Interstate 44 cuts through downtown St. Louis, four lanes of asphalt, the city center on one side, the Mississippi River on the other. On a sweltering weekend last July, construction crews shut down the highway where it dips 20 feet below ground level. A massive crane wheeled onto the roadbed. One by one, the crane swung 40 huge girders into place, 100-foot-long steel ribs spanning the highway like fingers reaching out from downtown to the water below. The girders form the foundation of what will be part of a resplendent park.

Image: http://www.popularmechanics.com

President Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday may not have been as heavy on innovation as his previous State of the Unions, but it still provided an impressive list of innovation themes for the year ahead. In addition to mentions of tech darlings such as eBay, Google and Tesla, Obama catalogued all the cool new ideas starting to bubble up in the tech sector – 3D printers, new antibiotics, personalized medicine, revolutionary new prosthetics, advances in solar and wind power. There was even a shout-out for Instagram when Obama mentioned the nation’s “re-energized space program.”

Image: President Obama waves as he boards Air Force One before setting out to discuss the themes in his State of the Union address. (Jose Luis Magana/AP)

Bill Gates, the world’s richest man, says the next decade will be the decade of the world’s poor.

Since 2009, Bill and Melinda Gates have written a letter every January discussing the work of their foundation (which is to receive the bulk of his wealth). Last year, they wrote about why they believed that people around the world are doing better today than ever, despite some people's perceptions otherwise. This year, on the Gates Foundation's 15-year anniversary, two of the world's biggest optimists are predicting a better future, often through interventions that seem basic, but will drastically improve the lives of billions of people around the world.

Image: http://www.fastcoexist.com

With the surge in digital health tech, entrepreneurs who dream of developing the next killer healthcare app have plenty of reason to be optimistic. 2014 was a record-breaking year with over $4.1B in venture funding for digital health companies, more than the previous three years combined, according to Mercom Capital Group. The future of healthcare technology includes wearables that monitor vitals, apps that facilitate outpatient care, CRM systems that allow physicians to forge better relationships with patients, and more.

Image: Image Credit: Texas Medical Center

International GPS specialist Garmin has acquired South African technology company iKubu, which is developing a radar system that alerts cyclists of what’s happening around them on the road. The value of the deal has not been disclosed.

The Stellenbosch-based start-up, which specialises in radar and computer vision technology, was in the final stages of developing its bike-mounted radar, called Backtracker, which alerts cyclists of approaching vehicles.

Image: http://www.techcentral.co.za

Canada’s financial services and technology sectors are heading into a new era of innovation and collaboration.

Working in partnership, Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) and the Toronto Financial Services Alliance (TFSA) will connect companies and institutions in the country’s largest financial services cluster with Ontario’s innovation ecosystem including its academic community and technology companies, to address individual businesses and industry challenges.

Image: http://www.techvibes.com

After years of rapid and increasing adoption, the use of social technologies has become a common business practice. Now the responses to McKinsey’s latest survey on these technologies indicate that in certain functions (namely, sales and marketing), companies are applying social tools extensively and becoming more digital organizations overall.1 We asked executives about their companies’ use of social tools in 18 specific business processes. Among them, social technologies are the least integrated into the work flow for operations processes, such as order to cash and demand planning. They are the most integrated into public-relations, customer-relationship-management (CRM), and marketing processes—where these technologies are a natural extension of existing tools. As a result, executives say the use and integration of social tools have had the most significant impact on the day-to-day work for many customer-facing activities.

Image: http://www.mckinsey.com

Microsoft Ventures is looking to reinvent the way Microsoft works with top entrepreneurs and startups. The Microsoft Ventures Digital Work Accelerator is accepting applications for its second cohort, which will take place on the Microsoft campus in Redmond from March 16 until Demo Day on July 16. The location in Seattle and on the Microsoft campus promises to provide access to CEOs and CTOs of top local startups, Microsoft and their partners, local tech talent and research community, and the diverse local community.

Fifteen student startups will be participating in a week-long incubation program at Harvard. And, for one lucky group, the experience will end with an extra $500 in the bank.

Harvard Ventures, an undergraduate entrepreneurship club, is hosting Winter Xcelerate at the Harvard Innovation Lab, an event designed to bring students' startup ideas to fruition.

SAN FRANCISCO — When bankers of the future decide whether to make a loan, they may look to see if potential customers use only capital letters when filling out forms, or at the amount of time they spend online reading terms and conditions — and not so much at credit history.

These signals about behavior — picked up by sophisticated software that can scan thousands of pieces of data about online and offline lives — are the focus of a handful of start-ups that are creating new models of lending.

Image: Executives in a meeting at Affirm, which offers alternatives to credit cards for online purchases. Credit Jason Henry for The New York Times 

LG is trying its hand again at a curved smartphone. It may be one of the few times when the sequel bests the original. The company is following the unimpressive debut of the LG G Flex with the LG G Flex 2. The G Flex 2 was introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The latest smartphone — actually a phablet with its 5.5-inch display — seeks to upgrade the experience many got from the original curved device from LG.

Image: http://smallbiztrends.com/ 

The mention was a lot like the president’s entire State of the Union address: short on specifics but heavy on hope.

President Obama announced in his Tuesday State of the Union speech that he would launch a “Precision Medicine Initiative.”

I want the country that eliminated polio and mapped the human genome to lead a new era of medicine?—?one that delivers the right treatment at the right time. I’m launching a new Precision Medicine Initiative to bring us closer to curing diseases like cancer and diabetes?—?and to give all of us access to the personalized information we need to keep ourselves and our families healthier.

Image: http://medcitynews.com/ 

For the last 50 years, the world economy has benefited from a demographic boom that has contributed 1.8 percent to average annual global GDP increases, helping to generate an unprecedented level of growth.1 This demographic headwind is coming to an end. With populations aging and fertility rates dropping around the world, the growth rates of the past 50 years may prove to be the exception, not the rule. The latest research of the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) suggests that unless increases in labor productivity compensate for an aging workforce, the next 50 years will see a nearly 40 percent drop in GDP growth rates and a roughly 20 percent drop in the growth rate of per capita income around the world.

Image: http://www.mckinsey.com/ 

Challenges never stop when starting a business. While trying to break into the startup world, I learned as much as possible about startups, founders, networking, investing, and anything related to entrepreneurship. I interviewed founders, made cold calls and emails to entrepreneurs I respected, and even snuck into a premier event to meet my idols in person. Getting this information and feedback helped me build a strong network of mentors and advisors that eventually led to the creation of ONE.

Knowing the right time to quit your day job after starting your business can be a big decision. Moving from your standard pay cheque to relying solely on yourself for an income can be a daunting time. The worst part about making this decision is there is no set formula to know you are making the right decision!

image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net 

Compromise, consensus, bridge-building, and respect for differing viewpoints have been the hallmarks of American life as long as there’s been an America. We’re certain they will be again.

Extremists have become so loud, they’re deafening. And because they shout in perfect sound bites, the media birddog their every rant, however irresponsible or outrageous. But we believe the political tide’s about to turn with a...

In a business person’s day, there are always more tasks than hours. The key to being successful is not to do more multitasking in an effort to cram more into each day. It’s not to work harder with longer hours to get everything done. What separates very successful people from the rest of the pack is not what they do, but actually what they never ever do. For example:

image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net 

NEW YORK, Jan. 20, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Business incubators of the NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering—home to 53 young technology companies—recorded a banner year in 2014, marked by growth on multiple fronts. Highlights included opening a dedicated clean-tech and clean-energy space in Downtown Brooklyn as well as becoming one of two private-university incubators in the city to be named by New York State as START-UP NY development zones with tax-free opportunities for growing companies.

President Obama delivered a nationwide State of the Union blueprint Tuesday night for what Washington state has mapped out as its path to 21st century prosperity, an emphasis on technological development coupled with a work force that can meet its challenges.

With that blueprint in mind, there was some post-speech hope in Washington’s congressional delegation of finding ground for cooperation.

Image: http://blog.seattlepi.com/ 

Venture capital investment soared in 2014, hitting a high that hasn’t been seen since 2000. As reported in The Wall Street Journal, $52.12 billion was invested in private companies last year by venture and private equity firms, as well as corporations, hedge funds and mutual funds, according to Dow Jones VentureSource.

Below is an interactive map of where the venture investment went, state by state, based on where the company that received the funding has its headquarters.