Here we highlight selected innovation related articles from around the world on a daily basis. These articles related to innovation and funding for innovative companies, and best practices for innovation based economic development.
Coverage of America’s changing urban scene tends to focus heavily on large metropolitan areas and the “megaregions” now often said to dominate the economic future. Often missed has been a slow, but inexorable, shift of migration and economic growth to smaller cities, a geography usually ignored or dismissed, with the exception of college towns, as doomed to lag behind by urban boosters.
The hardest part is getting started.
When there’s a long list that needs tackling every day, the hardest part is tackling what needs to be done first. You may feel intimidated to start your next big project or pull your colleague aside for an awkward, but much-needed confrontation.
image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net
Suppose data scientists could track how people move through cities and towns as easily as e-commerce sites track them online?
Don't answer that. It's already happening—thanks, at least in part, to a startup called StreetLight Data.
StreetLight founder and CEO Laura Schewel was working on a doctorate in energy engineering at UC Berkeley when she had the “ah-ha” idea of using data from cell towers, traffic-data aggregators and GPS satellites to track people's movement patterns in cities and states across the country.
Image: Streetlight Data founder and CEO Laura Schewel - http://readwrite.com/
NEIL BLUMENTHAL: It’s a good time to be an entrepreneur. The rise of crowdfunding and the optimism of venture capital firms have made it easier than ever for upstarts to raise capital. Not coincidentally, entrepreneurs have become idolized and spoofed on magazine covers, in novels like Dave Eggers’ “The Circle,” on Mike Judge’s TV series “Silicon Valley” and reality TV alike. “Shark Tank,” before you scoff, just gobbled up two Emmy nominations.
When you decide to make a change in your life, step up in your business or really move towards creating what you want in your life
it’s normal to experience a lot of inner resistance and feel stuck.
As frustrating as this can be, it is often a sign that you are moving forward and on the verge of a big breakthrough (don’t ask me why but I see this all the time)
In my own life, when ever I have had a breakthrough or gone to a new level in something there has always been a period of (sometimes intense) frustration and feeling stuck before it.
New venture firm TenOneTen pays homage to the 10 and 110 freeways bisecting Los Angeles, but geography doesn’t limit its focus–just half its startups are based in L.A.
“We aspire to be great investors in L.A., not great L.A. investors,” said David Waxman, who co-founded the firm in 2013 with Gil Elbaz.
The firm, which is in the process of raising a debut fund of up to $25 million, according to a regulatory filing, is part of a wave of new seed-stage funds. In the first half of this year, 19 debut funds were raised that were $100 million or smaller, according to Dow Jones VentureSource, the most since the research group began tracking the industry in 1992.
The usual image of how creativity happens: A composer inadvertently hears a melody rising from a babbling brook, or an ad agency creative director crumples page after page of aborted ideas ripped from the typewriter until the right one lands. But creativity, some claim, can come from a far less elusive muse — from a structured process, one that opens up the ranks of the creative to a wider swath than the Steve Jobs, Jonas Salks and Franz Schuberts of the universe.
Image: Free Digital Photos
William Craig has an interesting piece up on Forbes detailing the benefits of telecommuting. In it, he discusses how working from home has risen in popularity and why it's likely to become more of a norm in the near future. He also explains that, despite common apprehensions about telecommuting, studies show that folks who work at home get more done than those who languish away in offices.
Image: Free Digital Photos
In his recent Big Think interview, Bill Nye proposed his version of an ideal core curriculum. Spoiler Alert: there's science involved.
As Bill explains, incorporating science and math into the elementary core curriculum is vitally important because future scientists develop their passion for those subjects during the 8-10 age range. It's much rarer for doctors or astronauts to be late converts. For this reason, Bill stresses the need to invest in a strong elementary core curriculum.
Image: Bill Nye the Science Guy - http://bigthink.com
Starbucks was nearly a victim of its own innovation.
The ubiquitous coffee chain was growing at a phenomenal pace through much of the last decade. In 1987, the company had only 17 stores, but by 1999 the number had grown to 2,500. That total doubled and redoubled until 2007.
Let’s do some word association. What’s your first thought when someone talks about “innovation” at your company? You probably think of “ground-breaking changes” and “drastic overhauls.” Gmail, the XBox, Nike Air, the Post-It Note. “We’re gonna make millions…”
Yes, those certainly fit the definition of innovation. But there’s something to be said for getting the innovation ball rolling by focusing on a series of small ideas that have measurable impact over time.
Image: Free Digital Photos
A lot has been written lately about innovation, or the lack thereof, in the world of biopharma. One question that often gets asked: which countries lead the way in creating new medicines? Many people think that drugs originate in the nation where the companies that produce them are headquartered. The truth, however, is much more complicated. Given that multi-national firms market the majority of medicines, figuring out where each one of their drugs originated requires digging through some extensive data vaults. A proper analysis requires the examination of company histories, free market deal making, and in some cases government interventions. Consider the following examples:
The transition to management isn’t easy. One study found it was almost as stressful as divorce.
No wonder people screw it up. But while “Everyone certainly has the right to screw up in her own individual way,” says Lindsey Pollak, whose new management book Becoming the Boss is out this month, there are also “classic mistakes” made by “pretty much everyone I interviewed.” Here’s what they are, and how to avoid them:
image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net
I know you don’t want to take a break right now.
Why? Because you’re too busy. This post is probably one of more than a few tabs you have open on your browser or phone. Your to-do list is likely close by and packed with tasks.
Sometimes we know there’s a better way to do things, but we’re just so busy we don’t even think we have the time to find it--so we keep going like we always have.
Whether you’re a morning person or a night owl, we all start our day at some point. And we all seem to start it differently.
Some of us hop online to check social media, others dive in to email, still others eat breakfast, exercise, or pack lunches for the kids. There’re a million different ways a morning could go.
On the northern edge of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine, past the security checkpoint and high-tech stations for refurbishing nuclear submarines, is a derelict warehouse that once doubled as a sawmill. Building 129’s corrugated metal exterior is rusted and overgrown with bursts of ivy. Broken glass in some of the windows has been replaced with clear plastic. Inside, it takes a moment to adjust to the cavernous silence and dim orange lighting, but one immediately senses the hulking presence of the hangar’s inhabitant: a vessel called Ghost.
Image: Photograph by Guido Vitti for Bloomberg Businessweek
Across Asia and the Middle East, rising incomes and accelerating investment in infrastructure have attracted multinationals eager to expand their global presence. But success in these high-growth emerging markets (HGEMs) often proves elusive. Several recent reports and surveys suggest why: Many HGEMs rate poorly on the World Bank’s “Ease of Doing Business” index, on Transparency International’s “Corruption Perceptions Index,” and on the Economist’s “Crony-Capitalist” index. These rankings make clear that strategies and business models tailored to the regulations and laws of mature markets may not translate well into HGEMs, many of which are characterized by opaque regulatory climates, weak institutions, and invisible influence networks that may expose companies to unacceptable legal and reputational risks.
Image: by Pep Montserrat
A business accelerator created specifically for cybersecurity start-ups in Virginia will welcome a new cohort of companies Tuesday, one year after its doors opened with the goal of establishing the commonwealth as a hotbed for the cybersecurity industry.
Among the companies is the developer of a database where companies can securely store customer information, such as credit card numbers, and the creator of software that makes messaging on Facebook Chat private and confidential.
