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.
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WASHINGTON, D.C. -- With well over 100 million COVID-19 vaccine doses administered, the public's satisfaction with the rollout has surged 24 percentage points to 68% in the last month.
Satisfaction with the COVID-19 vaccine process has doubled since January and is now at the majority-level among all major demographic subgroups. It is particularly high among adults aged 65 and older (77%), a group that has been prioritized for vaccines, those who have received at least one vaccine dose (75%) and Democrats (73%), whose satisfaction has more than tripled since President Joe Biden took office.
Image: https://news.gallup.com
The huge boom in blank-check companies powered the best first quarter for mergers and acquisitions since 1980, as investors flush with cash looked for new opportunities along with the reopening of economies after the coronavirus pandemic. There was $1.3 trillion of global M&A activity in the first quarter of the year, data provider Refinitiv said, surpassing even the strongest first quarter of the dotcom bubble in 2000, when dealmaking surged to $1.2 trillion.
The British-Swedish pharmaceutical AstraZeneca announced that the COVID-19 vaccine, in conjunction with the British University of Oxford, has been renamed Vaxzevria.
As reported in The Brussels Times, the name change was approved on March 25 following a request from the company and was announced on the website of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and that of the Swedish National Medicines Agency (Läkemedelsverket).
According to NASA, businesses are vital to its mission to expand humanity’s presence in space and to improve life on Earth. NASA announced on March 25 that it has selected 365 U.S. small business proposals — including six composite companies — for initial funding from the agency’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program, a total investment of more than $45 million.
Image: https://www.compositesworld.com
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced awards totaling $110 million for diverse small businesses working on scientific, clean energy, and climate solutions for the American people. The 102 projects in 24 states are pursuing technological solutions in various areas, including advanced manufacturing of wind turbines and batteries, new instruments for atmospheric measurement, and particle accelerator technologies that can power next-generation scientific discoveries.
I’m a big fan of the old adage "There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers." We have all heard questions that begin, "This may be a dumb question, but …" used effectively by smart people who are not afraid of risking ridicule by challenging a questionable assertion from an intimidating speaker.
Most people in business seem to expect their leaders just to give orders. According to Gary B. Cohen in his classic book, “Just Ask Leadership: Why Great Managers Always Ask the Right Questions,” as leaders advance, they tend to oblige by asking fewer questions and providing more answers. This is precisely the wrong approach.
I like think of myself as an accidental entrepreneur. I originally set out to make innovation insights accessible for the greater good. But, nearly 15 years after publishing my first article, I sold a site that had more than 8,000 articles from around 400 contributing authors.
Along the way I learned a great deal of things, some the easy way and some the hard way. Here are the five key lessons I learned from my 15-year journey as a webpreneur:
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services launched an innovation challenge competition today encouraging American inventors to aid the nation's COVID-19 response by designing effective, comfortable face masks for personal use that resolve the common complaints people have about wearing masks. The contest taps into the nation's creativity and entrepreneurial spirit to help curb the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
Image: https://www.medicalcountermeasures.gov
To call 2020 a “unique year” for life sciences companies would be an understatement. The COVID-19 pandemic transformed the industry, creating immense opportunities for institutions and investors to drive healthcare through innovation.
Peter Meath, Co-Head of Healthcare and Life Sciences for Commercial Banking, notes that investment in life sciences reached record-high levels across almost every category and subsector—despite unprecedented business challenges. Here are a few of the highlights:
Image: https://www.jpmorgan.com
As the coronavirus started to spread in 2020, industry watchers hoped the biopharma sector would pull through and shore up both the IPO market and venture capital investment.
Private investment in the biopharma industry had been trending generally upward, with dips in 2016 and 2019. The second trough followed a record-setting 2018, in which biopharma companies—those developing therapeutics for human disease—raked in a total of $17.9 billion.
Image: https://www.fiercebiotech.com
TEDCO Talks: A new virtual series featuring thought leaders in economic development from across the State of Maryland.
Join TEDCO's CEO & Executive Director, Troy LeMaile-Stovall, in thought-provoking conversations with regional leaders about the future of Maryland’s innovation ecosystem.
Troy had the opportunity to interview Rich Bendis with BioHealth Innovation. Watch now to learn more about BioHealth Innovation, and the role Rich has played in supporting Maryland's entrepreneurial community.
As a business advisor, I often talk to business professionals who are critical of their CEO, and are convinced that they could do the job better. Yet I suspect that few of you have seriously thought about the scope of problems that every CEO must face, and what capabilities are the key to success, whether your company is a small startup, or a multi-billion multi-national conglomerate.
Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com/
Out of all the employees and business leaders whom I have interviewed over the years, the vast majority of them have always told me that culture is what they care about most. Unlike the physical and technological environments, cultural environment isn't something that you can see, taste, touch, or breath in. This is the only environment that you feel. That feeling is the pit in your stomach when you don't want to go to work or the excitement and butterflies you get from wanting to go to work. Simply put, the cultural environment is the vibe of your organization and the actions that are taken to create that vibe or feeling.
We humans are notoriously unreliable, superstitious narrators, always scanning the horizon for signs that validate what our hearts have already told us. Take me, for example. I keep telling people I was vaccinated at Hogwarts’ Manhattan campus under the waxing moon (it was a gibbous moon to be exact). How auspicious!
Ok, so my COVID-vax site was really The City College of New York. But stepping through its big old gothic gates to receive a blessing of science was wondrous, maybe a little spiritual. There was even a rainbow-y halo around that big moon, another lucky omen if you’re hungry for such things.
Image: The entrance to The City College of New York, Manhattan campus which is serving as a coronavirus vaccination vaccination site. Photograph by Susanna Schrobsdorff
Remember the project where Bill Gates wanted to cover the sun to cool the Earth? Well, this summer, the tests will begin. According to The Times, a large balloon will soon be launched in Sweden that will spew out particles of calcium carbonate, which is essentially “chalk dust.”
The Controlled Stratospheric Perturbation Experiment (SCoPEx) wants to prove that the release of this dust into the stratosphere could eventually divert some of the sun's energy and lower the temperatures of our planet.
The opportunity for Chicago to develop a thriving life sciences ecosystem is there, and it could pay dividends for the city's economy if Chicago can become a top-tier biotech town.
Image: Fulton Labs at 1375 W Fulton St. ROBERT BUYLE
Johns Hopkins University launched a new tool Friday that tracks the coronavirus pandemic's impact on education. Geoff Petrulis reports.
Image: https://baltimore.cbslocal.com
No matter where you are in your startup journey—if you simply have an idea or if you have already launched a business—Cornell’s startup ecosystem can connect you to the resources and partners you need to get to your next milestone. The university supports entrepreneurially-minded Cornellians from students, to faculty and alumni and from founders, to team members and investors. Its programs and network also nurtures startups in fields as diverse as software, food products, life sciences, hospitality, clean energy materials – and beyond. How will you connect? As a first step, and regardless of your current path or stage of company, you should join the Entrepreneurship at Cornell Listserv.
