Here we highlight selected innovation related articles from around the world on a daily basis. These articles related to innovation and funding for innovative companies, and best practices for innovation based economic development.
The UpTake: Startups are in vogue in cities everywhere, but in many international places, the government has gotten involved and is championing entrepreneurship as a way to solve economic woes and reduce poverty. In these five places, especially, big moves could come in 2014.
It does tend to be The Guardian where the strange arguments turn up but this is bizarre even by the standards of that newspaper. Crowdfunding is a bad thing because we can’t be sure that the people who really need it get the money. Oh, and if crowdfunding is successful then this might mean that government might not need to steal so much of the taxpayers’ money. Or that, at least, is what the argument seems to be.
Image Courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
You don’t need to necessarily be the next Facebook or Twitter to have your idea funded. The entrepreneurial spirit and independent investing are alive and well in the world of crowdfunding.
Crowdfunding allows budding startup owners, artists and philanthropists to reach beyond their network of friends and family and raise money for their projects, usually via online portals. One of the largest crowdfunding sites, Kickstarter, says that since its launch in 2009, 5 million people have pledged $831 million, funding 50,000 creative projects.
Image Courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP), a key technology hub in the GCC region, has called for a fresh look at how science and technology parks can support technology innovators in the Arab world. QSTP welcomed government institutions, industry and academia to be part of an ongoing conversation following a recent International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation (IASP) gathering in Oman hosted by Knowledge Oasis Muscat (KOM).
Image: http://www.gulf-times.com
The new year is already shaping up to be another exciting 12 months for innovation, with the expected arrival of much-hyped products such as Google Glass and the promise of exciting new scientific discoveries, like those made possible by the recent launch of a billion-pixel camera to map the Milky Way. But there’s always room to wish for more. So, here’s a brief wish list for 2014. Santa, are you listening?
Image: http://www.washingtonpost.com
A successful innovation is a little like an iceberg: Look under or behind the innovation and you’ll see the smart practices, processes and structures that supported the success of the innovation. Herewith, six practices to avoid, and that are sure to compromise the chances of success
So many stories, so few slots. Our picks this year run the gamut from physics to biology to technology. But as a group, climate change wins in terms of having the most stories, followed by space science.
As usual, we had to leave out many exciting developments. To that end, we have decided to take a cue from Spinal Tap and turn it up to 11 with this top 10 list: specifically, a page of honorable mentions.
Having been discovered on YouTube during the birth of social media, it’s no wonder the young pop phenom Justin Bieber has been using his tech and social-media clout to grow his worth. Justin Bieber’s fortune tops out around $80 million, which translates to somewhere in the ballpark of $3 million in venture investments. You might be asking yourself the question, what does a young 19-year-old teenage icon do with all that cash? He diversifies by turning fame and quick money into long-term riches. Not one to dabble in the stock market, he sets his sights on private tech start-ups. He invests only in things he likes, not just what gets thrown his way. His manager Scooter Braun has a team of investment hunters that turn them on to investments and Bieber has been known to bring a few ideas to the table as well.
Image: http://www.blogtrepreneur.com
Happy Holidays from Rich Bendis and the Innovation America Team!!!
Image: http://nuribanitopatxi.deviantart.com/art/navida-328975654
For many urban residents, their city is a source of identity and pride. But 2013 has been a rough year for many cities and their denizens. In New York, San Francisco, and other urban centers, income inequality--the gap between the richest and poorest residents--is on the rise as the costs of living soar while wages and job growth stagnate. And Detroit, a city in decline for decades, was forced to take the unprecedented step (for a city of its size) of filing for bankruptcy in July.
Image Courtesy of Vichaya Kiatying-Angsulee / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Ever wonder how small a living space can actually get? Or how cheap? There’s been an explosion of innovation in housing design this year--all in the name of creating sustainable homes that work with unconventional lifestyles and budgets.
There was the $20,000 affordable house. Or tiny wooden dorm room “boxes” that are only 10 square meters large. And a vision for an entire luxury building of pico-dwellings, taking compact living to even higher heights. Or 3-D printing entire homes.
Image: http://www.fastcoexist.com/
The era of the "emergency use only" texting plan is long gone. These days, the way we text is as much an indication of our personalities as the way we behave interacting with people face-to-face (assuming that ever actually happens).
Image: http://mashable.com
A startup called FINsix has developed laptop power adapters that are 75 percent smaller than their conventional counterparts. The technology employed could also be used to improve the efficiency of a wide variety of devices and appliances, including washing machines and air conditioners.
Image Courtesy of renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Although the groundwork was laid in previous years, in 2013 it became apparent that computers mounted on your wrist and face will preoccupy the computing industry for years to come.
One of our first stories of the year noted the launch of the crowdfunded smart watch Pebble, a product that seemingly catalyzed the resurgence of interest in wrist-mounted computers from gadget buyers and companies large and small. Soon after that, we picked smart watches as one of MIT Technology Review’s 10 Breakthrough Technologies of 2013.
Amid all the advertisements pummeling people to shop right up to Christmas Eve for holiday gifts and to resume shopping as early as possible the day after Christmas, some of the most memorable holiday gifts aren’t found in retail stores.
These holiday gifts do not cost anything and will never be directly measured in an economic recap of the holiday buying season.
Image: http://brainzooming.com
A recruiter at a well-known Fortune 10 company told me this story: She was getting ready for a phone interview with a new college graduate. But when she dialed into the conference number at the scheduled time, instead of the candidate, there was an older woman on the line.
The female caller identified herself as the applicant’s mother and said, “I know you were expecting a call with John (not his real name), but he’s tied up in another interview at the moment. Fortunately, I know him so well that I can do the interview for him. Do you mind?”
Image Courtesy of imagerymajestic / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
This year, we got serious about connecting our homes. We smartened up our arms and eyes. And we figured out ways to make all the screens we've accumulated—from tablets and laptops to LCD TVs—seem fresh and exciting again.
Taken one by one, these may not seem like massive changes. But they’ve added up to a transformation in how we relate with technology.
Image Courtesy of Nutdanai Apikhomboonwaroot / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Venture capital investing in Washington state started out with a whimper in 2013, but it is ending with a bang. After the slow start, as evidenced by the chart above from CB Insights in which just $100 million was invested in the first quarter, things roared to life in the fourth quarter buoyed in part by one blockbuster biotech deal.
Image: http://www.geekwire.com
This year was a good one for start-up investment. Globally, early stage seed funding rose by 375% and the local industry welcomed some new funds, along with the emerging rise of crowd funding and the coming wave of crowdsourced equity. Here are some of the most notable investment stories of 2013:
Image Courtesy of Grant Cochrane / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Here's the thing about gingerbread houses. You labor over them for hours. You painstakingly decorate them with gumdrops and candy canes.
And then, someone shakes the table it's sitting on and boom! It all comes crumbling down, leaving a huge, house-shaped hole in your heart.
Never again, we said.
Image Courtesy of digidreamgrafix / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
