In the fall of 1999, a young chemical engineer named Todd Zion left his job at Eastman Kodak to enroll in the Ph.D. program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. While looking for a subject to research, Zion noticed a grant proposal, never funded, that another graduate student had written on the subject of drug delivery. One possibility mentioned in the proposal was the development of a kind of insulin that would automatically respond to changes in blood-sugar levels, becoming active only when needed to maintain healthy levels around the clock. If it worked, the sugar-sensitive version could transform the lives of the six million people with diabetes in the United States who use insulin. No longer would they have to test their blood-sugar levels multiple times per day and try to calculate how much insulin to take. The self-regulating insulin would curtail high sugar levels, which raise the risk of long-term complications, and eradicate, or at least reduce, the most dangerous short-term complication: hypoglycemia, when sugar levels fall so low that they can cause confusion, unconsciousness, seizures and even death.

Image: Todd Zion, 38, with notes he and colleagues drew up while they were developing smart insulin, a drug that is sensitive to blood-sugar levels. Credit Christopher Capozziello for The New York Times 

When you pull off Highway 101 and head into Sunnyvale, Calif., the first thing you notice is how boring innovation looks up close. This small Silicon Valley city, which abuts both Cupertino, the home of Apple, and Mountain View, the site of the Googleplex, is where Lockheed built the Poseidon nuclear missile. It’s where the forebear of NASA did some of its most important research and where a prototype for Pong debuted at a neighborhood bar. Countless ambitious start-ups — with names like Qvivr, Schoolfy, eCloset.me and PeerPal — appear in Sunnyvale every year. Aesthetically, though, the city is one enormous glass-and-stucco office park after another. Its dominant architectural feature, the five-story headquarters of Yahoo, a few minutes from Innovation Way, looks about as futuristic as a suburban hospital.

Image: The retail racks of Weird Stuff in Sunnyvale, Calif. Credit Michael Vahrenwald for The New York Times

When Greg Kalin and Rich Branning sought buzz for their 2-month-old social-shopping startup, Closetclicks, they borrowed a page from the panhandler's playbook. Then they added a Silicon Valley twist.

The 20-something co-founders headed to a median in the middle of Sand Hill Road, across from Greylock Partners, with a cardboard sign that read, "Need Funding." What followed: A flurry of tweets, blurbs on Valleywag and Business Insider, and — most important — a couple of meet-and-greets.

Image: Sand Hill Road has been the center of the VC scene for years. Is that changing? Vicki Thompson

Agribusiness giant Syngenta dipped its toe into the venture capital arena in 2006 by investing in venture capital firms. It upped its game three years later by creating its own venture capital arm, Syngenta Ventures, that plows money directly into promising agricultural startups.

“We were surprised by the number and quality of investment opportunities out there,” said Alex Steel, who heads Syngenta’s venture capital efforts.

Image: Alex Steel, who heads Syngenta’s venture capital efforts. UNKNOWN — Syngenta

As more states legalize marijuana and major cities like New York loosen cannabis possession enforcement policies, investment in the cannabis industry and weed-related products are on the rise.

One product in the works, though, isn't aimed at consumers in the marijuana-friendly markets, but rather at law enforcement intent on catching impaired drivers.

Image: http://mashable.com

US companies contribute significantly to the success of Belgium’s innovation-driven economy. Their deep engagement in the local ecosystem – as measured by investment, employment and collaboration – is detailed in a new report released today by the American Chamber of Commerce in Belgium (AmCham Belgium).

“US companies recognize that Belgium has a winning combination of talent, experience, infrastructure and public support for innovation,” said Marcel Claes, Chief Executive of AmCham Belgium. “But the new federal and regional governments will have to continue to play their part in ensuring the right conditions for R&D activities.”

Image: http://www.amcham.be

The Entrepreneur-In-Residence (EIR) program helps SUNY faculty and students start new companies. This matching grant program allows SUNY campuses to secure the time and skills of private sector entrepreneurs with proven success in starting and managing business ventures.

Image: Free Digital Photos

Columbus — The Ohio Senate has given its OK to legislation that would create an “Entrepreneur-in-Residence” program to provide a link between successful businesspeople and state government.

House Bill 218 passed on a vote of 32-0; pending concurrence by the Ohio House, it will head to Gov. John Kasich for his signature. The legislation requires the Ohio Department of Administrative Services to establish the pilot program, appointing up to five individuals for one-year residencies to “provide for better outreach by state government to small businesses, to strengthen coordination and interaction between state government and small businesses and to make state government programs and functions simpler, easier to access, more efficient and more responsive to the needs of small businesses,” according to an analysis by the state’s Legislative Service Commission.

Burn rates and tech bubbles are a hot topic these days. But are they really increasing? And if yes, is there a particular stage of financing at which they climb?  If we use days between fundraising rounds as a proxy for burn rate, we wanted to provide a data-driven view into this and see if there is a particular round of financing where burn rates accelerate.

Maybe your dream career is to become Michael Bolton's backup singer — or perhaps it's to rise to the C-Suite level of a Fortune 500 company or work for a startup, wearing multiple hats and becoming a Jack-of-All-Trades.

Image: FLICKR, ORESTART

A popular myth these days is that finishing college only dilutes your entrepreneurial instincts, and the best of the best, including Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg, dropped out early to hasten their success. I agree with Robert E. Litan, former VP of research at the Kauffman Foundation, that these are exceptions to the rule, rather than a model to emulate.

My time in Silicon Valley taught me a particularly valuable lesson: The Internet works well because the government was not involved. Needless to say, President Obama’s proposal last week to federally regulate the Internet like a 1930s-era outdated telephone service is so worrisome. I worked for some years in Silicon Valley in the analytics industry, helping hundreds of companies speed their products and services to market. In those years during the Obama administration, my clients, primarily online retailers (both superstores and mom-and-pop shops), never discussed broadband or net neutrality.

Image: William S. Young / The Chronicle

Do you have a great idea you want to manifest, but... er... uh... um... just can't seem to get things rolling? Chances are good your reasons why are on the list below. No problem. Join the club. Without making yourself wrong, simply note the ones that show up the most for you, then try the simple "go beyond excuses" exercise at the end of the list. Hey, it's time to get unstuck...

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Third Frontier Commission this week approved fully funding the entrepreneurial support network in Northeast Ohio and across the state, marking an abrupt change in attitude from two years ago.

Meeting in Columbus Wednesday, the commission charged with steering Ohio into the smart economy agreed to spend $43.5 million on its Entrepreneurial Signature Program, which supports economic development agencies that fund and mentor startups and entrepreneurs.

Over last the several years, universities have been forced to reimagine ways that they engage with alumni beyond the traditional method of fundraising via alumni donations. These universities and their alumni associations want to increase alumni involvement and facilitate interactions between their high-achieving alumni, faculty, and students. Over this same time span, many universities have increased the size and scope of their entrepreneurship curricula and degree programs. These two trends have started to merge as there has been a rise in the number of alumni angel networks that connect the talents and capital of alumni with faculty and students looking to launch an entrepreneurial venture.

Does it really take a few flaws to make a great entrepreneur, or are the rest of us just confused about what a perfect business person is all about? In the past I’ve written about the positive attributes of great entrepreneurs, so this time I thought I would focus on the negatives that I see often, and I challenge you to find someone that has all the positives and none of the negatives.

Greek yogurt leader Chobani announced plans to launch its Chobani Food Incubator, a program intended to invest in and cultivate emerging food entrepreneurs. The New York City–based center will provide food entrepreneurs with resources, workspace, and support.

Content is valuable. To enhance your content, and boost your brand, a cross-platform approach to content generation should be evaluated. If your content is not doing all it can to reinforce your brand’s perception and status, take heart! There are strategies designed to fully leverage creative content branding –- empowering your content, and your brand, to support recruitment of social ambassadors and online reputation managemen

Cybercriminals are getting more sophisticated. Online security breaches are becoming more common. And that means that your password security — as it exists today — may not be strong enough.

Marc Boroditsky, president and COO of Authy told Entrepreneur:

“If you look at the password, it’s not even technology … it’s a process that’s left over from the horse and buggy era, and we’re using it to protect our financial information, our health information, our online activities. It was always inevitable that passwords would be replaced.”

Image: Free Digital Photos

Having spent the last decade recruiting, I've had many a conversation with hiring managers after a candidate exits the interview. And, while I always hope for exceptional feedback, sometimes the news is not so glowing.

Sometimes, the candidate has done something so annoying to the interviewer that, at best, she is now questioning her interest in keeping this person in the running.

Image: MAD MEN/AMC