Better Practices Often the Best Results of Innovation

An interesting discussion over at Harvard Business Review has consultant Susan Cramm asking readers why so many tech executives tend to discard "best practices" and set themselves up for seemingly unavoidable failure in the process.

Of course, readers (all of whom are quite eloquent in their responses) come down on the two divergent sides of the issue: Tech leaders suffer from hubris that makes them believe the mistakes of others can't happen to them, or just laying up to best practices is a sure way to suppress innovation and commoditize your brand into ho-humness.

Moncton hosts Intelligent Communities Summit

Moncton's IQ may go up this fall, with representatives of some of the world's smartest cities converging here to learn, teach and share some of their tricks of the trade.

The first ever Intelligent Communities Summit will be held in Moncton October 5 to 7, bringing hundreds of government officials, and corporate and world leaders to our city.

Meet professional tweeters, the latest innovation from many businesses

CHICAGO — People around the world interact with Alecia Dantico all day. Usually, though, they don’t know whether she’s young or old, male or female.

What her followers on Facebook and Twitter know is that’s she’s a friendly, sometimes sassy, blue and gold tin of Garrett Popcorn. That’s the icon of the popular Chicago-based snack food that has tourists and locals lining up around the block at locations here and in New York City.

Massachusetts Business Czar Greg Bialeckis Innovation Agenda: The ...

From his corner office on the 21st floor of the MacCormack State Office Building on Beacon Hill, Gregory Bialecki has what is probably the best view of any state official in Massachusetts. To the south, the floor-to-ceiling windows peer over Boston Common, Downtown Crossing, the South End, and South Boston; to the east, they look toward Back Bay, the Charles River, and MIT.

Is successful innovation just dumb luck? - SmartPlanet

Robert Scoble, who celebrates innovation far and wide across the tech sector, got a chuckle out of a statement by Google CEO Eric Schmidt that his mega-colossus of a company is only going to chase the really, really big markets: “We don’t want to work on problems that only affect a small number of people.”

Are You An Accidental Entrepreneur? Tell Us Your Story!

The recession has upended a millions of lives. But, as The New York Times pointed out recently, it's also created a new class of "accidental entrepreneurs." Either by necessity, sheer ingenuity or just plain luck, thousands of the newly unemployed have formed their own small companies in the last year.

Let’s work together to boost entrepreneurialism

More than ever, entrepreneurship will continue to play an instrumental role as geographic regions and small businesses contend with today’s rocky business landscape. While the entrepreneurial fire may be well lit, there are opportunities to better coordinate and amplify it into a raging inferno.

Finding and Funding African Innovators

You’re not going to find the compelling African entrepreneurs while sitting in an office in the US or Europe. It’s only by spending significant time on the ground in the countries you’re wanting to invest in that you find the people you need to know. It’s there that you get past the first-level of non-expert opportunity profiteers and attention seekers and find the people who actually do the work.

Welcome to the first Intelligent Communities Summit!

The Summit provides an exceptional opportunity for CEOs of corporations, mayors and senior municipal government officials, business leaders, economic developers, educators and interested individuals to meet and hear international leading-edge community, academics and private sector leaders who will share best practices and engage participants to brainstorm on the next steps in leveraging technology for community development. These next steps will be designed to help businesses and communities weather economic storms, prosper and improve quality of life.

Over the past 20 years, Moncton transformed itself from a blue-collar town with an uncertain future to one of the most diversified and fastest growing metropolitan centers in Canada. The success of its transformation is entirely due to its focus on the Broadband Economy, and how all stakeholders have collaborated to leverage technology for community development.

The hard work of the past two decades was recognized earlier this year when the Intelligent Community Forum in New York named Moncton one of the 2009 Top Seven Intelligent Communities in the world. In fact, the Canadian Province of New Brunswick has been identified by the Intelligent Community Forum as a best practice model. This year, two New Brunswick cities, Moncton and Fredericton, are among the 2009 Top Seven Intelligent Communities.

Innovation is alive and well in Canada

Recession is a time for battening down the hatches, staying the course and avoiding unnecessary expenses -- right?

Not according to Canada's entrepreneurs, who are in a fighting mood as they await a recovery. In a new survey, 61% of business owners said they are investing in innovation and/or research and development this year, which may surprise business-watchers who think small business owners are innovation laggards.

European innovation policy sees successes but also new challenges

The re-launched Lisbon Partnership for growth and jobs has put innovation and entrepreneurship at the centre and called for decisive and more coherent action by the Community and the Member States in view of mastering the shift towards knowledge based low carbon economy.

NineSigma Surpasses 1500 Mark in Open Innovation Projects

CLEVELAND, OH -- 09/01/09 -- NineSigma, the leading provider of open innovation solutions, today announced that it has conducted more than 1,500 open innovation projects since its inception in 2000. This milestone is a result of the company's steady growth in the number of new clients and expansion into new geographic areas including Europe and Asia. With each project, the company continues to build its extensive community of innovation providers and reach top innovation talent across industries and disciplines. To date, NineSigma has...

Guest columnist: Looking for more than dollar$ - Find the right investor

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. - So you have completed your business plan, determined how much money you need, practiced your presentation, and are now ready to approach angel investors to raise the capital needed to launch your business. But, you don't know any. You have heard about the angel organizations in the area. You have read about the venture capital firms as well. Where do you start looking? Here are some tips to finding angel investors:

FT: Government under fire on venture capital

The government’s record as a venture capital investor will come under fire on Wednesday as research says it has produced disappointing results in creating jobs and boosting profits at the start-up companies it finances.

NOTE: Registration required to read full article on Financial Times.

Biotech Cools Off in August But Capital Markets Remain Positive

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Just as biotech was "hot" in July it was a different story in August as the Burrill Biotech Select Index suffered from the summer "blahs" and posted a lackluster performance to close down 1.1 percent. The broader markets, on the other hand, continued their upward swing with the Dow closing the month up a healthy 3.5 percent and the Nasdaq closing up 1.5 percent.

Real World, Green Innovation for Corporate America: Harvard’s five steps

This month’s Harvard Business Review (HBR) has many folks in the corporate community asking questions and talking about the new business opportunities around sustainability. The September issue features a range of articles covering new green technology, sustainability as a business innovation driver and new energy sources for business.

WSJ: Facebook's Rev Program Gives Start-Ups Deeper Connections

For the 20 start-ups that participated in Facebook's just-ended summer incubator program, called "Rev," the benefits are obvious -- learn the tricks of the trade from the brains behind the Web's largest social network and get advice from top Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and investors.

Govt and angel fund team up for tech sector

A new investment partnership is looking to invest up to $8 million developing technology ventures emerging from life sciences, engineering and information and communication technology research.

The partnership is between government-supported fund manager New Zealand Venture Investment Fund (NZVIF) and angel investment network AngelLink.

The Future of Innovation-Based Economic Development

Given by Bendis: (Click image to download PDF version)

BW: Does the US Face an Innovation Crisis?

Ever since the late 1950s the United States has suffered bouts of insecurity about its innovation lead. The Russians in space. The Japanese in industry after Industry. And now the Indians and Chinese. The latest flurry of worries was clearly brought on by a combination of the dot-com bust and the acceleration of outsourcing. It has blossomed into a full-blown anxiety attack with the global recession and the clear signal that a lot of the most obvious US innovation in the first eight years of this decade was so-called financial innovation—which brought disastrous results. Now the calls for action are louder, including this package we at BusinessWeek put together in the last issue.