R&D is at the heart of disruptive technologies that have the potential to transform entire industries and create high-quality jobs.  Government has to continue to fund hubs and clusters where global companies can be founded and raise the ceiling of aspiration for tomorrow’s innovators

As well as pouring my energy into the business I co-founded, Owlstone Nanotech, I’m a keen, albeit atrocious, runner. Earlier this year, Roger Bannister celebrated the 60th anniversary of breaking the four minute mile. Before 6th May 1954, the vast majority of people thought it impossible. Within two months of Bannister’s success, two runners had come in under the time. Ten years later, a seventeen year old school boy named Jim Ryun had run a mile in less than the magic four minutes. Physically, nothing had changed in these athletes over that time. But there had been a mental shift, a change in perception in what they believed to be possible. It was this that allowed them to succeed.

THIS week Apple announced two new pieces of hardware, the iPhone 6 and a “smartwatch.” But as flashy as they are, neither item is as groundbreaking as a piece of software that will accompany them: a digital wallet, allowing users to eschew cash and credit cards for a quick swipe of their device at the register.

Apple’s digital wallet, if widely adopted, could usher in a new era of ease and convenience. But the really exciting part is the fast-emerging future that it points toward, in which virtual assets of all sorts — traditional currencies, but also Bitcoin, airline miles, cellphone minutes — are interchangeable, opening up enormous purchasing power for consumers and creating tough challenges for governments around the world.

One of the innovations packed inside the Apple Watch—and highlighted by designer Jony Ive at the company’s grand unveiling this week—is a flexible display.

Contrary to some earlier speculation about the device, however, this doesn’t mean you can actually bend the screen. As with other devices featuring flexible displays, such as those from LG and Samsung, the display has been laminated onto a stiff pane, fixing it in place to prevent the damage that would come from repeated flexing.

Somehow the world seems to be spinning faster these days than just a few years ago. The frantic pace of technology cycles, the amount of tech news, the blogs, the conferences, the demo days, the announcements, the fundings, the IPOs. It’s exhausting. Perhaps unsustainable.

It got me thinking about the advice that I often give to new VCs. For years I saw myself as the new guy in VC but then you wake up one day and realize that 50% of your peers have been doing it for less time than you and time has moved on.

It appears that there are some very big changes underway from both the Dept of Commerce and the Dept of Labor for both economic development and workforce development professionals that will significantly break down the silos of service that they have been operating in and will require collaborative strategic planning between these two entities.

Now before I tell you about those changes facing us on the horizon, permit me just a moment to reflect on where we have been and why these new changes are an important and dramatic step forward in securing economic viability of regions going forward.

Since its passage more than two years ago, the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, which was designed to decrease regulatory burdens for raising capital, has spurred more than 110 IPOs among biotechnology companies alone. These are companies working to find cures for cancer, cardiovascular disease, blood disorders, and infectious diseases, among other conditions. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is now in the process of finalizing another important provision of the law that could further encourage biotech capital formation and investment.

These days, it's hard to scroll through a Facebook or Twitter feed without mention of a crowdfunding campaign. Artists and filmmakers have latched onto these Internet services to facilitate their projects. Thursday morning, as part of the IFP Independent Film Week, the #ArtistServices presented by the Sundance Institute focused on crowdfunding.

Image: http://www.indiewire.com

What if the passion and enthusiasm of entrepreneurs could be harnessed to address societal issues, such as climate change, homelessness and unemployment? A rising wave of "social entrepreneurs" is starting to do just that by designing their for-profit businesses around making positive contributions to the communities that they serve.

Earlier this year the RBC Social Finance initiative set out to explore the characteristics of social entrepreneurs to better understand what makes them successful and assess their ability to balance the pursuit of financial and non-financial goals.

Image: Free Digital Photos

Entrepreneurs are busy people with never enough time in their calendar.They have the demands of their growing companies and the responsibilities of their families to balance. Furthermore, the CEO must ensure they themselves remain healthy – mentally and physically – and don’t get burned out. If they do, everything suffers. To make sure both their business and personal life runs smoothly, busy entrepreneurs need to do the near impossible – find more hours in the day.Let’s take a look at the top tips, secrets and strategies for maximizing an entrepreneur’s time and ensuring that he or she manages the calendar rather than the calendar managing them.

Parts of your brain continue to function when you’re sleeping, researchers at Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris and the University of Cambridge have discovered.

They recorded the EEG (brain waves) of human participants while they were awake after they were instructed to classify spoken words as either animals or objects by pressing a button, using the right hand for animals and the left hand for objects.

Image: Free Digital Photos

Running a mid-sized business or managing a team of employees requires unbelievable patience, understanding, forethought and vision — and some of the most successful leaders will tell you that acquiring these traits does not come easily. Problems are bound to arise.

It's inevitable for business leaders to be faced with questions: "How should our business adapt through expansion?", "How can I be a better manager?" and "How do I move on from mistakes that I've made?" Mashable spoke with five business leaders who have, through little and large tumbles alike, learned how to approach roadblocks with poise, steady minds and healthy expectations.

As Canada’s largest and most influential business association, we are the primary and vital connection between business and the federal government. With our network of over 450 chambers of commerce and boards of trade, representing 200,000 businesses of all sizes, in all sectors of the economy and in all regions, we help shape public policy and decision-making to the benefit of businesses, communities and families across Canada.

For many in the startup world, accelerators are the end-all be-all to taking a great idea and bringing it to the next level. Some have even started calling them an alternative to MBAs.

If accepted into an accelerator program, it means mentorship, classes and training from those who have been there and done that. In some of the most elite accelerators, it also means access to a cream-of-the-crop network of professionals and investors.

Sometimes labeled ‘Silicon Desert’, the state of Arizona in the USA has seen a tech sector explosion, with multinational companies increasing their profile in the region, supported by a growing entrepreneur and innovation ecosystem. Companies like Apple, GoDaddy and General Motors have all boosted their presence in the state, and the entrepreneurial ecosystem is also surging.

New innovative startups are being nurtured by various state and private sector programs, and each year thousands of high-tech firms are locating in Arizona.

A new analysis suggests that the world’s population will keep rising through 2100, and not flatten around 2050 as has been widely assumed. Such an increase would have huge implications, but the prediction’s reliability is debatable, given that it does not take into account future hardships a large population would likely face.

What do your fitness tracker, your fridge, car, thermostat, phone, TV, gaming console and the weather service have in common? They are all connected, or soon will be. These connected devices are referred to as the Internet of Things (IoT) and — for those who’ve been living under a rock — it’s the next big thing. Just how big depends on the source. It’s estimated that, by 2020, the IoT will be worth between $7 and $19-trillion as an industry.

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/58754750@N08/6137200121

As a solopreneur, you can only do so much. But as your business grows, you’ll need to expand your staff. Finding and hiring the right people will help your company become more successful faster. Here we look at five tips that will not only help you find quality talent, but also nurture them so they feel vested in your company and want to help it thrive.

The word “innovation” buzzes around business today. Every startup professes to be innovative, and writers, academics and industry leaders stress the need for a “culture of innovation” in journals, news and inflight magazines. For those of us with a mandate to innovate — especially those with Innovation in our title — should we worry that the term will go stale?

In fact, I worry more because I see so little deep innovation. Rather, I find too many companies over-selling merely better inventions.

Image: brunkfordbraun/Flickr

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and UK Department for International Development (DFID) are co-hosting "Innovating for Impact: The MDGs and Beyond" in partnership with the Governments of Australia and Sweden and the Omidyar Network.

This MDG Countdown event will feature the announcement of a new Global Innovation Fund (GIF) to provide grants and risk capital to social enterprises, for-profit firms, non-profit organizations, researchers, and government agencies working on breakthrough solutions to global development challenges.

You know that taking frequent breaks is good for your productivity, focus, and creativity, but you just never seem to get around to it.

You feel stressed and exhausted when you hammer away at your keyboard all day, and the evidence is everywhere. A study earlier this year from the University of Toronto on lunch break patterns of office workers revealed the absence of a proper lunch break can actually lower productivity. John Trougakos, associate professor of Organizational Behavior & HR Management, who coauthored the study, argues our brains have a limited pool of psychological energy.

Image: Free Digital Photos