Here we highlight selected innovation related articles from around the world on a daily basis. These articles related to innovation and funding for innovative companies, and best practices for innovation based economic development.
TechStars NYC is now accepting applications for its spring program, which will run from March until June.
Run by David Cohen and David Tisch, TechStars NYC is one of the most competitive startup accelerator programs.
More than 1,000 startups applied for a dozen slots in the last session, and Techstars expects even more applicants this time around. That makes the program harder to get into than Harvard or Yale.
Many budding entrepreneurs struggle mightily with that first step – out of their comfort zone and into the unknown. They keep asking people like me whether the time is right, and the truth is that there’s never an ideal time to start your own business. It’s like starting a personal relationship, if you wait for exactly the right time, you’ll never do it.
I’ve talked to many experts, and everyone has his own view of the right personal attributes, and the right business conditions to jump in. In my own view, the recovering economy is ripe for new startups, but successful startups are more about the right person, than the right idea or the right climate. So the real challenge is looking inward to check your alignment with these clues:
There might be an assumption that recruiting is easier when unemployment is high, but that’s simply not true. According to Manpower Group, 52% of employers reported having a difficult time finding qualified employees to fill jobs. Employers cast a wide net when it comes to finding candidates, and remote workers can be attractive to companies because they can fill an opening that’s difficult to place with a local.
It’s more important than ever to ensure that new hires become engaged immediately upon entering their new place of employment through a well-designed onboarding process. Successful onboarding programs aren’t just a paperwork-filled orientation: They create a connection between employees, their work and the goals of the organization. Here are a few best practices from companies that effectively onboard remote workers.
Hydrophobic means that something repels water. Oil, for instance, is commons substance that is hydrophobic.
Well, Ross Nanotechnology has developed a super hydrophobic coating that completely repels water and heavy oils. Called NeverWet, any object coated with it literally cannot be touched by liquid. Any liquid placed on this coating is repelled and simply rolls off without touching the underlying surface. Not only is this amazing to see, but it solves a myriad of problems.
The video below needs to be seen to believed.
Jordan Cohen, vice president of research and economic development at the University of Iowa, will retire next summer, the university announced Monday.
Cohen joined UI as Dean of the UI College of Pharmacy in 1999, and servied has served in the role of VP of research, both on an interim and permanent basis, for four years.
Zev Sunleaf, interim director of the UI Research Foundation said that although it was a new position for Cohen when he took over in October 2007, the university has benefited from his leadership.
If you want people to change the current system, or status quo, first you have to get them to notice what’s wrong with it. That’s the idea behind a new study to be published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, which finds that people pay attention to negative information about the system when they believe the status quo can change.
“Take America’s educational system. You could find some flaws in that system,” says India Johnson, a graduate student at Ohio State University who did the new study with Professor Kentaro Fujita. “But we have to live with it every day, so people tend to focus on the positive and reinforce the system. Sometimes, though, people are motivated to change things—that’s what brought about the U.S. civil rights movement and the changes in Tunisia and Egypt this year, for example.
Every year, millions of foreigners want to visit the United States and tour our great nation. They also want to spend money here – lots of it. Unfortunately, our government makes it terribly difficult for them to do so. As we debate creative ways to boost our economy, create jobs and cut the deficit, we should consider making it easier for foreigners to become U.S. tourists.
Take Brazil. The Brazilian economy is one of the fastest-growing large economies in the world right now. But Brazilian products cost more because of the country’s high tariffs on imports. In December 2010 the original iPad was released in Brazilian stores for $985, which was almost twice as much as in the United States and one of the highest official prices for an iPad anywhere, according to Macworld Brazil.
While this helps encourage Brazilian production – in fact, Apple recently opened an iPad factory in Brazil, which is expected to begin shipping in December of this year – many Brazilian consumers respond by going out of Brazil to do much of their purchasing.
There are few greater satisfactions in life than a “job well done.” Even if it’s simply mowing the lawn. Folding the laundry. Washing the car. Paying your bills. These are relatively simple tasks, however, with clearly identifiable results. And closure.
But how do you define outcomes when the tasks are not so simple?
The question of metrics – how we measure what we do; what we’ve done; and what we intend to do – was one of the most interesting topics that emerged at the State Science & Technology Institute’s (SSTI) annual conference last week.
No, that’s not a typo. I’m feeling optimistic about fundraising opportunities for small biotechs. Yes, I know we’re seeing venture firms pull back on an almost weekly basis (Prospect Ventures, Scale Venture Partners, etc.). And yes, I know the NVCA said VCs are fleeing life sciences. And yes, I know the initial public offering (IPO) window remains dubious at best.
BUT . . . there are some really interesting new options making their way through Congress, as anyone who read either BioWorld Insight or BioWorld Today on Monday already knows. For everyone else, here’s the low-down:
H.R. 1070 ‑ would provide an alternative to the IPO by letting private firms raise up to $50 million publicly and trade their shares, without the expense of becoming a reporting company (under current Regulation A rules, companies can only raise $5 million, which makes it hardly worth the trouble ‑ see more on that in BioWorld Insight next week)
If you’re going to watch television you might as well learn something or put on something that will get you fired up to make some money. Check out these 10 Must See Television Shows for Entrepreneurs…
1.) How I Made My Millions
This CNBC show features 12 episodes of everyday people that went from idea to million dollar businesses. Take Maribeth Sanford for example, who started putting logos on shopping bags with her graphic design skills and now does $40 million per year. If you want to see the stories of brands like Burt’s Bees and Life Is Good, How I Made My Millions can be seen on a rolling basis on CNBC.
The European Parliament is considering plans that would push EU countries to spend a third of their regional funds on research infrastructure – increasing the budget on science and innovation beyond that reserved in the upcoming research programme for 2014-2020.
The Parliament has already squared up for a fight with the European Commission over the research budget in the next Multi-Annual Financial Framework (MFF). The dispute centres on legislators' demands that €100 billion be set aside for Horizon 2020, the EU's 8th framework programme for research that will run from 2014 to 2020.
A report adopted by the Parliament plenary asks for €20 billion more to be set aside for research. But the Commission’s own proposal of €80 billion would itself represent one of the largest sectoral budget increases if ultimately approved.
Ernst & Young has named LinkedIn's Reid Hoffman and Jeff Weiner as its 2011 national Entrepreneurs of the Year.
LinkedIn is, of course, the professional social network and resume website. The site has grown to more than 135 million members in 200 countries and territories, went public in May, and recently had a market capitalization of $7.62 billion.
Co-founder and executive chairman Hoffman, who is also a partner at Greylock Partners, the venture capital firm that led a $10 million funding round in LinkedIn in 2004, started the company in 2002 in his living room. Weiner, a former Yahoo! executive and venture capitalist, came on as LinkedIn chief executive in 2008.
We are writing to advise that the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA) on November 14 announced the names of 75 emerging biotechnology and other high-tech companies that have been approved for the Technology Business Tax Certificate Transfer Program under the State's 2012 Fiscal Budget Year.
Conceived of and advocated for by BioNJ in 1999, this competitive program enables companies to sell New Jersey tax losses and/or research and development tax credits to raise cash to finance their growth and operations. Earlier this year, Governor Christie and the Legislature agreed upon a plan that restored the pool under the Tax Certificate Transfer to its 2010 level of $60 million after a cut to $30 million in 2011. BioNJ advocated strongly for that increase.
"Access to funding, particularly in the continuing difficult economic climate, remains the most critical issue affecting the growth of biotechnology companies today," said Debbie Hart, President of BioNJ. "We are grateful that the Governor and the Legislature's support of the Tax certificate Transfer Program has now been realized through the provision of needed financial resources to companies that are working in New Jersey to discover and develop innovative medicine and therapies directed at meeting unmet medical needs."
In a press release announcing the awards, the EDA highlighted Advaxis, Inc. of Princeton and Emisphere Technologies of Cedar Knolls. Please CLICK HERE to read the EDA press release and obtain the full list of participating companies.
Yours in BioNJ,
Debbie Hart
President
Montgomery County, Human Genome Sciences Inc. , MedImmune , Johns Hopkins University , the University of Maryland and Adventist HealthCare are all putting up funding for a regional biotech partnership — the most concrete step yet in a long-deferred mission to connect the region’s life sciences sector to itself.
Officials have been quietly laying the groundwork for BioHealth Innovation Inc. (BHI) since 2009, although its goals are far older. The regional nonprofit is envisioned as a sort of intermediary between biotech, academia, government and investors — with the hopes of multiplying life sciences investment, commercializing more scientific discoveries, and linking scientific and business talent, among other goals.
The data on entrepreneurial activity presents a mixed picture in the United States according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2010 National Entrepreneurial Assessment for the USA, conducted by Babson College and Baruch College.
“The picture of entrepreneurial activity in the U.S. painted by this report continues to exhibit elements of light and dark. While some improvements have occurred, the extent to which the economic downturn affected entrepreneurial activity remains unclear. Many trends in entrepreneurial activity have persisted, particularly the rates of opportunity and necessity entrepreneurship. These trends merit further examination, as they are likely to affect the economic wealth of the country,” said GEM researchers.
Key Findings
Early Stage Entrepreneurs
KinderTown is a newly launched app store for parents which offers a curated collection of kid-friendly applications. What makes the store unique is that it only includes apps which have been deemed to have “substantial educational value” for kids three to six years old. In order to evaluate the apps’ quality, each app is first reviewed by early childhood educators, then tested by parents and kids before admission.
At launch, KinderTown’s app store is available as a universal app that works on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. When you launch KinderTown, you can filter the app selections by platform (iPhone, iPad or Universal), recommended ages, subject matter (e.g., math, language, art, science, etc.) and price (free or paid).
America has succeeded as a nation of inventors inspired by a vision for a better future. Americans pride themselves on our most precious resources — our land, our people, and our innovation.
At the center of this innovation has been agriculture. John Deere’s cast-steel plow, first marketed in 1836, provided a more efficient way for farmers to clear their land in the Midwest, thus increasing farmer productivity and encouraging migration to the Great Plains in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Today’s 21st Century technology features tractors that are operated by satellites and advanced scientific research that is responsible for the seeds farmers cultivate.
James Bessen, Jennifer Ford, and Michael Meurer of BU School of Law have written a phenomenal paper titled The Private and Social Costs of Patent Trolls. Rather than be politically correct and refer to NPE’s simply as “non-practicing entities”, they cut through all the noise, define what a patent troll is, and go through a detailed and rigorous analysis of the private and social costs of patent trolls. Some highlights from the paper follow:
Regarding money:
Agriculture Secretary Vilsack Announces Economic Development Funding to Create Jobs, Economic Opportunity and Strengthen Rural Communities
AMES, IOWA - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the selection of 35 rural microdevelopment organizations for loans and grants to support rural business development, create jobs, and strengthen local communities. Business organizations in 22 states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico will receive support.
"A strong rural America and a strong agricultural industry go hand in hand," said Vilsack. "These investments will bring increased economic opportunity to rural residents and communities. They will help organizations expand job and economic opportunities in rural communities across the nation."
There’s a big debate these days about whether the government simply spends money or invests it. Republicans tend to say the government spends money, which is presumably bad for the economy, while Democrats tend to say the government invests money, which is presumably good for the economy.
If only it were that simple. In truth, the government sometimes just spends money -- which can be good in the short term and bad in the long term. And then sometimes the government invests it -- although the investments don’t always pay off.
So, in bad times like these, what should the government do? In particular, what, if anything, can state and local governments do? Will spending or investment make any difference to the economy in the short run? How about the long run?
