We are now accepting applications for the 2nd Annual "Dream it. Code it. Win it." student coding contest. There are over $50,000 worth of prizes. You can apply here. You can also purchase tickets to the Awards Ceremony here. To learn more, go to dreamitcodeitwinit.org.

Freshman lawmaker Todd Courser, an ultraconservative Tea Party leader from Lapeer, seems shocked about what goes on in Lansing.

On his campaign website last month, Courser complained about the process used to seat new House members, citing it as an example of "how the machine keeps its grip on power."

After his first few weeks as a state representative, Courser said that "much of what I have found is really foreign and disturbing."

Image: The Michigan Economic Development Corporation headquarters in Lansing. (AP files) (AL GOLDIS) 

Perhaps you remember Jeremy Meeks, the handsome felon turned Internet sensation.

Last June, the photograph of the 30-year-old “mug shot hottie” ricocheted around the web, from the Facebook page of the police department in Stockton, Calif., to a Twitter hashtag #FelonCrushFriday to, soon after, stories on “The Colbert Report” and “Good Morning America.” Mr. Meeks signed with an agent who was quoted in The Daily News saying that he could earn up to $100,000 a month for modeling and other gigs.

New York – The NFL, GE, and Under Armour officials announced that they have joined with the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to launch Head Health Challenge III, an open innovation competition to advance materials that better absorb or dissipate energy. These new materials could improve the performance of protective equipment for athletes, military personnel and those in dangerous occupations.

Image: http://www.onlinetmd.com

A council that sets regulations for fishing off the mid-Atlantic coast will meet on Wednesday to consider protections for little known and fragile ecosystems of deep sea corals in and around 15 ocean sites.

Environmental groups and sport fishermen are pushing for protection of these canyons and other sites, which run from Block Canyon off New York to Norfolk Canyon off Virginia, from squid fishing. They also are lobbying for other restrictions on fishing in a much broader zone.

Image: http://www.nytimes.com 

Crowdfunding is a hot idea in small biopharma, but a lot of people don't quite know what to make of it. I've written about some academic examples of it, and I think that's a good use of the idea. People can donate in the expectation that they're helping along a research project, not because they're looking for a big return on their money.

But what about a small biopharma company trying it? John Carroll at FierceBiotech has an example, and he's skeptical. In this environment, especially, with so much money sloshing into the sector, I would also be worried. If your idea can't attract any financing other than what you can round up from people who don't know anything about the field - which is, unfortunately, a good description in this case - then there might be something wrong with it. At the very least, people are telling you that your proposal is premature.

image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net 

The idea for this piece was rattling around in the back of my brain when I came across an interesting blog post on the Association for Talent Development’s site: “Why I Hate Mission Statements—But Love Missions.” The writer, Brad Federman, lays out many legitimate complaints about typical declarations: They have been wordsmithed into frothy blather, are too long to be remembered, and have little use beyond adorning the lobby wall. But Federman also argues, correctly, that a compelling mission has the power to shape a workplace and inform strategic and operational decisions. So what accounts for the disconnect? More importantly, how can it be bridged?

Recent studies suggest that young Americans are less interested in entrepreneurship than their parents’ generation was 25 years ago. While no one really knows why, some data suggest declining risk tolerance could be part of the explanation.

Stop looking for a career fairy godmother, chances are you have mentors and don't even realize it.

115 SHARES Fast Company's Jill Bernstein and Kate Davis explore what being a mentor really means - and how you know you've found one. Watch the video above and tweet us your favorite advice from an unlikely mentor at #29thfloor.

Image: http://www.fastcompany.com

Lux Capital is raising a $350 million fund, Lux Ventures 4, as Fierce Biotech has already noted. From my standpoint, without confirmation from the firm, it’s entirely possible that war chest will be used to invest in digital health and biotech companies. It also invests in energy and technology companies. But here’s a look at some of the healthcare companies that have turned its investors heads.

Mobile health

Pager uses mobile technology to do house calls. Users download an app to arrange a time to meet. Its board-certified doctors can do diagnostic exams, prescribe medications, order and interpret lab tests and X-rays, depending on the state. The New York-based digital health company was set up by Philip Eytan, Gaspard de Dreuzy and Oscar Salazar.

From Shopify Inc. and Hootsuite Media to Desire2Learn Inc., a growing number of medium-sized Canadian technology startups have attracted big-dollar financing over the past 18 months. But industry players say those blockbuster deals may be masking a capital crunch for other Canadian startups.

As more money and mentorship flows to Canadian tech startups in the early stages, a serious lack of local funding plagues mid-level Canadian tech startups. What’s left is an exclusive club of Canadian venture-capital firms willing to cut large cheques.

Image: http://www.theglobeandmail.com

Albany, New York investment firms got no love in the first round of awards from the state's $50 million venture capital fund. Three firms in Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse were awarded $5 million from the state, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office. No investment firms in the Albany area received funding. The money will be used to help start-up companies associated with New York's universities commercialize their products.

State College, PA (PRWEB) February 13, 2015

On the heels of an exciting 2014, Innovation Park at Penn State found further cause for encouragement when Penn State president Eric Barron announced the university’s “Invent Penn State” initiative at its January trustees meeting. The $30 million initiative broadly aims to spur economic development. “This is a hub of innovation in our town,” Barron said of Innovation Park. The “Invent Penn State” initiative intends to increase the number of technology business start-ups in communities where Penn State has campuses, better promote Penn State faculty and student innovations, bring greater awareness to Innovation Park at Penn State and integrate innovation activities into student career success.

Most people are pretty confused about what crowdfunding is and is not. Here are the ten key concepts entrepreneurs and investors need to understand.

1. Product crowdfunding and equity crowdfunding are really different.

Most people still confuse them. Product crowdfunding is done on sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. It allows you to finance innovation directly, at the product level; contributors pre-purchase products or simply donate. Conversely, with equity crowdfunding investors take stock ownership in the company making the product, which is very different and quite a bit more complicated. Equity crowdfunding is not yet fully democratized for ordinary investors, but sites like AngelList and WeFunder allow larger (accredited) investors to do it.

Last week the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) released their 2014 report on the global state of entrepreneurship.

Since 1999, GEM has been collecting, analyzing and interpreting data across the world on the capacity of individuals to act entrepreneurially. GEM participants represent 72.4 percent of the world's population and 90 percent of the world's GDP, which makes for a comprehensive and robust look at entrepreneurship on a global scale.

By many accounts, the American economy is roaring back. Hiring is accelerating, wages are rising and the labor force is growing. Confidence among business leaders regarding the year ahead is on the rise, too.

In one area, though, the economy seems to be in serious trouble – and that’s entrepreneurship.

Image: http://www.washingtonpost.com

One of the few surveys based on the international collection of primary data on individual entrepreneurial activities, the sixteenth annual Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) report was released earlier this month at the annual GEM meeting in Monterrey, Mexico. Across 73 economies representing 72.4 percent of the world’s population and 90 percent of the world’s GDP, more than 206,000 individuals were surveyed for the 2014 report. The sheer scope and size of the report leads to many findings regarding the current state of global entrepreneurship, including:

Partners HealthCare, its world-leading hospitals—Brigham and Women's Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, McLean Hospital—and its Harvard Medical School-appointed faculty invite you to be part of the World Medical Innovation Forum. Join 1,000 international innovation decision-makers as they define the state of the art in neuroscience technology, care, and research. Directly interact with the CEOs bringing game-changing CNS products to market, world-class clinicians delivering the highest-quality care and the scientists rapidly propelling this crucial field forward. Every speaker an expert, every panel unique.

Once I was a traditional management consultant. It didn’t suit me.

I quit and started a construction company. 

Then I was running a large construction company.

I loved it.

But I got cancer. Eventually I became a global speaker and a consultant and coach focusing on entrepreneurs. 

I made that initial career switch because I could not go on, waking up each day with dread, facing another day of having the sense that I needed to be somewhere else.  

Sleep is mysterious thing. It can be evasive and restless, or it can leave us feeling relaxed or energized. All we know for sure is that it’s important, and we get it where we can -- in hours at night or in naps during the day.

The big question is, how much do we need?