COVID-19 cases are on the rise again in the United States after dipping just three weeks ago. Vaccine effectiveness is waning and without widespread boosters, shots given six months ago remain at least 80-85% effective against serious illness but will only prevent two out of three possible infections for those vaccinated early in the pandemic—all signs pointing to the very real possibility of a winter surge here in the U.S.

The passage of the nearly $2 trillion Build Back Better bill in the House of Representatives Friday capped months of political wrangling and gives hope that numerous key policies around climate change, paid family leave and the social safety net will be enacted. 

It also represents a new, potentially significant part of a massive upswing in federal investment in the nation’s innovation economy, which would have lasting impacts on the explosively growing life sciences industry.

Image: Flickr/White House/Cameron Smith President Joe Biden signing the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Monday, November 15, 2021, on the South Lawn of the White House.

As an entrepreneur, you have to improvise and adapt quickly to survive and thrive in the face of the unpredictable challenges of the market. But this improvisation a not a comedy, although there are some distinct correlations, in relation to reacting, adapting, and communicating. In business and in comedy, you win most often with “Yes, and …” instead of “Yes, but ….”

Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com

ST. LOUIS, Nov. 17, 2021 — Liqid, the world’s leading software company delivering data center composability, announced today at Supercomputing 2021 a new white paper with industry analyst firm Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) to highlight the potential of technologies like Liqid Matrix composable software as part of a sustainable ecosystem for next-generation applications such as artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI+ML), high-performance computing (HPC), cloud- and edge computing environments to drive intelligent global infrastructure expansion.

LONDON (Reuters) - Dyson, best known for its revolutionary bagless vacuum cleaners, will enable customers to test its hairdryers, straighteners and stylers from the comfort of their home through virtual reality.

The Dyson Demo VR has been built with the same visualisation and simulation technology used by the British firm’s engineers to prototype, test and develop new products and software.

James Dyson, company founder and chief engineer, said VR was a way to improve people’s understanding of Dyson products.

Money talks. There is no way to start a startup if the entrepreneur does not have enough capital to start the business. While it is important to have a good team, a great innovative, disruptive and scalable idea, or to have found a problem to solve, none of this is going to work if you don't have the money to go from idea to action.

Image: Depositphotos.com

In the decades after World War II, the United States was where cutting-edge scientific research and technological innovation happened—and the federal government was usually writing the check. By the 1960s, US spending on research and development, most of which was disbursed by federal science agencies, accounted for nearly 70% of global R&D spending.

Entrepreneurs experience long days, sleepless nights — and a lot of opinions about how to bring their business idea to fruition. I’ve spent my career working with and for startups, and I know how difficult it can be to parse through a ton of information and find the path that makes the most sense.

Image: 1501 Health is a new incubator for health startups from LifeBridge Health and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield. CareFirst/LifeBridge

Some of the world’s most intriguing innovations are so new that their full impact is yet to be felt. This is what we’re highlighting in the inaugural edition of Fast Company’s Next Big Things in Tech. The 65 honorees on our list, which includes global giants as well as intrepid startups, often harness research that’s fresh from the labs, applying cutting-edge tech to solve real-world problems in unexpected ways.

Image: https://www.fastcompany.com

This week, McKinsey delved into priority setting, starting with ideas about how the wealth of ten top economies might be put to more productive use. We continued exploring what’s most important now with a breakdown of what the United States intends to tackle with its new $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill and in articles about COP26, M&A trends, and corporate responsibilities. We also reached outside our sphere, querying dozens of journalists about what they view as the top stories of our time.

Gradiant, a leading global end-to-end cleantech water treatment solutions provider and projects developer, today announced it has raised over $100 million in Series C funding. The round was led by financial and strategic partners Warburg Pincus and Schlumberger New Energy and was oversubscribed from its initial target of $65 million. The round brings Gradiant’s total funding to date to over $200 million since inception.

Liqid, the world’s leading software company delivering data center composability, announced today at Supercomputing 2021 a new white paper with industry analyst firm Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) to highlight the potential of technologies like Liqid Matrix™ composable software as part of a sustainable ecosystem for next-generation applications such as artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI+ML), high-performance computing (HPC), cloud- and edge computing environments to drive intelligent global infrastructure expansion.

An analysis of inpatients’ and outpatients’ comments that employed artificial intelligence and natural language processing found that humor can be an effective communications device. It can help convey that the caregiver empathizes, is compassionate, is trying to be helpful, is attentive, and is pleasant. However, if humor is used in a flippant or sarcastic fashion, it can accentuate the patient’s negative perceptions about the caregiver; it adds insult to injury.

Historically, the main actors in venture capital have been a specialized set of tech investors who themselves came from the technology industry. They understood it well because they were the ones who built foundational technologies or sold hardware, software and systems into businesses.

And so, generally, the people who invested in tech companies — the traditional venture investors — could tap their extended talent networks and apply their knowledge to bring talented people into startups, or at least coach the founders on how to select the right talent to scale and grow.

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 17, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Deloitte today released its "North America Technology Fast 500," an annual ranking of the fastest-growing North American companies in the technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences, fintech, and energy tech sectors, now in its 27th year.

Software remains the leading industry in Deloitte's 27th annual North America Technology Fast 500. Axonics, Inc. claimed the top spot with a growth rate of 87,037% from 2017 to 2020. Based in Irvine, Calif., Axonics (Nasdaq: AXNX) is a global medical technology company focused on the development and commercialization of novel therapies for patients with incontinence. The Axonics® implantable rechargeable sacral neuromodulation system provides patients suffering from overactive bladder and/or fecal incontinence with long-lived, easy to use, safe, and clinically effective therapy. Axonics' next-generation urethral bulking agent, Bulkamid®, provides women suffering from stress urinary incontinence with safe and durable symptom relief. Axonics is one of six California-based companies ranked in the top 20 this year.

Image: Deloitte's 27th annual North America Technology Fast 500 by industry sector. - https://www.prnewswire.com

Traditional business intelligence (and data mining) software does a very good job of showing you where you’ve been. By contrast, predictive analytics uses data patterns to make forward-looking predictions that guide you to where you should go next. This is a whole new world for small businesses seeking enterprise application opportunities, as well social media trend challenges.

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There are those who describe the current, faster-and-faster-moving marketplace as a fourth industrial revolution, and the best entrepreneurship programs are those that help students appropriately speed up and, when necessary, scale up their ideas, from unicorns to innovative business models. Students who enroll at these schools will find themselves at the forefront of innovation and development, and often with an interdisciplinary focus that acknowledges the interconnectedness of today's economy. Perhaps more importantly, they will also get opportunities to enrich themselves and their communities, adding economic and social value through innovation, team building, and leadership.

Image: Image credit: University of Houston

There are those who describe the current, faster-and-faster-moving marketplace as a fourth industrial revolution. And the best entrepreneurship programs are those that help students appropriately speed up and, when necessary, scale-up their ideas, from unicorns to innovative business models. Students who enroll at these schools will find themselves at the forefront of innovation and development, and often with an interdisciplinary focus that acknowledges the interconnectedness of today's economy. Perhaps more importantly, they will also get opportunities to enrich themselves and their communities, adding economic and social value through innovation, team building, and leadership.

Image: Image credit: Rice University

At long last, physicists from Harvard and MIT have found the killer application for quantum computing: a Mario Bros. GIF made from qubits. The qubits (quantum bits) can also be arranged in a Space Invaders design, or Tetris, or any other shape—your geometrical wish is the qubits’ command.

The GIFs are from QuEra Computing, a Boston startup emerging from stealth, to show off the programmability of their 256-qubit quantum simulator—a special-purpose quantum computer built for solving certain types of problems.

Image: MS TECH | QUERA COMPUTING

PASADENA, Calif. and DURHAM, N.C., Nov. 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE: ARE), an urban office REIT and the first, longest-tenured and pioneering owner, operator and developer uniquely focused on collaborative life science, agtech and technology campuses in AAA innovation cluster locations, today announced that it is advancing the revolution for complex integrated R&D and next-gen manufacturing in Research Triangle, N.C. through its strategic partnerships with top-tier emerging biotechnology companies, along with its acquisition of purpose-focused development sites in the region, to enable their increased control over the quality of their medicines, patient access, supply chains, and their intellectual property, critical processes and talent.  

Image: Beam Therapeutics’ future R&D and biomanufacturing facility in Research Triangle, N.C. Courtesy of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.