Good financial management is the cornerstone of successful innovation deployment and entrepreneurs who have been through the mill recognise the benefits mentoring here can bring.

Back to the future with innovation mentoring

We're seeing an expansion of mentoring groups and schemes for IT-related entrepreneurs, linked in some way to eventual finance provisions.

But is venture capital the best route for an innovative entrepreneur to aim for?

Facing a beautiful cove on the Red Sea—about an hour and a half's drive from the town of Jeddah—King Abdullah University of Science and Technology is an anomaly many times over: a spectacular campus in the middle of nowhere; an international, co-ed institution in a gender-segregated society; and an aspiring world-class research graduate university created virtually overnight.

Q: AS AN ORGANIZATION, IN WHAT WAYS IS THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATIONS (NADO) STRENGTHENING THE ECONOMIC COMPETITIVENESS OF AMERICA'S REGIONS?

A: NADO focuses on promoting federal community and economic development policies that strengthen local governments, communities, and economies through regional solutions, partnerships, and strategies. Our main goal is to build stronger regional development organizations, including EDA's national network of 383 Economic Development Districts, through peer learning, broader implementation and sharing of noteworthy practices, and development of sound public policy.

Discover how to find angel investors and make an impact once you do meet with them. There are critical steps you need to take to be prepared, find out what they are.

If you are starting a business or growing an existing business, you are likely to find yourself in a situation where you need capital. Unfortunately, the majority of small business owners these days don't qualify for traditional bank financing. Instead they are seeking alternative sources of capital, such as an Angel Investor or Angel Group.

Most entrepreneurs when presented with the option of working with Angel Investors respond negatively. They don't know how to find angel investors or how to approach them. So here are ten tips for finding and working with angel investors collected from my years of experience working with angels and investing in deals myself.

I heard a story that a few years ago Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of Ikea, happened to drive past one of his stores. In passing, he noticed something wasn't quite right with the characteristic blue stucco. So, he pulled over, parked, and went in search of the local manager. Needless to say, the manager was a little taken aback when the head of the company asked why this store had chosen to use this type of plaster. The manager proudly explained that this store had saved Ikea literally half the amount of money the company would ordinarily spend by using cheaper stucco of a far greater quality. As the story goes, Kamprad said: "I don't care how much it costs--whether it costs more or less--it needs to be removed." Within weeks the stucco had been replaced with the more expensive, yet poorer looking plaster--all in order to send the right message to the Ikea customers: We're careful about how we spend our money--even when it comes to our choice of stucco.

We humans can so easily give in to our vices. Something as simple as a credit card can weaken self-control. The good news is that the reverse is also true: cash can buffer us from indulgence. So says a study in the Journal of Consumer Research.((

Scientists analyzed people’s perceptions of various food types and found that foods considered unhealthy were also seen as more likely to be impulse buys. The researchers then followed the grocery shopping habits of 1,000 households over six months. They found that people bought a larger proportion of unhealthy and impulsive food choices (think: jelly doughnuts) when they used their credit or debit card versus cash.

It’s not a contest exactly, but it might be interesting for you to learn that American firms are the best managed in the world.

That’s one finding of a research team from Harvard Business School, London School of Economics, McKinsey & Company, and Stanford. The group surveyed  over 10,000 firms in 20 countries about management practices across operational management, monitoring, targets, and people management. The result: The first global database of management practices.

The group ranked US managers the best in the world, followed by those in Japan, Germany and Sweden. Brazil, China, and India were at the bottom of the management chart, managers in the UK, France, Italy and Australia somewhere in between.

Last week, a patent reform bill, the America Invents Act (H.R. 1249), passed the House of Representatives. On March 8, the Senate passed a similar patent bill (S. 23) by a broad margin. There is no doubt our patent system is broken with backlogs and litigation, but the bill’s net effect on innovative entrepreneurship is still unclear.

In a nutshell, the legislation will change the system of patent award from “first to invent” to “first to file.” It will also extend the time when a patent may be challenged after it has been approved.

In a piece titled “Patent Reform is Patently Offensive to Start-ups,” Valerie Gaydos, chairman of Private Investors in Entrepreneurial Endeavors, argues that the first-to-file system would represent a financial roadblock for innovative startups by making it harder for early stage companies to raise capital. A race to the Patent Office would reduce the time that a company can perfect their product and generate revenue. “Thus, investors will be unlikely to invest in a company or technology that doesn't have some market acceptance,” argues Gaydos. Furthermore, she argues, the extension of post-grant review increases the risk for investors, who might have to see their funds exhausted in the opposition.

50th Anniversary College Video Contestand we're still looking for entries! We asked Warren Buffett what advice he'd give students hoping to meet him at the New York Stock Exchange. Click on the video on the left to see what he had to say.

Full-time students, graduate and undergrad, are invited to create a short video answering the question, "What is the future of public relations and communications?" The deadline is July 15, so pass this information on to your alma mater, intern or anyone else who may be interested!

Speaking on how technology and consumer demand has challenged marketers to keep up, Nielsen's Steve Hasker shared conclusions that ring true for developing the artist - fan relationship. “Consumer behavior is the driver of innovation,” said Hasker offering three trends driving innovation:

Social Media – “In seven short years, every aspect of consumer behavior has changed as a result of social media,” Hasker said.  In music social media is changing the way artists and songs are discovered, how artists and fans communicate and even how music and related products are purchased.

The innovation game has migrated downstream – from the point of invention nearer to the point of consumption. So how does Ireland now measure its innovation capabilities?

UNLESS WE CAN measure it properly, innovation is like the dotcom boom – lots of investment but a lack of clarity about value and a danger that the investment is misdirected. Traditionally (references to the word innovation appear as early as the 1600s), innovation is measured by patent filings, the number of maths and engineering graduates, RD investment and, less scientifically, the existence of industry clusters.

The problem with these measures is that they are very upstream – near to the point of invention – whereas the innovation game has migrated downstream, nearer the point of consumption. Traditional measures are close to the old industrial labs model of innovation rather than today’s Apple-style design-led or highly consumer-engaged innovation.

Going straight to innovative thinking techniques poses a dilemma – how does one differentiate between ideas that are workable (within the limits of available resources) and those that are not? All ideas are workable if there no constraints present; but reality dictates that time, money and skills are not as abundant as one would wish.

We need to be first grounded in two other areas before we let our imagination fly to unveil the creative and innovative ideas that have been simmering beneath the surface of our minds. The first is the area of analytical and critical thinking while the second is constructive thinking.

WHEN someone asks Roger Fierro “What do you do?” — which he knows is shorthand for “Where do you work?” — he laughs. Then he says, “I do everything.”

Mr. Fierro, who is 26, has four jobs: working as a bilingual-curriculum specialist for the textbook publisher Pearson; handling estate sales and online marketing for a store that sells vintage items; setting up an online store for a custom piñata maker; and developing reality-show ideas for a production company. So far this month, he’s made about $1,800.

Whereas most 9-to-5ers have some kind of structure in their lives, each workday can be wildly different for him. On a recent day, he worked on and off from 7 a.m. to midnight, making business calls, working on the piñata store’s Web site and visiting the vintage store, among other things. (To maintain his sanity, he made sure to schedule some “me” time from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8.)

NPR’s “Wait Wait... Don’t Tell Me!” is heard weekends on public radio stations across the country. (npr.org/programs/wait-wait-dont-tell-me/)

1. The War Powers Act requires Congressional approval within 90 days of the start of hostilities with a foreign country. But President Obama says the act does not apply to the conflict in Libya... why?

A. Secretly, Libya really wants to be bombed.

B. “But they started it!”

C. The months-long bombing campaign doesn’t count as “hostilities.”

D. The War Powers Act is more of a “suggestion” than a “rule.”

A major international study collating and analyzing worldwide data on diabetes since 1980 has found that the number of adults with the disease reached 347 million in 2008, more than double the number in 1980. The research, published today in The Lancet, reveals that the prevalence of diabetes has risen or at best remained unchanged in virtually every part of the world over the last three decades.

Diabetes occurs when the cells of the body are not able to take up sugar in the form of glucose. As a consequence, the amount of glucose in the blood is higher than normal. Over time, this raises the risk of heart disease and stroke, and can also cause damage to the kidneys, nerves and retinas. High blood glucose and diabetes are responsible for over three million deaths worldwide each year.

One of the hot new approaches I have seen around the country for assisting startups looking for funding has been “crowd-sourcing” sites (Kickstarter) or “crowd-pitching” events (Funding Universe). These are variations on a “crowd-funding” theme to raise money for a startup through social networks and voting at public events. I’m still waiting for a startup to proclaim real success from this approach.

Crowd-sourcing tools, usually Internet applications, use the social media to poll for interest, feedback, and ultimately some funding for the startup. This is a complex task, especially as it involves creating an accurate yet compelling offer, collecting the money, and rewarding the investors.

Crowd-pitching is an offline event, but logically similar, which give several candidates an opportunity to pitch to a crowd of interested people for a couple of minutes, after which the crowd “votes” with some play-money to pick the best candidate, who then wins some nominal investment amount or services.

The Department of Defense (DOD) research arm will invest $1 billion over the next five years in defense manufacturing innovation to support a larger strategy by the Obama administration to use technology such as robotics and nanotechnology to transform American manufacturing process.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA's) own experimentation to streamline and improve the manufacturing process was highlighted during an event Friday at Carnegie Mellon University's National Robotics Engineering Center, where President Obama unveiled the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership strategy. The plan allocates $500 million to leverage high-tech resources to create jobs and improve the United States' global position in manufacturing.

Outside of the founders, and friends & family, angels are the most typical next step in the private equity continuum as shown below in Illustration 1. Whereas 79% of a first round capital came from the entrepreneur’s personal savings or family and friends, this made up only 11% of the second round, whereas angels provided 34% of the capital in the second round#.  Angels provide the critical capital needed by an entrepreneur to grow the business and with venture capital funds to provide the next stage in capital.   Angels are individual investors, sometimes organized within informal clubs or formalized angel groups, who invest their personal money into a company.   Angels are distinct from venture capital or private equity funds, who have created investment partnerships that manage a pool of capital, typically with a significant portion from larger institutions such as insurance companies, pensions, and endowments.

A few weeks ago, electronic mail, or email as it’s now affectionately known, hit the respectable age of 40. When Ray Tomlinson, a young computer engineer, sent the first email in 1971, he could only have guessed how it would impact the way we communicate in both our business and personal lives.

Email has transformed the way people shop, bank, communicate with family members and do business. Now an essential tool for approximately one billion mobile workers across the globe, email continues to dominate the way in which we communicate.

Four decades since the first message – believed to be “QWERTYUIOP” – email seems to be going strong. But is it about to hit a midlife crisis? With web workers now using more sophisticated collaborative apps and social business tools to communicate and share information, are we going to see email’s reign come to an end?

What happens when a guy who got wealthy selling cars hands millions of dollars to a scientist and tells her how to spend it? Folks attending the American Diabetes Association conference starting today in San Diego are getting a hint of the answer to that question. Denise Faustman, director of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) immunobiology laboratory is presenting two abstracts from a clinical trial funded by the Boston-based Iacocca Family Foundation, established by former Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca to support research aimed at curing type 1 diabetes.

Faustman’s data shows that low doses of an 80-year-old vaccine temporarily reversed type 1 diabetes in Phase 1 human trial. The vaccine is called bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG). It was developed to prevent tuberculosis and is now available as a generic drug. BCG induces the immune system to make tumor-necrosis factor (TNF), which kills the T-cells that cause the pancreas to stop producing insulin.