Economic Gardening has become a hot topic in economic development circles. The alternative approach, which focuses on nurturing second stage growth companies and growing an economy from within, has caught the attention of many economic developers. Yahoo! has more than 350,000 references to the term and over 700 communities have contacted Littleton, Colo., to learn more about our project.

The relocation of manufacturing plants offshore and the general decline of economic health in parts of the country have reduced the effectiveness of traditional economic “hunting.” Communities are struggling to regain a sense of control over their future, and they see investments in local entrepreneurs as less risky and more certain than continuing to play the high stakes recruiting game.

Much of Apple's success relies on the inspiration CEO Steve Jobs has fostered in employees. Here are seven steps to turn inspiration into innovation

When Apple (AAPL) unveils its iSlate in late January, the tablet computer will be just the latest wowing of the world by the pioneering computer company. With its iPhone, iPod, and MacBook laptops, plus the original Macintosh computer itself (and the "1984" TV commercial that pitched it), Apple's innovation has changed technology—and the people who use it.

Often overlooked in these rollouts, though, has been the inspiration behind the products. How does a man—CEO Steve Jobs, who co-founded Apple with Steve Wozniak—foster such an upwelling of inspiration? How does a leader motivate teams in the organization and transform consumers into loyalists? More importantly, how can you foster such inspiration in your organization?

New York, January 11, 2009 – US venture capital firms raised $3.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009 from 32 funds, according to Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). For full year 2009, venture capital fundraising totaled $15.2 billion from 120 funds, a 47% decline by dollars committed and slowest year for fundraising since 2003. By numbers of funds, fundraising activity in 2009 will mark the slowest annual period since 1993.

"Many venture firms voluntarily stayed out of the fundraising market in 2009, a dynamic that clearly is reflected in the lower volumes,” said Mark Heesen, president of the NVCA. “However, most of these firms will not be afforded the luxury of continuing to wait for market conditions to improve in 2010. They will be out in the market raising funds alongside firms that were already scheduled to raise this year. It promises to be a defining period as we will gain a better sense as to what the venture capital industry will resemble in the next decade.    All signs point to a leaner, more capital efficient asset class comprised of firms with proven track records of delivering value to limited partners. Not all firms will make that cut, but the ones that do will be very well positioned to invest.”

Although research and development has declined nationwide, a number of key industries amped up their innovation investments last year, suggests a new report.

The "2009 Innovation Report" released this week by specialty information firm Thomson Reuters finds that a few firms across 12 industries amped up patent activity in the 41 patent-granting authorities worldwide amid the worst business decline in decades. The computer industry, with more than 226,000 patents worldwide, led the others by far, representing about 29% of all such grants. "Among most active patenting companies in the category were Samsung, Sony/Ericsson, Canon, Toshiba, LG and Seiko Epson," says the report.

Semiconductors, telecommunications and automotive patents came next, each with 12% of the roughly 862,000 global patents analyzed in the report. About 14% of the automotive patents involved alternative energy vehicles, with Toyota filing three times more patents than its closest competitors, General Motors and Honda. In pharmaceuticals, with 8% of all the patents, educational and not-for-profits institutions were the leaders.

Battelle's R&D Magazine reported "substantial declines" in industrial research and development last year, estimated at $389.2 billion, with 44% of research managers surveyed with budgets exceeding $1 billion reporting spending decreases of 5% or more. Still, the magazine projects a slight increase in industrial R&D spending, about a 1.7% increase, in 2010.

Contests can be a great way to get recognition for your small business in addition to the big prizes. Check deadlines closely. Our latest list of competitions and awards for entrepreneurs includes an extended deadline and several that are ending in January 2010. This listing is updated every two weeks and brought to you as a community service by Small Business Trends and Smallbiztechnology.com.

A good approach to predict technology companies’ next move or the emergence of a new industries is to keep an eye on patent trends. Over the last 30 years, the number of patents filed has grown exponentially worldwide. According to IFI Patent Intelligence, in 2008, IBM set a new US record with over 4,000 patents registered in a single year. They were closely followed by Samsung, with about 3,500 patents, while Canon, Microsoft and Intel were distant followers.

In France, and the rest of Europe, once a patent has been filed, the submitted documents for the given patent are available for free and can show you what the most innovative companies are betting on. For instance, if you go to the Web sites of the INPI (Institut national de la propriété industrielle) or the EPO (European Patent Office), you can see that the following patent applications were recently published this January:

C. H. Tung, the first Chinese-appointed chief executive of Hong Kong after the handover in 1997, offered me a three-sentence summary the other day of China’s modern economic history: “China was asleep during the Industrial Revolution. She was just waking during the Information Technology Revolution. She intends to participate fully in the Green Revolution.”

I’ll say. Being in China right now I am more convinced than ever that when historians look back at the end of the first decade of the 21st century, they will say that the most important thing to happen was not the Great Recession, but China’s Green Leap Forward. The Beijing leadership clearly understands that the E.T. — Energy Technology — revolution is both a necessity and an opportunity, and they do not intend to miss it.

America has the largest economy in the world because of a concept called credit. Christopher Columbus was able to discover the new world (Bahamas) by loans from the Spanish government and Italian investors. The concept of credit can be explained if a person receives money, goods and / or services from another person without paying for their immediate and / or whether the payment is based on a lateragree on the date.

American consumers need credit to make purchases for big houses, cars and emergencies. Since 70% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, the loan is essential to our everyday lives. In 2007, the U.S. consumer debt reached an estimated total of $ 2.5 billion, where the credit card debt accounted for 36 percent of the total population. On average, consumers about the implementation of $ 10,000 in credit card debt. Entrepreneurs rely on loans to start businesses, which supply us with goods andServices, allowing our economy to grow and increase our standard of living.

In our continuing effort to playfully challenge stereotypes and, well, turn people onto science, we present:
The Philadelphia Eagles Cheerleaders-turned-scientists! Enjoy! (And GOOOOOOO EAGLES!)

DETROIT — With $6,000 and some Hollywood-style spunk, four friends opened this city’s only independent foreign movie house three months ago in an abandoned school auditorium on an unlighted stretch of the Cass Corridor near downtown.

After the unlikely hoopla of an opening night, red-carpet-style event in an area known for drugs and prostitution, exactly four customers showed up to see a film.

Lately I [Eric Sheninger] have been pondering about what themes educational leaders should embrace in order to initiate and sustain change. Educators from all corners of the globe have discussed through blogs and Twitter (i.e #edchat) the need for a fundamental shift in how students are instructed and assessed. Although most would agree that the traditional "chalk & talk" and "sage on the stage" are sometimes needed as information dissemination techniques, these types of instruction should not be the focus of lessons. They should support a more authentic form of learning. The common vision of effective instruction now centers around student-centered, authentic learning experiences that properly integrate technology and foster critical thinking skills. Specific pedagogical strategies that come to mind include cooperative, inquiry-based, problem-based, and self-directed learning as well as differentiated instruction, assessment, and supervision. As discussed in “Shift Happens” we need to prepare today’s learners for jobs that don’t even exist yet. Is your school or institution moving in this direction?

Did you know that despite the fact that more than 58% of Irish graduates are women, women make up less than 5% of the top management of companies and only represent 30% of European entrepreneurs.

Late last year European Commission established a new initiative to highlight and promote women entrepreneurs as a key to economic growth and job creation

The network was officially launched by An Tánaiste and Enterprise Minister Mary Coughlan TD on the 15 December 2009 at the European Commission, European Union House in Dublin.

The city of Longmont is rolling out a couple of new programs this year to assist small-business owners.

The new Business Start-Up Grant offers up to $2,000 to people who want to start a storefront business.

“It’s extremely meaningful, just because of all the hidden openings costs,” said Phil Bratty, who with his wife, Georgia, is opening The Simply Bulk Market at 418 Main St. in a couple weeks. Bratty was one of the first ones to apply for the start-up grant. “I don’t want to say they were all surprises, but when you think about things like setting up phone service, things like that, I just wasn’t prepared for some of those costs.”

Serendipity is a wonderful thing, but it’s no way to build an economy.

We can’t rely on dumb luck to connect the people, ideas and capital that will create the businesses of the future. We all love the stories of life-altering breakthroughs being pulled out of thin air.

We hold dear tales like that of Archimedes exclaiming “EUREKA” upon discovering that the volume of his body submerged in his bath must displace an equal volume of water, solving the previously intractable problem of measuring the volume of irregular shapes. But Archimedes’ “discovery” was no fluke. He was the leading mathematician of antiquity. He brought tremendous skill and background to this challenge before his eureka moment.

Japan aims to step up its recruitment of foreign students by increasing the number of courses taught in English, write SUZIEANA UDA NAGU and SHARIFAH ARFAH.

THE news that Waseda University in Tokyo had the most number of international students among Japanese tertiary institutions as of last year came as no surprise to those who are familiar with the university.

“I do feel as if I’m in a European country whenever I visit Waseda University,” says Norhana Rashid (not her real name), a Malaysian who resides in Tokyo.

She was responding to a report in Japan Today, a Tokyo-based online newspaper, that the population of foreign students in the country has reached a record 132,720 as of May last year — up 8,891 from the previous year.

The biotech industry raised a record $55.8 billion in 2009 despite hesitant stock and venture capital markets, as drug-company partnerships fed the cash-burning startups that develop new therapies.

That represents a jump of 85 percent over the $30.1 billion recorded in 2008, according to Steve Burrill, whose San Francisco firm Burrill & Co. is both an industry investor and analyst.

He said the 2009 results were driven by $37 billion in financial partnerships through which large drug companies license technologies or experimental remedies from biotech startups, a dynamic that enabled many small firms to survive a tough year. But it may ultimately limit their growth if they were forced to cede control over their most promising developments.

Investors are being offered tax breaks for going green with a new breed of venture capital trust (VCT) that invests in clean-energy companies.

VCTs are a type of fund that give investors 30% tax relief on new investments of up to £200,000, in addition to tax-free growth and dividends. They were created to boost growing companies, so they are a suitable match for the fledgling clean-technology sector, particularly as firms have been struggling to access bank finance.

The value of green VCTs has tripled from just £12.5m two years ago to about £37.5m now, according to Martin Churchill of Tax Efficient Review, an investment advisory firm.

You Are Invited
The Kauffman Foundation Presents
"The State of Entrepreneurship"
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.

The National Press Club
529 14th St. NW, 13th Floor
Washington, DC 20045

Please join us as the Kauffman Foundation presents an overview of entrepreneurship and the critical role it plays in our economic recovery. Carl Schramm, Kauffman Foundation president and CEO, will deliver a comprehensive address assessing the outlook for entrepreneurship in 2010, including the challenges facing new businesses and solutions for fueling job growth as part of the economic recovery.

Supporting America’s Breakthrough Energy Innovators

The U.S. Department of Energy's ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy) invites you to the inaugural ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit in Washington DC, March 1-3.

Bringing together all the nation's key players in energy innovation: Research & Technology Leaders, VC Investors, Technology Entrepreneurs, Large Corporations, Policymakers, and Government Agencies.

A new idea . . . a new approach . . . a new technique . . . creative breakthroughs can come like a bolt of lightning, or in the whisper of a muse.

Or, sadly, not at all. Many of us would welcome any sign of creative inspiration.

"Creativity is the ability to give the world something it didn't know it was missing," said Daniel Pink. "Create something fundamentally new, like the iPod. You have tens of millions of people now who carry around an iPod. Eight years ago I don't think they knew they were missing an iPod."