the Rotman School of Management in Toronto, Canada. I think about a social entrepreneur as someone who tries to create change through a market-based approach. That is while taking direct action. Not necessarily lobbying or doing advocacy, but literally going in and creating something — that is, trying to do so in order to create, or let’s say, fix a broken disequilibrium.

 

Communities have always depended upon a healthy local job market and a solid tax base — those are realities that have never changed and never will. But, in many ways, the economic development process that brings in those jobs and employers has changed dramatically in the past half-century.

Image: http://www.areadevelopment.com

Who hasn’t thought about quitting their full-time job and going out on their own? Being your own boss is certainly tempting. But is giving up your status as a regular employee the right choice for you?

We don’t lead alone. We lead with others. The days of the ‘Great Man’ theory of Leadership – where one sole leader rules over the masses from their ivory tower, are long gone.

Some of us quite literally lead with another person – we co-lead a project, a team, or an organization with a peer. A study by Pearce and Sims (2002), published in Group Dynamics, found that shared leadership is a useful predictor of team effectiveness. Other research suggests shared leadership can also lead to greater team interaction, increased collaboration and coordination, as well as novel and more innovative solutions. But while co-leadership can be energizing and rewarding, if the relationship isn’t strong, the arrangement can easily become draining and frustrating.

With the Major League Baseball All-Star Game tonight, including 7 Kansas City Royals, we thought this was a good time to reflect on what it takes to be an All-Star Sales & Marketing Team in 2015.

Just last week, Salesforce.com released its inaugural research report that reveals high-performance sales organizations (Teams of All-Stars) utilize sales analytics, mobile, and collaborative practices to build an organization-wide culture that fuels their success and winning.

Image: http://www.ccpglobal.com