As leaders in business and academia, we are pleased that you are meeting to prioritise innovation in Europe. New ideas, products, services and business models will be critical to bring Europe out of economic malaise. But innovation, as underlined in the European Commission’s recent Innovation Union strategy, requires a consistent, coordinated effort. That has been lacking in Europe.

The challenge is daunting for governments, private sector and academics alike. Europe, where the modern scientific method was invented, is falling behind in both quality and quantity of ideas. The R&D intensity of the European economy, at 1.9% of gross domestic product, lags dangerously behind the US and Japan and is being overtaken by China. Just a quarter of international patents come from the EU, compared to 35% in the US and 31% in Japan. Relatively few European universities score at the top of world league tables. On current trends, within a generation as little as 10% of the world’s new ‘ideas’ – measured in varied ways – may originate in Europe.

As a small business owner, I’m always looking for lessons or mantras that I can hold on to. Little nuggets that I can use to guide my decision making help keep me on the right path during difficult times. Over the past two years, I’ve come up with four mantras that I think any small business owner would do well to follow. I’ll share them below. Let me know if you agree or, perhaps, what your own mantras are for your business or your brand.

The Technology Innovation Program (TIP), a program within the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), released its Three-Year Plan covering proposed grant competition topics through FY 2014. Future TIP grant competitions may target specific research topics within eight areas of critical national need: civil infrastructure, manufacturing, energy, health care, water resources, complex networks and sustainability. For additional information regarding these topic areas or to comment on TIP's authored whitepapers visit http://www.nist.gov/tip/wp/index.cfm. Program officials emphasize that the three-year plan is not a formal solicitation for proposals. There are no current TIP competitions. Specific competitions related to these topics will be announced in the Federal Register, on grants.gov and on the TIP website.

Read the Plan

I’ve been doing a lot of investor pitch preparation with clients recently and one area where companies are consistently weak is the “competition slide“.

Looking for some inspiration on improving these I came across a great analysis from Jason Cohen of Capital Factory in Austin. He identified two classes of competitive positioning flaws that showed up frequently in 150 pitches he reviewed:

1. Being dismissive of the competition or worse claiming to have no competitors
2. Defining your company by comparison with the competition

I’d add a third:
3. Misunderstanding what a sustainable competitive advantage is.

Invasive seaweed is putting a deadly choke hold on Hawaii's coral reefs. In an effort to save them and the fish that rely on coral as a habitat, scientists have started breeding native sea urchins to eat the offending seaweed.

The culprits are two seaweed algae called Kappaphycus alvarezii and K. striatum. First brought to Hawaii in 1974 for commercial cultivation, the seaweed soon made its way into the wild and has now been plaguing the 50th state's coral reefs for years. The seaweed blankets the coral, smothering it to death, the Honolulu Star–Advertiser reports.

The sea horse's signature "S" shape holds a secret weapon: It is an adaptation for the ambush hunting style favored by these tiny, carnivorous fish, according to new research that looked at the biomechanical properties of the sea horse's curvaceous neck region.

Sea horses evolved from long, narrow swimmers similar to pipefishes. Anchored by their prehensile tails, they hover in sculptural stillness near coral reefs and sea grass beds until a tiny shrimp or larval fish swims by. Then, with a subtle tilt of the head and a slurp, the diminutive predators suck in unassuming prey. Both sea horses and pipefishes employ the tilt-and-slurp technique, known as pivot feeding. Sea horses, however, do not pursue their prey as pipefishes do, so the reach of their necks is an important determinant of their hunting success.

Geekmedia, the company that operates Israeli technology blog newsgeek.co.il, is getting into the startup incubation business with a new program called Venturegeeks.

Based in Tel Aviv, Venturegeeks sounds like it will be structured similarly to well-known US incubator programs like Y Combinator. Startups accepted into the program will receive $20,000, as well as three months of mentorship and office space, in return for a 10 percent stake in the company.

Some entrepreneurs consider 409A valuations a necessary evil. But too many aren’t particularly familiar with this particular section of the corporate tax code. And while we realize tax law might not be red-hot cocktail party conversation, it’s something that should be top of mind for start-up owners.

409A valuations are most commonly performed to assist companies with setting the strike price for their employee stock options, which needs to be at or above fair market value. The most common questions surrounding those are: “Do I really need a valuation?,” “How do I select an appraiser and why does it cost so much? “ and our personal favorite “Why is my common stock worth so much?”

There is a lot of content created by the Venture Capital community that has helped countless entrepreneurs. In fact, one of my favorites is How Andreessen Horowitz Evaluates CEOs.

I recently stumbled upon the article again and it reminded me of an article I’ve been meaning to write for my entrepreneurial friends. We’ve all heard the horror stories (fairly or unfairly) of how Venture Capitalists have screwed over the founders of companies.

What we rarely hear about is the enormous value that some in the Venture Capital community create when investing in a startup. Whether it’s strategic help, introductions to customers, joint ventures with other portfolio companies, and just plain fair dealings. I want to help narrow your choices by providing a starting point.

Venture capital funding in the tech world is often seen as the golden ticket to success (bootstrapping is a great way to start too). This made us curious about who the founders of the VC backed companies are, and how much funding are they actually getting? Thanks to a study by CB insights, we were able to acquire an in depth look into a large sample of venture capital backed companies across the country, with a focus on three major players in the tech startup world: California, Massachusetts, and New York.

Members of the 2011 General Assembly have been uniform in predicting that this will be a difficult legislative session. DCA director Mary Cownie serves as the agency's legislative liaison; with other agency leaders, she tracks legislation that could impact the department or its constituents. See below for a report on current legislation that could impact DCA, and on Governor Branstad's proposed budget for the coming year:

Nearly three years ago I had to make the transition from working in the business to working on the business. It was a difficult transition (sometimes still is) because no one tells you how to do it. When I asked my peers, friends, and family what a CEO should be doing, no one could give me a straight answer.

I read a ton of books. I read every article I could find. I brought it as an issue to my Vistage group. I asked other entrepreneurs turned CEOs. I kept a list of things I thought I should be doing as a CEO.

Some people are the “life of the party” – they love the spotlight and almost constant social interaction. But some others prefer to be a bit more… selective… in their sociability. You know who you are – you’re introverts. I count myself among your numbers.

Introverts aren’t shut-ins, sitting at home alone with odd hobbies like knitting sweaters for our growing collection of cats. We’re not anti-social. We just prefer to be social on our own terms… when and where we feel comfortable doing so.

(Media-Newswire.com) - Supporting programs for innovative, technology-driven small businesses under SBA’s Federal and State Technology ( FAST ) partnership program, the U.S. Small Business Administration has granted a $100,000 award to the Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Network program at the University of Wisconsin-Extension. The FAST Program is designed to stimulate economic development among small high technology businesses through federally-funded research and development programs like the Small Business Innovation Research ( SBIR ) and Small Business Technology Transfer ( STTR ).

The Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Network ( WEN ) is taking this grant opportunity one step further by creating a statewide Innovation-25 ( I-25 ) pilot program. I-25 companies will receive specific business counseling services to enhance their ability to apply for federal SBIR and STTR grants. The companies in this pilot program represent areas that the SBA Office of Technology is interested in strengthening and furthering in the current economy. They include defense, advanced manufacturing, environmental solutions, information technology, energy management, life sciences and medical devices.

Steven Klepper has made significant contributions to our understanding of the role of new firm entry in innovation and economic growth. His work is theoretical and integrative, firmly rooted in empirical observation of historical innovative processes, focusing on explaining “empirical regularities.” Klepper’s work integrates elements of traditional neoclassical models with evolutionary theory, bridging some of the gaps between neoclassical and evolutionary theory and between entrepreneurship research and mainstream economics.

In looking at the evolution of industries, Klepper explores regularities in the time paths of entry of new producers, exit of incumbent firms, industry output and price, and the rate of product and process innovation. To explain these regularities, he develops theories that feature differences in firm capabilities and the advantages of large firms in appropriating the returns from their innovative efforts. The theories are also used to explain differences in firms' innovative efforts, the composition of their innovative effort and their innovative success.

You’ve probably seen the film, The King’s Speech, which just landed 12 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress. Now it’s time to rewind the videotape and bring you back to 1938, when King George VI, formerly Prince Albert, Duke of York, makes a speech to open an exhibition in Scotland.

We all know that cereal packaging is designed to attract the eyes of your five year old as you drag him down the breakfast aisle of the supermarket. Of all the aisles in the grocery store, none is more captivating to tiny eyes than the the one with row upon row of garish cereal boxes.

But, what if the cereal boxes could light up and blink on the shelves? How much worse (or more effective, depending on your point of view) would that be?

I’m a big fan of the old adage "There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers." We have all heard questions that begin, "This may be a dumb question, but …" used effectively by smart people who are not afraid of risking ridicule by challenging a questionable assertion from an intimidating speaker.

Most people in business seem to expect their leaders just to give orders. According to Gary B. Cohen in his book, “Just Ask Leadership: Why Great Managers Always Ask the Right Questions,” as leaders advance, they tend to oblige by asking fewer questions and providing more answers. This is precisely the wrong approach.

Entrepreneurs and business executives have to keep reign over a very broad domain. They need to ask the right questions in the right contexts to stay ahead of the game, and to empower coworkers to find solutions, embrace responsibility, and become accountable.

An EU benchmark of national innovation capabilities has the United States out in front with some European countries falling behind the emerging economies. The US Government on the other hand is deeply concerned about its innovation capability. Haydn Shaughnessy asks if the benchmarks give us a way to rethink innovation.

New Orleans experienced an unprecedented influx of entrepreneurial talent and energy in the wake of Katrina, but activities like meet ups and networking can take those entrepreneurs only so far. At some point new ventures need capital, and that’s just what Freeman School professors John Elstrott and Ralph Maurer hope to provide them with.

Elstrott, clinical professor of entrepreneurship and executive director of the Levy-Rosenblum Institute for Entrepreneurship, and Maurer, visiting assistant professor of strategy, are part of the management team behind the New Orleans Startup Fund, a new nonprofit venture capital fund created to provide local high-potential ventures with seed capital, a critical need in the local entrepreneurial community.