BERLIN, Sept. 8, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Envisioneering is proud to salute 13 companies and 22 products that earned Innovation and Design Awards during ShowStoppers® @ IFA 2015, the official press event of the global tradeshow for consumer electronics and home appliances now underway in Berlin.

The 22 award winners include products ranging from breakthrough environmental air and water quality products to smartphone-controlled pediatric hearing aids, multi-year capacity inkjet printers, smart sleep monitors, Internet-of-Things kettles and coffee makers, and a 3D food printer.

In a recent study on angel investing activity in 2014, the National Angel Capital Organization ranked Toronto-based Igan Partners as Canada’s busiest angel group — No. 1 for total capital invested and No. 3 for number of investments. You’d be forgiven, for not knowing who they are, although they won’t be unknown much longer. Comprised of a group of angels who have been investing together for a decade, Igan Partners is now completing a $50-million raise for a second fund. And at least one of the seven companies in its first fund could become a household name: eSight Corp. produces a high-definition headset that helps the legally blind go back to work, rock-climb, or see their loved ones for the first time.

A recent report created by Dice, a research company that specializes in technology, showed that Nebraska’s tech industry has grown by 5.22 percent. Nebraska placed third on the list of states with highest growth, behind Minnesota’s 8.36 percent and Utah’s 5.75 percent growth.

Daniel Duncan, the executive director of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Nebraska Innovation Campus, envisions that Innovation Campus will become a place for promising startups and ambitious students. Duncan said that though NIC had very little impact on the growth in the tech industry shown in the Dice report, it creates the perfect ecosystem for many companies to grow and promote future growth.

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Data released today from the annual licensing activity survey by the leading organization of technology management professionals provide renewed evidence of steady growth in the patenting and licensing of new technologies, net product sales, and new products and startups in 2014.

Corporate innovators – engineers, marketers and sales professionals that desire to see their ideas come to life in an organization – face a wide range of obstacles when presenting new opportunities. Ultimately they must ask for support and funds in what I call the “executive inquisition.” In the process of preparing for this funding discussion, I see a range of common mistakes. Here is an extreme example based on a recent funding pitch I was in (the names and details have been modified to protect the guilty):

This morning I received a copy of the book "WHAT NEXT ? White Paper of CSN1", a publication of the Italian INFN (National Institute for Nuclear Physics) addressing the question of what awaits us after the Higgs discovery, and what projects should be supported in the long-term future of HEP. The book is the result of one year of work by many colleagues who have actively participated in four working groups and one task force, producing some preliminary studies of the discovery potential of this or that machine, and of the most important questions that need to be answered -and the projects that appear more suited to answer them. Editors of the work are Franco Bedeschi, Roberto Tenchini, and John Walsh.

Image: http://www.science20.com

Some people think the New York skyline is missing something London has—a gigantic Ferris wheel—and they’re doing something about it. Dubbed the “New York Wheel,” the project is already underway in Staten Island and will be 630-feet tall, 187 feet taller than London’s.

The New York Wheel, led by the former investment banker and chief executive Rich Marin, has raised $450 million so far, but needs around $30 million more, a number that it’s looking to achieve through equity crowdfunding. Equity crowdfunding, unlike a simple Kickstarter that gives you a service, turns donors into investors with actual ownership, something that has only recently been possible thanks to loosening of investing regulations by the JOBS act, which allowed non-accredited investors to get in on startup action. The group tasked with crowdfunding the rest of the project’s budget, North Capital Private Securities, is chiefly using the site 99Funding to sell shares, as well as through traditional brokers.

Employees across all age groups and industries want to work for businesses that are deeply committed to digital progress, according to the latest global research and analysis by MIT Sloan Management Review and Deloitte Digital.¹ The finding may have significant ramifications for organizations aiming to hire and keep the best talent.

The UK is fast becoming a smartphone-dependent society, with penetration now reaching 76% of UK adults, who collectively check their devices 1.1 billion times a day, the equivalent of almost 400 billion times a year, according to business advisory Deloitte.

The firm has just published its fifth annual Mobile Consumer report, analysing the mobile usage habits of more than 4,000 people in the UK – out of a global sample of close to 50,000.

A journalist recently asked me what I think the internet will look like in 2040. The question took me a little by surprise, because despite working in the technology industry for the last two years and witnessing the drastic changes that have taken place, I’ve never really taken a step back from it all and thought what the world might be like in ten years, let alone 25 years.

At the smallest scales, everything in the universe can be broken down into fundamental morsels called particles. The Standard Model of particle physics—the reigning theory of these morsels—describes a small collection of known species that combine in myriad ways to build the matter around us and carry the forces of nature. Yet physicists know that these particles cannot be all there is—they do not account for the dark matter or dark energy that seem to contribute much of the universe’s mass, for example. Now two experiments have observed particles misbehaving in ways not predicted by any known laws of physics, potentially suggesting the existence of some new type of particle beyond the standard zoo. 

Image: http://www.scientificamerican.com

It’s a shame that people can start a business without choosing a business structure (by default, it’s a sole proprietorship or partnership, in the case of two or more individuals, unless you file paperwork for other types of business structures). Most entrepreneurs aren’t well-educated on what each business structure’s benefits and drawbacks are, and many find out the hard way that a sole proprietorship puts them at risk.

BlackBerry should be long gone, dead and buried. Apple, Samsung and Google should have, by now, made it a footnote in the history of technology. However, it’s still fighting and going on. There are two reasons. It’s technology is still very much integrated into the communication foundation of its clients. While some of its clients could ditch BlackBerry in favor of iPhones or Google-powered phones, other companies could not or would not do that. They value the high security of BlackBerry phones.

It's hard to get by when you don't have a job and the price of goods keeps rising.

That maxim is behind economist Arthur Okun's dramatically named "Misery Index," which adds together a country's unemployment and inflation rates. The higher the number, the more "miserable" your country is.

With inflation extremely low in much of the developed world, it's worth taking a look at the state of "misery" around the globe. In its new Global Economic Outlook report, Societe Generale put together a chart of how miserable the major global economies are.

Image: http://www.businessinsider.com

Last week I had an enjoyable breakfast meeting with an interesting business founder. I had never met her or even spoken with her before our breakfast. She somehow discovered me and reached out via a lovely short email sharing a problem she was having and asking if I could find some time to speak with her about it. Her company’s mission and her global background intrigued me, so while I was inclined to accept her invitation, I responded that a lot of people reach out to me in this way, and I would need clarity about her expectations so that neither of us would waste our time. She quickly replied with just enough detail to reel me in.

I have always been bullish about the spread of entrepreneurship as a global phenomenon. My organization has worked diligently towards propagating the lessons learned from successful entrepreneurs to those coming after, on a global scale. It has been thrilling to watch the world adopt entrepreneurship as a key tool for economic development.

Image: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3412/3483781370_71674763e9.jpg

As we grow older, we lose strength and muscle mass.  However, the cause of age-related muscle weakness and atrophy has remained a mystery.

Scientists at the University of Iowa have discovered the first example of a protein that causes muscle weakness and loss during aging. The protein, ATF4, is a transcription factor that alters gene expression in skeletal muscle, causing reduction of muscle protein synthesis, strength, and mass. The UI study also identifies two natural compounds, one found in apples and one found in green tomatoes, which reduce ATF4 activity in aged skeletal muscle. The findings, which were published online Sept. 3 in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, could lead to new therapies for age-related muscle weakness and atrophy.

In 2002, Scott Dylla, a skinny postdoc with a Minnesota accent, answered a Craigslist ad for a room for rent in Palo Alto. Although he couldn’t afford to move in with Brian Slingerland, then an up-and-coming technology banker at Credit Suisse, the two got to talking.

Two of Slingerland’s aunts had died of cancer. One, only a year after she retired. The other of lung cancer. She’d always smoked Kents.

Image: http://www.technologyreview.com

Let our conference boost your science park, grow your incubator by getting international startups to make a soft landing in your incubator and transform your science region into a global player. Do not miss this opportunity to participate in our international conference and meet your future partners.

(Bendis to Speak)

It’s all about people.

We know the key to success is having great people. It’s great people who build great technology; it’s great people who inspire others to do their best work; it’s great people who make a great company.

Consequently, hiring right is one of the most crucial tasks we have. Think of the potential if we got really good at hiring.