As the G20 Summit gets underway in Seoul this week looming protectionism and the currency war between the U.S. and China will occupy most of the headlines. But a number global technology agendas have already emerged, including calls for the the G20 to make a commitment that trade in crucial rare earths will not be interrupted because of industrial policies or political disputes." Industry leaders are also pressing G20 nations to take a more enlightened approach to technology and economic development.

"Governments should show more urgency in adopting mobile broadband and other advanced digital technologies to drive productivity throughout the wider economy, according to the head of a leading U.S. communications firm."

I was finally able to sit down and watch the two hour video of the June 10, 2010 testimony “From the Lab Bench to the Marketplace: Improving Technology Transfer.” Several witnesses from different backgrounds (university tech transfer offices, VC, startup and NSF) shared their perspectives and recommendations about university technology transfer to the House Committee on Science and Technology, Subcommittee on Research & Science Education.

Lesa Mitchell, Vice President of the Kauffman Foundation summed up effective university technology development very nicely, I thought, as “opportunity recognition and analysis.” By now, many people who follow U.S. university research policy issues are familiar with Kauffman’s proposal to improve the effectiveness of university technology transfer services by allowing university researchers to choose their own commercialization agent (meaning they may opt to not use their university-provided technology transfer office).

CLEVELAND, Nov. 10, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NorTech, a regional nonprofit technology-based economic development organization, announced today the completion of a shared vision and action plan to accelerate the growth of Northeast Ohio's emerging flexible electronics industry.

The global electronics industry demands small, low cost devices that consume less power with more functionality that are integrated into a consumer's everyday life, including apparel and mobile devices. The flexible electronics industry has emerged to address those demands. According to the International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (iNEMI), the global flexible electronics market is estimated to grow to $250B by 2025.

The Northeast Ohio Flexible Electronics roadmap outlines strategies and initiatives to develop low-cost manufacturing of electronic devices printed on flexible materials with multiple global market applications. NorTech led the strategic roadmapping process in partnership with 23 technology and industry experts from Northeast Ohio research institutions, manufacturers, material suppliers, and product developers.

Microfinance has a respected history in the field of international development. Often described as a hand up rather than a hand out, its aim is to reach the un-bankable – providing access to financial services for populations traditionally marginalized by the economic mainstream.

October’s 2010 Toronto Microfinance Conference & Gala brought together several hundred microfinance practitioners, students, advocates and micro-newbies. The program featured speakers who live and breathe the “micro way” as well as individuals representing organizations who do not deliver microfinance programming but whose work falls into the very dynamic and growing space of social finance.

In only its second year, the conference’s co-hosts spanned the social finance spectrum; from micro-credit lending organizations that work in the global South like Impact First International, to local community fund organizations such as Access Community Capital Fund and corporations working in innovative ways like Home Ownership Alternatives.

Earlier this week, the Federal Government announced a plan to inject $80 million into high potential start-ups as part of its Innovation Investment Fund.

Four major venture capital funds will use the money to help start-up companies commercialise their research and see their ideas into reality. The VCs will have to match the government’s outlay, meaning that at least $160 million will be up for grabs.

So what do start-ups have to do to get a slice of the VC pie? We’ve spoken to the VC firms that will be investing the government cash to draw up 10 essential tips on how to attract funding.

1 Sell yourself

Formulate a compelling business plan, which clearly identifies the value proposition, reasons why the business will succeed and how it intends to achieve this success. 

Unusually warm ocean temperatures this year have led to mass devastation of the world's corals, and prospects for their long-term survival are grim, a top government scientist said yesterday.

"Right now, coral reefs around the world are either bleached, dead from bleaching or trying to recover from bleaching," said C. Mark Eakin, who coordinates the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Coral Reef Watch. "2010 has been a major, major year of coral bleaching in all of the oceans around the world."

Bleaching occurs when corals expel the microscopic algae that normally live inside their hard skeletons, providing them with food and their bright coloration. Changes in ocean salinity, nutrient runoff and other pollution can cause small-scale bleaching, but scientists say the widespread global bleaching this year is a symptom of unusual ocean warming.

Many young entrepreneurs face a bias from prospective customers or other dealmakers who make assumptions about maturity, business acumen and intellect based on their age. A scene from The Social Network, the movie about the founding of Facebook, captured the conflict well.

Mark Zuckerberg, the film's main character and 20-something founder of the wildly successful company, gazes out a window in deep thought, unrelated to his immediate predicament, as he is addressed by an older attorney in a deposition. Failing to get his attention, the older man is clearly upset. The patronizing patter is likely familiar to generations of young entrepreneurs.

Inflated valuations typically signal that a particular investment segment is overheated. Deals in the digital and social media category, for instance, are becoming so expensive for venture investors that they may invoke an unsavory label - bubble.

But besides valuations, perhaps a more severe symptom of a brewing bubble is the recklessness by which venture capitalists are making their investment decisions.

Speaking Wednesday at the Digital Hollywood conference in New York, Venrock’s David Pakman tossed out an observation that makes the investment game sound like the Wild West.

A new incubator created by ex-Googlers is jumping into the busy seed-stage investing scene.

San Francisco-based AngelPad, which like incubator Y Combinator takes a small stake of 3% to 6% in start-ups in exchange for mentoring, networking and advising, is preparing to present its first group of companies to investors Wednesday. Eight companies have participated in AngelPad’s first 10-week program.

No, this isn’t going to be a how-to about kissing. The K.I.S.S. Principle has been around for decades, but I am amazed at how few entrepreneurs apply it to their business. In case you don’t know what K.I.S.S. is, the acronym translates to: Keep It Simple, Stupid. Or, for those of you who want to be nice, Keep It Short and Simple. 

Though this concept can be applied to almost any situation, for entrepreneurs it is especially important to be focused and not add complexity when it’s not necessary. Through my experience leading IdeaCrossing, I’m regularly amazed at how many entrepreneurs don’t apply this principle to something as basic as how they describe their startup in their elevator pitch.

Often descriptions are filled with industry-specific acronyms, technical terms, and things anyone else would need a Ph.D. to understand. These entrepreneurs get so passionate about their idea and showcasing what they know that they aren’t thinking of their audience. Truth be told, their idea could be the greatest thing since sliced bread, but if investors don’t “get it” they are going to pass and look for the next opportunity. So how can entrepreneurs simplify?

In this first post I’m going to answer the introductory question “What is venture capital?”, which sets the scene for the rest of the Series.  Nicholas Lovell will publish his first post in the series today as well answering a similarly introductory question “What exactly is an ‘investor’?”.  After that we will each publish in alternate weeks, with me taking the first post next Wednesday.

What is venture capital?

Venture capital is money invested in high risk startups by venture capitalists on behalf of institutional investors with the aim of making outsize returns.

There are five concepts in that definition (in italics) which merit further explanation – I’m going to do that briefly now and then in more detail throughout the series.

Few things infuriate me more than supposed experts who make statements along the lines of “patents are critical to innovation.” I have avoided stating my views widely in this forum because I didn’t want to get into a contest of one upmanship with my patent lawyer peers. However, in the last couple of weeks, several pieces of information have hit my radar screen that make this seem like the right time to go public with my views.

Let my position be very clear: we create a false dichotomy when saying “innovation is not possible without patents.” The issue is much more complex and nuanced than this: in a particular instance, patents may be critical to innovation, but they might also be only slightly important or–likely in the majority of situations–they might be wholly irrelevant to innovation. (I talk more about this in this recent interview in Innovation Management Magazine.) Unfortunately, where you stand also depends on where you sit, and sitting behind a desk writing or examining patents may color your belief that patents are the cure for America’s innovation ills. (The cynic would likely note that relying on a patent practitioner or the Commissioner of the US Patent Office for an assessment of whether we need more patents is akin to “putting the fox in charge of guarding the hen house, but I digress. . . .”)

In a just-published New York Times article, Pamela Ryckman explores whether the most financially successful West Coast women, particularly those in Silicon Valley, are more entrepreneurial than their East Coast counterparts — and, if so, whether something can be done about that disparity.

Deborah Perry Piscione, who raised $5 million from a single female investor to finance her production company and Web site within 18 months of moving from Silicon Alley to Silicon Valley, believes West Coast women are in fact more entrepreneurial. She said she was amazed by the “big group of incredible, fearless women” she met once she moved west. Meanwhile, back east, she said, “There are all these women who made tons of money and now are not doing anything with it.”

 The WSJ offers Cuts Reach Campus Oasis, by Joel Millman today, and provides an interesting view on a region (the Idaho/Washington border where two major land-grant schools, Washington State University and the University of Idaho, sit 8 miles from one another) dependent on higher education and it success, yet just beginning to really integrate the benefits of the campus ecosystem with the broader region and private economy. The traditional campus oasis.

Millman explains that the recession has meant a 20% decrease in funding for both schools and for the first ever time at WSU, revenue from tuition is greater than state appropriations.

The Otis Report on the Creative Economy of the Los Angeles Region is the first study to capture the monumental economic force of the creative industries in Southern California.

I often recommend business networking as the most effective way for a startup founder to find investors, advisors, and even key executive candidates. But what if you are an introvert, or new to this game, and don’t know where or how to start?

I have learned over the years that there is an etiquette to this process, just like there is for social networking. Here are a few of the “do’s”:

• Post your profile on LinkedIn and Twitter, and join in relevant discussions. There are other networks that also work, depending on where you are in the world, like Ryze, Plaxo, and Facebook, but setting up an account on MySpace probably won’t help you.

• Join and actively participate in local business organizations. Business groups like TiE-The Indus Entrepreneurs and EO-Entrepreneurs Organization are places to meet people you can help, as well as people who can help you. Remember it helps to give a little to get something back. Another place to start is the local Chamber of Commerce.

Every once in a while I start to feel like I’m taking myself  a bit too seriously and I have to slip in a more cheeky post.  But to every jest there is some truth.  So here’s what really winds me up ….

It OUGHT to be really obvious how to create a proper tag for a conference, but my observation is that 98% of conferences suck at name tags.  Maybe more.  It makes networking much more difficult / awkward.  And it’s so damn solvable – no rocket science degree required.

It completely baffles me, actually.  I would think these suggestions would be a BGO (blinding glimpse of the obvious, for those TLA fans) but I guess not.  If you agree with me, please forward this post to people organizing conferences to save us all the future hassle.

Before you send your first tweet you need to make your Twitter account look like someone who's serious.

Upload a Photo of Yourself

You can also use a photo of your business, product, or other image that is representative of what you do, but it will never be quite as successful as a photo of yourself.

People connect to other people. They respond emotionally to another human face. It doesnʼt matter what you look like, as long as youʼre real.

Write a One Line Bio

Are you a private detective? If so, say it. Do you sell pumpkin carving kits? Say it. Whatever you do, you're automatically an “expert” in that niche in the eyes of the world, even before you open your mouth.

Include a Location

Like a face and a bio, a location makes you into a real person and not just a troll living under a bridge or in a basement somewhere. If you're uncomfortable giving exact directions to your home or office, be general. If you donʼt want to say that you live in San Diego, Southern California is good enough.

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