Construction projects are becoming increasingly complex and as such, difficult to coordinate. This can make it difficult for role players to agree on project fundamentals, which can lead to mistrust and disputes among participants.

Enter blockchain technology, an innovative business tool which, according to Databuild CEO Morag Evans, could prove to be a future game changer in the construction industry.

Innovation is a principal driver of U.S. economic growth. In 2022, the U.S. will spend nearly $600 billion on research and development — more than any other country in the world and more than 25% of the world’s total — helping the nation rank third on the Global Innovation Index. According to the results of the ranking, knowledge and technology outputs are America’s particular strengths. Some of the biggest innovations the U.S. has produced recently are the COVID-19 vaccines.

Image: https://wallethub.com

Entrepreneurs are usually highly creative and innovative, but many innovative people are not entrepreneurs. Since it takes a team of people to build a great company, the challenge is to find that small percentage of innovative people, and then nurture the tendency, rather than stifle it.

Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com

To truly be successful in your business adventure, it is important to foster your curiosity and be a lifelong learner. Consistent learning fuels a life of continual growth, which will help you to adapt and grow your business. You will also find that being able to embrace new technologies, thoughts, and changes will help you become more adaptable to ensure your business’ success.

Have you noticed that more companies beg you to participate in their business today? It started with an email survey on your last stay at their hotel, but now includes requests for online product reviews, to social media input on the design of future products. They do it because engaged customers become loyal advocates and buyers. Welcome to the “Participation Age” of marketing.

Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com

Although it’s not yet a state, DC was recognized in a new report as the country’s most innovative state, while its northern neighbor of Maryland landed three spots down at fourth place. The report from WalletHub, a DC-based financial advice site, concluded that the district embraces economic and technological creativity more than any of the 50 actual states. Titled 2022’s Most & Least Innovative States, the study found that DC continues to grow innovation in its education, funding, research and new business creation realms. Meanwhile, Maryland came in at #4 and Virginia at #6 — a testament to the tech sector’s strength throughout the DMV and beyond — while Massachusetts and Washington state took the #2 and #3 spots.

Image: A visualization of WalletHub's findings. (Image via WalletHub report)

Digital copies of licenses and state-issued IDs, which can also be stored on Apple Watches, will only work at security checkpoints at a Phoenix airport for now, officials said.

Image: https://www.nytimes.com

NEW YORK, NY (March 25, 2022) – A study published today in Nature Communications unveils a new platform for discovering cellular signatures of disease that integrates robotic systems for studying patient cells with artificial intelligence methods for image analysis. Using their automated cell culture platform, scientists at the NYSCF Research Institute collaborated with Google Research to successfully identify new cellular hallmarks of Parkinson’s disease by creating and profiling over a million images of skin cells from a cohort of 91 patients and healthy controls.

The Great Barrier Reef has been hit with a sixth mass coral bleaching event, the marine park’s authority has confirmed, with aerial surveys showing almost no reefs across a 1,200km stretch escaping the heat.

The Guardian understands a United Nations mission currently under way to check the health and management of the reef will be briefed on the initial findings of the surveys as early as Friday in Townsville.

Image: Great Barrier Reef hit by sixth coral bleaching event – video

An ice shelf the size of New York City has collapsed in East Antarctica, an area long thought to be stable and not hit much by climate change, concerned scientists said Friday.

The collapse, captured by satellite images, marked the first time in human history that the frigid region had an ice shelf collapse. It happened at the beginning of a freakish warm spell last week when temperatures soared more than 70 degrees warmer than normal in some spots of East Antarctica. Satellite photos show the area had been shrinking rapidly the last couple of years, and now scientists say they wonder if they have been overestimating East Antarctica's stability and resistance to global warming that has been melting ice rapidly on the smaller western side and the vulnerable peninsula.

Image: This satellite image shows the main piece of C-37 close to Bowman Island. Scientists are concerned because an ice shelf the size of New York City collapsed in East Antarctica, an area that had long been thought to be stable. NASA via AP

The Metaverse is a new frontier of innovation in social and business interaction, and pioneers of this technology are rushing to develop its building blocks and protect their intellectual property (IP) rights. However, patenting this cutting-edge technology is not without challenges.

There’s nothing like an explosion of blockchain news to leave you thinking, “Um… what’s going on here?” That’s the feeling I’ve experienced while reading about Grimes getting millions of dollars for NFTs or about Nyan Cat being sold as one. And by the time we all thought we sort of knew what the deal was, the founder of Twitter put an autographed tweet up for sale as an NFT. Now, months after we first published this explainer, we’re still seeing headlines about people paying house-money for clip art of rocks — and my mom still doesn’t really understand what an NFT is.

Venture capital funding overall has surged in recent years, but the numbers haven't leapt forward for female founders at the same pace. In 2021, companies founded solely by women garnered 2.1% of the total capital invested in venture-backed startups in the US.

But that number doesn't tell the whole story. US VC funding for female-founded or co-founded companies has been trending up in recent years, and 2021 saw the creation of several women-led funds, incubators for female founders and more new companies.

Image: https://pitchbook.com

In Mark Zuckerberg’s vision for the future, most forms of everyday work could require more imagination.

On a recent episode of the “Lex Fridman Podcast,” hosted by MIT computer scientist Lex Fridman, the Meta founder and CEO said that as modern technology continues to develop, tech-focused jobs will increasingly dominate the world — just not necessarily the types of “tech jobs” one might experience today.

Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Zuckerberg

Job security is a key reason people choose traditional employment over independent work. But declining perceptions of job security, coupled with workers rethinking what they want when it comes to work/life balance, are leading more people to prioritize flexibility, autonomy, and control when choosing where they will work.

Covid-19 spurred on the Great Resignation of 2021, during which record numbers of employees voluntarily quit their jobs. But what we are living through is not just short-term turbulence provoked by the pandemic. Instead, it’s the continuation of a trend of rising quit rates that began more than a decade ago.

A strong vision and a more disciplined approach can actually equal more creative results.

How does a modern dance choreographer get the most creativity out of their troupe? In such an artistic setting, you might imagine that their main focus is to encourage and inspire individual dancers to express their creativity and weave it into the final performance.

The pandemic caused people to reevaluate what’s meaningful to them, and for many, that meant leaving their corporate jobs and turning their passions into full-time careers. And in 2022, we’ll see even more people leave in droves to become business owners, freelancers and contractors, in the hopes of opening the door to more money, more freedom and more time. It’s reminiscent of historical periods where darkness preceded light, like how the plague of the Middle Ages paved the way for the Italian Renaissance, or how the 16th and 17th centuries saw the Scientific Revolution change the way we saw the world.

Many of you business leaders I work with, and entrepreneurs I mentor, have a great strategy and an innovative solution, but struggle with building and motivating the team necessary to run your business. You assume everyone has your passion, and simply needs your command and control to make it work. In my experience, what a team needs more is your connection and inspiration.

Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com

Explainer - There's a new Covid-19 variant making headlines around the world - Deltacron. Whatever you may think about that name, it's exactly what it sounds like - a combination of the Delta and Omicron variants. So how did this happen, where did it come from and should we be worried? 

What is this Deltacron? University of Otago virologist Dr Jemma Geoghegan says it's a example of virus recombination - when two related viruses infect the same individual and the same cell during a co-infection.

Image: Evolutionary virologist Dr Jemma Geoghegan. PHOTO: PETER MCINTOSH/ODT