(June 24, 2015) — The National Center for Engineering Pathways to Innovation (Epicenter) is accepting proposals for its Pathways to Innovation Program.

The Pathways to Innovation Program is designed to help institutions fully incorporate innovation and entrepreneurship into undergraduate engineering education. The program is run by Epicenter, which is funded by the National Science Foundation and directed by Stanford University and VentureWell.

Image: http://epicenter.stanford.edu

For years, Washington has made increasing manufacturing employment a priority, hoping to engineer a return to the time when high-school graduates could use factory jobs as a route to the middle class. Sadly, that isn’t going to happen. Of the 5.7 million manufacturing jobs that disappeared in the 2000s, only 870,000 have returned so far, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the claim that millions more are coming back is nothing more than a myth.

There used to be a time when a $1 billion valuation was considered a massive success for tech startups.

Then that threshold rose to $5 billion, and then $10 billion.

Looking at recent media reports and The Wall Street Journal's "The Billion-Dollar Startup Club" list, there are now over 100 "unicorn companies" — companies with $1 billion+ valuations. There's a growing number of "decacorn" companies, or startups with $10 billion valuations.

The way Hod Lipson describes his Creative Machines Lab captures his ambitions: “We are interested in robots that create and are creative.” Lipson, an engineering professor at Cornell University (this July he’s moving his lab to Columbia University), is one of the world’s leading experts on artificial intelligence and robotics. His research projects provide a peek into the intriguing possibilities of machines and automation, from robots that “evolve” to ones that assemble themselves out of basic building blocks. (His Cornell colleagues are building robots that can serve as baristas and kitchen help.) A few years ago, Lipson demonstrated an algorithm that explained experimental data by formulating new scientific laws, which were consistent with ones known to be true. He had automated scientific discovery.

Zanish Khan runs a tiny shop in Delhi’s Basrurkar Market, where India’s middle class comes to buy life’s essentials. All around him, other merchants offer everything from electric fans to dried lentils that shoppers can scoop from 100-pound burlap bags. By contrast, Khan’s merchandise is kept under glass and packed with state-of-the-art electronics.

Still, Khan fits right in. India is in the midst of a smartphone buying binge, and Khan specializes in the oversized phone/tablet hybrids—or phablets—that enjoy great popularity in his country. His cases are stocked with models such as the Samsung Galaxy A5 and Grand 2, whose screens measure five inches diagonally. If that’s not big enough, the Galaxy E7’s screen stretches 5.5 inches. He hardly bothers stocking any phones with traditional, smaller screens of 4.5 inches or less.

Most of us have had that coworker that seemed to be a perfect fit for the company or team. She always had the right answers. He seemed to know what needed to be done before the company leaders even did. And that "sixth sense" and insight was rewarded with responsibility, autonomy, accolades, and advancement.

"When employees bring those qualities, they’re perceived as leaders in the company, no matter what position they hold," says Katharine Halpin, CEO and founding principal of The Halpin Companies, Inc., a leadership consultancy in Phoenix, Arizona. "They take ownership for problem solving and dissolving conflict. They naturally have this sort of alignment with the company."

We all want to work smarter, and science and data have proved that timing plays an important role in scheduling different types of tasks at work, from getting a response to your email to asking for a raise. Grab your calendar, and pencil in the best times to get these seven things done:

When evaluating talent for recruitment or development, you have just two key questions to answer: What should you assess? And how?

The what question is in part context-dependent. (For example, the skills and knowledge required to be a good neurosurgeon are quite different from those needed to be a good lawyer, banker, or software engineer.) Yet you’ll also be looking for certain universal characteristics associated with effective employees, regardless of their job or role. First, you’ll keep an eye out for the best learners and problem solvers — those who have good judgment and are most able to get the job done.

There is a growing body of evidence about the benefits of vacation to our physical, mental, and fiscal health. New research from Shawn Achor, author of The Happiness Advantage, also shows that contrary to conventional wisdom, vacation just might be great for our career, too. Coinciding with this is recent discussion in the business media that since “work” no longer adheres to the traditional 9-5, and technology allows us to be connected anywhere and everywhere, perhaps those longer work hours should be reconciled with more time off.

Small businesses in New Jersey could sell securities to the public under a bill before the Legislature, but there's a catch -- investors would need to live within state borders.

The "intrastate crowdfunding" measure is similar to what online services such as Kickstarter offer for new business and arts projects. But instead of T-shirts or mugs as a thank-you gift, mom-and-pop investors would get small amounts of equity in the business. Each investor would be able to supply up to $5,000 worth of capital; entrepreneurs couldn't collect more than $1 million in total.

For those healthcare providers still resistant to technology, you've got a problem on your hands: You're going to be left behind. This is where healthcare it going – with or without you.

That's according to a new Accenture report, Healthcare Technology Vision 2015, which lays out five key trends in the industry that show adaptation might be the best business model.

First, Accenture analytics are calling it the "platform revolution" – that is the ever-increasing ubiquity of mobile and cloud platforms that far surpass merely the ability to track in real-time a patient’s health.

Stanford’s MBA programme is best for entrepreneurship, an indicator created by the Financial Times reveals. Five other schools from the US, three from Europe and one from China complete the top 10.

Using data collected for the Global MBA ranking 2015, the FT used 10 criteria to judge the best MBA programmes for budding entrepreneurs. The criteria included the percentage of graduates who created their own company, the percentage of companies still operating at the end of 2014, whether it was their main source of income and how the school and the alumni network helped set things up.

WHEN Malaysian telecommunications company Maxis Communications embarked on its transformation journey at the end of 2013, major changes needed to be made internally – with Human Resources (HR) being one of those key areas.  

“HR needed to change as well, in order to stay relevant to the business and support it efficiently,” says Chin Mee Lin, head of HR Services at Maxis.  

Running your own business has its perks — more control, no boss, and choice of working hours.

In the UK and the US, entrepreneurs are associated with startups. But in some countries, becoming self-employed is a necessity rather than a dream. You have to make your own opportunities when there are not many jobs available.

The European Commission’s new proposal for a circular economy will try to exploit the disruptive power of tech innovation, such as Uber or Airbnb.

Environment Commissioner Karmenu Vella told EurActiv today (25 June) that the new package of waste, incineration and recycling laws would have a digital aspect and was expected in the coming weeks.

Image: Uber was used an example of disruptive innovation at the launch of the report. (Alper Çuğun/Flickr)

Modern pharmaceuticals are no longer exclusively produced in a chemicals laboratory, but are often developed using live cells. In Germany, such biopharmaceuticals are being sold and prescribed at an ever increasing rate – despite widespread scepticism over GMOs in Germany. EurActiv Germany reports.

Image: Brainco Social Media/Flickr

Nielson released its 2015 BREAKTHROUGH INNOVATION REPORT that features best practices from winning brands – with seven specific case studies from Pepsico, Kraft, MillerCoors, Kellogg’s, Nestle Purina, Atkins and L’Oreal Paris.

The report is based on a two year study examining over 3000 products launched in the US. It debunks conventional wisdom that new product success is random. Instead, it shows that success in new product innovation is repeatable and scalable when the science of innovation is applied.  

Although the Sprint Accelerator is less than two years old, the startup program has been busy shaking up how it operates just as quickly as its parent company shakes up its management teams, network and marketing strategy. And, the Accelerator's founder says, the changes it's making are beginning to reverberate throughout Sprint.

The Pew Research Center’s unit studying the internet and society began systematically measuring internet adoption among Americans in 2000. Since then, Pew Research has conducted 97 national surveys of adults that have documented how the internet has become an integral part of everyday life across diverse parts of society.

Most entrepreneurs believe they are “different,” but they can’t quite understand how. They usually explain it by insisting that they are driven to follow their passion, need to be their own boss, want to get rich quick, or want to change the world. I now believe that the roots of the difference may go back more than 10,000 years, when hunting and farming became two different lifestyles.