The first article of the series focused on the identification and mapping of innovation ecosystems. The second one focused on technology evolution (technology roadmapping) and the identification of value within the product segments and architectures (value chain). The last one focuses on the identification of innovation hubs for future enabling technologies.

Innovation Hubs

The innovation hub is where innovation occurs for a specific industry, functional area or skill. The hubs are formed on three axes, (1) technology providers, (2) facilitators and (3) technology seekers, shown on the graph below.

About three years ago, Thumbtack was a startup in a house high atop a San Francisco hill. There, the local-services-discovery company's original six employees lived, worked, and schlepped to lunch.

With every noontide, the decidedly pre-revenue startup lost an hour to the lunch trek. Soon they had a crazy idea: What if they ordered in? They tried one day a week, and like the research suggests, they worked way better after eating well. Then a crazier idea: What if they hired a chef?

They did: Thea Baumann, culinary school-trained preparer of ultra-fresh deliciousness.

In the article I discussed the downside of raising capital at a too high of a price and referred people to a previous article I had written encouraging founders to raise “At the Top end of Normal” as opposed to stratospheric prices.

In the comments section Siqi Chen wrote a great question

“Whenever I hear advice about pricing a round too high for the next round, I can’t help but think: well, if the choice (ceteris paribus) is between

a) doing what is effectively a down round preemptively when I don’t have to, by underpricing my current round in this market vs

b) accepting the market price along with some risk of taking a down round in the future, if I don’t hit my milestones, why would I ever choose b)?”

From our humble beginnings in a living room in Palo Alto to today’s 26 offices around the world, LinkedIn has become a global destination for more than 225 million professionals around the world.

We started out as a network for professionals to build their professional identities and connect with one another. As our products have evolved over the past ten years, LinkedIn has changed the way professionals work and has shifted some fundamental business habits.  The way professionals connect with one another, find and pursue new business opportunities, discover and share information and insights, as well as how companies are finding the right talent for the right opportunity, have all forever changed with the power of LinkedIn.

In his employer’s eyes, Dan Brittingham, a dropout from the University of Michigan’s nursing school, was far more desirable hire than any Harvard grad.

Brittingham, 24, is one of eleven fellows enrolled in New York-based Enstitute, a college alternative for dropouts and a few recent grads. He was selected by Enstitute’s founders from over hundreds of applicants for demonstrating critical thinking, drive, and an aptitude for entrepreneurship.

A couple of years ago I posted about what I thought would be the “new era of Venture Capital.” Specifically I was predicting that we’d see a strong barbell effect in VC fundraising. From that post: I believe what we’re going to see in the venture industry is a bifurcation of fundraising– basically a barbell on the graph of fund sizes. Large, well known, multi-sector and multi-stage “mega-funds” will be able to raise $750MM or greater at one end of the scale, and smaller, more focused funds will raise $250MM or less on the other end – with a relatively small number of funds in the middle.

So you've finally finished developing your product or service, flushed out your business model, and you're ready to dive head first into your new business venture — but how the heck do you raise enough capital to get started?

Taking venture capital is one way to secure the funds necessary for starting your business. According to recent statistics from Reuters, venture capital firms invested over $4 billion dollars in startups in 2012, and more than $900 million was invested in the first quarter of 2013.

The success of Thomas Friedman’s The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century is nothing short of astonishing. First published in 2005 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, it’s since sold more than 4 million copies and picked up numerous accolades along the way, including a Business Book of the Year award from the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs. The book (and its updated versions) has retained its relevance over the years and is still on the recommended reading list of many MBA programs.

Friedman’s globalization thesis has not gone uncontested, however, especially in academic circles. Pankaj Ghemawat, the Anselmo Rubiralta Professor of Global Strategy at IESE Business School in Barcelona, has been particularly vocal in his criticism. Starting with an acerbic Foreign Policy article in 2007, he’s carried out a veritable anti-Friedman campaign in books, articles, and speeches. In 2011, with IESE senior research associate Steven A. Altman, he released the first DHL Global Connectedness Index to measure cross-border interactions. Ghemawat appears to have developed the index as an antidote to the hallucinating effects of a condition he calls “globaloney,” meaning the exaggerated perception that the world is flat.

iHub Research releases the first report of a kind ever on ICT Hubs research. The  on-going research aims to understand the unique factors that make up ICT Hub models across Africa. The objectives of the study is to understand the models of the Hubs/Labs, its entrepreneurs and the sustainable impact of these Hubs/Labs in spurring innovations that improve livelihoods. Little inquiry, if any, has been done to understand the various ICT Hub models developing all over Africa, and how such factors influence the entrepreneurs in the spaces. iHub Research aims to fill this dearth of information. This report is to act as a benchmark for existing and new hubs in their implementation of their hub model.

Assess Costs Everywhere (ACE) provides manufacturers with the top reasons for investing and sourcing in the United States.  With its analytic framework, links to public and private resources, and case studies, ACE is now available to help businesses assess total costs more accurately and enable informed decision-making.

I first visited the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology in Ghana when it first opened in 2008. It was impressive then and it has continued to impress since—helping incubate promising tech startups throughout the country. Five years later, it is part of a growing entrepreneurial ecosystem in Accra that is laying the foundation for future growth. In our final commentary on Africa, we hear from Alicia Robb, senior fellow at the Kauffman Foundation, who has just returned from Ghana about her thoughts on the progress being made.

Ghana is one the fastest growing economies in Africa, experiencing strong growth over the past decade and forecasted to grow at 6% to 7% annually in the coming year. With a diverse and rich natural resource base, Ghana also has one of the highest levels of per capital GDP in Africa. Entrepreneurship is going to play a key role in Ghana’s future. The number of entrepreneurship education and training programs has proliferated in Ghana over the past decade and a growing number of young people are pursuing entrepreneurship, with hopes of striking it big.

15 years ago, my industry was filled with sweatshops. People slept under their desks, drank Red Bull by the gallon, and never had lives. We kidded ourselves, but it wasn’t any fun.

So when I founded my second company, we tried an experiment. Except when absolutely necessary, we’d work normal hours and stay home on weekends. People thought we were crazy, but it didn’t take long before we realized something: The breaks we took were great for our productivity—and our lives.

Billionaire Warren Buffett dispensed plenty of advice on investing and life during this weekend's Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting.

The wisdom Buffett and his investing partner Charlie Munger offer is part of what attracts more than 30,000 to the meetings each year.

The business model canvas — as opposed to the traditional, intricate business plan — helps organizations conduct structured, tangible, and strategic conversations around new businesses or existing ones. Leading global companies like GE, P&G, and Nestlé use the canvas to manage strategy or create new growth engines, while start-ups use it in their search for the right business model. The canvas's main objective is to help companies move beyond product-centric thinking and towards business model thinking.

The Iowa Innovation Corporation announced today the first award of its newly released SBIR/STTR Assistance program to NanoMedTrix of Coralville, Iowa. The Iowa Innovation Corporation’s Small Business Innovation Research and Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) Outreach Program is designed to increase the rate of successful grant applications for Iowa's innovative businesses seeking federal grants through the Small Business Administration's SBIR/STTR programs. The Iowa Economic Development Authority has delegated to the Iowa Innovation Corporation (Innovation Corporation) administration of the SBIR/STTR Outreach Program.

Jose Assouline, President and founder of NanoMedTrix LLC, established the company in August of 2012, after more than a decade of research into contrast agents and nanotechnology. The company's founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Jose Assouline, is a professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Iowa. He is a highly qualified science professional, with expertise in applied chemistry and applied physics which have been channeled into solving problems in the medical field. The company's endeavors are supported by a team of professionals with expertise in engineering, law and business. Two provisional patents have been applied for.

Let us help you tell your story! SSTI’s Excellence in TBED awards program was created to recognize programs and initiatives that are improving the nation’s competitiveness through science, technology and innovation.

Apply now for the 2013 Excellence in TBED Awards by sending us a narrative that describes how your efforts are improving local, state or regional economies. Winners of this award receive complementary registration (a $650 value) to SSTI’s Annual Conference September 15-17 in Portland, OR, and are provided a national platform to showcase their achievement. Awards are presented in the following six categories:

• Expanding the Research Capacity
• Commercializing Research
• Building Entrepreneurial Capacity
• Increasing Access to Capital
• Improving Competitiveness of Existing Industries
• Most Promising TBED Initiative

The deadline to apply is June11. More information is available at: www.sstiawards.org.

Fans of Three Simple Steps tell me that one of the main benefits for them has been gaining the confidence to reinvent themselves. Prior to reading the book they thought of themselves as too young, or too old, insufficiently qualified, inexperienced, unfit, and/or lacking support whether financial or emotional, to stop what they do for a living and follow their passion. All of those excuses seem legitimate when we make decisions for our lives based on the opinions of the people, media and environment around us. I can tell you from experience, however, that reinvention is a simple thing to achieve, far from easy and it takes courage, but simple nonetheless.

Tom Chiarella recently wrote an ode to graciousness for Esquire. Any aspiring lady or gentleman would do well to take it to heart:

Do not mistake mere manners for graciousness. Manners are rules. Helpful, yes. But graciousness reflects a state of being; it emanates from your inventory of self. Start with what you already possess. You, for instance, have a job. Live up to that.

And then what? Chiarella holds court on gracious conduct--let's go over a few of his main points.

Venture capitalists are pushing to allow more highly educated immigrants into the U.S., saying this is essential to ensuring that the country remains an innovation leader.

New Enterprise Associates Scott Sandell. One argument they use is that immigrants create jobs by starting companies. Scott Sandell, general partner at New Enterprise Associates who leads the venture firm’s technology investing, wants to support this assertion with better data.

It’s not all bankruptcies and lost government loans in the world of electric cars. Beneath the headlines about hard times for the companies, there’s a steady trickle of customers buying electric cars, charging stations being built, and at least one electric car company eking out a profit for the first time. The following charts point to some bright spots for electric cars in 2013.