The US National Science Foundation (NSF) announced backing for Science Across Virtual Institutes (SAVI) projects to address common challenges and serve as hubs for research and education activities across borders.

SAVIs will be built on relationships initiated by teams of NSF-supported researchers, research institutes and universities, leading to the creation of virtual institutes that network US researchers with international collaborators who have complementary strengths and common interests.

The projects will also support education partnerships, providing students, postdocs and junior faculty with opportunities to do research abroad.

Under SAVI, there will also be moves to strengthen connections between NSF and counterpart research funding organisations around the globe, to leverage each other's investments in fundamental research, research facilities, and human resource development.

To feed the world's growing and more affluent population, global agriculture will have to double its food production by 2050. More farming, however, usually means more environmental harm as a result of clearing land, burning fossil fuels, consuming water for irrigation and spreading fertilizer. Agriculture already imposes a greater burden on Earth than almost any other human activity, so simply doubling current practices would ruin large areas of land as well as poisoning rivers and oceans.

Even before Steve Jobs crashed the scene in late 1970s, California’s technology industry had already outpaced the entire world, creating the greatest collection of information companies anywhere. It was in this fertile suburban soil that Apple — and so many other innovative companies — took root.

Now this soil is showing signs of exhaustion, with Jobs’ death symbolizing the end of the state’s high-tech heroic age.

“Steve’s passing really makes you think how much the Valley has changed,” says Leslie Parks, former head of economic development for the city of San Jose, Silicon Valley’s largest city. “The Apple II was produced here and depended on what was unique here. In those days, we were the technology food chain from conception to product. Now we only dominate the top of the chain.”

Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) -- New York passed Massachusetts in U.S. venture-capital deals for the first time since at least 1999, ranking second in the latest quarter behind California, as investors seek growth in consumer Internet startups.

New York companies took in $831 million in 86 venture- capital deals in the third quarter, compared with $710 million for 83 investments in Massachusetts, according to a report released today by CB Insights, a venture-capital database. A total of 790 U.S. firms received $7.9 billion in the fourth straight quarter of venture investment growth.

Venture capitalists are pumping massive amounts of capital into startup companies, fueled by the emergence of big shifts in mobile, cloud computing and social networking.

A new report out today from CB Insights indicates that VCs invested $7.9 billion in 790 companies during the third quarter, marking the largest quarterly total so far this year. It was also a healthy 30 percent increase in investment dollars over the same period last year.

Of course, the looming question after seeing this type of blowout quarter is whether or rather how long this can continue given VCs are having a tough time raising funds. If the final quarter of the year comes in at similar levels, we are looking at a $30B+ year for VCs which depending on final tallies could represent the highest level seen in the last decade. So at some point, something has to give. But until then, entrepreneurs can enjoy the VCs for however long they choose to “make it rain”

Before we get into specific notes on the quarter, it’s worth noting what we included and what we didn’t in the numbers as this quarter had some mega-deals which can and did greatly impact results. For example, the CB Insights database tracked Twitter’s $800M funding but only $400M is included in our data (as the other $400M was used to cash out existing investors). Also, when non-VCs (mutual funds, hedge funds, etc) invest in internet companies for example, we do not include those rounds unless there is also a venture firm participating in the round as well. As always, we recommend you also review our definitions and methodology on p. 59 of the report to see what is included vs. what is not as there tends to be a fair amount of misinformation out there about venture data.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - An innovative Maryland technology transfer program - the first of its kind in the United States to partner federal labs and public universities - has received an award honoring its success.

The Maryland Proof of Concept Alliance, which teams the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and the University System of Maryland, was recognized as a national model by a group representing federal labs.

The Mid-Atlantic Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) - has made the Alliance the first recipient of its Partnership Award honoring successful collaborations between educational institutions and federal labs.

To speed researchers' innovations to market and help create jobs, the University of Maryland-led Alliance gives small, targeted grants for demonstration projects that can help prove to potential investors that a successful laboratory concept works - often a make-or-break challenge.

PALO ALTO—Silicon Valley has in recent years sprouted numerous "incubators" and "accelerators" that help nurture young companies, often for a fee or an equity stake. StartX, a corporate accelerator in Palo Alto, takes a different approach.

In a 3,300-square-foot space with floor-to-ceiling white boards, StartX offers start-ups free office space, mentoring and coaching, access to venture capitalists and other investors, and pays entrepreneurs a $4,000 to $5,000 stipend to cover housing and food over several months as they develop their companies.

On September 16, President Obama announced that his Administration will develop a National Bioeconomy Blueprint detailing Administration-wide steps to harness biological research innovations to address national challenges in health, food, energy, and the environment. Biological research underpins the foundation of a significant portion of the Nation’s economy. By better leveraging America’s national investments in biological research and development, the Administration aims to stimulate the growth of high-wage, high-skill jobs while improving the lives of all Americans. OSTP has issued a Request for Information (RFI) to solicit input from all interested parties on how best to develop the National Bioeconomy Blueprint.

The National Bioeconomy Blueprint will highlight Administration progress in this productive and promising scientific and economic arena and identify needs and goals, including:

On the heels of last week's post regarding Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's average speaking skills, I realized there is a specific goal I'm always striving for and that I drive my presentation-skills clients toward. It's simple, clear, and unmistakable: Are they waiting in line to meet you?

When I see a truly remarkable speaker, I will wait in line to meet that person, even if the line is long (and I am notorious for not rushing to be first in line). I am also terribly impatient--not a great quality, I'm afraid--so the speaker has to be really good for me to get in that line.

Think about your own experiences when you see a great speaker at, for example, a big industry event.

This is the first of several Heart of Innovation postings from the World Business Forum, which we recently attended in NYC. The conference was very inspiring. Great speakers. Timely content. And lots of food for thought (and feeling).

One theme that several presenters noted was the importance of asking the right question.

Tal Ben Shahar: "How do you get others to focus on what works? By asking the right questions."

Tal implored the audience to change the questions they are asking, noting that if we only ask "What's wrong?" (as many business leaders are wont to do), the answers will be unnecessarily skewed in response to that particular filter.

Mark Heesen, president of the US National Venture Capital Association, has warned that investment levels will decline significantly unless the industry begins to raise more money, as fundraising in the third quarter fell to its lowest level for eight years.

Businesses in Northern Ireland are currently operating in a difficult economic climate at both European and international level.

Our economies are inter-dependent and interlinked and as such, policies pursued at a European level affect us all, either directly or indirectly.

Currently, the Europe 2020 strategy is the cornerstone of economic policy being pursued at EU level. Central to its aims are ensuring better access for young people to the workplace, modernising our digital agenda, developing a more energy efficient Europe and, crucially, building an innovation union.

Innovation is not a luxury to be placed on the back burner, but rather the lifeblood of any successful organization. Innovation builds brands, which leads to profitable growth and marketplace success. An important part of attaining that success is through creating value in the minds of customers. An example of a technological breakthrough that gained customer appeal is the Rexam Airspray mechanical foamer. Since the invention of bar soaps in the early 20th century and liquid soaps in the 70’s, nothing else had changed in the market for decades until the foaming hand soap offered customers an efficient, easy to use, drip-free medium: true value in the eyes of consumers.

The nuclear industry measures how long a radioactive material will retain its potency by its half-life — the time it takes for the material to lose half of its radioactivity. The half-life of Uranium-235 is 700 million years, for example. During the industrial era the half-life of a business model was typically measured in generations. Once the basic rules for how a company creates, delivers, and captures value were established, they became etched in stone, fortified by functional silos and sustained by reinforcing company cultures.Those days are over. The industrial era is not coming back. The half-life of a business model is declining. Today’s leaders are either going to learn how to change their business models while pedaling the bicycle of the current one or they are going to be “netflixed.”

As a small business owner, you love your blog. Your blog is where your community goes to hear your insight, it’s where they learn more about you, and it’s where they put a human face on your logo.

Or, it would be all of those things if anyone was actually reading your blog. Unfortunately, they’re not. And this is a problem.

Growing a small business blog can often be more difficult than we’d like. But you can conquer it and growing a thriving, engaged community to complement your business. Below are ten tactics to help generate more discussion and eye-balls on your blog. I suggest picking several and doing them in combination.

Social media is not dangerous or “just a consumer thing” for businesses, according to Gartner analyst Carol Rozwell. Social has turned the corner from “interesting” to “imperative”, letting you “search out good ideas, and adapt them to make them work for you”.

Upper management in their 30th-floor, wood-panelled offices have yet to understand the “upside of social media” — and many are unwilling to explore the benefits their organisation will receive. While many are business and social media savvy, some are still making ludicrous statements such as “social media is dangerous”. This is crazy in the age of Facebook and Twitter given the influence these social networks play in our everyday online lives.

Researchers at the University of Montreal have developed a computer programme that enables regulators to evaluate the ecological and economic tradeoffs between marine mammal conservation, whale watching and marine transportation activities in the Saint Lawrence Estuary.

“The objective is to reduce the collision risk with whales while taking into account the impact on industry and marine transportation,” said Lael Parrott, who headed the research team. The model, developed in her Complex Systems Laboratory, maps the estuary where the field research was undertaken, simulates the comings and goings of five mammal species (minke whale, fin whale, beluga, humpback and blue whale), the presence and movements of three types of boats (recreation, excursion and cargo), and environmental conditions. Nine scenarios were elaborated in order to observe the effects of various decisions.

The U.S. notoriously lags other countries when it comes to Internet speed. One recent report from Web analyst Akamai Technologies puts us in 14th place, far behind front-runner South Korea and also trailing Hong Kong, Japan and Romania, among other countries. The sticking point over faster broadband has been: Who will pay for it? Telecommunications companies have been leery of investing in infrastructure unless they are certain of demand for extra speed. American consumers, for their part, have been content to direct much of their Internet use to e-mail and social networks, which operate perfectly well at normal broadband speeds, and they have not been willing to pay a premium for speedier service.

“A new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move towards higher levels.”- Albert Einstein

Our nation’s economic success has always been based on our technological superiority coupled with an entrepreneurial spirit: In the 1940′s, it was our superior infrastructure and distribution capabilities. In the 60′s and 70′s, we had an explosion of scientific revolutions through the “space race.” And in the late 80′s and 90′s, the technological revolution turned into the internet revolution.