Thanks to the success of shows like Dragons’ Den, and campaigns like Startup America and Startup Britain, entrepreneurship is now ‘mainstream.’

Coupled with reduced start-up costs and red tape, it now appears easier than ever to start your own business. The World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business report, which monitors start-up costs and regulations globally, says the UK is the seventh best place in the world to set up, with the US one place behind at eighth (and New Zealand in first position).

There are few things more exciting in law practice than seeing a startup take shape and come to market. From the initial meeting of the principals and company formation to actual launch of products and services, the process of bringing a startup to life and watching it evolve never gets old. Inevitably, every startup faces hurdles… and those hurdles do not exclude the creation and protection of intellectual property assets. In fact, almost all of the startups I have had the pleasure to counsel over the last 20+ years have had challenges regarding their IP and how to protect and best leverage it in the marketplace. What is even more surprising is that there is a specific step that most of these startups ignored regarding their IP that caused headaches at some point along the road to market (and beyond)… and it is not what you may think.

If there’s one message that most people get about their diet, it’s to cut back on fat. Too much fat, especially the saturated fat and cholesterol found in animal meat, dairy products and cheese, can clog up arteries and lead to heart disease, stroke and obesity.

But fat may not be only culprit in those unhealthy conditions. In recent years, studies have revealed that cutting back on fat doesn’t always contribute to a lower risk of heart disease or reduced chance of dying early. In fact, some studies show the opposite, that people who eat extremely low amounts of fat tend to die earlier.

The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) and Deloitte Southeast Asia Financial Advisory Services (Deloitte) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) today at Singapore’s premier international intellectual property (IP) event, IP Week @ SG 2017. The MoU was signed to deepen cooperation to drive the growth of innovative enterprises and enhance Singapore’s position as an IP and innovation hub.

Image: Keoy Soo Earn, Regional Managing Partner, SEA Financial Advisory. Photo courtesy: Deloitte

Young people remain optimistic about the impact of robots and artificial intelligence in the work place, as a large majority of them believe that more jobs will be created than will disappear, according to a global poll published on Monday (28 August).

Despite the numerous reports and warnings about the risk of job losses due to the introduction of smarter robots in factories and artificial intelligence in white collar posts, from customer service to banking, young workers are not afraid of the future.

Image: HUBO, a multifunctional walking humanoid robot lifts a piece of wood in front of the logo on the opening day of the 2016 World Economic Forum meeting in Davos. Switzerland, Tuesday. (World Economic Forum/swiss-image.ch)

If you’re thinking of starting a business because the entrepreneur’s life looks glamorous, think again.

In business, there is just as much stress with success as there is with failure. I’ve learned that the more successful you are, the bigger a target you have on your back, and the more stress there is to keep performing at an increasingly high level.

Elon Musk, Founder of SpaceX and Tesla, recently responded to a comment on Twitter about his “amazing life” saying, "The reality is great highs, terrible lows and unrelenting stress. Don’t think people want to hear about the last two.”

When it comes to the race to develop autonomous vehicles, Google and its fellow tech companies have gotten a lot of publicity. But the tech giants may have a tough time beating out the traditional car makers and parts suppliers, if a new study is any indication. 

To get a sense of which companies are leading the development of autonomous car technologies, The Cologne Institute for Economic Research  identified and analyzed 5,839 related patents from the past seven years. As we can see in this chart from Statista, which is based on The Cologne Institute's data, traditional automakers and parts suppliers — led by a trio of German companies — are leaving Google and the rest of the tech industry in the dust. 

Image: http://www.businessinsider.com

Government and university planning cycles are completely out of sync, making it almost impossible for tertiary institutions to develop long-term technology and innovation projects.

The CEO of the Group of Eight universities, Peter Hoj, says the development of commercially-realisable technology requires lead times that run over decades, whereas the political cycle is turning over every two or so years.

Image: The CEO of the Group of Eight universities, professor Peter Hoj, says the political cycle is completely at odds with what universities are in need of. Damien Bredberg 

All the data suggesting that coding is rapidly becoming an essential skill for any job–not just one in tech–only tells one side of the story.

The other side indicates that soft skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, attention to detail, and writing proficiency top the list of what hiring managers find missing from job seekers’ personal tool kits. But according to theWorld Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report, one the job skills that will make a candidate competitive in the job market of the future is emotional intelligence. The WEF predicts it will be among the top ten in 2020.

Since I work from home, I usually just get up and out of bed, make a cup of coffee, and then start working until mid-afternoon when I eat lunch. I know this flies in the face of the conventional wisdom that “breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” However, despite this claim being passed down from generation to generation, scientists have yet to come to a conclusion that this advice is true. Matter of fact, a recent study found that there were no discernible health benefits between people who ate breakfast and people who did not. Further, the “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” anecdote seems to have been hijacked for commercial gain by lobbyists who had cereal to sell in the late 19th century.

Advice is cheap. As a new business owner, you don’t have to take any advice you hear, but failing to listen and learn from someone’s prior experience can cost you a fortune. As a long-time mentor and business advisor, I find it ironic that many look only to friends for advice. They forget that friends tell you what you want to hear, while good mentors tell you what you need to hear.

When the message is the same from both, you probably don’t need the mentor anymore, but you always need the friend. Also don’t confuse a business mentor with a business coach. A business mentor helps to fill an experience gap, while a coach helps fill a skill gap. Both may be required.

You know you’re supposed to tailor your resume for every job you apply to. But while that’s true, there are a few changes you can make to your resume depending on your current career stage or the one you’re on the cusp of breaking into. Before making smaller adjustments to suit a given job description, these are a few tips worth considering to update your resume according to your career stage.

My dermatologist leaned in with a stern expression and gave me the news.

“There’s an unusual condition that we see sometimes that crosses all specialties, and you have it. And since you have helped out my daughter a couple of times with her education issues and job decisions, I will tell you what it is.”

I had woken up to find my skin peeling off. In big pieces. All over my body. Including my face. I had recently returned from Africa where Ebola was in full force. Did I have Ebola? Was it just a terrible outbreak of the psoriasis that I had since I was a kid?

“I am about to let you in on a medical secret,” she continued.

With the growing bifurcation of incomes in America, most regions would prefer, if given a choice, to attract higher-earning professionals to their areas. These people generate more spending in the community and contribute more taxes to the till.

So, what does it take to get them there?

The Center for Demographics and Policy at Chapman University just completed a national survey, fielded and tabulated by The Cicero Group, of 1,191 professionals: people aged 25-64 with household incomes greater than $80,000, and who work in education, healthcare, information technology, finance or other professional services jobs.

The future of drone delivery is now, and it's pretty wild.

Lucky residents of Reykjavík are the first to benefit from a new service delivering online food orders like hamburgers, sushi, and even beer.

The system comes from a partnership between Israeli drone logistics company Flytrex and Icelandic eCommerce company AHA.

It's not the only one trying to make drone delivery work in an urban setting.  

History doesn’t exactly repeat itself, but it does run in cycles. One of the most robust theories of such cycles was articulated by economic historian Carlota Perez, in her influential book Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital: The Dynamics of Bubbles and Golden Ages (Edward Elgar, 2002). It suggests that humanity can get through the current period of upheaval and economic malaise and enter a new “golden age” of broad economic growth, if the world’s key decision makers act in concert to help foster one.

To make the right decision for financing your company, you will need to know the intricate differences between angel investors and venture capitalists, and what each party can offer.

Small businesses and early-stage companies exist in an exciting economic landscape that offers a lot of opportunities to ambitious entrepreneurs. Depending on the nature of a business and its demands, there are a number of ways to attract capital. Some startups begin with investments from friends and family until they feel prepared to pursue other sources of capital. Some try crowdsourcing or apply for a small business loan.

August is almost over, and with it, we're leaving behind slower days and summer vacations to enter the busiest time of year. For tech, it can feel a bit like going back to school and getting back into the swing of things. So, what better time for a reminder about how important it is to take care of ourselves so we can avoid burnout, think more deeply, connect better with others, and boost our productivity?

Elon Musk is the kind of visionary who's worth keeping tabs on. So when in July he made an under-the-radar purchase of X.com -- a domain name he originally owned even before that company merged with PayPal -- savvy entrepreneurs took note.

Did he buy the domain to promote SpaceX? Does he have plans for some new, unannounced venture? Was it a purely nostalgic grab? We don’t know yet, but we do know that he saw value in the domain and pulled the trigger.

Award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns is responsible for some of the most moving and powerful documentary series of our time.

The Civil War, Baseball and Jazz are just a few of the incredible deep dives he has done into the eras and moments that define who we are as Americans. And now he is ready to dazzle us once again.