As the producers of future innovators, game-changers and startups, more and more forward-thinking universities around the globe are practicing what they preach.

Leading universities are responding to an increasingly competitive environment for both public and private sector funding by doing what they do best: utilizing their entrepreneurial know-how and implementing novel strategies to reinvent themselves as centers of innovation attractive to outside investment. Moreover, the initiatives they are launching are not only helping to generate revenue, but are also being used as platforms for solving complex, global issues.

Back in the Industrial Revolution, the original age of disruption—when the spinning jenny inspired the same kind of wonderment as Google does today, and the self-winding clock held the promise of SpaceX—a little-known English translator named C. R. Prinsep encountered a problem germane to his time. He had been commissioned to work on a hot book about modern markets by Jean-Baptiste Say, a French economist who had achieved Thomas Piketty-like fame amid the Napoleonic age. But as Prinsep dutifully plowed through the manuscript, he found himself unable to pinpoint a suitable English word to describe the new type of worker at the heart of his subject’s thesis—the do-it-all visionary of the day, the one with the temerity to guide an idea from conception to success; the plucky upstart attempting to overthrow the old order. Or, as he would later write, “the master-manufacturer in manufacture, the farmer in agriculture, and the merchant in commerce; and generally in all three branches, the person who takes upon himself the immediate responsibility, risk, and conduct of a concern.” Short of the proper synonym, Prinsep settled for an apt replacement. He called these people “adventurers.”

New crowdfunding rules would still put equity raising online out of the reach of investment app Sharesight, says chief Doug Morris. 

About 80 per cent of the New Zealand company's tens of thousands of customers (it won't disclose exact figures) are Australian, with the rest mainly in NZ and Canada.

It "crowdfunded" 75 per cent of NZ$2 million ($1.88 million), or roughly $1.5 million, from them earlier in December, cutting out the need to pay for advisers other than a lawyer.

Image: Doug Morris, Sharesight CEO, said: "Limiting crowdfunding to unlisted public companies ... means that a company like Sharesight could not have crowdfunded the raise we just completed." Photo: Supplied 

When Henry Ford started his company in 1903, he did more than just create a car or an assembly line (neither of which he actually invented).  What he did was establish an entirely new form of organization, culminating in the vertically integrated River Rouge complex that was completed in 1928.

By mid century, nearly every facet of life was transformed. We moved out to the suburbs, built gas stations and shopping malls, massed produced and mass marketed. Enormous enterprises arose that built large bureaucracies to control it all and make it run efficiently.

TWO years ago, a student of mine named Nicole was torn on where to start her career. While applying for jobs in finance, technology, consulting and marketing, she suddenly realized that her biggest concern wasn’t what she did, but where she worked.

When it comes to landing a good job, many people focus on the role. Although finding the right title, position and salary is important, there’s another consideration that matters just as much: culture. The culture of a workplace — an organization’s values, norms and practices — has a huge impact on our happiness and success.

Wearables will “disappear” in 2016, predicts New Enterprise Associates venture capital partner Rick Yang, cited in a Wednesday (Dec. 16) CNBC article — integrated “very directly into your everyday life, into your existing fashion sense to the extent that nobody knows you’re wearing a wearable,” he said.

For example, Athos makes smart workout clothes embedded with inconspicuous technology that tracks muscle groups, heart, and breathing rates, he noted.

Image: The Athos Upper Body Package includes 14 built in sensors for real-time muscle and heart rate data. (credit: Athos)

A locust-inspired miniature robot that can jump 11 feet high and 4.5 feet horizontally in one leap is designed to handle search-and-rescue and reconnaissance missions in rough terrain.

The new locust-inspired robot, dubbed “TAUB” (for “Tel Aviv University and Ort Braude College”), is five inches long and weighs weighs 23 grams (less than one ounce). It was developed by Tel Aviv University and Ort Braude College researchers.

Image: Locust-inspired TAUB robot (credit: Tel Aviv University)

We dump around 8 million tons of plastic trash in the oceans each year, and that might quadruple in a decade. Now, as giant ocean cleanup devices start to sweep through the water in an attempt to collect some of that plastic, a handful of companies are figuring out how to use it to make new products—like shoes.

In June, Adidas released a design for a new sneaker with an upper knit from ocean plastic. Now the design has gone a step further, with a midsole that's 3-D printed from the same material.

Look at any marvel of our technological age, whether it be an iPhone, a self driving car or a miracle cure and you’ll find three things: An academic theory, a government program and an entrepreneurial instinct. When the system works, it is a wonder to behold, not only creating prosperity, but solving our most difficult problems in the process

Image: Lynda Chin, Chief Innovation Officer for Health Affairs at the University of Texas University system, is one of a growing cadre trying to build a bridge between the worlds of basic and applied research. (image courtesy of MD Anderson)

There are five very popular structural elements that are found in a rather large percentage of the websites now on the internet. These structures are things that every entrepreneur should be aware of, so that you discuss topics of web design and web content more intelligently. So let’s take a look at the web design structures that are used most often, so you can identify them and learn more about how they are used.

The disembodied robot arms look like they’re conducting an orchestra as they glide back and forth over the stove top, waving their articulated fingers. But the robot isn’t making music, it’s making dinner.

Mounted above a small counter, stove and sink, the two arms are part of a robotic kitchen, developed by UK-based Moley Robotics, that prepares meals from digital recipes. Users select the meal they want from an online database, enter the number of people that are eating and then set out pre-prepped ingredients. They tell the robot when to start, and, sure enough, it makes shrimp risotto, say, or eggplant parmigiana. The unit has an attached fridge and cabinet, which the robot can access, and a built-in dishwasher, so it can clean up after itself. 

Image: The robotic arms move across the range, cooking and cleaning. (Moley Robotics)

Alex Depledge, founder of recently acquired on-demand cleaning service Hassle.com, has attacked the Conservative party for failing to acknowledge the UK tech sector's overwhelming need to bring in highly-skilled technology workers from overseas.

Following the general election, the Tory government revealed that it planned to "significantly reduce" the number of skilled workers coming to Britain from outside the EU. Prime Minister David Cameron said this was necessary as net migration levels were at record levels.

Image: Twitter - Hassle.com cofounder and CEO Alex Depledge.

2015 was a big year for private market tech companies and their valuations.

Uber, already the most valuable private tech company in the world, is rumored to be raising a new round of funding that would value the company around $60 billion.

And this year alone, 70 startups became members of the "unicorn club," meaning new rounds of funding valued these companies at $1 billion or higher.

Biopharmas come and go, but the places to find jobs remain largely the same 10 regions highlighted by GEN last year and in 2013. The cornerstones of their success are hardly secrets: they include strong research universities, anchor biopharmas, younger startups, and networks that connect those budding businesses to expertise and, especially, capital.

I’ve always enjoyed the interesting and enlightening conversations that often happen in the back of an Uber. I’ve talked about almost everything from the situation in Syria right through to how to poach the perfect egg. But one thing I never expected to be educated on is the very thing that I spend most of my days training.

Last month, on a Thursday afternoon, the Uber App was inundated with requests from start-ups and entrepreneurs eager to join myself or one of six other business leaders in the back of an Uber for the opportunity to pitch their business. As part of a global initiative known as UberPITCH, I was thrust into the back of a car and geared up to hear the future of the Aussie start-up eco-system.

When Michał Borkowski launched the start-up Brainly, in Krakow, Poland, in 2009, he and his two co-founders did something that once would have been extremely difficult. Brainly, which helps children research tough questions on their homework, raised the $500,000 it needed from private investors in Poland — a formerly Communist country that traditionally has not been a hotbed of Silicon Valley–style deal making — as well as from backers in Germany, where the start-up financing ecosystem is more mature.

College Park, Md. — Standing in a virtual-reality lab at the University of Maryland here, Ramani Duraiswami passed around a standard pair of headphones.

Music played over them — but to the wearer, the source of the sound seemed to move around the room. As the music quieted down, it sounded as if it came from farther away. As it got louder on one side of the headset, it sounded as if it came from that side. “We’re able to perceive the world in all dimensions using our ears,” said Mr. Duraiswami, a computer-science professor and co-founder of the start-up company VisiSonics.

Image: Photo by John T. Consoli, U. of Maryland 

We have cut away one of our safety nets.

Like many startups, we have been partially funded our startup, Entrepreneurial Mind LLC, by doing a side project.

Many entrepreneurs that I know are doing the same kind of thing in their businesses. Several of my friends who have launched technology ventures have paid the bills in their startups by developing websites or apps for other companies. Many musicians and songwriters I know here in Nashville have survived financially by playing small gigs and giving music lessons

Google’s got almost limitless resources these days, so it comes as little surprise to see they’re at the forefront of quantum computing. They’ve got a new contract with manufacturer D-Wave, who have been producing the world’s first quantum computers. It’s said to be the largest order in D-Wave’s history.

A new stationary bike from Boston startup VirZoom requires an unusual accessory while you’re pedaling: a virtual-reality headset, so you can turn your workout into a virtual adventure.

Last week I pulled an Oculus developer headset over my eyes and settled onto the bicycle, which will retail for $250 when it ships next year. It looks almost exactly like a traditional folding bike except for the buttons and triggers scattered across its two handles.

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