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 AI humanoid, 'Sophia' (see above), has been making a worldwide tour on behalf of her creator, Hanson Robotics of Hong Kong, and made an unexpected stop to the Caucasus this week. The Caucasus stop meant granting the world's first ever visa granted to a robot, a process that took just two minutes thanks to some smart technology.
Image: https://www.forbes.com
With the second largest university population in the country and more affordable business costs than other East Coast cities, Philadelphia was recently ranked by Forbes as one of the top 10 rising places for startups. This comes as no surprise at Drexel —a pioneer in the study and practice of entrepreneurship, that established the Close School of Entrepreneurship in 2013 to encourage startup ventures across all disciplines. In addition, the Baiada Institute, a university incubator in the Close School that is home to at least 17 student startups, holds an annual competition that awards cash prizes and incubator space to burgeoning entrepreneurs. So what makes a startup successful?
This paper reviews recent academic work on the spatial concentration of entrepreneurship and innovation in the United States. We discuss rationales for the agglomeration of these activities and the economic consequences of clusters. We identify and discuss policies that are being pursued in the United States to encourage local entrepreneurship and innovation. While arguments exist for and against policy support of entrepreneurial clusters, our understanding of what works and how it works is quite limited. The best path forward involves extensive experimentation and careful evaluation.
New technology markets and paradigm shifts have traditionally been bad bets when seeking investors, since these were known to take decades to develop, and cost lots of money. For example, consider how many years it took for the market to move from radio to television, or fully accept personal computers on every desktop. The leading edge was too often the bleeding edge.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of China’s economic reform and looking back over the last four decades, China’s transformation has been nothing short of remarkable. In 1978, the Chinese economy was a mere 5 percent of the size of the US economy, with a per capita GDP income about par with that of Zambia. China’s economic impact on the world was rather limited. In the span of 40 years however, China’s GDP has overtaken that of countless countries. Today, it is second only to the US and the gap is closing while at the same time lifting more than 700 million people out of poverty.
Image: https://www.shine.cn
A growing seniors population and increasing prevalence of high-cost diseases like diabetes has generated a surge in funding for healthcare research in recent years and, along with it, demand for life science-biotech lab space.
But the biggest impact on demand for wet lab space has resulted from mapping of the complete human genome and subsequent advances in biotechnology, according to Ian Anderson, director of research and analysis with real estate services firm CBRE. Anderson notes that the price for sequencing a human genome has dropped from $100,000 to just $1,000, resulting in massive expansion in DNA research and development of new biotech tools, like the CRISPR gene editing system.
Working in the cryptocurrency industry in 2018 is like being the most interesting person at a party: Everyone is curious about you, everyone wants to learn more about what you do and everyone has questions.
It's one of those things that gets people talking.
There's good reason for this. To many outside of the industry, there's something enigmatic about crypto companies. Are cryptocurrency workers anarchists? Are they tech-obsessed bros who spend all their time in their basements? Or are they just an elaborate front that's really dedicated to funneling money to terrorists and drug dealers?
“First, let’s fire all the managers” said Gary Hamel almost seven years ago in Harvard Business Review. “Think of the countless hours that team leaders, department heads, and vice presidents devote to supervising the work of others.”
A popular myth these days is that finishing college only dilutes your entrepreneurial instincts, and the best of the best, including Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg, dropped out early to hasten their success. I agree with Robert E. Litan, former VP of research at the Kauffman Foundation, that these are exceptions to the rule, rather than a model to emulate.
Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com
The nonprofit sector is working to solve more problems than ever before. The good news is that humanitarian funding is growing, but needs are exceeding that growth. In a BCG article, 2014 touted a $25 billion global budget for humanitarian aid (the largest ever recorded), this budget only met 62% of demands. With all nonprofits needing to do more with less, it’s time to think about innovating everything from services to nonprofit business models.
Image: https://ideascale.com
Independence found, and lost.
When I was 19, I landed a job that would be a turning point in my life and teach me not only that life isn’t fair, but that it shouldn’t be.
At the time, I was basking in my newfound independence, living on my own, paying my way through college and looking for work, which back in the 1970s meant scouring through obscurely worded “help wanted” ads in the newspaper. Kind of like Twitter’s 140 character limit but without the benefit of webspeak abbreviations and emojis.
Image: https://www.innovationexcellence.com
Does your business have a visible positive strategy, or do your customers and employees still see your primary focus as closing more sales and killing competitors? Certainly that has been the strategy of many companies, and has worked in the past, but today’s customers and workers are looking for more. They want relationships, positive experiences, and a win-win for society.
Everest, a blockchain startup that began generating revenue in 2017 and now has 12 employees, is working to provide people in the developing world with a blockchain identity that will connect everyone to the 21st-century economy.
Founder Bob Reid, 48, says, “Everest gives the average person the ability to prove who they are, exchange value with another individual or institution, and utilize technology provided by an organization, facility, or agent army.”
Over the decades, a lot of really stupid management fads have come and gone, including:
It need hardly be said that these fads were and are (at best) a waste of time and (at worst) a set of expensive distractions. But open plan offices are worse. Much worse. Why? Because they decrease rather than increase employee collaboration.
No matter what kind of skills you have, now is a good time to be looking for a job.
Still, some workers have it better than others.
The unemployment rate is the lowest its been in decades and wages are slowly beginning to climb, making it no surprise that an estimated 8 million jobs should be created over the next five years, according to a new study from employment website CareerBuilder.
Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. Some of us might be great leaders, great teachers or great speakers. Others might know every aspect of their business, but struggle when presenting in front of a crowd. If you are one of the latter people -- either because you think you're a poor public speaker or simply because you don't like it -- it's not the end of the world. You can always improve and grow, turn weaknesses into strength.
Image: Entrepreneur Network
Today, cybersecurity tips for small businesses should not be taken lightly. If you are like millions of small-business owners in America, you probably cannot imagine how a cyber criminal halfway around the world could possibly cause your business to suffer a data security breach. After all, aren’t hackers busy enough with the Fortune 500?
Surprise! They are not — and even small businesses must embrace a cyber security strategy to protect their own business, their customers and their data from cyber threats. To keep your data safe, here are 8 cyber security tips designed for the smallest of businesses — because SMB data is just as valuable to today’s cyber criminals.
Entrepreneurs, dressed with curiosity and ardour to make a change, are proactive thinkers. This spirited thinking is what sets them apart from routine job seekers and organizational managers. The world in which we are currently living alters every minute because of enthused demand and supply of goods and services. Continuous technological advancement only adds to this refashioning dynamics, and these fluxing advents offer us multifarious opportunities, challenges, and problems. If given a chance, entrepreneurs around the world, could take to rooftops and proclaim themselves as persistent “solution finders” and “solution providers”. Needless to say, such jovial tags in fact in all seriousness are justified as we owe an unpayable debt to such innovators and thinkers.
Brazilian fintech company StoneCo raised $1.2 billion in its debut on the U.S. public markets this week. Stone is similar to U.S. payments firm Square, facilitating e-commerce both online and in stores through partnerships with card companies and merchants. Jack Ma's Ant Financial and Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway both took large stakes in the company as part of its public offering. Prior to the IPO, Madrone Capital Partners, an investment firm backed by heirs to the Walmart fortune, held a nearly 10 percent stake in Stone. The stock trades on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "STNE."
If you often find yourself having trouble falling sleep, you’re not alone. The American Sleep Association (ASA) says that 50 million to 70 million U.S. adults have a sleep disorder. Among that group, insomnia is the most common. The ASA says that 30% of adults have reported short-term, insomnia-like symptoms, and 10% of American adults deal with chronic insomnia.
