Equity financing has never been easy to source in Canada. But now it's getting worse.

Statistics from the Canadian Venture Capital Association show venture investing in the third quarter of 2009 fell 50% from the previous year, to just $191-million. In fact, total venture-capital investments could fall below the $1-billion mark this year for the first time since 1995– the year Netscape went public and kicked off the Internet gold rush.

But there is hope. The recession is easing, more Canadian cleantech companies are emerging, and the strengthening initial public offering market is restoring venture capitalists' hopes for more successful "exits" from investments. (Ironically, the company that breathed new life into the IPO market last month is Dollarama, the low-end retail giant that's the very antithesis of most VCs' ideal investment.)

IRELAND has dropped out of the top 20 best countries for venture capital and private equity investment because of credit shortages and the lack of modern industries, according to a report by the Spanish-based IESE Business School and Ernst & Young.

The country fell to 21st place this year from 16th last year in a survey of 66 countries because business in Ireland is dominated by the retail, leisure and construction sectors rather than the new industries favoured by venture capitalists and private investors, the report said.

The White House issued the following statement regarding President Obama's launch of the "Educate To Innovate" campaign for excellence in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education. Here's the full text:

President Obama today launched the "Educate to Innovate" campaign, a nationwide effort to help reach the administration's goal of moving American students from the middle to the top of the pack in science and math achievement over the next decade.

Speaking to key leaders of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) community and local students, President Obama announced a series of high-powered partnerships involving leading companies, foundations, non-profits, and science and engineering societies dedicated to motivating and inspiring young people across America to excel in science and math.

To improve science and mathematics education for American children, the White House is recruiting Elmo and Big Bird, video game programmers and thousands of scientists.

President Obama will announce a campaign Monday to enlist companies and nonprofit groups to spend money, time and volunteer effort to encourage students, especially in middle and high school, to pursue science, technology, engineering and math, officials say.

I [Jeffrey Phillips] love those truisms that people use to describe a situation. Strangely they are usually based on obvious failures, but perhaps it's simply easier to teach people based on failure than success. Some relatively well-known truisms include:

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink
You can't push a string uphill
Time waits for no man

I'd like to add one about innovation. While we like to say that everyone can innovate, its probably also safe to say that

You can't force a disinterested person to innovate

President Obama’s visit to China this week inevitably invites comparisons between the world’s two leading powers. You know what they say: Britain owned the 19th century, America owned the 20th century, and, it’s all but certain that China will own the 21st century. Maybe, but I’m not ready to cede the 21st century to China just yet.

Why not? It has to do with the fact that we are moving into a hyperintegrated world in which all aspects of production — raw materials, design, manufacturing, distribution, fulfillment, financing and branding — have become commodities that can be accessed from anywhere by anyone. But there are still two really important things that can’t be commoditized. Fortunately, America still has one of them: imagination.

HTDC started working on this document in anticipation of the State's need to have a coherent implementation plan for establishing Hawaii's innovation economy last year. This document evolved as we also accommodated the needs of other economic development practitioners and industry members hungry to find out about other states' best practices as well as their need to have all the recent Hawaii studies and publications and their recommendations related to the innovation sector in one place.

The draft of this document has already aided the EPSCoR subcommittee tasked with coming up with a framework for a State tech plan, and this version has been submitted to a newly organized "tech coalition work group" by some members of the legislature who wanted to reach out to the industry to provide a constructive venue to hold discussions for best practices to plant the seeds for the innovation sectors prior to January 2010.

Our Network continues to grow in substance and scope...

In the meantime, take the opportunity to welcome 13 new E100 from 10 countries added to our Global Knowledge Leadership Map – now representing 190 from 67 countries! Take a look at their capabilities and aspirations to see how they dovetail with your own.

Richard Bendis (USA) is Founder of Innovation America - www.innovationamerica.us. He serves as a Senior Fellow with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and on committees, such as The White House, the National Governor’s Association (NGA), the National Academies (NAS), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the American Academy for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the Council on Competitiveness.

YARMOUTH, Mass. — Dave Lamoureux’s kayak, named Fortitude, must be the only one in Massachusetts registered as a motor vessel. That’s because a powerboat registration is required to get a permit to fish for tuna here.

Apparently, it never occurred to the authorities that someone might be crazy enough to want to catch a bluefin while sitting in what amounts to a floating plastic chair and enjoying what Melville called a “Nantucket sleigh ride.”

Bendis is also a kayaker and states that this is "crazy innovation!"

Jerry Hultin 10.29.09, 4:45 PM ET

Currency by the trillions is flowing from governments to keep the global economy from spiraling into depression. But wise world leaders are looking beyond short-term stimulus plans to investments in technology that can grow their economies and generate more high-paying jobs.

These investments bequeath our grandchildren a valuable infrastructure: Inexpensive medical devices that vastly improve health, bio-materials that replace petroleum and urban infrastructure that addresses the challenges of more than half the world's population.

EDMONTON, AB, Nov. 22, 2009/ Troy Media/ — When you think about the great technology centers of the world, Edmonton, Alberta, probably doesn’t spring to mind. Yet, a small cadre of dedicated and talented people are determined to put that city on the scientific map by building an advanced business incubator for biotechnology, energy, medical, and transportation research, development, and manufacturing.

Edmonton Research Park (ERP) is 88 acres of brainpower: A division of Edmonton Economic Development Corporation, it sits on a spacious and beautifully designed campus in South Edmonton. More than 1,500 people from some 55 companies work there.

If an educated work force is the nation's human capital, business is seeing a lot of subprime these days.

Graduation rates are dismal in many school districts. Teachers are bailing out of the profession. Parents are frantic at the lack of options. Chancellors are clashing with unions. And student performance pales next to the competition abroad. Business often can't find the talent it needs in the work force that our education system produces.

The CEO Council considered a range of remedies. John Bussey, chief of the Journal's Washington bureau, moderated discussions by the education task-force as it considered what five priorities to recommend. Here are edited excerpts of those discussions.