Angel investment activity in Canada increased last year, according to a new survey by the National Angel Capital Organization.

The survey, released on Wednesday, looked at investment activity in 2012 by 20 angel groups—around two-thirds of identifiable angel groups in Canada.

Russia is a booming market for startups as the county’s Internet access and 4G networks ramp up. It’s now the biggest single market in Europe, passing Germany a year ago. At the same time the government realises it needs to ween the economy off its historical addiction to oil, gas and heavy industry. Thus it’s helped set up the Skolkovo Foundation to incubate tech companies. Skolkolvo brought a selection of its startups to Disrupt, so we went trawling the booths for a few Russian gems. Here’s what we found.

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Mentoring has become a more significant part of the economy today than since, perhaps, apprenticeships in the Craftsman Age. Why? The rise of entrepreneurship and our expanding freelance economy are driving massive transformation, and workers are increasingly required to find their own means of making a living.

Three teams were announced as winners in the recent Design by Biomedical Undergraduate Teams (DEBUT) challenge, a biomedical engineering design competition for teams of undergraduate students. The three categories addressed the critical needs in biomedical technology, focusing on devices for diagnostics, therapeutics, and technology that can aid underserved populations and individuals with disabilities. The challenge was managed by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), which is a part of the National Institutes of Health.

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China opened one of the world's largest high-tech industrial zones in Beijing on Friday.

The Ministry of Science and Technology and the Beijing government began planning the so-called technology transfer zone last year to attract domestic and overseas companies. On Friday, the two announced the opening of the center, predicting that it will become "the largest technology transfer zone".

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Business accelerator DreamIt Ventures has opened the application process for its second program in Austin. DreamIt will be accepting applications through AngelList until Nov. 8, officials said Thursday.

When asked to name the most notable rags-to-riches entrepreneur that his firm has funded, venture capitalist Ben Horowitz doesn't hesitate: Christian Gheorghe, a Romanian immigrant who came to the United States without speaking English, and rose from limo driver to founder of a business-analytics company, Tidemark. It's an impressive tale that encapsulates the way Silicon Valley likes to think of itself: a pure meritocracy; a place where talent rises to the top regardless of social class, educational pedigree, race, nationality or anything else.

While 176,000 jobs were added in August, according to the ADP National Employment Report, take that number with a grain of salt. It isn't necessarily good news for the economy. The number rests slightly above the six-month average of 164,000, but below the three-month average of 188,000, revealing that growth has slowed.

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To be an entrepreneur you must make sales. Your business cannot survive without them.

Most businesses flounder not because of a bad idea or because of a lack of sustainable demand for products and services. Instead, they fail because of a lack of proper marketing and sales efforts. Marketing is a multichannel endeavor while sales has just one purpose: to bring in more client and customers.

The ability to sell isn’t taught in school and it doesn’t come with most college degrees. No wonder entrepreneurs struggle to keep the revenue coming in.

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Long ago I was on a committee asked to create a survey that would determine whether a loan applicant was an entrepreneur or not – I quit the committee that day.  I have always leaned on the “made” side of the “born versus made” debate feeling that life experiences played a big role in determining an individual’s likelihood the act entrepreneurial.  We all know an entrepreneur when we see one; we have also bumped into struggling small business leaders who have none of the required traits. I did some digging to see if I could find a definition that we can all use to identify key traits that every entrepreneur needs to be successful, no matter what the industry.

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Greetings, fellow procrastinators. You've clearly stumbled across this comic because you're avoiding something — unless you are perhaps a comics analyst. In that case, good job staying on track.

Procrastination is nothing to be ashamed of. Everyone does it, but we each have a unique way of pushing off work to maximize time wasted.

TechColumbus is updating its brand image to reflect its tighter focus on helping startups. The nonprofit that manages state Third Frontier grants and loans, matched by corporate donors and services, has rolled out a new logo that evokes a circuit board. The logo reflects the organization’s renewed commitment to entrepreneurs, Chris Anderson, vice president for venture acceleration, told me in an email. Back in July I covered TechColumbus’ “gut check” on its mission under new CEO Tom Walker and shedding of its broader advocacy role.

Sweden, Germany, Ireland and Luxembourg are the EU Member- States getting the most out of innovation, according to a new indicator proposed by the European Commission on Friday.

The "Indicator of Innovation Output" measures the extent to which ideas from innovative sectors are able to reach the market, providing better jobs and making Europe more competitive. The indicator was developed at the request of EU leaders to benchmark national innovation policies, and shows that significant differences remain between EU countries.

I don’t think I’ve ever (in 20+ years of writing) reprinted a press release verbatim. Often I don’t even get to the end of them because of all the PR speak. However, today the Mayo Clinic sent out this list. It is concise, compelling and I can’t think of any way to improve it. The 10 ways the human genome map can affect diagnosis and treatment is an important reminder that we have come a long way in a short time, and that healthcare in the United States is not all about arguing about who gets care and who pays for it.

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To the current generation of Silcon Valley entrepreneurs the Internet is innovation itself, and the medium and platform from which all that is new and creative seems to spring eternal.   But according to a post on Venturebeat, Rob May, CEO and cofounder of Cambridge, Mass.-based Backupify, the Internet is killing innovation with it's narrowing of views and viewpoints, shallow understanding, and experiential limitations.

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I believed the same lies that you still believe, for a long time. I was in college during the early days of the World Wide Web, and like others, I rejoiced in the incredible access to knowledge it provided, and diversity of thought it promoted. So when I first read in 2008 about how the Internet had a negative impact by narrowing modern scholarship, I didn’t believe it. The Internet was great, and was making us more productive, more creative, and more innovative. That’s what we were promised.

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They coined the term corporate slavery for a reason.

Corporations around the world thrive upon the talents and enthusiasm of young graduates who are eager to submit their loyalty and hard earned degrees, to contribute to the profits of the company that hires them. These individuals it seems, are caught in a monotonous cycle of safety that guarantees them a monthly paycheck.

Entrepreneurship on the other hand, is quite literally a risky business. That said, it has its share of advantages and disadvantages. In the attempt to minimize risks to the success of one’s business, individuals usually enter the job market first to gain experience and then apply what they have learned to their own business.

This week I had the opportunity to spend time with entrepreneur and educator Stedman Graham. He knows a bit about communications and business.

No stranger to national and global press, he’s best known as the long time partner of media business mogul Oprah Winfrey. Their relationship often overshadows Graham’s list of business and philanthropic accomplishments that includes 11 books, including two NY Times best sellers. We didn’t discuss that fact, but I have the sense that high profile press is among the least of the identity priorities that currently comprise his life’s work.

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INFORMATION SHOULD ALWAYS TELL A STORY. BUT WHEN THERE’S A REAL NARRATIVE? ALL THE BETTER.

Economics are boring. Now sure, there are times you can look at the micro and the macro and see all of the driving impulses of humanity playing out in numbers. But if economics were interesting, The Bachelor would be a stock market game and we’d all be lighting cigars with Benjamins.

Walter Landor was a branding legend who helped companies from Coca Cola to Levi's define their brand for the public. "Put simply," he said famously, "a brand is a promise." The more important the promise and the better you fulfill it, the better your brand.

Few countries rely on their brand promise as much as the United States. Beyond its power in binding Americans together, the US brand promise has a powerful influence abroad. Ronald Reagan is famous for articulating a vision of the U.S. as "a city on a hill." That precise image was also evoked by John F. Kennedy when he was President-elect, and long before him by Massachusetts Bay Colony Governor John Winthrop. "We shall be as a city upon a hill," Winthrop wrote in 1630, "the eyes of all people are upon us." From its earliest origins, America has been conscious of the message she projects abroad.

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