Technology-based start-ups have long been an important driver of America’s economic growth and competitiveness. But while these firms provide outsized contributions to employment, innovation, exports, and productivity growth, many policymakers focus more broadly on helping all business start-ups without regard to type. Such a broad-based focus risks reducing overall economic growth for three key reasons. First, most owners of new non-tech-based firms have no intention of growing beyond just a few employees. Second, small, non-tech-based firms on average have much lower productivity and wage levels than technology-based start-ups. And third, most non-tech start-ups are in local-serving industries (e.g., retail) and as such create few or no net new jobs. As such, the focus of entrepreneurship policy should be squarely on spurring more technology-based start-ups.

In the federal IT workforce, the number of employees age 60 or older is more than quadruple the number of specialists under the age of 30, according to a Nextgov analysis.

The government employed roughly 1.8 IT workers age 60 or older for every IT employee under 30 years old in 2007, but that ratio more than doubled over the next 10 years, widening to 4.5 IT specialists age 60-plus per employee under 30 by 2017.

Starting a new business involves a host of challenges, and chief among them is knowing what to spend your money on—and how much to spend. You have to consider salaries, marketing budget, office size, technology services, and on and on.

These spending choices require tradeoffs, so entrepreneurs must first develop a strategy for allocating limited resources across a wide range of available options. Too often, assumptions about the potential market and its clients can cloud our judgement about expenses. Let’s examine two cases, one a former colleague and the other a close friend.

When Venture Capitalists (VCs) invest in startups, they are aware of risks involved in returns- it might be either mind-boggling or they might end up taking a lot of losses. But VC hits are much talked about and at the same time, not all predictions come true. Some venture capital firms make successful exits and it shows the growth of the startup ecosystem. CB Insights recently came out with a report, in which it had analysed 21 of the biggest VC hits of all time to learn about what those home runs have in common.

How is it that only a few business leaders and entrepreneurs seem to drive exceptional results and disruptive innovation in this rapidly changing market economy (marketquake)? These few seem more adept at executing market and technology turns, not just incremental evolution. They consistently take bold steps to stay ahead of the curve, often contrary to conventional wisdom.

Image: http://blog.startupprofessionals.com

Israel is a world leader in the development of innovative products and services with companies that are advancing scientific research and enhancing every sector of the global economy. Ranked highly in the world for technological advancements and entrepreneurship, and responsible for many innovations, Israel has earned its status as an innovation powerhouse. Named the 10th most innovative country in the world by the 2017 Bloomberg Innovation Index,1 and 2nd overall for innovation by the 2017 Global Competitiveness Index,2 Israel is attracting investor interest. Warren Buffett calls Israel "the leading, largest, and most promising investment hub outside the United States" while Bill Gates explains "the innovation going on in Israel is critical to the future of the technology business."3

“This time is different.” These are four very dangerous words. When you hear them it always pays to be extra skeptical, especially in the context of someone giving you financial advice or presenting an economic forecast. Personally, I always hold on to my wallet extra tight when the “trust me, this time is different” clause gets invoked. We’ve all been there in our respective professions and passions: It takes a thief to know a thief.

Image: https://www.japantimes.co.jp

Most of our conversations on innovation in large companies centre around how to get more innovation happening within the organization. In our haste to create new products, services and business models, we have neglected another major challenge that large companies face. In his new book The Startup Way, Eric Ries calls this the problem of success. Beyond the struggle of coming up with great new ideas, most innovators are frustrated because their companies don’t know what do with the ideas that succeed!

Image: Samsung's Co. Creative Lab in South Korea - Photographer: Jean Chung/Bloomberg - https://www.forbes.com

The internet has become a crucial gateway for accessing information. Just look around Brody Café or wherever you’re reading this piece: People are writing papers, conducting research, reading articles, buying a new pair of shoes or watching TV, all through the internet. Whether it is education, business or entertainment, the internet has become a practical necessity for us to engage in society today. For our democracy and economy to function, it is paramount that people have equal access to the internet.

Image: PUBLIC DOMAIN Ajit Pai is the chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.

In their quest to gain supremacy in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, the Big Four accounting firms (Deloitte, EY, PwC, and KPMG) are focusing their strategies and shaping their services to better respond to their customers’ demands. And, as a testament to Bitcoin’s status as an increasingly mainstream financial asset, PwC is following EY’s lead in accepting payments in Bitcoin.

The University of California announced that a $22 million investment from the State of California to accelerate innovation and entrepreneurship across the UC system has supported more than 500 new startups and existing companies, helped launch at least 47 new products and enabled companies to attract $3.7 million in additional investments.

“Assembly Bill 2664 funds have been and will be used as a catalyst to bring together resources on campuses and within local communities to develop entrepreneurial skills and to help commercialize new products and technologies,” said Christine Gulbranson, UC’s senior vice president for innovation and entrepreneurship.

Image: https://news.ucsc.edu

The wild rise in popularity of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in the last year—more notably, last month—has stunned investors and spurred more people to plow their money into the mysterious technology.

Cryptocurrency currently have a total market capitalization of more than $340 billion, according to CB Insights, a research firm tracking technology and investment trends. Though don’t put too much stock (so to speak) in that number. The recent history of Bitcoin shows the dollar value of cryptocurrencies can rise and fall quite drastically in the blink of an eye.

The holidays are a great time to connect with clients and show your appreciation for their business. That said, I have learned through the years that giving gifts to clients can end in disaster if you don't have a thoughtful plan. In an effort to help guide you in the right direction, I'd like to share some do's and don'ts for giving gifts to clients over the holidays.

In a spare bedroom of his family’s house in County Cork, Ireland, Cathal Garvey is repeating the feats that led to the dawn of the biotechnology age. He’s growing bacteria. He’s adding DNA. He’s seeing what happens.

“To transform bacteria was once a huge deal, a new method,” he explains. “Today, you can do it with Epsom salt and an over-the-counter brand of laxatives.”

Image: https://www.technologyreview.com

Brevan Jorgenson’s grandma kept her cool when he took her for a nighttime spin in the Honda Civic he’s modified to drive itself on the highway. A homemade device in place of the rear-view mirror can control the brakes, accelerator, and steering, and it uses a camera to identify road markings and other cars.

Project Redspace unveiled REDS, a fully electric car designed for commuters in Chinese megacities. The projects aims to let people reclaim their time lost while stuck in traffic by converting the car into a workstation. The car was designed by Chris Bangle, a former BMW Chief of Design, commissioned by China Hi-Tech Group Corporation.

Image: http://mashable.com - From Video

Last week Sberbank, Russia’s national savings bank; the Internet Initiatives Development Fund  IIDF, or FRII), Russia’s largest early-stage startup investment fund; and FortRoss Ventures (formerly known as Money Time) announced the launch of a platform called Global Pitch to help Russian tech entrepreneurs develop in the U.S.

Global Pitch expects to introduce dozens of Russian startups to the U.S. investor and corporate communities, thereby helping them to acquire international experience.

I was mentoring some graduate students at a local university recently, and I sensed again that profit seems to be a dirty word these days to many aspiring entrepreneurs. I’m certainly not a fan of customer rip-offs, but even non-profits have to be cash-flow positive, or have deep pockets, to help anyone for long. Every business needs to develop a revenue model even before a product.

The alternatives range from giving the product away for free (revenue from ads), to pricing based on costs, to charging what the market will bear (premium pricing). The implications of the decision you make are huge, including brand image, funding requirements, and long-term business viability. It’s naïve to think you can sell below costs, and make it up by attracting more customers.

The capacity crowd at Wednesday night’s BullPen, held on the campus of Monmouth University, demonstrated a robust interest among both professional and academic circles in the developing tech entrepreneur scene in New Jersey.  In keeping with tradition, the evening’s presentations represented three early-stage companies and one student-led enterprise (from within the undergraduate body at Monmouth University). The Investor Panel was seated in front of a mixed Audience (consisting of angel investors, business leaders, tech entrepreneurs and the university community) who together watched the Founders’ 10-minute presentations, followed by respective Audience Q&As and Investor Panel feedback. At the end, both groups voted independently on the presenting company they thought was the most ‘fundable’ and ‘best business to succeed’, respectively.

Rebecca Dragon arrived at Northeastern intent on seizing new opportunities at every turn—and she’s succeeded with flying colors. Now a fourth-year student, Dragon has lived and studied in Greece and Scotland, worked on co-op in Boston and New York, and even joined IDEA—the student-run venture accelerator—to launch her own business. “I love Northeastern because I can explore and learn at the same time,” said Dragon, DMSB/SSH’19, a combined major in economics and business administration.

Image: Northeastern students visited Astro Studios in San Francisco this fall as part of the Semester in Silicon Valley program. Photo courtesy of Astro Studios