First Growth Venture Network Welcomes Its Inaugural Vintage

NEW YORK, Sept. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- First Growth Venture Network, a mentoring program for high potential seed and early stage start-up tech companies, today announced the selection of 15 seed and early stage start-up tech companies for its first class, or "Inaugural Vintage." At the first day of the two-semester program, selected companies will learn more about the program, meet with advisors and network with other members of the program who have committed to helping accelerate the "first growth" of promising entrepreneurs.

BusinessWeek: Vote for Asia's Best Young Entrepreneur

The world may be struggling to emerge from the global recession, but that's not deterring many young entrepreneurs in Asia. Throughout the region, ambitious businessmen and women are navigating the economic turmoil and trying to succeed with new business ideas. Most of the finalists in BusinessWeek's annual report of Asia's Best Young Entrepreneurs have had to start from scratch. Some even have to support a family.

Traits of a Successful Entrepreneur

Have you ever wondered what makes one entrepreneur ascend to great heights while another never even gets off the ground? Well, there are certain essential entrepreneurial traits that anyone who is interested in creating a successful business must possess.

Finding the cure for Canada's venture capital industry

Canada's venture capital industry is in serious trouble.

According to Kevin Talbot, managing director of RBC Venture Partners, poor venture capital returns are shrinking the industry to dangerous levels, threatening the health of the entire "innovation-driven economy."

Foreign-Funded Equity Investment Allowed to Incorporate in Pudong, China

Since the outbreak of the global financial crisis, the typical model of China's capital market—that both fundraising and exit of private equity (PE) funds/venture capital (VC) are effected overseas—has begun to attract skepticism. In contrast, Chinese currency PE funds have been growing in past months. Chinese authorities have released a series of policies, meanwhile, to promote the development of equity investment.

BIO Top Brass Meet the Press

The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) held a media briefing on Federal policy issues today, with most of BIO's executive staff assembling at BIO headquarters in Washington, D.C. In addition to the media present on site, BIO hosted several more members of the press by teleconference.

U.S. Leadership in Medical Innovation Depends on Education and Immigration Policy,...

U.S. Leadership in Medical Innovation Depends on Education and Immigration Policy, Say Experts at Capitol Hill Briefing on 'Education & Immigration: Building Blocks of Innovation'

Council for American Medical Innovation Brings Together Political Leaders, Educators and Policy Experts at First in a Series of Briefings About Achieving "Recovery Through Discovery"

Innovation scavenger hunt next month

Mass. High Tech and Xconomy alert us to a planned Quest for Innovation on Oct. 9, in which teams of "entrepreneurial leaders & startups, universities, industry associations & agencies, entrepreneurial organizations and the New England business community" will fan out across downtown trying to figure out clues related to Boston's role as a leader in innovation over the centuries.

Is the Customer Always Right? Yes, When it Comes to Sustainability.

The world’s leading companies all conduct extensive research to determine what their customers want and how they want it. Whether they hire firms like Synovate or Millward Brown, or do consumer research in-house, companies know the value of crafting products that fit their customers’ needs and desires.

This is why it’s so perplexing that companies don’t do the same when developing substantive sustainability strategies. All too often, companies launch campaigns that are later accused of greenwashing or limit their efforts to indirect efficiency improvements, when it’s their core product that really needs the greening. It turns out that by paying more attention to their customers, companies can unlock solutions for true environmental innovation and get richly rewarded for doing so.

Baseball, the Red Sox, and the (Swedish) Innovation Economy

The Baseball World Cup qualification series started this week over here in Sweden, as well as in several other countries in Europe. South Korea, Canada, the Dutch Antilles, and Sweden will meet each other at a field in the Stockholm suburb Sundbyberg. The finals will take place at the end of the month in Italy.

Irish Innovation Center coming to San Jose

San Jose — The Irish are coming to America — again — this time to a new center slated to open in January in downtown San Jose’s San Pedro Square.

Called the Irish Innovation Center, the facility will be located in the Linden Building at 177 W. Santa Clara St. and is expected to house as many as 35 companies looking to build a presence in the United States.

SSTI: Time to Seize the Moment? Will States and Regions Lead U.S. into Next Economy

This week's Digest covers two new independent reports that separately assess two critical aspects to how well nations are prepared for the economic recovery: competitiveness and educational attainment. The news, obvious in our choice of headlines, may suggest the past year - actually several years - has not been kind to the United States relative to other nations. Reading the articles one will see, however, that it isn't time that is working against the U.S. but rather our progress on several indicators of preparedness for a future based on innovation, technology and entrepreneurship. The reports show other nations are succeeding in laying a more solid foundation for their future than the U.S. is preparing for itself.

SSTI: U.S. Slips from First Place in Global Competitiveness Rankings

The United States fell from its position as the most competitive national economy according to the World Economic Forum's (WEF) recently released annual Global Competitiveness Report. Switzerland took the top spot as the U.S. fell to a close second place in the weighted ranking system. The report attributed the switch in positions to a number of growing weaknesses that have plagued the U.S. over the past year, while the Swiss economy remained relatively stable. Though the U.S. continues to perform well in measures of innovation, the country declined in indices of its institutional effectiveness and macroeconomic stability. The U.S.'s persistent fiscal deficits and trade imbalances were noted as a particular threat to the nation's mid- and long-term competitiveness.

WSJ: Entrepreneur Cuts Back Amid Recession

As chief executive of Perfect Commerce, which made business software, he figured the collapse of the dot.com boom meant he could pick up foundering competitors cheaply. "Company after company was folding, and they had wonderful technology," he says. Flush with venture-capital funding, he built his customer base by acquiring a dozen competitors rather than by adding to his sales force.

Jobs' Return Brings Ovation: Where's the Innovation?

Steve Jobs' return to the spotlight at yesterday’s Apple music innovation event brought down the house: the legendary CEO received a standing ovation from his crowd. While thin and slightly hoarse, he seemed energized to be back. Jobs got right down to brass tacks and told his audience about his recent liver transplant, much-discussed in the tech tabloids and media as a whole. Said Jobs, “I had a liver transplant five months ago and now I have a liver from a mid-20s person, who died in a car crash and was generous enough to donate their organs. I wouldn’t be here without such generosity.” Despite Jobs’ enthusiastic welcome home, Apple’s conference seemed more about ovations than innovation.

Our recent features include a major report from Jonathan Sallet, Ed Paisley, and Justin Masterman on how the federal government can support innovation clusters. As well, Ruth Faden and Jonathan Moreno describe the ethical imperative for healthcare reform; Ricardo Rossello explains new possibilities for flu vaccines; and Eli Adashi argues that in spite of recent controversies over in vitro fertilization, we should not lose sight of the pioneering research that has helped millions of infertile couples.

Innovation success or culture - which comes first?

Many strategic challenges have a "chicken or egg" quandary. In the case of the chicke and the egg, which comes first? Clearly you can't have a chicken if the chicken didn't come from an egg. But you can't have an egg if it didn't come from a chicken. Quite a conundrum. Ranks up there with Schrodinger's cat and other notable thought experiments.

Fostering Innovation in a Time of Economic Crisis

OECD has analysed the likely impact of the current crisis on long-term economic growth and the innovation-related actions in policy responses of its member countries.

Cutting-edge tech centers proposed

The University of Wisconsin System should create seven centers to focus on cutting-edge work in areas such as nanowire manufacturing, creation of drugs from fungi and the conversion of paper mill waste into usable products, a task force report recommends.

Hawaii: Innovation and Diversification Key to Future Growth

Hawaii has seen its tourism industry severely impacted by the economic downturn, but there have been some signs of stabilization. Pearl Imada Iboshi, state economist and economics research administrator, says signs of stabilization have shown up in the visitor count data that her department closely watches. “The slight increase in domestic passengers somewhat offsets the international, largely Japanese, market,” she says.