Big Data? That’s so last decade. What we live in today is an era of Massive Data – and it’s growing by the second, as we connect everything from our businesses to our coffee pots to create a giant networked economy. The real challenge that companies are facing is how to make sense of this data, and to use this newfound network to create connections that make a real difference.

Even though “Big Data” has now been around for a few years, the opportunities for startups seem to keep growing, just as the amount of data keeps growing. According to IBM, companies have captured more data in the last two years than in the previous 2000 years. This data comes from sensors, social media posts, digital pictures and videos, purchase transactions, everywhere.

E ach week on the 17th floor of a Downtown Honolulu office building, two dozen CEOs and company founders gather for a stand-up morning meeting to review the positives and the negatives of the past week and talk about the investors they're going to meet that week.

But they're not your usual Bishop Street executives. And the setting is more Silicon Valley than Bishop Street.

When EDF Ventures launched in Ann Arbor in 1987 to invest in university-based technologies, the University of Michigan had one person working part time on technology transfer.

And at the time, the only other local venture capitalist in Southeast Michigan was Ian Bund.

"We were considered an oddity," said EDF co-founder Mary Campbell. " 'You're going to fund a professor? Why would you do that?' "

Image: LON HORWEDEL A key development for university spinoffs was the hiring of Ken Nisbet at the University of Michigan's tech transfer office in 1996. He remains at the university, as associate vice president for research and director of technology transfer.

The European Commission's investment drive to boost the region's economy will include billions euros of spending on digital technology, EU Digital Economy Commissioner Günther Oettinger told a German magazine. He said talks with telecom groups, authorities, local communities and investors about expanding digital networks would start next year.

Image: Günther Oettinger (Jacques Grießmayer /Wikimedia)

The National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) announced Monday the formation of a task force to help its members increase opportunities for women and minorities. On the surface, this looks like just another news release by an industry under fire; but I think there is much more to it. The NVCA is providing true leadership and challenging its members to clean up their act.

Obesity is a critical global issue that requires a comprehensive, international intervention strategy. More than 2.1 billion people—nearly 30 percent of the global population—are overweight or obese.1 That’s almost two and a half times the number of adults and children who are undernourished. Obesity is responsible for about 5 percent of all deaths a year worldwide, and its global economic impact amounts to roughly $2 trillion annually, or 2.8 percent of global GDP—nearly equivalent to the global impact of smoking or of armed violence, war, and terrorism.

The 2014 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard (the Scoreboard) contains economic and financial data for the world's top 2500 companies ranked by their investments in research and development (R&D). The sample consists of 633 companies based in the EU and 1867 companies based elsewhere. The Scoreboard data are drawn from the latest available companies' accounts, i.e. usually the fiscal year 2013/14.

I have spent the last 10 years of my career in regional economic and industry development. During that time I have seen the U.S. economy go through a dramatic transformation driven by technology and innovation. New industries are emerging rapidly and traditional industries are changing radically through the application of advanced technologies.

Preliminary report for Innovation Initiative released

President Reif wrote in an email Wednesday that the preliminary report on the MIT Innovation Initiative — a manufacturing-focused effort announced last September — has been published. This report, detailing “an ambitious vision for how MIT could enhance its ability to deliver innovation to the world,” is a product of the program’s Adivsory Committee, also formed last fall.

The idea and the pitch are only half the battle. In a competitive funding town like Chicago, you have to make sure you're knocking on all the right doors—that is, the doors with the cash.

Crain's published its annual directory of Chicago-area venture-capital and private-equity firms on Oct. 27. The alphabetical directory contains nearly 75 firms with offices in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties. Data for most firms include 2013 and 2012 capital, sources of funding, number and dollar amount of investments made during the past two years, types of investments and the number of local employees.

Not Christensen narrow definition of "disruption" perhaps, but a list that stimulates reflection on a lifetime of innovations. 85 Years, 85 Ideas.

With looming end-of-year deadlines and the holidays imminent, it’s one of the most stressful times of the year. Are you maximizing your work days to the fullest?

Many folks make the mistake of wasting precious minutes and hours by tackling too much work without a solid game plan. We spoke with several productivity experts on how to effectively structure an ideal work day.

Theo Jansen’s strutting sculptures achieve astonishingly lifelike movement at Art Basel on Miami Beach.

There's no question about whether industries cluster in certain regions. Silicon Valley is to tech as Colorado is to aerospace and defense.

The more companies in an industry in one place, the better. Companies will share talent and more companies will form as employees break off and start their own businesses. Competition is a good thing too--wages can grow, better products are made, and consumers have more choices.

I have spent the last 10 years of my career in regional economic and industry development. During that time I have seen the U.S. economy go through a dramatic transformation driven by technology and innovation. New industries are emerging rapidly and traditional industries are changing radically through the application of advanced technologies.

What do California and Minnesota have in common? They are the two states friendliest to innovation, according to Wharton business school professor Anne Marie Knott.

In a new piece in the Harvard Business Review, Knott uses a measure she created — a business’s “research quotient” — and the number of businesses conducting research and development to identify the states that are most “innovation friendly.”

Increasingly, companies are creating formal innovation roles outside the R&D department. In a Cap Gemini study from 2012 of 260 organizations, 43% of respondents said they had a Chief Innovation Officer or similar, up from 33% the year before. Below the C-suite level, local leaders across the organization are busily creating dedicated innovation roles, with titles such as Innovation Manager, Innovation Director, or VP of Innovation. More people than ever before, irrespective of their function, now face the option of taking an innovation job.

To be a successful entrepreneur in today’s world, you need to be current, mentally fit and actively involved in running your business. Even more important, you need to stay competitive.

The best way to stay competitive is to actively attempt to challenge your preconceived notions. Easier said than done, right? When things are going well, we’re tempted to rest on our laurels. Whether we realize it or not, we become comfortable.

At some point, this year became a long-running waiting game for those looking out for technology companies that are going public.

Several fast-growing privately held tech companies, from Box to Dropbox, from Cloudera to Uber, have postponed the rush to public markets by taking on huge funding rounds this year, surprising observers again and again. But those people can take a sigh of relief next week, when four tech companies will finally hold initial public offerings.

Image: Anthony Quintano/Flickr