Digital technologies are rapidly transforming every sector of our society. For Oregon to thrive and succeed in this competitive, global, ever-changing environment, we must lay the groundwork for a deep-rooted culture of innovation. These are the goals of innovate/Oregon, a community-based initiative launched by the Technology Association of Oregon (TAO) and the TAO Foundation. These entities will work with a network of leaders in the civic, corporate and talent development communities to provide strategic guidance for the development of an innovation economy that benefits all of Oregon.

Image: Kimberly Kay Skip Newberry is president of Technology Association of Oregon. 

PRINCETON, N.J. -- The first members of the huge baby-boom generation in the U.S. have reached retirement age in recent years, and these older boomers are retiring in large numbers, just as Americans in their mid- to late 60s did a few years earlier. While about eight in 10 boomers in their early 50s are in the workforce, the percentage employed drops to about 50% for boomers who are 60, and the proportion accelerates downward with each year of age thereafter. Only about a third of those aged 67 and 68 -- the oldest boomers -- are still working in some capacity.

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Clemson University and Greenville Technical College are creating a new $25 million center to train students for high-tech jobs in the automotive, transportation and other industries.

The Center for Manufacturing Innovation represents a collaboration between the institutions, the local school district, and area manufacturers including BMW, Michelin, General Electric and Bosch Rexroth.

Officials broke ground on the new center in Greenville near Clemson's International Center for Automotive Research Technology, known as I-CAR.

I’m proud to announce the publication of a new book today. It’s a short book, at only 40 pages. But it is grand in ambition.

What makes this little book so ambitious? We believe it is the world’s first comprehensive scientific measurement tool for growing innovative, entrepreneurial ecosystems. Its authors, Henry H. Doss and Alistair M. Brett, have made a profound gift to the world. We’ll feature it in our upcoming Global Innovation Summit in four weeks in Silicon Valley.

PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel is often known for his ability to understand what makes a company successful and for having some contrarian points of view. Following the sale of PayPal to eBay in 2002, Thiel founded global hedge fund Clarium Capital Management, technology company Palantir and venture capital firm Founders Fund, which has invested in companies like Spotify, Oculus and SpaceX. Thiel was also Facebook's first outside investor and currently sits on its board. Through his Thiel Foundation, four years ago, he created the Thiel Fellowship for up-and-coming entrepreneurs under 20, who are each given $100,000 and two years to eschew higher education and work on a venture of their choosing.

Definition: Technology transfer is the process of transferring scientific findings from one organization to another for the purpose of further development and commercialization. The process typically includes: • Identifying new technologies; • Protecting technologies through patents and copyrights; and • Forming development and commercialization strategies such as marketing and licensing to existing private sector companies or creating new startup companies based on the technology.

 

PARIS—French investment firm Partech Ventures wants to give big European startups the means to stay in Europe.

The Paris-based venture capital firm said Monday that it has raised €200 million ($224 million) for a new fund that will invest in established startups, helping fill a later-stage funding gap that often forces European startups to look to the U.S. for money.

Despite a few big investments, like a $100 million round this summer for carpooling company BlaBlaCar, investors, startup founders and public officials still bemoan a lack of later-stage funding from European firms for European startups.

Being young can be inexpensive if you choose to live out of your parent’s basement with little aspiration of improving yourself or going anywhere in life. If you desire to pursue an education, start a business, or go after your dreams in general, it’s usually going to take money to get there. The problem with being young and needing money is that no one wants to give it to you. Where do most Millenials turn? Credit cards.

Image: http://under30ceo.com

The virtual stack of resumes in your inbox is winnowed and certain candidates have passed the phone screen. Next step: in-person interviews. How should you use the relatively brief time to get to know — and assess — a near stranger? How many people at your firm should be involved? How can you tell if a candidate will be a good fit? And finally, should you really ask questions like: “What’s your greatest weakness?”

In The New, New Thing, Michael Lewis refers to the phrase business model as “a term of art.”  And like art itself, it’s one of those things many people feel they can recognize when they see it (especially a particularly clever or terrible one) but can’t quite define.

That’s less surprising than it seems because how people define the term really depends on how they’re using it.

I hear some version of this one all the time.

• “We will never need another financing.” 
• “This financing will get us to cash flow breakeven.” 
• “This is our last financing before we become profitable.” It’s probably bullshit. 

There are so many reasons companies raise more money in the future that even making an assertion like this is generally nonsensical. But even if you, as the founder, believe it, you are still probably deluding yourself. 

My wife is a doctor, and she’s often confused by how I do my job. As a physician, her daily activities are founded on well-researched strategies and highly tested procedures, many of which have been around for decades (and some, for centuries). In medicine, you want as much experience and routine as possible –- if I were to need surgery, I’d want my surgeon operating under the most tried and true methods.

There is lots of talk at Davos about European stagnation and the ongoing Greek Eurocrisis. It is a complex situation but there is one simple aspect to it: If more Greek entrepreneurs can grow their firms more rapidly in Greece, Greece’s economy will grow more rapidly. Likewise, if more European entrepreneurs can grow their firms more rapidly in Europe, lethargic Europe will grow as well.

Founders almost always cite lack of money as the reason for failure, but if you look deeper, I believe the reason is more often about dysfunctional people and leadership. Sometimes it comes right back to the founder, in terms of a malaise often called “founder’s syndrome.” A few years ago I was intimately involved with a promising startup that taught me about this issue.

Ice and snow-covered and pothole-scarred roads are just some of the dangers on the road, especially this time of year. Imagine an end to all that but more. Like, roads that pay for themselves, keep themselves above freezing, and could even power our homes and businesses. That’s a goal of Scott and Julie Brusaw. They’ve now dedicated the rest of their lives to getting new solar roadways off the ground, in a manner of speaking.

Image: http://smallbiztrends.com

The media's search for new business models and the potential of new and social media has brought about a wave of enterprises and entrepreneurs across EU member states. What are Europe’s most innovative news applications and initiatives? EurActiv asked the experts.

In a constantly changing landscape, traditional news organisations and media have been struggling to sustain their models. The future of media lies in innovation, it seems, as the most creative thinkers succeed in establishing themselves in this landscape.

Image: Blendle, tipped as a game changer in media innovation. Blendle

People under the age of 34 belong to the largest, ethnically and racially most diverse generation the planet has ever seen. Fifteen years from now, they will make up 75% of the workforce. If your marketing strategy is focused solely on the paper age and a text-heavy website and you have no immediate plans to change it, your business is in for a turbulent ride down the river towards oblivion. Consider this, for example: wearable electronics are set to go mainstream in 2016, according to Euromonitor International’s Consumer Electronics research. By “mainstream” they mean that sales are expected to shoot from nine million sold globally in 2013, to 180 million by 2016.

Image: http://memeburn.com

In developed economies, money has been digitizing for decades. Few Westerners touch a paycheck anymore. Through direct deposit, digital money is transferred electronically from our employer to our bank account every pay period. A similar process moves contributions into our 401(k) accounts or zaps money over to pay the rent, the utility bill, a student loan, or any other expense.

Image: http://www.technologyreview.com

It’s not unusual for someone to walk into our offices that we don’t know. We invite entrepreneurs to come to us for advice. We host events. We have partnering relationships with many other organizations in the entrepreneurial space. What is unusual is for that someone to be a high school student, knocking on our door, looking for an internship opportunity. That’s exactly what happened last year in our Tulsa office when Hayden Allen, a senior at Cascia Hall Preparatory School, stopped by.

Image: Hayden Allen - http://www.tulsaworld.com