As recent research shows, the corporate accelerator landscape is growing and shifting cross-border. Western companies are increasingly launching Asia-based accelerator programs.

Of the 85 corporate accelerator programs worldwide, eighteen are based in Asia. Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangalore, Sydney, Melbourne and Kuala Lumpur make up the seven cities where corporations have chosen to plant their innovation programs. Several of these accelerators are based outside of their company headquarters.

The next big technological breakthrough in seed trait technology may be under development at Purdue University. To help discover what that is and bring it to the market place is the goal of the new “Ag-celerator” project. Purdue University College of Agriculture and Purdue Research Foundation officials announced a $2 million fund on Thursday to help launch startups based on Purdue plant sciences innovations, focused on advancing crop traits and generating higher yields. The plant sciences innovation fund, supported through the Purdue Moves initiative, is called the “Ag-celerator.” The fund is designed to provide critical startup support for Purdue innovators who wish to commercialize patented intellectual property or Purdue “know-how” technologies in plant sciences, including areas of research in crop optimization, hybrid and seed development, and precision agriculture.

Image: http://www.hoosieragtoday.com

They may be only months old, but these startups changed technology in 2015. 

Take live-streaming app Periscope.

It was acquired before even launching to the public, then capped off the year being named Apple's iPhone app of the year. Meanwhile, Jet had a splashy debut that aimed to chip away at Amazon's ecommerce empire.

Image: Marc Lore, CEO and founder of Jet.com

“It looked very suspicious,” M says of an anonymous e-mail she and several other journalists received late in 2014. It promised a scoop about a government scandal, but something just didn’t sit right with her. Soon after, strange things started happening on her computer. “I remember clearly not being able to connect via Skype to give an interview about torture,” she says. “There was somehow interference and I had to use someone else’s phone.”

The growth of companies as they develop new markets is the main mechanism by which economic benefits of inventions and innovations are realized. Yet most public attention, in this country and around the world, tends to focus on the early stages of startup formation rather than on the later stages of growing companies to scale.

Image: Associate Provost Richard Lester, founder and faculty director of the Industrial Performance Center, listens to discussion and report analysis of "Growing Innovative Companies to Scale: How Does Massachusetts Measure Up?" held at MIT on Thursday, Dec. 10. Photo: Allegra Boverman

Becoming a young tech entrepreneur has arguably never been more appealing, with an increasing number of successful role models to look up to, including Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Box's Aaron Levie, and Snapchat's Evan Spiegel. 

But taking the leap isn't always easy and every successful entrepreneur will tell you there are some things they couldn't have lived without on their way to success, be it their beloved iMac or simply a good cup of coffee.  

Image: http://www.businessinsider.com

This is an occasional newsletter from Cluster Navigators in Nelson, New Zealand, drawing on my experiences with cluster-based economic development.

Over recent months I have travelled extensively … first ever visits to Colombia and Ukraine, visits to two countries I have lived in (Wales and Canada) and to Australia, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Korea, Netherlands and Spain. These travels have included presentations at cluster conferences, leading cluster training workshops and a review of Catalonia’s impressive cluster development activities as part of a 3-person international TCI team.

A year goes quick, doesn’t it? Before you know it I’ll be dusting off the crystal ball and attempting to offer wisdom to predict the top trends in to watch NEXT year. But before we do that, I thought I’d take a look at how I did on the prophecy front last year… Right this way for a quick run down of the 2015 crowdfinance trends, both what I thought would happen and whether I was right. Wish me luck!

Federal employees have once again rated NASA as the agency where innovation and creativity are most rewarded, according to an annual survey of the best places to work in the federal government.

Among large federal agencies, NASA also had the highest overall employee satisfaction scores, which took into account employees’ views on agency leadership, pay, work-life balance and strategic management.

Image: http://www.nextgov.com

One of the most troubling trends of the past decade or so has been the deepening economic divide among the winners and losers in the talent-driven U.S. knowledge economy. But recently there are signs that conditions in a number of formerly troubled U.S. cities and metros may be improving. A recent study I wrote about here noted the substantial brain gain that is occurring in Rustbelt metros like Pittsburgh.

PARIS—From "clean coal" evangelists to solar power enthusiasts, most experts at the U.N. climate talks here agree that solving climate change means transforming how the world produces and uses energy—and as quickly as possible. Such a transformation would be unprecedented. It would require enormous investments. To help make it happen, the U.S. Department of Energy, which for decades has spent billions of dollars to develop and deploy advanced energy technologies (not always clean), will play a major role in the new "Mission Innovation." The initiative is an effort announced by 20 major countries at the COP 21 negotiations here to significantly accelerate clean-energy improvements.

Image: United States Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz. US Department of Energy/Wikimedia Commons

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) announced today that Illumina Accelerator—the world’s first business accelerator focused solely on creating an innovation ecosystem for the genomics industry—has selected four new investments from a competitive pool of highly qualified applicants to be a part of its third funding cycle.

If you are interested in submitting a NSF Innovation Corps Sites Program (I-Corps Sites) proposal, send an abstract no more than three pages in length to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by the internal deadline of Tuesday, May 10, 2016 at noon. Follow Illinois Tech’s guidelines for internal competitions available here.

It’s Earth as not even astronauts get to see it—completely without clouds.

Software developed by startup Descartes Labs stitches together daily satellite images into a live map of the planet’s surface and automatically edits out any cloud cover. That makes for a nicer view, and also helps algorithms that automatically track changes in land use or vegetation. The company says its software can make better forecasts of America’s corn crop than the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Image: http://www.technologyreview.com

A lack of skills and a lack of confidence in metrics hold organisations back from achieving brand building success in digital realms.

Digital branding as a channel for brand building has seen exponential growth in the last few years. It has evolved one of the most influential, relevant and futuristic mediums of brand building for organisations globally. In the beginning of September 2015, Instagram opened up its platform globally to advertisers and brand owners. The ability to advertise, which was previously available only in eight countries, was made available in more than 200 countries by end-September. But why is this development of such critical importance?

Everyone’s pushing hard for innovation in science, technology, logistics and business planning but how do you know you’re getting the best return on your investment?

Global R&D spending reached US$1.6 trillion in 2014, about half of the estimated total spend on all innovation activity worldwide. While the private sector accounts for the largest share of this investment, governments are also significant players as they search for innovative ways to optimise economic growth and development. But are organisations – private or otherwise – getting the best return on investment in science, technology and innovation, and how can they analyse whether it’s money well spent?

Erik Paul Belt, the McCarter & English LLP partner who last week started his one-year term as president of the Boston Patent Law Association, thinks intellectual property rights in this country are under attack. Like, a Death Star level of attack.

The group he leads includes more than 900 attorneys and other professionals who deal with patent, trademark and copyright law. Belt sees his primary objective as president as making the BPLA more of an outward-facing organization, publicly defending the rights of intellectual property holders not only in Boston, but nationwide.

When he won the Nobel Prize for his work on laser technology, Charles Townes said, “It’s like the beaver told the rabbit as they stared at the Hoover Dam. ‘No, I didn’t build it myself. But it’s based on an idea of mine.’” Cheekiness aside, this remark hints at the escalation of ideas that define innovation.

In his recent book and serial biography, The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution, author Walter Isaacson takes an entertaining and informative look at how innovation and failure propelled technological advances during what is being called the third industrial revolution.

You’re an entrepreneur. But who’s the boss in your business?

It’s not you. It’s your business.

One of the most profound and game-changing moments for me as an entrepreneur was when I finally realized who was in charge. As an entrepreneur and cofounder, I had thought I was calling the shots and making the decisions. And, from the perspective of the organizational chart, I certainly was. But, from a smart business perspective, I owed my allegiance to a more authoritarian boss -- the business itself.

As an entrepreneur, you will inevitably take risks, try new and unproven strategies and experience failure – both big and small. When things don’t go as planned, it can be easy to get bogged down by failure and regret.

How can you handle the inevitable failure of an entrepreneurial journey with grace and the ability to bounce back even stronger after each setback?