After spending two decades largely ignoring the very Silicon Valley tech start-up culture that it helped bankroll in the 1970s and ’80s, questions remain about a new Defense Department push to reconnect with the California tech world, especially in a post-Snowden era where trust between the two sides has been eroded.

Image: http://foreignpolicy.com

You sail out of the interview, practically high on the unshakeable feeling that you absolutely nailed it. The interviewer was openly impressed with your experience, you didn’t stumble over your answer to the sometimes perplexing "why should we hire you for this position?" question, and you’re wearing a new get-the-job outfit to boot. You ship off your thank-you note with a smile on your face, and pounce on your phone every time it vibrates, hoping for an offer.

Capitalism is in transition. It’s pulling away from its previous industrial model to a new one based on creativity and knowledge. In place of the natural resources and large-scale industries that powered the economies of previous centuries, economic growth today turns on knowledge, innovation, and talent.

In a new report released Wednesday, my Martin Prosperity Institute colleagues Charlotta Mellander and Karen King and I evaluate 139 nations worldwide on their ability to compete and prosper in this new, creativity-powered knowledge economy.

Image: http://www.citylab.com

Creating new companies based on university research Ohio State plays key role in launch of I-Corps@Ohio Newswise — COLUMBUS, Ohio – Two teams from The Ohio State University were among eight chosen from around the state to participate in an innovative new program designed to turn university research into commercial products.

Tuesday, July 14th, 12 p.m. ET

In Silicon Valley, Big Data drives decisions. In health care, half the country runs on paper charts. In Silicon Valley, the biggest tech companies collaborate to drive innovation. In health care, applications barely talk to each other.

According to athenahealth EVP and COO, Ed Park, that needs to change. In this special webinar event, he’ll discuss:

• Why companies like Amazon share technology with top competitors

• Why a  customer-centric, not profit-centric, philosophy  drives success

• What’s preventing disruption and innovation in health care

Register now!

BENGALURU: As investors with sacks of risk capital hunt for the next Flipkart, Ola and Mu Sigma in India, they are betraying a bias, valuing energy over experience and tech-savviness over wisdom. It worked for them before — nearly all of India's startups with billiondollar valuations were founded by people while still in their 20s, a factor encouraging investors to bet on 20-somethings for their dollops of passion, creativity, risk appetite and freedom from liabilities.

Image: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com

Have you ever heard of Roy Sullivan? He was a Virginia park ranger who was struck by lightning seven times during his lifetime, a world record. He’s also, in my view, the epitome of an outlier.

As businesspeople, it’s critical for us to be able to differentiate the outliers from everyone else. Otherwise, it’s tempting to follow those at the fringes — which can lead us to make some pretty bad decisions.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The number of women across the globe filing patents with the U.S. Patent and Trade Office over the past 40 years has risen fastest within academia compared to all other sectors of the innovation economy, according to a new study from Indiana University.

The analysis, which examined 4.6 million utility patents issued from 1976 to 2013, was led by Cassidy R. Sugimoto, an associate professor of informatics at the School of Informatics and Computing at IU Bloomington.

The results of "The Academic Advantage: Gender Disparities in Patenting" are reported online in the journal PLOS ONE.

Image: http://news.indiana.edu

Supreme Court rulings on gay marriage and Obamacare subsidies overshadowed the fact that Congress finally granted President Obama fast-track authority over the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and other trade negotiations. As such, upon the TPP agreement’s finalization, Congress will now simply give an up or down vote on its implementation.

This is tremendous news for the president and for the future of free trade and its associated benefits.

Image: Doug Schoen 

We’re familiar with the idea of negotiating a salary, but negotiating for greater time and task diversity may be just as important for our emotional and professional fulfillment.

Not long ago, a successful executive—let’s call him Dr. DK—sought my advice on an issue of major life import. Approaching the age of 50, he found that his job as head of HR for a large European multinational had lost some of its savour. “I don’t know if I’m excited by this anymore,” he told me. “I do make money, but I cannot do another 20 years of this.” Dr. DK was considering abandoning his long-time company for a new love—executive coaching, for which he had just obtained certification. He had even picked up a few high-profile clients from his extensive personal network.

Venture Capital Fundraising tops $10 Billion in Q2, Recording Strongest

Quarter Since 2007

Largest All-Time Early Stage Venture Capital Fund Closed During Second Quarter

New York, July 8, 2015 - U.S. venture capital firms raised $10.3 billion for 74 funds during the second quarter of 2015, an increase of 10 percent compared to the number of funds raised during the first quarter of 2015, and a 39 percent increase by dollar commitments, according to the Fundraising Report by Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). Venture capital dollar commitments during the second quarter of 2015 increased 27 percent compared to the second quarter of 2014 and marked the strongest three-month period for venture capital fundraising since the fourth quarter of 2007 when U.S. venture capital firms raised just over $10.4 billion.

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. I often get asked about the real alternatives to bridge this valley, and there are some good ones I will outline here.

According to a classic Gompers and Lerner study, the challenge is very real, with a majority of new ventures that don't attract investors failing within the first three years. The problem is that professional investors (angels and venture capital) want a proven business model before they invest, ready to scale, rather than the more risky research and development efforts.

Want to work for a unicorn? Know what you are optimizing for.

It's hard to read the tech press or go on Twitter without seeing mentions of "unicorn" tech startups. There are now, apparently, more than 100 of them — private companies that have received a valuation of over $1 billion in their most recent round of funding.

Image: http://mashable.com

I just turned 30 and, in 2014, when I was 29, I sold my part in the company that I had, sold all my stuff, left the home that I owned to start living on rent again and moved to Canada to start a new career and a new life, with a lot of uncertainty and no fixed perspectives. All that because I was feeling unhappy and terribly bored with the way things were in my life back home. Am I too old for that? Do I regret anything? Absolutely not! I've never felt so good, so happy, so excited about the future and so accomplished. And will do it again - start over - anytime I feel like, no matter if I'm 40, 50 or 95.

Things are looking up for early-stage funding in Canada, according to a report released by the National Angel Capital Organization. NACO, which represents Angel investors north of the border, surveyed 30 groups of these investors across the country. It found that investment has more than doubled since 2012, reaching $90.5 million compared to $40.5m three years ago.

Lots of talk about the economy focuses on how individual businesses compete.  Generalizing from the situation of individual businesses, public officials who are responsible for the overall growth of their local economy also often talk about competition.  Making their cities “competitive in the world economy” or enabling their “residents to compete" are frequent phrases you hear.  

And they worry about where they stand in the competition with other cities.

Image: http://www.intelligentcommunity.org

Next week, we open the 2016 Intelligent Community Awards to nominees and make big changes in the Smart21 nomination form.

For years, we have asked communities to answer just six questions about their background, challenges, strategy, programs and results. It sounds simple enough - but communities wrote between 10 and 50 pages of content in response, which involved a huge amount of work on their part and created a heavy load for our analysts. It also gave unfair advantage to native English speakers - especially those who involved a public relations agency in producing their nomination - and it put too much reliance on the informed judgment of reviewers.

When champions are also leaders, victory is even sweeter.

In a thrilling, record-breaking game, the United States women’s national soccer team (USWNT) won its third FIFA Women’s World Cup (WWC) championship after defeating Japan 5-2 in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Sunday, July 5. But beyond the cheering fans and international accolades lies a team of women that have exhibited remarkable perseverance, strength, and leadership both on the field and off. Here are six important leadership lessons from the USWNT.

Image: http://www.fastcompany.com

If you follow the Twittersphere you may have noticed several people weighing in on this recent piece by Mike Isaac of the NY Times, asking “How Many Angels is Too Many?”

I found myself nodding through all of it with quotes like,

“Seed investing is the status symbol of Silicon Valley,” said Sam Altman

Investors love an entrepreneur who can tell a passionate and engaging story, but don't forget your pitch is still about a business. Maxine Bedat, co-founder of Zady, points out that having a "bottom line" and financial vision might be the most important thing when pitching investors.