Like it or not, we are dependent on email.

A survey from the Pew Research Center found that six in 10 (61%) of American workers claimed that email is essential to their job, beating the use of the Internet, which just over half (54%) ranked as important.

As we continue to aspire to the mythical inbox zero, the fact remains that we dash off an enormous amount of correspondence daily. And with that, we navigate the sometimes treacherous waters of communicating asynchronously in a medium that doesn’t lend itself to expressing how we really feel.

Good news for those who've had to choose between after-work schmoozing over cocktails or sweating through a cardio session: a new hybrid concept called "sweatworking" lets you connect with clients, colleagues, or other contacts while exercising. Generations of businessmen have bonded with business contacts through rounds of golf, but now a broader range of networking activities are gaining popularity, thanks to a greater emphasis on active lifestyles.

Plans are under way to form a subcommittee of business leaders with the goal of giving a boost to the Philadelphia region’s creative industry in order to attract and retain companies. Tentatively called the Creative Economy Coalition, the subcommittee will identify what companies fall under the creative industry, create awareness for them and then provide them with the necessary resources to nurture their growth.

Image: Karin Copeland, executive director of the Arts and Business Council of Greater Philadelphia

Cloud computing is moving closer to the center of executives’ strategy discussions. Concerns about security and decision rights remain, but faster processing speeds, better network connections, the ubiquity of mobile devices and big data, and other technological advances are making it more appealing for companies in all industries to purchase their software as a service (SaaS) rather than buy it in a box.1 Under the SaaS model, companies access critical applications directly from central off-site servers; data capacity in the cloud is elastic, so companies can scale up or ramp down applications quickly, and they pay only for what they need. System upgrades happen automatically, so companies’ applications become less costly and onerous to maintain.

America’s advanced industries—characterized by their deep engagement with research and development (R&D) and science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workers—drive regional and national prosperity, as we observed in a recent Brookings paradigm report.

And yet, while advanced industries do this everywhere, how they do it in one metro area can be quite different from how they do it in another.

SOS Venture’s biotech accelerator IndiBio held its first ever demo day today. The event held in downtown San Francisco showcased startups working on some pretty wild science projects like 3D printed animal parts, artificial skin and bioreactors to make better beer. So without further ado, here’s the rundown of the first 11 startups to debut from IndieBio:

Image: http://techcrunch.com

A fortnight ago, coworking space 91Springboard organised a startup event in Gurgaon where eight people made pitches to an audience of about 200.

To a spectator, the event would hardly register as out-of-the-world. But for someone intimate with the startup world, the differences were apparent: those pitching wore formals, spoke for longer than five minutes, and were not asking for money. Instead, they were venture capitalists from top firms like Sequoia Capital, Matrix Partners and IDG Ventures asking the entrepreneurs in the audience for a chance to finance their companies.

Carnegie Mellon University alumnus James R. Swartz (MSIA’66), a distinguished entrepreneur and founding partner of the global venture capital firm Accel Partners, has donated $31 million to support the university’s entrepreneurship activities. In recognition of this generous gift, the university will create the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University, which will serve as a hub for university-wide entrepreneurial activities.

Image: http://www.cmu.edu

How will you walk around virtual worlds without smacking into actual walls?

While many companies are working to bring virtual-reality headsets to store shelves, a 3-D sensing startup called Occipital is trying to figure out how to avoid getting hurt or, at least, surprised by elements of the real world while lost in a virtual one. Right now you can’t move around much while wearing a virtual-reality headset; in order to demo an Oculus headset this spring, for instance, you stood in a small room, barely moving your feet.

Image: http://www.technologyreview.com

Broadview Networks mapped out the largest company in every state based on data provided by Hoover's. Check out who made the list.

Oculus VR finally debuted the long-awaited consumer version of Oculus Rift, the virtual reality headset, at a media event in San Francisco on Thursday.

"For the first time we’ll finally be on the inside of the game," Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe said onstage. "Gamers have been dreaming of this. We’ve all been dreaming of this for decades."

Modern birds descended from a group of two-legged dinosaurs known as theropods, whose members include the towering Tyrannosaurus rex and the smaller velociraptors. The theropods most closely related to avians generally weighed between 100 and 500 pounds — giants compared to most modern birds — and they had large snouts, big teeth, and not much between the ears. A velociraptor, for example, had a skull like a coyote’s and a brain roughly the size of a pigeon’s.

Image: http://www.scientificamerican.com

Sometimes the hardest part of any creative pursuit is consistency. How do you power though those difficult first drafts to end up with a completed work? Follow the lead of Stephen King.

The prolific author of over 50 novels says he writes 2,000 words a day, every day, including his birthday. King recommends beginners write at least 1,000 words every day, but what if simply writing everyday is a struggle? How can you increase your word count and become a more productive writer?

Image: http://www.fastcompany.com

How often have you heard of a company being widely hailed as innovative in their field these days? It seems like everyone, especially in the startup world, wants to disrupt an industry, become a game changer, or spark a revolution in the hearts and minds of their consumers and competitors.

Unfortunately, chasing a buzzword without really understanding the deeper drivers of human behavior in organizations is not really the most effective way of achieving “disruptor status”.

London, UK (Scicasts) — Biotechnology is among the most popular industries today, and its worth has been predicted to reach €52 Billion in Europe by 2030. However, to ensure successful translation of academic research into innovation, intermediary bodies are required to provide the link. Innovate UK is among the few government-appointed agencies on this mission.

Two-thirds of US public and private companies still admit that they have no formal CEO succession plan in place, according to a survey conducted by the National Association of Corporate Directors last year.1 And only one-third of the executives who told headhunter Korn Ferry this year that their companies do have such a program were satisfied with the outcome. These figures are alarming. CEO succession planning is a critical process that many companies either neglect or get wrong. While choosing a CEO is unambiguously the board’s responsibility, the incumbent CEO has a critical leadership role to play in preparing and developing candidates—just as any manager worth his or her salt will worry about grooming a successor.

Nearly one million U.S. workers have gone to work for themselves since February 2015, according to recent survey results from the Department of Labor as reported by Bloomberg Business. In May, the number of U.S. self-employed workers surged by 370,000, the largest single-month gain since the Great Recession. The Kauffman Foundation reports that U.S. startup activity improved in 2014, reversing its post-recession downward trend, with startup activity growing in 32 states. In addition, the annual Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2014 Global Report suggests that most Americans believe there are good opportunities for entrepreneurship in the current economy.

As an advisor to entrepreneurs and active angel investor, I often get questions about the realism of the Shark Tank TV series, compared to professional investor negotiations. The simple answer is that with all the staging of TV lights and billionaire investors, it’s nothing like Silicon Valley. Yet the process is eerily realistic, and every entrepreneur can glean some important lessons.

A new health technology accelerator is looking for applicants for its five month program.It is the latest in a steady growth of organizations helping entrepreneurs navigate the long sales cycle and other unique challenges healthcare industry startups face.

Relevant Health, based in Rockville, Maryland, was formed through a partnership between BioHealth Innovation, Montgomery County’s Economic Development department and Product Savvy, which will run the day-to-day operations.

There are words that no manager wants to hear from his most valued employees:  ‘’I missed the deadline, ‘’ ‘’I’m being wooed by our top competitor, ‘’ or… ‘’I’m planning my vacation.’’

Few managers might admit that that last statement can cause the same temporary panic as the first two, but all too often it’s true.  I will confess that as a new manager, years ago, my heart always sank just a little bit when someone on my team told me they were hoping to plan a long vacation.  The ugly reality of being one or — gasp! — two, key players down during any crucial time was difficult for everyone.