Deciding to be an entrepreneur is a lifestyle move, and should be part of a long-term strategic plan. You shouldn’t be making this decision just because you are mad at your boss, you would like to be rich, or someone else thinks it’s a good idea. In these changing times, if you already have a startup, with no plan, maybe it’s time to think ahead for a change.

Startup accelerators are awesome. The first one we know of was started in 2005 by Paul Graham in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Known as Y Combinator, the fledging organisation moved to Silicon Valley in 2008 and has grown into the most recognisable tech accelerator in the world. Other notable accelerators have surfaced since then, including Tech Stars and 500 Startups.

For Eugene ice cream makers Stuart and Emily Phillips, a slew of new investment couldn't have come at a better time.

Their first order of 10,000 pint containers with Red Wagon Creamery on the side -- which only come in batches of 10,000 -- was about to run out this week. The company, which has been expanding its wholesaling and working to get its ice creams into more grocery stores, would have been back to stickers and hand-labeling.

Image: Stuart Phillips poses with part of an order for 10,000 pint containers custom printed with the logo of his ice cream company, Red Wagon Creamery. The Eugene company was among the first to take advantage of the state's recently enacted investment crowdfunding program and the first to reach its minimum fundraising threshold, allowing it to buy packaging and ingredients in bulk. (Red Wagon Creamery)

It's getting crowded in the investment crowdfunding space, and that's excellent news. Almost any asset can enefit from investment crowdfunding and, as more types succeed, that will cause still more niche platforms to launch.

At this point, everything from independent filmmaking to whistleblower lawsuits has gone the investment crowdfunding route. Broadway productions of Godspell and On The Town both got some of their funding from small investors via crowdfunding platforms. Accredited investors can help light up emerging businesses in the nascent marijuana industry via CannaFundr. And investors with a thirst for undersea adventure can dive into shipwreck recovery via Lords of Fortune.

One of the largest generations in history is about to move into its prime spending years. Millennials are poised to reshape the economy; their unique experiences will change the ways we buy and sell, forcing companies to examine how they do business for decades to come.

Image: http://www.goldmansachs.com

The most successful crowdfunding campaigns are often those based in the arts. People are likely to fund projects they understand and feel they could benefit from, usually through tangible products and rewards. So crowdfunding scientific advancements can seem like a more difficult undertaking.

Bottlenose dolphins moved into the Mediterranean, once too salty to harbor much marine life, at the end of the last ice age about 18,000 years ago, a new study finds.

"It is quite likely that the bottlenose dolphin hasn't actually been in the Mediterranean for long, in terms of the evolutionary time frame," said Andre Moura, one of the study's researchers and a lecturer of life science at the University of Lincoln in the United Kingdom.

Image: A pod of bottlenose dolphins, animals that began living in the Mediterranean Sea just after the last ice age. Credit: Andre Moura

As digital technologies relentlessly reshape competition, products and services increasingly depend on software for differentiation and performance. Software is behind smartphones and other interfaces that guide consumer interactions; algorithms orchestrate productivity-boosting process automation; wearable devices loaded with software monitor the health and performance of athletes and patients alike. Despite the mission-critical nature of software, it gets surprisingly little attention in the C-suite. Most often, it is relegated to functional managers, several levels down the organization, who manage teams of programmers.

Admissions counselors from any of the country’s wealthiest colleges would probably describe their financial aid in similar terms. Something like: “Yes, our price tag is really high, but we meet the full demonstrated need of all our students. If you get in here, we’ll make it affordable for you.”

That’s basically true. And the wealthiest colleges do have roughly the same financial-aid policies. But they’re not exactly the same.

Using the Madison Building in downtown Detroit as the model, a group of former Barracuda Networks Inc. executives wants to create a large hub for tech startups in downtown Ann Arbor.

They have signed a purchase agreement to buy two adjacent office buildings downtown and are negotiating to buy one or two more buildings. They hope to close on the first deal in about a month and have a build-out done in six months.

Image: Nutshell Inc. CEO Joe Malcoun (center) and cofounder Guy Suter (left) plan to open a tech incubator in downtown Ann Arbor and have their first tenant: Jordan Breighner and his Coolhouse Labs.

Ashmeet Sidana, who left the Silicon Valley venture firm Foundation Capital in 2013, has started his own venture firm, called Engineering Capital, and has closed a $32 million fund.

The firm will invest in startups that are focused on what Mr. Sidana describes as “the tsunami of change coming to the infrastructure of computing,” a change in which technologies from big, traditional IT providers such as EMC Corp.EMC +0.03% and Cisco Systems Inc.CSCO -0.25% are being passed over for technologies that can more easily accommodate the huge volumes of data being generated by companies.

Founding a company is a selfish act. It will consume every waking moment for the next 1-10 years. It’s an act of defiance and irreverence towards competitors and the status quo. That matches well with the life of a 20-something — fueled by the energy of youth, too young to be jaded, with no financial or social dependents. Not all selfish acts are bad ones!

Image: http://blog.asmartbear.com

Facing a rapidly changing world, companies are waking up to the fact that they need to become more Responsive Organizations. Yet even when the need for change is apparent to all, shaking things up is extremely hard, even if you're in charge. That was the lesson I learned working with leaders across many large organizations. It doesn't matter if you're trying to change previously standardized technologies or practices, standardize something previously decentralized, or shift company culture to be more innovative and customer focused. Changing deeply engrained technologies, practices or customs is never as simple as sending out a memo or holding an all hands meeting.

Open science - the idea that wider, faster, and cheaper access to new data will promote more rapid understanding and application of science, is of the moment.

The proliferation of public scientific databases, open access online journals and articles, combined with low cost internet access, gives people access to a wealth of knowledge that was once far more expensive and time-consuming to reach.

Image: Henry Chesbrough 

U.S. Small Business Administration leader Maria Contreras-Sweet drew parallels Friday between Baltimore and the rust-belt city of Detroit — but she actually meant it in a positive way. Contreras-Sweet, the SBA's administrator, was in Baltimore and took questions about the administration's work in the city and its overall direction. Baltimore has many highly skilled workers who can pivot to new startup businesses, much like Detroit has automobile-industry employees who can put their expertise to work elsewhere, she said.

The Harvard Innovation Lab’s incoming managing director isn’t wasting any time getting started. Jodi Goldstein, announced Wednesday as the lab’s successor to current head Gordon Jones as of June 1, is already working on expansion plans, including a possible new fund for supporting startups.

Goldstein has been at the i-lab since its launch in 2011, so she’s well-versed in the dynamics of the entrepreneurial community, as well as the politics of Harvard. She’s a product person at heart, so she’s thinking about the i-lab roadmap in those terms.

Hariharan Krishnan hardly looks like a street racer. With thin-rimmed glasses and a neat mustache, he reminds me of a math teacher. And yet on a sunny day last September, he was speeding, seemingly recklessly, around the parking lot at General Motors’ research center in Warren, Michigan, in a Cadillac DTS.

Image: http://www.technologyreview.com

Penn’s Board of Trustees just approved the design development for the new Pennovation Center, a building meant to foster entrepreneurship, innovation and research at Penn’s South Bank campus.

The Pennovation Center is a three-story facility located in the heart of Pennovation Works, a 23-acre site adjacent to the main campus and the Schuylkill River. The Pennovation Works project has been lauded by local businesses as an excellent chance to foster innovation in Philadelphia.

Image: Conceptual Rendering of Pennovation Plaza. Photo by Courtesy of HWKN/Penn News

A master's in business administration can be an expensive degree, but if you're smart about where you go, it can also be a valuable career investment.

Harvard is often touted for having the best value MBA program in the country as it has a high employment rate after graduation and high starting salaries, but according to a new graduate school credit ratings report by financial firm M7 Financial, it's Brigham Young University's Marriott School of Management that comes out on top.

Ecsite just partnered up with International Innovation, a magazine publishing global insight and analysis on current scientific research trends, as well as funding and policy issues. As such, both partners will now be relaying relevant news across each other’s networks. International Innovation will spread the word about the 2015 Ecsite Annual Conference and report on the event, while Ecsite will highlight a selected International Innovation article each month and promote an upcoming “Food and agriculture” special issue.