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.
The Renaissance Venture Capital Fund has invested $22.4 million in venture capital firms around the U.S., with the caveat that they at least consider deals in Michigan.
It did a lot more than just consider: Those firms and their partners in deals have invested $472.5 million in 23 companies in the state, most early stage and high-tech, according to a report to be released Monday.
image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net
For those in tech in the Bay Area, Silicon Valley doesn't just hit home — it is home.
Season one is set to wrap up on May 25, and the similarities between Mike Judge's version and the real thing are piling up. From the man behind satire like Idiocracy and Office Space, Silicon Valley follows a group of young entrepreneurs trying to build the next big tech startup with a ridiculous name: Pied Piper. And it's pretty spot on. Stanford grads galore, sky-high-paid Googlers (and Facebookers and Applers), and startups that come and go faster than your springtime allergies.
Image: The cast of 'Silicon Valley' stopped by the Mashable House at SXSW in Austin, Texas, in March. IMAGE: MASHABLE, JESSE KNISH
Microsoft, with a new CEO and a new corporate structure, is pushing hard to burnish its image as a source of innovation in business and consumer computing. Satya Nadella, Steve Ballmer’s replacement (and only the third CEO in the company’s 39-year history), continues to talk about Microsoft’s future as both a “mobile first” and a “cloud first” company, which means building on the now-completed Nokia acquisition and moving farther beyond its traditional emphasis on desktop operating systems and productivity software.
Mom and Dad: Parenting is tough, we know.
Raising children is a full-time job. On top of that, you still have to bring home the bacon and attempt to sneak in some television after the kids go to bed — if you can stay awake.
We've got you're back. These simple tips and DIY tricks can improve life for you and your child, saving you a little time, money and stress.
image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net
NEW DELHI: A clutch of top executives from firms including Persistent Systems, Intel Ventures India, Zensar and Deloitte have joined forces to form 'i4C' that will focus on scouting and mentoring innovators to enhance the product innovation market in India.
A non-profit organisation, i4C (Inter-Institutional Inclusive Innovations Center) is a product of public-private- people-media partnership model.
Image: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com - A non-profit organisation, i4C (Inter-Institutional Inclusive Innovations Center) is a product of public-private- people-media partnership model.
Investors are plowing capital back into China’s venture capital firms after shunning them for most of last year as they struggled to exit companies amid lackluster initial public offerings.
But with IPOs back on track, venture fundraising in China has turned more positive. Firms raised $1.07 billion in the first quarter, marking a 35% increase on the same period a year earlier, according to Dow Jones VentureSource, a data provider owned by VentureWire publisher Dow Jones & Co.
Image: http://blogs.wsj.com
When things start soaring in organizations, processes are tweaked, new roles are created, crisis management team is called in, budgets are allocated, strategies are formed, board meetings take place, and a whole lot of hush is created to address the issue. People are forced to think for solutions that would fix the problems. Small businesses do not have the luxury of defined roles, excessive meetings, huge set of board members or the comfort of departments and teams that specialize in crisis management. These are more about one man’s instinct that is an amalgamation of emotions wrapped in strategies and hope wrapped in goals. In order to address every issue that crops up, entrepreneurs tend to forget the basics.
image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net
Technology drives any economy – but in the coming years, what will drive technology?
We are well aware of the Philippines’ strengths in business process outsourcing (BPO), an industry that in the past decade has grown from zero to a million employees, most of whom flex their “neutral English accents” at the crack of dawn in call centres.
In 2013, international companies outsourced a similar class of customer-centred, tech-related business processes, to a benefit of $13.3 billion to the Philippines. This is 15% more than in 2012, and is expected to be matched in the coming year, according to the country’s central bank.
image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net
In previous posts, I shared questions that can help overcome fear of failure and others aimed at identifying your creative or entrepreneurial passion. But questioning can also be a great tool when it comes to problem-solving. Whatever challenge you’ve staked out--an entrepreneurial venture, a potential innovation, perhaps a social problem crying out for a fresh approach--asking the right questions, at the right time, can help you begin to tackle that problem and can even guide you toward a solution.
image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net
Daydreaming often gets a bad rap. In a world focused on being as efficient and productive as possible, distracted mind wandering seems like a blatant waste of time.
Fantasies alone can actually be de-motivating. If you dream of an ideal future, you experience some of the pleasure of having that future just because you’re dreaming about it. It is hard to be too moti
image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net
With globalization, climate change, and social and economical challenges, today’s world cities need to adapt like never before.
The IESE Business School in Spain is out with its annual Cities in Motion Index (ICIM), which ranks the world’s best (“smartest”) cities — those that have the highest levels of innovation, sustainability, and quality of life.
image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net
April 28 (Bloomberg) -- Patrick Chung, partner at New Enterprise Associates, discusses the merits of getting an education as a building base for the next generation of entrepreneurs on Bloomberg Television’s “Bloomberg Surveillance.”
For the one percent of the one percent. What sets those people apart? It has to do with their talent. The record of harvard speaks for itself. We have eight u.s. presidents and 16 nobel laureates, and the birth of the venture capital industry as a whole.
Image: http://www.bloomberg.com
In my Twitter bio is says that I’m “looking to invest in passionate entrepreneurs,” which almost sounds like I was just looking for a cliché soundbite to describe myself. Yet along with “authenticity” they are two of the key attributes I look for when I meet with companies I may consider funding one day.
Getting fired might not be the most ideal way to learn a lesson, but the drive that comes later may be exactly what some people need to elevate into heights of success they could only reach after a bad burn.
Once it happens, there are two things you can do: you can either mope around feeling ashamed and defeated, or you can take the opportunity to become the best version of yourself you’ve ever known.
(Technology -- Norman R. Augustine and Neal F. Lane: 4-28-14) February’s announcement by the National Institutes of Health, the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, and major pharmaceutical companies of an ambitious partnership to help accelerate the discovery of new diagnostics and drug treatments is a promising step forward for strengthening America’s scientific research enterprise. The partnership among government, universities, and industry is the cornerstone of research and innovation in this nation. However, securing a prosperous economic future in the face of increased global competition will require a more cooperative strategic working relationship among these three sectors than currently exists.
Many members of Congress on both sides of the aisle seem to agree. Yet this task is enormously challenging. It will require two things: (i) strong bipartisan agreement on the importance of U.S. science and technology (S&T) and the long-term investment in federally funded research, especially that carried out in our universities; and (ii) policy reform in all sectors, including changes in America’s federal S&T policy-making apparatus that today focuses on short-term political and economic considerations rather than on the nation’s future needs in a rapidly changing world. In short, we need a plan.
On May 13-15 scientists, businessmen and public servants has discussed new opportunities for companies and universities at the VIII International Forum "From science to business" in St. Petersburg, Russia. More than 200 participants from 50 cities and 10 countries gathered on the event.
Advisor to the Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Russia Nikolai Toivonen described some trends, showing universities as generators of innovation development. One of the key task for HEI's is strategic planning alumni career expert says, concerning that young specialist change job each 3-5 years. Alexey Knyazev, Deputy Governor for Science, Education Sector and Innovation Policy of Tomsk region considers students also to be serious investor of regional economics.
image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net
The two major ways entrepreneurs can take money from their business is through draws or by receiving a paycheck. The type of entity in which their business is set up will determine which method can be used. In either case, entrepreneurs need to be careful not to shortchange themselves. Especially if you’re running a service business, it’s easy to initially think you can do well with a similar hourly rate that you earned as an employee. Here’s a quick list of five elements that should be included in the compensation of every entrepreneur:
Image: http://www.yourextrahand.com
India is right now in the midst of a major golden rush: Entrepreneurship.
As per a recent report by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, almost 100,000 new companies were registered in India last year!
Never before in the Indian history, has such entrepreneurial fever been witnessed.
Image: http://trak.in/
Why start your internet company in California? “Black swan” start-ups have cut paths beyond the hi-tech heartlands.
When Estonia regained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 less than half the population had a telephone line. A decade later Denmark’s Janus Friis and Sweden’s Niklas Zennstrom chose its capital, Tallinn, as the launch pad for what would become one of the world’s most valuable start-ups – Skype. Similarly, in the mid-2000s two Swedish music enthusiasts Eric Wahlforss and Alexander Ljung looking for a location to create a website that would be for sounds what Flickr was to photos, visited Silicon Valley and initially set up a small office in Stockholm before relocating to Berlin, a city then in a state of economic decline. Their business SoundCloud went on to become one of the biggest audio-sharing websites in the world attracting over 250 million listeners each month.
In an effort to stimulate entrepreneurial activity across the country, the U.S. Small Business Administration is sponsoring a $2.5 million competition for business accelerators and incubators. At least one area entity is planning to participate. The competition invites applications from accelerators and “other entrepreneurial ecosystem models” outside of the well established cradles of business startups to compete for prizes of $50,000 each. Jim Roberts, executive director of the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, said in an email that the CIE does plan to apply.
Image: Area business people attend a seminar at UNCW's CIE, which plans to apply for a $50,000 prize from the U.S. SBA. (Contributed Photo)
