Scientists struggling to find funding for research may have a new source of money: crowdfunding.

That’s the conclusion of a new study, which suggests that scientists who lack extensive published research may be better off gathering many modest contributions instead of pursuing large financial grants from traditional sources.

Large companies in industries ranging from retail, to aerospace, to financial services are buying talent and technology to develop new digital capabilities and reinvent themselves quickly. But they will need to adopt the more hard-headed way that Silicon Valley companies evaluate acquisitions for their deals to pay off.

I spent a fascinating couple of days at James Mawson’s Global Corporate Venture Capital conference in London this week. Venture capital of all hues is booming. I wrote about it in this week’s issue of my newsletter Exponential View. You can read my thoughts below. For more, subscribe to Exponential View, it’s free and you’ll find it useful.

Silicon Valley investors are worried that China's tech sector will eat their lunch.

The idea came up at a Bay Area debate earlier this week when Sequoia Capital venture partner Mike Vernal posited that China will soon overtake the U.S. in areas like artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles.

Image: https://www.cnbc.com

Professionalising a family firm is a necessary yet difficult progression. The owner-manager starts with a solo performance but the firm builds into a symphony orchestra in which the family continues to have a say in the running of the firm. Family-run businesses need to shift their deeply engrained organisational culture from a single-family member leader to a professional manager leading the firm. It can be a difficult process to get right because of the larger emotional issues at stake. For professional managers who have little or no experience with family firms, most will have never confronted this kind of transformation before since it is unique to family firms. In general, both owner-managers and professionals often underestimate the length of time and the scope the process can take.

The life of an entrepreneur is challenging. It’s not always awesome trips and getting a pat on the back for your work. There’s usually a decent amount of time spent sitting behind a laptop alone testing ideas and working your tail off.

You may not even see money from your ideas for several months or even years. People will ask when your business is going to go viral or when you’ll become the next “big thing.” They may even wonder why you’re putting in so much work when you see little return. Sadly, they don’t understand your vision.

In this new episode of BioTalk, Matt Brady and BHI President & CEO Rich Bendis discuss topics around lab spaces in the area including, availability, shortages, and solutions to create more in the BioHealth Capital Region.In this new episode of BioTalk, Matt Brady and BHI President & CEO Rich Bendis discuss topics around lab spaces in the area including, availability, shortages, and solutions to create more in the BioHealth Capital Region.

Image: http://www.biohealthinnovation.org

The Montgomery County Council approved the fiscal year (FY) 2019 operating budget on Thursday, May 24, 2018. Included in the budget is a total of $425,000 for the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Matching Grant Program. The program provides matching fund for businesses that receive federal SBIR and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grants.

Bill 41-17, Economic Development Fund – Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Matching Grant Program established a County matching fund for businesses that receive federal SBIR and STTR grants. Councilmember George Leventhal, who serves as chair of the Council’s Health and Human Services Committee and is a member of the Planning, Housing and Economic Development Committee, was the lead sponsor of Bill 41-17. All other Councilmembers were cosponsors.

- First county in the US to offer a SBIR matching grant program - Ed.

On May 15, Coresight Research co-hosted an Innovation Series panel called “The Profile of the New Consumer” along with TrendSeeder, a platform that collaborates with fashion, beauty and wellness entrepreneurs through education and community events; 24 Seven, a strategic staffing and recruiting firm specializing in marketing, creative and digital talent; and law firm Davis & Gilbert.

Innovation has become an imperative for corporations. The importance of having an innovative culture is something leaders no longer debate. In most surveys of corporate leaders, innovation is ranked among the top organizational priorities. For example, in their 2017 CEO survey, PWC found that innovation was ranked as the number one priority among CEOs.

John Doerr is a legend in Silicon Valley and the venture capital world. He’s the chairman of the VC firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, at which he has funded companies like Google, Amazon and Netscape. Doerr has also mentored many of their founders and sits on the board of Google, Zynga and One.org — Bono’s nonprofit campaign to fight global poverty. But in his new book “Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs,” Doerr doesn’t dish on the history of the Valley or gossip about U2’s front man. Instead he talks about why setting objectives and measuring results is key to building a successful business.

From 1870 to 1911, John D. Rockefeller built what was arguably the single most impressive business organization in history: Standard Oil. Mr. Rockefeller’s business strategy was to vertically integrate every aspect of the oil business (exploration, development, logistics, marketing) to assure an ongoing competitive advantage. His vehicles were not just mergers and acquisitions, though there were plenty of both along the way. Rather, they were interlocking series of trusts, partnerships and alliances designed for flexibility and control.

I was sitting in a coffee shop next to a tremendously powerful businesswoman. Nervously, I asked her what was the one thing I should be doing to launch my business and get investors to take me seriously. Five years later, her words still resonate. “When your business has no credibility, you build it through your advisory board.”

Image: Kuli Kuli meeting over moringa tea

Every two years, the National Science Foundation is required to tell the president how the US is doing in regard to science and engineering.

"As economies worldwide grow increasingly knowledge-intensive and interdependent, capacity for innovation becomes ever more critical," the NSF says in its latest report, titled "Science & Engineering Indicators 2018."

Image: Reuters/Carlos Barria - President Donald Trump holds a toy space astronaut at the White House.

(Reuters) – France and Germany are pushing for an EU-wide initiative to fund innovation and research in tech startup projects across the region so that Europe can compete more effectively against the likes of China and the United States.

Europe has long been seen as a laggard in developing new technologies compared with the United States, which has a strong venture capital industry funding Silicon Valley startups.The more risk-averse culture in Europe has also been cited as an obstacle to creating a “European Google,” partly because failure can carry more stigma than it does across the Atlantic.

For most small businesses, getting products on Walmart (NYSE:WMT) shelves is a huge dream. That’s because Walmart is the world’s largest retailer, attracting more than 140 million American customers every week. Not surprisingly, getting your products into Walmart is no walk in the park. You need to have a solid strategy to get your products on the Walmart shelves.

Image: https://smallbiztrends.com

Figuring out if someone is lying is much easier than you think. And with a few quick tips, you’ll be well on your way to spotting a lie.

For starters, it’s important to understand how people communicate. And it be might a shock to learn that communication is less about the words that come out of a person’s mouth and more about the tone of their voice and their body language. Identifying a liar’s “micro-expressions,” which are a person’s involuntary facial expressions, is the best way to catch a liar.

This summer, get yourself, your family, or even your pet outdoors and explore the hidden natural wonders in your own backyard.

With the help of Yelp, MONEY has identified the best park in each of the 50 states as well as the District of Columbia, and then spelled out the costs to visit them.

Every new business quickly realizes that revenue coming in every period on a committed basis is the Holy Grail to survival and growth. Based on traditional research, getting new customers is five to ten times harder than getting additional revenue from existing customers. Thus the subscription model (low fixed monthly payments), has become the norm for new products and services.

Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com

After a new analysis affirmed Penn’s status as one of the top schools for aspiring entrepreneurs, Penn students and professors discuss how various initiatives enable students to succeed in their business pursuits.

A recent Crunchbase News article looked at the university affiliations of CEOs of startups that have raised at least a million dollars in the past year. According to their data, Penn produced the fourth-most CEOs — 63. 

Image: http://www.thedp.com