Every year, we survey as many venture-backed startup founders as possible to figure out what it's like to run a technology company right now. This year, we got more responses than ever before — 869 — giving us an even more precise pulse on what entrepreneurs think, feel, fear, and value. As we have since 2015, we're excited to present the results here — starting with the trends and insights that stood out as important or counterintuitive.

Image: http://stateofstartups.firstround.com

Accounting and tech consultant Deloitte released its predictions for the technology industry in 2018, covering topics from the growth of augmented reality to the triumph of live programming on the Internet.

The predictions are part of the company’s 17th annual Technology, Media, & Telecommunications report. Some of the predictions are for tech growth in 2018, while other predictions refer to growth in future years.

Image: Deloitte

More than nine months after North Carolina’s crowdfunding bill, the NC PACES Act, became law, there are still no takers.

In an interview last week, N.C. Secretary of State Elaine Marshall says she can’t pinpoint what’s holding small business owners back. “I don’t know if it’s like jumping in the swimming pool, when somebody does…. then everybody else jumps in,” she says. “But we’re ready."

The University of Pittsburgh is launching a startup business accelerator called LifeX, backing a push to leverage Western Pennsylvania’s strengths in the life sciences with private investors.

The new center will be located in the Strip District and 10 companies have committed to moving in, including Sharp Edge Labs Inc., Western Oncolytics Ltd. and Peptilogics Inc.

Dietrich Stephan, a serial entrepreneur and chair of Pitt’s Department of Human Genetics, will serve as LifeX CEO.

Image: Lake Fong/Post-Gazette

A Korean version of Silicon Valley in the U.S. will be built in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, to nurture start-ups as the country's new growth engines. It aims at enabling anyone with innovative ideas to start their own business by providing one-stop full-support service.

The government unveiled the blueprint for Pangyo Techno Valley II at an economy-related ministers' meeting held at Pangyo, southeastern Seoul, Monday. Innovative growth is one of the two main pillars of the Moon administration's economic policy along with income-led growth.

"As seen in Silicon Valley in the U.S. and China's Zhongguancun, it is crucial to set up an innovation center to form an ecosystem for start-ups and venture companies," Strategy and Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon said.

In a deeply integrated global economy with a growing number of industries tradeable across borders, more nations are competing for high-value-added, traded-sector industries. These nations know that losing the competitiveness race means fewer jobs and slower growth. Despite this, few nations, including the United States, have developed sophisticated competitiveness strategies. Rather, most competitiveness strategies focus on broad measures such as improving the business environment or supporting better factor inputs for firms. While necessary, these steps do not constitute an effective competitiveness strategy. Policymakers must go much deeper. An effective competitiveness strategy starts with a detailed “SWOT” analysis—assessing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats—for key traded industries and the country’s overall innovation system. It then tailors policy responses according to the findings.

In a session called “Five Fixes For Healthcare” at the recent Forbes Healthcare Summit, concerns were raised about how innovative the biopharmaceutical industry really is. Dr. Laurie Glimcher, CEO of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, chided the industry saying that, when it comes to productivity, we “need to make a distinction between drugs that are transformative and drugs that are ‘me-too’.” Dr. George Yancopoulos, President and Chief Scientific Officer of Regeneron, was even more strident in his remarks, criticizing the industry’s 2016 new drug output noting that of the 22 FDA approvals only seven compounds were novel breakthroughs.

Image: Johnny Wolf George Yancopoulos, president and chief scientific officer of Regeneron, at the 2017 Forbes Healthcare Summit

The dominance of traditional research and innovation indicators (e.g. number of publications in peer-reviewed journals, business R&D expenditures, number of patent application) has led to wrong or misguided research and innovation policies in many cases.

Image: http://theconfab.club

I often tell people I have fairly liberal parents, all things considered. As the child of Indian immigrants, it’s something I’ve come to appreciate, especially when it comes to my chosen career path. You could say my parents got catfished: When I went to college, I fancied myself the next Atul Gawande and chose to major in journalism while simultaneously striving for medical school, taking all the necessary pre-med coursework and even taking the MCAT.

Collaborations between companies and universities are critical drivers of the innovation economy. These relationships have long been a mainstay of corporate research and development (R&D) — from creating the knowledge foundations for the next generation of solutions, to serving as an extended “workbench” to solve short-term, incremental problems, to providing a flow of newly minted talent. As many corporations look to open innovation to augment their internal R&D efforts, universities have become essential partners. Indeed, companies now look to universities to anchor an increasingly broad set of innovation activities, especially those grounded in engaging with regional innovation ecosystems. Silicon Valley, Kendall Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Block 71 in Singapore are among the most visible innovation ecosystems where universities are essential stakeholders in an innovation community that also includes corporations, government entities, venture investors, and entrepreneurs.

It’s been18 months since the final rule of the JOBS Act went into effect, allowing equity crowdfunding. In those 18 months, everything proponents of the rule said would happen (and none of what the detractors said would happen) has become a reality. Over $82 million dollars of previously untapped capital from local investors has been committed to over 650 companies. No fraud has been perpetrated.

Over the years, I have personally witnessed demo days, startup showcases and met with many startups incubated at incubation centers in Pakistan. One of the major concern with all these incubators is the lack of international perspective and openness to new ideas.

Right now, when the techies in Silicon Valley, or Oslo, or Singapore are obsessed with the concept of Blockchain, you will hardly find someone here in Pakistan who understands the concept and will encourage you to do something in the domain. In order to speed up with innovations in West, we need to increase our pace, be open to ideas and do things which scare us.

Are you in the 21st century with a game plan that in many ways was conceived in the late 19th or early 20th century? If you work in housing or planning in a city, chances are, the answer is yes — and these outdated game plans are at the foundation of cities and regional economies that are built to exclude and deny equal opportunity to all.

A new publication, “What About Housing? A Policy Toolkit for Inclusive Growth,” offers help for local governments and others who want to craft a new game plan for the 21st century, one based on inclusion and equal opportunity for all.

The Republicans’ Senate tax bill, named the Republican Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, passed in the early hours of Saturday, Dec. 2. It could impact everything from health care to college savings. But how would the tax bill affect you personally?

While nothing is final until the House and Senate hash out a joint bill and it’s signed by President Donald Trump, number crunchers are already looking at how the tax bill would affect taxpayers.

Investment in unmanned aerial systems is soaring, but challenges remain. Here’s what stakeholders need to know about the evolving landscape.

Most people think of a drone, also known as an unmanned aerial system (UAS), as a sophisticated military technology or a hobbyist’s tool for capturing images of foliage, sporting events, and cityscapes. But businesses across industries realize that drones have multiple commercial applications, some of which go beyond basic surveillance, photography, or videos, and they are already using them to transform daily work in some industries.

British stores are now selling artificial Christmas half-trees and some of them will set you back more than $130.

The bizarre Christmas tree craze is designed for people who don’t have much space, and we can’t work out if it’s utterly bonkers or a little bit genius.

The designs aren’t new — British home improvement chain B&Q first stocked them almost a decade ago – but it looks like more retailers are jumping on the bandwagon. The artificial trees sporting only half of their branches have been spotted on the shelves in British stores such as Wilko, Argos, Very and posh tree supplier Balsam Hill.

The entrepreneurs I see are always talking about “disruptive innovation” ideas, but the plans I read are more often linear extensions of a current hot offering, like one more social network with the best of Facebook and Twitter, one more dating site dimension, or another “must-have” accessory for smartphones. Perhaps hard questions need to come before ideas, rather than after.

Image: http://blog.startupprofessionals.com

Have you ever seen an idea in action and thought, ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’  Let’s look at three recent innovations which might surprise you.

Washing machines can be very heavy. This is because they contain concrete blocks weighing about 25 kgs which are needed as counterweights to keep the machines stable during spin cycles.  Researchers at Nottingham Trent University have developed a plastic container to replace the concrete blocks.  It is empty and light until delivery when it is filled with water.

Image: http://innovationexcellence.com

Every year on Australia's Christmas Island, which lies just south of Indonesia, millions of red crabs swarm the island in their annual migration.

About 40 to 50 million crabs make their way from the forest to the coast in around October or November, to breed and release their eggs to sea. 

It's a migration that can last up to 18 days, and crab crossings as well as fences have been erected to ensure the crabs get to shore safely.

Superhero versus supermom. Pick your team.

My inspiration is always the real-life hero. Being a mom and a business owner, I understand the challenges of building an empire and managing a family. At times, it’s difficult to decide whom to attend to first — a crying baby or a client call?

But thereare some moms who have learned the art of being successful. By successful, I mean moms who are truly enjoying rocking their little ones while rocking their business goals too. Yes, success is an art, and some mompreneurs have mastered this art by finding the perfect balance between juggling diaper bags and laptop cases.