Google is a search company, an advertising company, and, lately, an autonomous vehicle company. It’s also…a real estate development company?

Google said last week that it would acquire some 300 modular prefabricated homes. Google plans to place the homes on land it controls in Mountain View and offer it to employees as temporary housing.

For years, companies have been expanding their research and development (R&D) footprint beyond the boundaries of their home country. But recent political and economic events have raised questions about whether this global innovation model can be sustained. The rise of economic nationalism and protectionist trade policies could have far-reaching effects on how — and where — companies conduct their R&D in the years ahead. It’s possible that some companies have already experienced this and, if they have, we’re interested in knowing more.

The brain continues to surprise us with its magnificent complexity. Groundbreaking research that combines neuroscience with math tells us that our brain creates neural structures with up to 11 dimensions when it processes information. By "dimensions," they mean abstract mathematical spaces, not other physical realms. Still, the researchers "found a world that we had never imagined," said Henry Markram, director of the Blue Brain Project, which made the discovery.

Image: Courtesy of the Blue Brain Project

Tired of missing flights or being treated like another piece of luggage whenever you have to fly for travel? AirHelp.com recently released their 2017 rankings of the best airports in the world based on three basic categories: on-time performance, quality of service and passenger sentiment. Of the 13 major U.S. airports, only two finished in the top half of their rankings, while 11 were considered subpar.

Today’s global economies are based on the command of knowledge and information. Knowledge in this sense is created by basic and applied research.

Incorporating emerging and advanced technologies that are positioned for technology transfer can increase benefits to society and defense of the nation — outcomes that are within the bounds of public interest. Enhancing economic prosperity through job creation, providing access to breakthrough capabilities to protect a nation and creating long-term investment in R&D are all critical to success.

"The things we fear most in organizations -- fluctuations, disturbances, imbalances -- are the primary sources of creativity." - Alfred North Whitehead

"The chief enemy of creativity is 'good sense.'" - Pablo Picasso

"Everyone who's ever taken a shower has had an idea. It's the person who gets out of the shower, dries off and does something about it who makes a difference." - Nolan Bushnell

Image: http://www.ideachampions.com

The title above is also the title of an article by Rachel Nuwer in BBC Future, a fascinating examination of the causes of societal collapse using research on this issue from a wide collection of experts. The implications for the current world situation are thought-provoking indeed.

In addition to the fall of civilizations, it occurred to me that in many ways Nuwer is also describing the fall of organizations.

She shares insights from political economist Benjamin Friedman, who wrote about the dangerous scramble for scarce resources and rejection of anyone outside one’s immediate circle. I immediately began pondering the ways in which an organization’s funds are distributed…and the fights for a larger share…combined with people in silos looking out for themselves without thinking about the impact on the rest of the organization.

When I meet new founders and suggest that they form an advisory board, I’m often greeted with an eye-roll. One of the main reasons people establish their own companies is to have supreme magisterial control over their empire. They don’t want the obligation of reporting to and taking advice from outsiders who don’t have as much on the line. And they certainly don’t want the extra work and commitment required for the effective use of a board.

Image: https://www.keystoneedge.com

The EU's innovation performance last year continued to grow despite somewhat uneven progress observed around Europe. This is one of the main findings of the latest Innovation Scoreboard published yesterday (20 June) by the European Commission. The annual Scoreboard provides a comparative assessment of the research and innovation performance in EU.

Overall, innovation performance has improved in 15 countries, though large differences exist between these Member States.

Image: http://www.brusselstimes.com/

PrairieChar, a Kansas company developing a system to convert animal manure into useful products, won the $10,000 cash prize and $3,500 in legal and financial advice at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center’s 2017 Ag Biotech Entrepreneurial Showcase.

Eventsponsors Smith Anderson, the Raleigh-based law firm, and accounting firm Hughes Pittman Gupton, are providing the in-kind services.

Integrated Animal Health, also based in Kansas, which finds and commercializes medicine and foods for pets and farm animals, won the $2,500 cash second prize.

Image: http://www.ncbiotech.org

A Sanofi executive discusses his company’s leadership-development programs and approach to building employee capabilities amid rapid change.

How can HR help build leaders capable of meeting the challenges of tomorrow’s healthcare industry? McKinsey’s Mary Meaney talked with Roberto Pucci, executive vice president for human resources at Sanofi, about the capabilities and mind-sets needed for success in a fast-changing world—and what HR professionals can do to nurture them.

Just as some politicians are increasing their calls for Washington micromanagement of  the Bayh-Dole law (which allows universities and federal laboratories to license federally supported inventions for commercial development) a new study shows how impressively the current decentralized, market driven system is performing.

Life’s events fall into two basic categories: things you can control and things you can’t.

While knowing this is important for any aspect of life, today we’ll talk about why it’s important for those testing their hands at the board game of entrepreneurship. The game of entrepreneurship isn’t exactly a "game" in the usual sense. With most games, such as chess, you follow an “I go, you go” structure. As soon as one move is made, you stay within the boundaries and limitations of the gameboard to make your move.

Advances in biotechnology innovation have had an enormous transformative impact on many sectors of the U.S. economy — life-saving drugs for patients of all ages, protecting plants that are key to feeding the world and industrial biotechnology applications that are leading to bio-based fuels, chemicals and products that can protect our environment.

The bioscience’s need for a stable and supportive public policy framework is vital to industry firms large and small. It is almost impossible for any state or region to ignore the need for selective incentives to either hold existing bioscience companies or attract new enterprises.

Elon Musk has a lot on his plate.

The tech entrepreneur now balances his time between his two companies, Tesla and SpaceX. His jam-packed schedule sees him darting back and forth between SpaceX's LA headquarters and Tesla's base in the Bay Area.

All in all, Musk puts in about 85 to 100 hours a week, according to The Independent. He also estimated to Y Combinator that he manages to dedicate about 80% of his time to engineering and design.

I’ve never had a “mentor,” no well-connected older colleague I go to for career advice and moral support. I don’t have regular check-ins involving my professional life with anyone other than my manager, and I’m betting that’s true for lots of people.

Sure, a formal mentoring relationship might be great. The idea of having a go-to industry leader to help me steer my career whenever I need advice sounds really appealing. I’ve just never locked one down because if we’re being honest here, it’s hard to do! Getting somebody to invest themselves indefinitely in your career success, like an unpaid coach, is more than many people can reasonably pull off.

Employers may be pulling back on some benefits in recent years — as in cutting cost sharing for pricey health care benefits— but at least a third of companies in a recent survey say they've actually added to their employee perks this year.

The uptick in benefits was due to recruiting challenges and skills shortages for certain types of jobs in 2016, according to the Society for Human Resource Management's annual survey of more than 3,000 human resource professionals. Companies also have added wellness benefits to help cut costs or compensate for the loss of more costly health benefits, the study said.

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The licensing of university research has made a significant contribution to US gross domestic product (GDP), industry gross output, and jobs over the last two decades, according to an independent study commissioned by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) and the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), which was released today.

Using an input-output “I-O” approach to estimating the economic impact of academic licensing and summing that impact over 20 years of available data for academic U.S. Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) Survey respondents, the total contribution of these academic licensors to industry gross output ranges from $320 billion to $1.33 trillion, in 2009 U.S. dollars; and contributions to gross domestic product (GDP) range from $148 billion to $591 billion, in 2009 U.S. dollars. Estimates of the total number of person years of employment supported by U.S. universities’ and hospitals’ and research institutes’ licensed-product sales range from 1.268 million to over 4.272 million over the 20- year period. An explanation of the I-O approach is provided, and the assumptions used and the potential effects of the assumptions on the estimates are discussed. AUTM associated contributions to GDP, calculated using the I-O approach, are compared with U.S. GDP as a whole, and to selected industry, as defined by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes, contributions to GDP. Factors affecting the AUTM contributions to GDP appear to differ from those affecting U.S. GDP as a whole, as well as from those affecting selected NAICS industry contributions to GDP.

High-tech talent is a key driver of the wealth and competitiveness of cities. But it’s highly concentrated in places across the United States and the world, following a winner-take-all pattern and reinforcing the geographic inequality that underpins our broader economic and political divides.

While all of America’s top-ranked tech cities have a highly-skilled and highly-educated workforce, a whole host of other factors could shape which city is best positioned to be the next Silicon Valley. That’s a key takeaway from a new index created by real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield that identifies America’s 25 leading high-tech metro areas in 2016.

Image: https://www.citylab.com - Attendees participate in a game during the annual Google I/O developers conference in San Jose, California, U.S., May 17, 2017. (Stephen Lam/Reuters)