Little of what researchers at the Texas Medical Center's premier institutions have discovered to fight cancer or regenerate human cells has left the lab and become products that save people's lives. And innovations that have started in Houston often wound up on the east or west coasts, where savvy investors and entrepreneurs knew how to package and market them.

Image: Dr. Robert Robbins, the Texas Medical Center President and CEO, stands in the new TMC incubator on Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2014, in Houston. The business incubator is being developed to bring in more health care-related startups to the Houston area. ( Mayra Beltran / Houston Chronicle )

Innovation has rocketed up the CEO agenda, if this year’s 50 Most Innovative Companies list is any guide. There were 50 per cent more entries this year than last year.

“It comes down to innovation being less of a buzz word and more an absolute mandatory (thing) for companies to do,” says Amantha Imber, the founder of Inventium, a partner in the study with BRW.

Image: Free Digital Photos

Cardboard has a variety of uses, one of them being the perfect material to craft a Halloween costume.

Because the material comes in just about every shape and size imaginable, cardboard is a great option for those on a budget because most people would be more than willing for you to take it off their hands.

Image: http://mashable.com

Eric Ries debunks the myths of Lean Startup Methodology where he highlights the underlying four points: Lean Startup is NOT synonymous to cheap Lean Startup is NOT only for Web 2.0/internet/consumer software companies Lean Startup is NOT only for small bootstrapped startups Lean Startup does NOT replace vision with data or customer feedback In the past year or so, after having conducted multiple workshops, I came across a few more misconceptions that entrepreneurs have about the Lean Startup methodology. Here is my attempt to articulate them:

Image: http://ventureburn.com

When the pocket protectors and taped glasses version of the geek gradually gave way to present-day techie staples such as hoodies and flip flops, it might have seemed like the evolution of geek style had hit its ceiling — simplicity and comfort in the service of marathon coding sessions.

This aggressively casual approach, the style of no style, is embodied most visibly in the likes the of Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, who refuses to part with his hoodie, even pre-IPO, and Apple's design chief Jony Ive, who talks a good design game, but is usually seen in a t-shirt and jeans.

What I've learned over the past few years is this: I don't care who creates the content I consume as long as it's good. I'll read an interview with Kristen Bell even it appeared on the site of a buzzy juice company, or bookmark recipes from a fitness-gear retailer.

Entrepreneurship1 is a key element in the health and wellbeing of any thriving economy and will be central to Ireland’s continuing recovery. Historically, two thirds of new jobs in Ireland have been created by companies in their first five years2. This is because new businesses drive change and are the source of creative ideas and new technologies. They are the quickest to adapt to new opportunities and to the shifts that disrupt markets and business models.

The purpose of this policy statement is to clearly identify the framework needed to make Ireland one of the most entrepreneurial nations in the world, acknowledged as a world-class environment in which to start and grow a business. Embracing and implementing the approach set out in this statement will result in Ireland having excellent support networks at local and national level and strong policy frameworks within which businesses can be born and flourish. Ireland, in turn, will gain a global reputation as a location for smart capital and as an entrepreneurial hub. It will become recognised as a place where good ideas can be transformed into excellent businesses and new jobs will be created as international investors and mobile entrepreneurs seek Ireland out as a location of choice.

My favorite scene in the third installment of the Indiana Jones movies, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, is when Indiana must complete three tasks to reach the Holy Grail. One of the tests requires him to "leap" over a large abyss to the opening of a cave across from him. After contemplating the impossibility of the task, Indiana realizes that he must step into the abyss, trusting that he won't fall. He looks below, hesitates, puts his hand to his heart, closes his eyes, and takes the step. To his great relief (and surprise), he discovers that there's an invisible bridge that connects the two caves. He crosses this bridge and makes it safely across. (To check out the scene, click here).

Image: http://www.huffingtonpost.com

Euphoric super fans tout entrepreneurship as the best thing since the iPhone. Others describe it as a never-ending slog of busywork. The truth lies somewhere in the middle. If you’re a new entrepreneur, or an aspiring one, read on to see which phase of entrepreneurship you’re at right now, and how to prepare for what’s next.

As with any 12-step program, the first step is admitting you have a problem. In this case, your problem is that you want to be an entrepreneur, but you’re not. Yet.

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Either by choice or by circumstance, entrepreneurs launch into their businesses determined to make a living. They're then often accosted by fear, uncertainty, time demands, cash flow concerns and a barrage of advertisers eager for them to spend their money for reach and visibility in the marketplace. All of that is just on the business front. On the personal side, there are also concerns about disappointment and their responsibilities to their families.

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What makes companies ready for successful innovation? We know it’s not the size of their R&D budgets, even relative to their revenues. Since 2005, the annual Strategy& Innovation 1000 studies have examined which companies spend the most on R&D and which firms have the most success with it. The conclusion, year after year, has been the same: There is no correlation between innovation spend and business performance.

image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net 

Crowdfunding itself is going viral around the globe. It seems that everywhere you look, crowdfunding is popping up in a big way. This is top of mind for me as I jump on a plane to Moscow to deliver a keynote address at CrowdMap ’14.

Last week, I had the opportunity to visit with Sourabh Sharma, the CEO and Founder of Milaap, a crowdfunding site in India that is using the model created by Kiva, allowing people to invest in micro loans to the poor. Milaap focuses on lending for things that others often avoid, including toilets and education.

image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net 

It wasn’t fear of cancer, heart attacks, diabetes or even early death that did it. The reason I switched to a standing desk was, simply, to find a reprieve from pain. Since I graduated from college, back pain and its cruel confederates—neck, shoulder, and hip pain—have been unshakable facts of life. I’m not talking about the odd lumbar throbbing after a late night at the office; low-grade agony was pretty much a given, flaring into something more blinding a few times a month. Workday, weekend, vacation—it didn’t really matter, nor did the number of treadmill miles or chaturangas I’d banked that month.

Image: The author's standing desk resides in her office. Quartz 

Flying a spaceship, exploring a dungeon as a knight, and exploring the ocean's depths were among the dozens of virtual reality demos at the Oculus Connect conference this weekend. These prototypes--some of which used the latest Crescent Bay headset--show the promise of what's to come.

Image: http://www.fastcolabs.com/

Nominations are now being accepted for the 2015 FLC Awards. Since its inception in 1984 the FLC Awards have become one of the most coveted honors in the technology transfer field, with over 200 Federal laboratories honored for their work in projects that advance the mission of technology transfer. To reflect the diversity in scope and number of technology transfer efforts undertaken by federal laboratories and their partners, seven categories of awards will be presented:

It’s an idea echoed everywhere from “Friends” to “Girls”: Young people want to live in cities. And, we’re told, a lot of them (at least the cool ones) do.

It’s a common assumption. But it’s also wrong.

Between 2010 and 2013, the number of 20- to 29-year-olds in America grew by 4 percent. But the number living in the nation’s core cities grew 3.2 percent. In other words, the share of 20-somethings living in urban areas actually declined slightly.

Back in 1999 when I first raised venture capital I had zero knowledge of what a fair term sheet looked like or how to value my company.  Due to competitive markets we ended up with a pretty good term sheet until we needed to raise money in April 2001 and then we got completely screwed.  It was accept the terms or go into bankruptcy so we took the money.  Those were the dog days of entrepreneurship.

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China, a $10 trillion economy growing at 7 percent annually, is a never-before-seen force reshaping our global economy. Over the past 30 years, the Chinese government has at times opened the door wide for foreign companies to participate in its domestic economic growth. At other times, it has kept the door firmly closed. While some global leaders, such as automotive original-equipment manufacturers, have turned China into their single largest source of profits, others, especially in the service sectors, have been challenged to capture a meaningful share of revenue or profits.

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One of my last projects before joining College for America at Southern New Hampshire University involved analyzing the tech startups that are flourishing in Brooklyn, New York. The key questions I looked to answer were what kind of employees were these companies looking for, and what kind of education and experience did they need?

The logical assumption would have been that these companies were turning to local colleges and universities for great employees. Instead, when asking where they were finding their new talent, the nearly unanimous answer I received: Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). As in the city of Rochester, New York that is more than a subway ride away from Brooklyn.

Public-sector procurement typically means issuing requests for proposals (RFPs) that describe exactly what government wants vendors to do. The process generally includes long timelines, mind-numbing rules and almost no flexibility. Too often, the winner is whichever company is best at navigating the contracting-compliance maze. And vendors have an interest in limiting the number of potential contractors, with less competition translating to higher costs and lower quality for taxpayers.

Image: Charles Chieppo is a research fellow at the Ash Center of the Harvard Kennedy School.