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.
When’s the best time to schedule a meeting? For many managers, the answer is clear: first thing in the morning. Your team is fresh, you make sure you’re all on the same page, and you set yourself up for a productive day.
But there are plenty of arguments against the morning meeting. Before you make it your default option, consider these factors:
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Nearly $200 million in Buffalo Billion initiative funding has been approved by Empire State Development’s Board of Directors for three projects that is expected to create more than 1,300 jobs and spur further investment and economic growth across Western New York.
In a distant part of the galaxy, 300 years in the future, Starship Enterprise Captain James T. Kirk talks to his crew via a communicator; has his medical officer assess medical conditions through a handheld device called a tricorder; synthesizes food and physical goods using his replicator; and travels short distances via a transporter. Kirk’s successors hold meetings in virtual-reality chambers, called holodecks, and operate alien spacecraft using displays mounted on their foreheads. All this takes place in the TV series Star Trek, and is of course science fiction.
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FORWARD THINKING IS GREAT--BUT IT ALSO MAKES YOU LOSE SIGHT OF PROGRESS. USE THIS EXERCISE TO SHIFT SOME FOCUS TO YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS.
Caroline Ghosn has trouble acknowledging her successes. The Levo League founder and CEO certainly has a lot to be proud of, but like so many hard-working, forward-thinking startup leaders, she focuses on the future, rather than her past accomplishments.
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“I have a weird question for you,” I stammered, sitting in a hotel room across from Matias Duarte and Jon Wiley, the Google design leads for Android and Search, respectively. As a reporter, you tend to ask a lot of stupid sounding questions, and it’s generally no big deal. But I was about to ask an extremely stupid sounding question--the type of question that, just by breathing it into the air, might out me as actually stupid, tainting every future conversation we’d have to come.
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Department of Education on Monday released its rankings of the most and least expensive colleges in the country -- an annual ritual that some lawmakers are eyeing for elimination in the coming reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. As has been the case in previous years, many well-known institutions appear on this year’s list, which ranks the top 5 percent of the most expensive colleges based on tuition and the average net price students pay after receiving financial aid.
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Solicitation Number: SBAHQ-14-R-0011 Notice Type: Solicitation / Cancelled Synopsis: Added: Jun 03, 2014 3:35 pm Modified: Jun 30, 2014 9:53 amTrack Changes THE SOLICITATION IS CANCELLED.
The SBA would like to share its appreciation for the questions and interest it has received thus far about Intensive Entrepreneurship Curriculum and Service Delivery. Solicitation Number: SBAHQ-14-R-0011. In order to ensure SBA commences this new initiative and has the opportunity to clarify the statement of objectives, SBA is canceling this solicitation, and will reissue a clarified solicitation under a new number within the next thirty days. Correspondingly, the webinar scheduled for July 1, 2014 will also be canceled with plans to reschedule it in the near future.
Why can’t employees speak honestly about their career goals with their managers? It’s because of the reasonable belief that doing so is risky and career-limiting if the employee’s aspirations do not perfectly match up with the manager’s existing views and time horizons. It seems safer to wait until another job offer is in hand, so that if one’s manager reacts badly to one’s ideas, there’s no danger of being passed over for on-going professional development, or worse, left unemployed. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy: once an employee has gone far down the road with another potential employer, it’s hard for her to maintain a positive relationship with her current company.
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Sramana: What was your next career step after your successful project for the State of Texas?
Mohammed Farooq: In 1999, a guy called Manoj Saxena started a company in Austin and I became his first employee. I joined them on a journey of entrepreneurship. When I was working for the State of Texas in the Governor’s office, I had the option of joining the presidential campaign and move forward in government.
With age -- and success, as it turns out -- comes wisdom.
Having achieved great success in their respective industries, four of Oprah's "Super Soul Sunday" guests recently shared the sage advice they wish they had known when they were young. From the co-founder of Whole Foods to a parenting expert, the innovators say these lessons would have all the difference in navigating their earlier years.
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Is STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) the answer to preparing our kids to be the innovators of the future? That’s the question I was recently asked during the Q&A session at the end of a speech. Based on what other attendees said, I got myself wound up about the question and my belief on what is really needed. In a nutshell, while STEM is a great start, its not sufficient to win in the emerging creative / innovation economy.
We’ve written about the end of the Public Service Launchpad Accelerator before, where 14 teams came together over 14 weeks to come up with ideas that help solve a range of social problems.
The Public Service Launchpad Accelerator was the first of its kind. While there are other accelerator programmes supporting social start ups, it uniquely worked with a mixture of social entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs (people setting up innovative ventures within their own organisations) and took on projects at an early stage in their developments.
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Aspen, Colo. — A couple of days ago I took a walk down a narrow, somewhat perilous mountain trail with Scott Barry Kaufman, scientific director of the Imagination Institute. The trail began near the Aspen Institute’s campus here in this immensely beautiful, immensely wealthy town, where the institute holds its annual ideas festival, a gathering of scientists, artists, corporate executives, and miscellaneous thinkers who mull such topics as the future of smart cities, the future of fatherhood, and the future of robotics. They also enjoy a lot of wine and cheese.
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Following a requirement of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will consider whether to raise the income and net worth requirements for accredited investors later this year. Some advocacy groups think the current levels are too low to protect investors from fraud and risk of loss and are pushing for an increase.
Several major wind-power companies are testing a departure from the industry’s standard three-bladed turbine design by dropping one of the three blades and spinning the rotor 180 degrees to face downwind.
The design presents engineering challenges, but the hope is that it could greatly improve the economics of offshore wind power. By some estimates, two-bladed turbines could cost 20 percent less to build and install while generating the same amount of power as conventional turbines.
Image: http://www.technologyreview.com/ - Cutting wind: Two-bladed wind turbines, like this one in China, could lower the cost of wind power.
While attending the CFGE Conference in New York City last week I was able to sit in on a presentation by Anthony Zeoli regarding the “vanishing middle market IPO”. Anthony is a securities attorney who is championing the cause of intrastate crowdfunding in Illinois – he has also contributed to Crowdfund Insider.
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ABSTRACT Two studies examined how intragroup affective patterns influence groups’ pervasive tendency to ignore the unique expertise of their members. Using a hidden profile task, Study 1 provided evidence that groups with at least one member experiencing positive affect shared more unique information than groups composed entirely of members experiencing neutral affect. This occurred because group members experiencing positive affect were more likely to initiate unique information sharing, as well as information seeking. Study 2 built upon this base by showing that confidence mediates the relationship between positive affect and the initiation of unique information sharing. Additionally, Study 2 investigated the role of negative affect in group decision making and how negative and positive affect concurrently influence decision making when groups are composed of members experiencing each. The results are discussed in terms of the role affect plays in influencing group behavior and the resultant importance of investigating specific affective patterns.
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It’s not hard to find people willing to write the narrative that “venture capital is not an asset class” or “venture capital has performed terribly.”
The most recent was 18 months ago or so called The Kauffman Report. It had an influence on the people who fund our industry in a negative way as many asset managers who fund our industry read this flawed report. That’s a shame because many of these people missed out on what will be a few great VC vintages.
Working on a team scattered across the globe can be challenging. Differences in time zones, language, and cultural differences make it hard to get to know and trust team members. You can’t see what coworkers are doing or walk down the hall to resolve issues before they escalate. Sometimes, without the subtle cues you get working face-to-face, you don’t even know a conflict is brewing until it blows up. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
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Where do great ideas come from, and how can you generate more of them?
You’ve tried all the recommendations, from waking up early to writing by hand.
Maybe your company has even hired a consultant to help employees generate new ideas, all in pursuit of that elusive eureka moment, the light bulb, the bolt of inspiration that leads to the next big thing.
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