The United States still reels from the aftermath of the financial crisis. Many of us in the biomedical-research community, meanwhile, fear that our field may face a recession of its own in the not-too-distant future.

Reminiscent of the dot-com crash of the previous decade—and, indeed, of today's financial crisis, mainly precipitated by the implosion of the subprime-loan market—biomedical research is endangered by its precarious position atop a bubble of unsustainable financial practices. The unrestricted grant-making policies of the National Institutes of Health inflate the number of biomedical researchers in a fashion that cannot be matched by the availability of research funds and might eventually lead to a shortage of financial support for biomedical research.

The Moon, at least at the bottom of a deep, dark cold crater near its south pole, seems to be wetter than the Sahara, scientists reported Thursday.

In lunar terms, that is an oasis, surprisingly wet for a place that had long been thought by many planetary scientists to be utterly dry.

If astronauts were to visit this crater, they might be able to use eight wheelbarrows of soil to melt 10 to 13 gallons of water. The water, if purified, could be used for drinking, or broken apart into hydrogen and oxygen for rocket fuel — to get home or travel to Mars.

“That is a very valuable resource,” said Anthony Colaprete, principal investigator of NASA’s Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite — or Lcross, for short — which made the observations as it, by design, slammed into the Moon a year ago. “This is wetter than some places on Earth.”

Titian in a hoodie. AM 1690's Max Arbes speaks with New York-based artist Kehinde Wiley about his work. Wiley lectures tonight at the High Museum. [WMLB 1690]

Speaking of the masters, Oglethorpe University Museum of Art currently features the exhibit Nineteenth Century French Master Drawings and Sculpture from the Schlossberg Collection, which includes work by Delacroix, Renoir and Rousseau. Critic Jerry Cullum says "there can be few local resources as potentially rich as the 105 bronze sculptures and works on paper that [curator Lloyd] Nick has selected from [Atlantan] Dr. Michael Schlossberg’s brilliantly chosen acquisitions." [ArtsCriticATL]

It’s easy to think that being an organized person will stunt your creativity. Whether it’s in your work, relationships, business, career or whatever. There is a fear that systems and structure will confine us into a box where creativity and good ideas go to die.

This site is about rejecting the negative claims about organization. Instead, this site praises organization and makes a bold claim:

An Organized Life, Is An Extraordinary Life

At the very least, the organized person is in a much better position to do extraordinary things than those that are not. Organization is the structure, the glue, the concrete that gives your life the focus and clarity needed to do extraordinary things. Without a certain level of personal organization, our lives flounder, our work grows stale and we lack the direction needed to continually be moving towards great things.

CGA-Canada also says in its report, entitled Laying the Foundation for a National Entrepreneurship Strategy, that the government should assemble an expert panel to formulate such a game plan, which would encourage "innovation as a central component of government policy, with strong leadership at the highest political levels."

The organization says governments, universities and the private sector should collaborate to grow "centres of excellence" in entrepreneurship, with a focus on youth entrepreneurship.

The Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario announced a new Investing in Business Innovation program. The program offers matching grants for early-stage venture funding. This is a $190 Million  program running from 2010-2014.

There are provisions for startups and angel networks. Since we’re StartupNorth, let’s try to deal with the startup side first.

• Startups who receive a term sheet from a qualified angel investor (as defined by the Ontario Securities Commission) or venture capital firm (registered with the Canadian Venture Capital association) are eligible to apply for up $1 Million in loan from the federal government.
• Restrictions:
  • Start-up businesses will be eligible for repayable contributions up to $1 million for no more than one-third (33⅓ percent) of total eligible and supported project costs.
  • An angel and/or venture capital investor(s) must be committed to provide at least two-thirds (66⅔ percent) of the cash contribution toward eligible and supported project costs.
  • In-kind contributions related to mentoring, networking, and other business skills cannot be considered as part of the angel or venture capital investor’s cash contribution.
  • A maximum of one project per eligible start-up SME can be funded under the initiative.
  • Direct eligible costs for start-up businesses may include:
    • Labour, capital and operating expenditures;
    • Materials and supplies;
    • Consulting and/or professional fees (limited to market rate); and,
    • Minor and non-capital acquisitions (e.g., software).
  • All project activities must be completed by March 31, 2014;

The Innovation Union is key to achieving the goals of the Europe 2020 Strategy for a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy. It aims to improve conditions and access to finance for research and innovation in Europe, to ensure that innovative ideas can be turned into products and services that create growth and jobs.

Dr. Julian Lange, a professor of entrepreneurship at Babson College, Thursday urged several hundred fast-growing technology solution providers to break the established business model that has made them successful.

Successful companies are willing to reinvent themselves by turning the conventional wisdom of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" to the entrepreneur's mantra: "If it ain't broke, break it!," said Lange. Too often, business leaders are lulled into a "false sense of security" and are unwilling to take the next big risk, he said.

Lange was the kick-off keynote speaker at CRN's Fast Growth awards event in Boston, which featured the fastest growing technology solution providers from around the country.

"The biggest risk of all is not taking risks," said Lange, who advises companies around the world on how to drive entrepreneurial skills throughout an organization. "The world is not going to stand-still. If you are not constantly trying to innovate and do better, many companies are going to get ahead of you. There isn't an option to stand-still."

America has lost its muchness. This is a real word, used by Lewis Carroll when the Mad Hatter tells Alice, “You’ve lost your muchness.”  According to Webster, muchness means “the quality or state of being great in quantity, extent, or degree.”  What it really means is the assuredness and confidence in ongoing greatness.

The United States loses its muchness on a regular basis, but what’s truly remarkable is that we find it again — even when it looks like it’s gone for good. It happened in the 1970s during stagflation and Watergate, during the haunting year of 1968 with the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy.  It happened in the stock market crash of 1929, and that time we didn’t regain our muchness until the end of World War II. In every case, some people said America had lost its way. Whether they were right or wrong, we found our way again — and our muchness.

Communicating effectively with investors is an important job that any CEO faces.Given today's excitement over seed investing, it is not unusual to have 5 - 15 investors in any given round.

Thus, keeping everyone up-to-date but also knowing how to get help when needed and from whom, is a complex operation. If you do it right, they will give you major value add without taking up too much of your time.

When a new CEO for one of our portfolio companies was hired, we wanted to help him streamline information so that he would have time to run his business. We worked with him to put together a weekly email to provide us with the key metrics the company tracked along with departmental updates on key high priority projects. We weren't asking the company to create something they shouldn't already have (key metrics, departmental priorities, cash balance) but rather we just wanted the data shared on a timely basis.

"Buying American" used to be a popular political gesture. But these days it's becoming impossible.

Simple products like lightbulbs are not manufactured ANYWHERE in America. Even the shirt on your back is almost certainly not made in this country, unless it comes from a few craft companies.

We fear this trend will only continue.

Economists are talking more than ever about the need to offshore if American industry will survive and recover in any form.

Innovation is not just about coming up with new ideas -- we do have a fair number in circulation. Execution can be innovative, we see it all the time. Yet, many consider innovation sexy and execution... well, it is work isn't it?

I was also thinking about what having a spirit of inquiry means to me. Given my lifelong pursuit of good questions -- mostly why questions -- I thought I would share with you a few nuggets I came across and saved from books and other readings that talk about execution and innovation to inspire us to lean into our questions.

1.

“Advocates of knowledge management as the next big thing have advanced the proposition that what companies need is more intellectual capital. While that is undeniably true, it's  only partly true. What those advocates are forgetting is that knowledge is only useful if you do something with it.” -- Jeffrey Pfeffer, professor, Stanford Graduate School of Business

We have been following the growing list of strategy documents to revitalize the state’s business climate and deal with the state’s other problems.

The list — Competitive Wisconsin’s Be Bold Wisconsin: The Wisconsin Competitiveness Study, the Wisconsin Technology Council’s Looking to the Future: A Case for Bold Action, the Wisconsin Way and Refocus Wisconsin — now includes the Wisconsin Prosperity Strategy, the end product of the Wisconsin Economic Summit Series held earlier this year, including in Appleton.

The Wisconsin Prosperity Strategy (which apparently went through at least nine drafts, given that I have found drafts five and nine online) is a 12-point plan in the economy, education and government:

1. Leverage Strategic Investments to Spur Wisconsin’s Competitiveness in Global, Innovation Economy
2. Create Entrepreneurial Ecosystem and Early-Stage Capital Pools Across Wisconsin to Accelerate New Ventures
3. Promote Driver, Global Export Industries Through Public-Private Partnerships
4. Capitalize on State’s R&D Strength Through Accelerated Technology Transfer …
5. Align Investments in Education with Strategic Direction of Economy …
6. Restore Fiscal Stability Through Budget and Debt Disciplines
7. Create Lean Government Commission
8. Charter an Independent Job Creation Board to Replace Department of Commerce
9. Capture Greater Share of Federal Dollars
10. Invest Strategically in State’s Infrastructure: Balanced Energy Portfolio, Transportation and Telecommunications
11. Adopt Successful Consumer and Market-Driven Reforms for Delivery of Health Care in Public Sector Plans
12. Report Card/Metrics for Innovation Strategy Success

Research budgets are facing the chop in Spain, but many among the scientific community believe the biggest problem facing Spanish science is not finance - which is of course important - but the rigidities of the country’s scientific infrastructure.

Jose Luis López Barneo, physiology professor at Sevilla University, is not particularly optimistic about change happening now. “We missed the right time, when the Spanish economy was doing well, between 2000 and 2008, to make the structural reforms to create a robust system,” he believes.

Those reforms, which would optimise available resources, include the introduction of a scientific career based on principles of merit and a funding agency independent of political influence.

“The largest energy storage device on the planet is the Atlantic Ocean,” said Andrew Parrish, Managing Director of Wavebob, one of the most advanced wave energy companies in the world. “The Atlantic is the battery for the planet.”

Ocean energy is expected to put 45 prototypes in the water in 2010 and 2011, according to a new report from Emerging Energy Research (EER). The report predicts ocean energy will go from an annual installation of 50 megawatts per year in 2015 to at least a gigawatt per year after 2026 and could reach a 2030 cumulative installed capacity of seventeen gigawatts.

“If you look at the wave energy sector,” Parrish said, “there are probably two hundred different companies trying to do wave energy.” While “there has been little evidence” of a particular technology’s superiority, Parrish said, “the evidence is converging on a Point Absorber.” The EER report found that Point Absorbers make up more than a third of those currently vended while none of the others constitute as much as a fifth.

(New York City, USA � 21 October 2010)  The Intelligent Community Forum (www.intelligentcommunity.org) announced today its highly anticipated list of the Smart21 Communities of 2011.  The announcement was made by ICF Co-founder Louis Zacharilla at an event hosted by Suwon, South Korea, ICF's 2010 Intelligent Community of the Year. A complete list of the Smart21 of 2011 with brief profiles of each community may be found on the Smart21 page under Awards.

Watch the Video

The Smart21 announcement is the first stage of ICF's annual Intelligent Community Awards cycle.  It is followed by the naming of the Top Seven Intelligent Communities of the Year, selected from among the 21.  The Top Seven announcement will be made on January 19, 2011 at the annual Pacific Telecommunications Council conference (www.ptc.org) in Honolulu, Hawaii during an awards luncheon.  The cycle concludes in New York City on June 3, 2011 during ICF's annual Building the Broadband Economy Summit (www.icfsummit.com), where one of the Top Seven will succeed Suwon as Intelligent Community of the Year 2011.