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In Washington, the US Department of Energy announced the launch of three new “Energy Innovation Hubs,” one to be focused on “Fuels from Sunlight Energy,” and said it will award $122 million over five year to support the project, including $47 million in the first year of operation.

The objective of this Hub is to accelerate the development of a sustainable commercial process for the conversion of sunlight directly into energy-rich chemical fuels, likely using mechanisms based on photosynthesis, the method used by plants to convert sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water into sugar.

The constrained venture capital markets and difficult environment for IPOs, will make 2010 a big year for M&A transactions. The leaders in hot new software sectors will be swallowed up at a premium, along with entrepreneurs tired of running on the treadmill as they get closer to retirement, will drive more M&A transactions than ever. I see these theses trends emerging:

1. Emergence of “Social Commerce”
2. Greater Performance for Online Advertising
3. Better Online Privacy Controls and a Move to Mobile Devices
4. Broad Adoption of Energy Management Applications
5. Software to Manage Food Safety
6. Technology to Manage Water Use

[Editor's Note: more detail for each of these items is available on the original post]

The National Venture Capital Association has released Venture View 2010, its annual survey of more than 325 venture capitalists across the U.S. Among the findings: most respondents predict slightly more dollars going into more companies in 2010. But the prognosis for the entire asset class is a gradual pullback in size, over the next five years.

Among the areas most likely to enjoy increases in investment activity are clean technology, with 54 percent predicting growth. Other favored industries include Internet (46 percent), Media and Entertainment (33 percent) and Software (32 percent). No surprise – a whopping 70 percent of respondents believe there will be more venture capital investment flowing into Asia, particularly into China-based companies.

This morning’s roundup of the latest venture capital news and analysis across the Web:

Corporate Acquirers Hitting The Post-Holiday Sales - While tech and social networking IPOs are at the top of bankers’ wish lists for 2010, VentureWire reports the exit climate is also favorable for health-care VCs, as corporate acquirers seek to strike deals while valuations are still favorable. “They’re going to go on a shopping spree,” said Claremont Creek Ventures Managing Director John Steuart. However, the year may also bring about fire sales of companies which limped through 2009.

Venture Dollars May Be Found In Translation - Outside of Israel, venture capital and tech growth has been all but non-existent in the Middle East and much of the Arab world. The Los Angeles Times posits that the September purchase of Maktoob.com by Yahoo has paved the way for other start-ups - search engine Yamli, for instance - to start drawing in investors. However, the region’s start-ups face a host of unique obstacles, including “censorship, corruption and weak infrastructure.”

If your children happened to be born since the year 2000 in developed countries, they will most likely live to be 100, and they will be healthier than elderly people in previous generations, according to a recent article in the medical journal The Lancet.

The implications are enormous for everything from retirement planning and health care costs to new models for the workplace and innovative approaches to education. As Olivia Mitchell, professor of insurance and risk management, states: "This is a demographic revolution the likes of which we have never seen before on earth."

About a month ago, I mentioned Esquire’s coverage of a nuclear reactor design called PRISM, for an efficient, modular nuke that could potentially be mass-produced. It seemed like Esquire had taken extra effort to sugar-coat and glorify PRISM, repeatedly presenting it as a world-saving technology.

Thumbing through my December cope of Wired, I’ve found another piece that could be the twin of the Esquire article. Uranium Is So Last Century — Enter Thorium, the New Green Nuke, blares the headline at the top.

Innovation is a priority of all Member States and of the European Commission. Throughout Europe, hundreds of policy measures and support schemes aimed at innovation have been implemented or are under preparation. The diversity of these measures and schemes reflects the diversity of the framework conditions, cultural preferences and political priorities in the Member States.

PRO INNO Europe® is an initiative of the Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry (DG ENTR) which aims to become the focal point for innovation policy analysis, learning and development in Europe, with a view to learning from the best and contributing to the development of new and better innovation policies in Europe. Run by the Innovation Policy Directorate of DG ENTR, it pursues the collection, regular updating and analysis of information on innovation policies at national and European level.

INNO-Policy TrendChart serves the 'open method of coordination' approach laid down by the Lisbon Council in March 2000. It supports policymakers and innovation support measure managers in Europe by providing summarised and concise information and statistics on innovation policies, performances and trends. It is also a European forum for benchmarking and the exchange of good practices in the area of innovation policy.

Arizona has slipped in several areas of technology-based economic development in recent years, leaving the state "solidly behind" peer states such as Colorado, Oregon, Utah and New Mexico, says a report from the California-based research group the Milken Institute.

To catch up and succeed, the state needs to expand its research base, improve access to capital, develop more skilled and educated workers, and create a better game plan to attract and retain high-tech companies, Milken concluded in a study sponsored by Science Foundation Arizona.

IMAGINE a planetarium-style presentation about the future of technology, followed by a tour of dozens of hands-on exhibits — whether of sandlike microparticles that flow like liquid in a beaker, pictures that appear three-dimensional or concrete that floats.

Is it the latest science museum, or a new Disney attraction? No, it’s the “World of Innovation” showroom, a cornerstone of the 3M Company’s customer innovation center at its headquarters in St. Paul.

Since it is the Christmas holiday, and I am spending the week in southern Spain with my family, I have not been focusing too heavily on economic data and have instead been reading lots of different stuff, including Frederic Wakeman´s excellent The Fall of Imperial China, about the transition from the Qing, especially the late Qing, to the early Republic. Among other things I have been reading there is a very interesting article in the Winter 2010 edition of National Affairs, by Jim Manzi, and AI entrepreneur and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, that discusses the US within what he calls “the inherent conflict between the creative destruction involved in free-market capitalism and the innate human propensity to avoid risk and change.”

What’s better than cash and prizes for your business in the new year? Lots of new contests and competitions for entrepreneurs and small businesses to enter in 2010, including a bunch in January. This listing is updated every two weeks and brought to you as a community service by Small Business Trends and Smallbiztechnology.com.

FOR the many disappointments of the recent climate talks in Copenhagen, there was at least one clear positive outcome, and that was the progress made on a program called Reducing Emissions From Deforestation and Forest Degradation. Under this program, key elements of which were agreed on at Copenhagen, developing countries would be compensated for preserving forests, peat soils, swamps and fields that are efficient absorbers of carbon dioxide, the primary heat-trapping gas linked to global warming.

This approach, which takes advantage of the power of nature itself, is an economical way to store large amounts of carbon. But the program is limited in that it includes only those carbon sinks found on land. We now need to look for similar opportunities to curb climate change in the oceans.

1991 was when India achieved its second independence – that of economic liberalization. But, in retrospect, one has to say that it has been far more than just economic liberalization. It also liberated the mind of the baggage of self-doubt, low confidence and ignorance. It has therefore been my belief that those born around or after 1991 would be the change agents of India. Entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial thinking would be the vehicles of change.

On Christmas Eve, millions of children around the world are nestled in their beds while visions of Santa Claus dance in their heads.

But how did the jolly old elf become part of the holiday tradition?

While historians disagree on the particulars, most believe the familiar image of Santa as a fat, jolly gift-giver with a white beard, dressed in a red suit and driving a sleigh full of toys is an invention of 19th-century literary artists, but one which has ancient European roots.

In 2000, California's unemployment rate was 4.9 percent. Venture capital funding hit $41 billion. Jobs and income were rising after a five-year spurt during which California outpaced the nation in virtually every major economic measure.

In 2009, the state's unemployment rate will average 11.7 percent. The state has lost more than 1 million jobs in the latest recession. Venture capital funding plummeted in the first half of 2009. The state and nation have seen losses in the value of homes and retirement savings. Fear and caution abounds in the land. Both the state and nation will end the decade with fewer jobs than existed 10 years ago.

In today's economy we are seeing the fruits of an industry, driven by stock holders (greed) vs. value (stewardship). These companies; because of the high margins they received at one time, did not feel that their course of action would catch up with them; but it did, thus the correction in the market or the crash of 2008.

There is nothing worse than feeling the stress of Guido, (venture capitalists, investors) calling in their portion of the pie or dictating company decisions based on the desire for gain without the contribution of value (i.e. innovation or the creation of new markets). These types of pressure scream high margins, low morale or loyalty within the company. When you have low morale in the organization it's only a matter of time until it seeps down to the customer level. So the alternative is to merge with another company because growth is to slow, which often leads to borrowing more from the loan sharks.

Here’s the list of books I [Ben Turner] read during 2009.

I finished 49 books in 2009, ahead of my goal of 40. In 2010 I will attempt 40 books again.

This only captures a sliver of what my eyes have consumed in 2009, since there’s just so much content online these days. Hopefully at some point we’ll be able to measure every word consumed annually at some point, possibly with neural/optical implants.

Brand experience is rapidly becoming the new frontier for innovation.

Such brand experiences authentically embed the product into deep content or services, stretching the footprint of the brand far beyond where it is used. This type of innovation is becoming a mandate for growth across a number of consumer categories, particularly in package goods.

How confident are you that your company’s strategy is up to the task of delivering superior earnings over the next several years?

Does your company have a clear innovation strategy for introducing new products and services enough to ensure that revenue streams continue to flow and deliver consistent growth in corporate earnings and shareholder value?

During high tide, a rising sea will automatically lift all boats — including some that may not be seaworthy.