Bricks made from soft plastic waste that can each withstand six tonnes of pressure and relentless rain could replace the clay bricks currently used to build rural homes in monsoon-prone countries such as India.

Clay is susceptible to rain, and many homes in India can be badly damaged during the monsoon season, as clay bricks are washed away.

—Welcome to TIME’s annual round-up of the best inventions making the world better, smarter and—in some cases—a little more fun.

The Real-Life Hoverboard

The hoverboard—a type of skateboard that levitates like a magic carpet—had been a pipe dream since its fictional debut in 1989′s Back to the Future Part II. Now California-based tech firm Hendo has built the real thing. Granted, there are caveats. Hendo’s hoverboard can float only an inch or so above the ground, and even then only over conductive material like copper or aluminum. Just 10 are being made to order (so far). And battery life is 15 minutes—barely enough time to zoom past your enemies à la Marty McFly.

Kansas City was the first place in America to get Google Fiber, symmetrical gigabit Internet access (meaning uploads are as fast as downloads). For comparison, if you’re getting 50 Mbps (typical of many Verizon FiOS plans), your Internet speed is about 5 percent as fast. Now, Google has announced that it will roll out a new service, Google Fiber for Small Business, in parts of Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri. Google’s already showing off the expansion at a local Starbucks. As Internet speeds become an increasingly prominent policy issue in cities, Kansas City’s taking its distinct advantage and running with it.

Over the course of three days last weekend, 10 teams of young people — predominately African-American high-schoolers, mostly Philadelphians — dreamed up, coded and designed apps that seek to radically solve some of the economic and social barriers to success experienced by minority youth across the country.

Image: Photo by Alexis Stephens

Mike Rubenstein wants to put robots in the classroom.

Working with two other researchers at Harvard University, Rubenstein recently created what they call AERobot, a bot that can help teach programming and artificial intelligence to middle school kids and high schoolers. That may seem like a rather expensive luxury for most schools, but it’s not. It costs just $10.70. The hope is that it can help push more kids into STEM, studies involving science, technology, engineering, and math.

Image: Mike Rubenstein, Harvard University

Team work.

That was the theme when medical thought leaders converged on New York City recently for the Faster Cures Center of the Milken Institute’s “Partnering for Cures” conference where Fox News’ own Dr. Manny Alvarez was a panel moderator.

Image: Free Digital Photos

Do you really have more freedom as an entrepreneur than as an employee?

The answer: Yes and no.

The primary complaint with the typical 9 to 5 schedule is that it simply leaves you too freaking tired to do anything personally fulfilling after work. From the moment you wake up, to the moment you go to bed, you’re in constant motion, either preparing to show up somewhere, plowing through something or preparing to leave.

MADISON -- A techie’s Thanksgiving prayer to the Great CIO in the Sky:

As we gather this Thanksgiving to share time with family, friends and food, let us count the blessings of our digital age… using zeros and ones only, of course.

We are thankful for some of the big-name companies, devices and software – Google, Microsoft, Twitter, Instagram, Foursquare, Apple, Dell, HP, IBM, Bluetooth, Skype, Android and more – that have practically become a part of our language.

We are grateful for Facebook, Faceparty, Faces.com and Facetime.

We are thankful for Siri, who never loses patience, and Snapchat, unless you have teenagers who don’t realize self-deleting photos are stored on servers forever.

True leaders realize that, by definition, the word "leader" places the leader at the front, and not the rear. Yet many, many executives try to lead through fear and intimidation. This isn’t really leading at all. It’s pushing. In all businesses, leading from the front means that you are not afraid to get your hands dirty, pitching in to get the job done.

If you don’t know the story of women and venture capital, you should. Here’s what the data says…

Of the 6,793 companies funded by VCs between 2011 and 2013, only 2.7% of those companies had a woman at the helm as CEO – according to the recent Babson College study titled “Women Entrepreneurs and Bridging the Gap in Venture Capital” (PDF).

It sounds like a hoax. It’s not. An article last week in USA Today confirmed that Pepsico is testing a new Dorito flavored of Mountain Dew. Ready for the name? It’s called “Dewitos.”

This strange new flavor quickly became the topic of conversation at workshop we were hosting as the executive participants gathered around an iPhone to watch a video.

Digital technologies such as electronic medical records, mobile devices, and analytics offer the potential to transform health care. Whether it’s a patient using her smartphone to better manage her diabetes, a provider monitoring a patient for arrhythmia remotely, or an electronic health-record system alerting a clinician of a potential drug allergy, digital technologies can create meaningful value for patients and practitioners alike. Yet there are significant barriers to the development and adoption of such technologies that academic medical centers are uniquely positioned to overcome.

Image: Free Digital Photos

Most of the policy discussion about stimulating innovation has focused on the federal level. This study focuses on the significant activity at the state level, with the goal of improving the public's understanding of key policy strategies and exemplary practices. Based on a series of workshops and conferences that brought together policymakers along with leaders of industry and academia in a select number of states, the study highlights a rich variety of policy initiatives underway at the state and regional level to foster knowledge based growth and employment. Perhaps what distinguishes this effort at the state level is most of all the high degree of pragmatism. Operating out of necessity, innovation policies at the state level often involve taking advantage of existing resources and recombining them in new ways, forging innovative partnerships among universities, industry and government organizations, growing the skill base, and investing in the infrastructure to develop new technologies and new industries. Many of these initiatives are being guided by leaders from the private sector and universities.

Image: Free Digital Photos

One of the most important lessons we’ve learned in the years following Hurricane Katrina is that New Orleans is not unique in its exposure to disasters. Rising sea levels, droughts, and increased frequency of storms are factors that all cities must now consider when constructing and maintaining built structures.

In New Orleans, we took Katrina as an opportunity to rebuild the city—not back to the way she was before, but to the way she should have been. This has positioned New Orleans as one of our nation’s most immediate laboratories for innovation and change. In New Orleans, we can test new ideas, evaluate their impact, and scale successful solutions to other cities.

The biopharmaceutical industry is in a precarious position regarding innovation: big bets in bold new areas are fraught with complexity and uncertainty, while success in mature therapeutic areas is becoming increasingly challenging. Sustaining innovation has consistently been difficult, but the resulting benefit to patients has generally provided innovators with an ROI sufficient enough to compensate for the risk. The balance of this equation is shifting and appears to be getting even tougher for innovators and investors.

Image: Free Digital Photos

Often when I hear people talk about how to develop a culture of innovation, the keys proposed are passion, autonomy, collaboration and trust (PACT). Passion, in particular, has become the darling of hiring managers. If a candidate for employment today hasn't prepared an answer to the question, "What's your passion?" that candidate hasn't fully prepared for the job interview.

Image: Free Digital Photos

As part of the Canada Accelerator and Incubator Program (CAIP), the Government of Canada of Canada announced plans to invest $31.4 into four British Columbia incubator and accelerators over the next five years. The government noted in its press release that these funds will be allocated to help with “resources and expertise needed to develop their business plans and seek follow-on financing.”

Image: Free Digital Photos

When Congress approved the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act in the summer of 2012, it gave the Securities and Exchange Commission until the end of that year to issue rules allowing entrepreneurs to start raising small amounts of capital from mom-and-pop investors through new online crowdfunding sites.

Image: Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Jo White said last year that issuing final crowdfunding rules would be a priority. More than a year later, it appears the wait will now continue into 2015. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

There’s so much to be thankful for as an entrepreneur, and I’m quick to count my blessings throughout the year. But from the perspective of a small business owner who runs a corporation, there are a few extra things to add to the “I’m Grateful For” list this Thanksgiving.

Image: Free Digital Photos

Silicon Valley leaders watched U.S. President Barack Obama's immigration reform speech on Thursday, hoping that he would help tech companies by expanding visa and green card programs — but they had no such luck.

Obama's announcement included deportation protection for 5 million undocumented immigrants, but his plan will not do much for college-educated immigrants who come to the U.S. looking to jumpstart their careers.