Here we highlight selected innovation related articles from around the world on a daily basis. These articles related to innovation and funding for innovative companies, and best practices for innovation based economic development.
As I “grew up” in business in big companies, including IBM, I always wondered why the real innovations seemed to come from startups, while we had more resources and more experience. Later, in my second career as an entrepreneur with startups, I realized that limited resources and fresh insights actually created the mindset that relied on market change and innovation to survive.
Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com
For a new venture to get off the ground, entrepreneurs require resources and support that greatly enhance the likelihood of its success. Unfortunately, there is still a gender gap in entrepreneurship that means women don’t get the same access to those resources.
Crypto funds, startups and founders have all flocked to the Tampa Bay area. What does it mean to the region's bottom line?
The National Center for the Middle Market has been tracking the performance and sentiments of companies between $10 million and $1 billion in annual revenues since 2012. While average revenue growth for middle-market companies has increased in 2021, a closer look reveals a split recovery: 45% of companies reported revenue growth of 10% or more but another 34% experienced flat or declining revenue. With an uneven recovery and ongoing challenges, how can midsize companies continue to thrive? Data shows that middle-market companies with a digital vision that is clear, comprehensive, and guides strategic decisions grow 75% faster on average than less digitally sophisticated peers. The authors present a framework to help guide middle-market companies in the process of digital transformation.
Home to an array of renowned universities, federal labs, and government resources, it’s no surprise that the globally renowned Milken Institute found that Maryland “has one of the nation’s strongest life sciences industries,” according to its recent report.
It’s clear that Maryland’s efforts to grow its recognition as a life sciences/biotech hub have paid off. However, there is still more work to be done in order for Maryland’s R&D growth trajectory to keep up with other leading hubs such as Massachusetts and North Carolina.
Image: https://biobuzz.io
In case you thought this wasn't a great time to seed your startup with venture capital (VC) dollars: You're flat wrong. According to recent data compiled by PitchBook, capital market data and intelligence solutions company, investors are paddling around in more money than either Jeff Bezos or his administrative assistant, God.
According to this data, new capital is being fire-hosed into the VC market at an unprecedented rate. Apparently, 2020 already set a new record in terms of funding and deal valuation. But 2021 is only three-fourths over, and it's already blown 2020 out of the water.
Image: https://www.pcmag.com
Buried deep in President Joe Biden’s 2021 tax plan are new amendments to the United States’ Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS) program, which, if passed, will directly impact early-stage startup employees, founders and investors.
Lawmakers say the proposed changes to QSBS are designed to raise taxes on America’s millionaires and billionaires. But the net they’re casting is so wide that it will undoubtedly catch rank-and-file startup employees, who can easily (and temporarily) find themselves pushed into the country’s top tax bracket if they exercise stock options or sell their shares.
Higher education’s data crunchers have increasingly been training their sights on the postgraduation career path. It’s an often-unpredictable trajectory shaped by students’ aspirations, talents, and backgrounds, by economic conditions, and by institutions’ effectiveness as launching pads.
The worldwide Blockchain based Solutions for Security Labels market report gives a definite investigation of a few factors, for example, the critical drivers and restrictions that will affect development. It additionally gives an examination of the savvy working environment including market patterns, development drivers, market difficulties, driving organizations, arrangements, applications, and income investigation. Also, the report gives bits of knowledge into the provincial examination that covers various locales, adding to the development of the market.
Zoox has been testing its Level-3 (L3) autonomous vehicles in Las Vegas and the Bay Area for four years, way before Amazon acquired the self-driving company in 2020. But to be able to train its technology further, it has to hold trials in other locations with different environmental conditions — like Seattle. Zoox has announced that it will soon start testing its L3 vehicles in the city to collect data and trial new hardware in the face of frequent rains.
Image: Amazon Zoox
Pressure gets a bad rap. Too much can lead submarines to implode, cookers to burst, and otherwise level-headed professionals to sob in office bathroom stalls. Given these potential negative side effects, it’s not surprising that much of the writing on the topic deals with how to cope with pressure when it comes your way, or eliminate it from your life completely.
There wasn’t a dry eye in the House Energy & Commerce Committee’s hearing room recently as the Health Subcommittee listened to testimonies from patients and caregivers pressing Congress to do all it can to enable the private sector to develop therapies for neurodegenerative diseases.
Image: Rep. Brett Guthrie - https://www.modernhealthcare.com
Innovation is the only way that the massive global demand for energy can be met while averting the worst consequences of climate change. National governments are the most important contributors to global energy innovation. The 2021 edition of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation’s (ITIF’s) Global Energy Innovation Index (GEII) provides a multifaceted assessment of national contributions to the global energy innovation system.
Most entrepreneurs I know are individually very innovative, but a successful startup can’t be a one-man show (for long). That means they need to build an innovative team, which is not a skill that most people are born with. In fact, some very innovative individuals, known as ‘idea people’ or inventors, often end up creating the most dysfunctional teams.
Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com
PASADENA, Calif., Oct. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Alexandria Venture Investments, the strategic venture capital platform of 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, was recognized by Silicon Valley Bank in its Healthcare Investments and Exits: Mid-Year 2021 Report as the #1 most active biopharma corporate investor by new deal volume from 2020 to 1H21 for the fourth consecutive year and the #1 most active new Series A investor in biopharma by new deal volume from 2020 to 1H21. These most recent leadership rankings are a testament to Alexandria's position at the vanguard and heart of the life science ecosystem.
In December, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and its partners plan to launch the James Webb Space Telescope. A technological marvel 100 times as powerful as the Hubble telescope, it has enough visual acuity to examine the atmospheres of planets far outside our solar system for evidence of extraterrestrial life.
With the pace of change ever escalating, entrepreneurs today can’t afford to acquire talent through traditional hiring alone, and need to revise the perception that “talent” is only full-time office employees. In addition, more people in the workforce don’t want to be resident employees. More than 40% of U.S. workers now say they would start looking for another job if they aren’t offered remote options.
Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com
In the last few years, I’ve heard more and more about a new type of small business, called a “micro-business” (or micro-enterprise). These are usually characterized as owner-operated, with five employees or less, and less than $250,000 in sales. With the low cost of e-commence entry, and powerful Internet technologies, they require minimal capital to start, perhaps as little as $500.
Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com
At some point in their life, hopefully everyone strives to be the best in their chosen profession. Most people think that being the best requires more intelligence, more training, and more experience. In reality, in business or even in sports, the evidence is conclusive that it is as much about how you think, as what you do.
Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com
Innovation is a discipline that can be learned and repeated, but it involves organizing and operating differently from how you manage the regular business. This article sets out a set of best practices for managing innovation, structured around five big questions that you can work your way through in about 30 days: What is your growth gap? How will your innovation practices be governed? What criteria will you use to allocate resources for innovation? Where does your innovation or venturing group belong? And, finally, how will you get started?
