WASHINGTON, D.C., January 29, 2021 – Connected DMV’s COVID-19 Strategic Renewal Task Force held its seventh meeting on Thursday, adopting a recommendation to proactively address climate change through the establishment of a regional Hydrogen Center that affirms Greater Washington as a leader in the hydrogen economy. Task Force members agreed that collaboration across borders and disciplines to tackle climate change, using hydrogen energy, is a national and regional imperative, and by utilizing the significant assets of the DMV region, an achievable goal.

Venture capital returns reached an all-time high in 2020, even as global economies were decimated by the coronavirus pandemic.

As of the third quarter — the latest period for which returns are available — venture capital funds globally had delivered “exceptional performance” for the year, according to a report from eFront, a BlackRock-owned financial software and research company.

The European Commission, EU governments, and pharmaceutical companies should tone down the ongoing vaccine row and focus on one objective: to quickly manufacture vaccines for as many people as possible, the EU pharma boss, Nathalie Moll, told EURACTIV in an interview.

“Now is not a moment for vaccine nationalism or regionalism or a trade war on vaccines. Now is a moment to focus on the results, enable increased development, manufacturing, support, research, and focus on people,” said Moll, the director-general of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA).

Image: Nathalie Moll: "“I think we need to focus on the fact that we all have the same objective in mind, vaccinating as many people as possible,” she emphasised." (Photo by Sarantis Michalopoulos)

Upfront, I should disclose I personally started to dabble in this asset class for the first time in the autumn of 2020, having sat out the first iteration of bitcoin mania in 2017. But this time, growing institutional acceptance seems to have brought back an even stronger wave of enthusiasm and euphoria, buoyed in part over the frustration of minuscule interest rates and inflationary forces unleashed by endless money printing by central banks in the U.S. and the rest of the world.

Image: Photo by Worldspectrum from Pexels

Nobody was thinking much about the newly elected junior senator from Delaware back in December of 1972, when the Apollo 17 moonwalkers collected lunar sample 76015, 43. The senator was Joseph Biden, the moon walkers were Jack Schmitt and Gene Cernan, and the rock was a 3.9-billion-year-old, 332 gram (0.73 lb.) sample collected in the moon’s Taurus-Littrow Valley.

Image: https://time.com

Spending on innovation makes up around 2.7 percent of the US gross domestic product (GDP). That money has fueled countless developments and breakthroughs that make the world a better place.   The Northwestern Kellogg School of Management’s Benjamin F. Jones argues that isn’t nearly enough. And COVID-19 illustrates that point.   During his January 26 virtual Dean’s Seminar Series lecture “A Calculation of the Social Returns to Innovation,” Jones recapped an academic paper he wrote with Lawrence Summers, who served as Secretary of the Treasury under President Bill Clinton, is a former president of Harvard University, and is currently a professor at Harvard. They contend that even under conservative assumptions, it is difficult to find an average return below $5 for every $1 spent on innovation. More moderate estimates suggest $1 brings back $10, and maybe much higher.

Image: Benjamin F. Jones argues that the 2.7 percent of the US GDP spent on innovation isn’t nearly enough. - https://www.mccormick.northwestern.edu

Just because the COVID-19 vaccine is here and currently being administered across the country, doesn't mean we are anywhere near herd immunity. Until enough of the population is vaccinated against the highly infectious and deadly virus, it is still particularly crucial to take preventative measures against infections—especially now that new, more transmissible variants are being identified in the United States. One way to flatten the COVID curve is to avoid specific places where the virus is much more likely to spread. Neysa P. Ernst, RN, MSN, the nurse manager of the Johns Hopkins Biocontainment Unit, reveals to Eat This, Not That! Health a list of places you should avoid even if they are open. Read on to find out where—and to ensure your health and the health of others, don't miss these Sure Signs You've Already Had Coronavirus.

Venture capitalists predicted at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic that a broad shift to remote work would give rise to new tech hubs and spread venture dollars more evenly across the country.

While investors and startups have indeed left Silicon Valley for cheaper locales, recently published reports paint an unclear picture of the extent to which venture funding has followed.

On...

The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred a dramatic acceleration in digital health including telemedicine, remote monitoring for chronic conditions, and mobile apps for contact tracing, as well as school and small-business safety monitoring. Perhaps the best-known example is the use of telemedicine to facilitate safe and effective means of triaging and accessing COVID-19 testing—including for individuals who have traditionally been poorly served by the health system. The National Association of Community Health Centers determined that approximately 49 percent of visits in federally qualified health centers were conducted virtually in May 2020 during the first peak of the pandemic.

Remote work was on the rise before the 2020 pandemic. But now the model is here to stay. In the last year or so, many homebound knowledge workers have adjusted their typical office routine. The benefits range from money saved on commutes to the ability to hire more geographically diverse applicants.

But there are challenges, too. After 11 months of working from home, staying consistently productive and tuned in to the needs of the rest of your team may be difficult.

Image: Photo: Andrew Neel/Unsplash

Innovation can be instrumental to the success of economies, at macro and micro scales. While investment provides powerful fuel for innovation—the relationship isn’t always straightforward.

The 2020 ranking from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) reveals just that.

The above map breaks down the most innovative countries in each World Bank income group, based on data from WIPO’s Global Innovation Index (GII), which evaluates nations across 80 innovation indicators like research and development (R&D), venture capital, and high-tech production.

Image: https://www.visualcapitalist.com

We all have our unique entrepreneurial journeys. As a member of the millennial generation that now dominates the world population, it’s our generation’s challenge to build a better world through the products and services that we offer, and also through the values that our businesses stand for. 

This Herculean mission for millennial entrepreneurs comes with challenges that are unique to our generation. And when there are new problems, we are compelled to address them with new solutions, too. 

Over 85% of current MBAs and applicants say they’re considering entrepreneurship as a current or future career path, according to a new survey by venture capital firm Illuminate Ventures. The online survey of MBA applicants and current students was conducted between late 2019 and mid-2020, capturing responses from more than 500 students across 20 U.S.-based MBA programs. Men responding to the survey were more likely to indicate intentions on considering their own venture or joining a startup than women, by a margin of 88% to 80%. 

Astronomers have long wondered where high-energy cosmic rays come from within our galaxy. 

And now, new observations with the High Altitude Water Cherenkov Experiment (HAWC) observatory reveal an unlikely candidate: an otherwise mundane giant molecular cloud.

Image: This image, created using data from the European Space Agency’s Herschel and Planck space telescopes, shows a piece of the Taurus Molecular Cloud. (Image: © ESA/Herschel/Planck; J. D. Soler, MPIA)

Every entrepreneur I know can’t find enough hours in a day to do the good things they want, and yet they often find themselves saying yes to new requests. Perhaps because they are optimists by nature, or they just hate to disappoint others, they end up hurting their health, credibility, and effectiveness by not being able to deliver on everything they promise.

Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com

As colleges begin their spring terms, they’re still learning lessons about how students felt about the fall. One thing seems clear about the “new normal”: Students are struggling to make online classes work while worrying about their finances and their health.

A new survey by New America and Third Way, which updates a survey the two think tanks conducted last August with Global Strategy Group, a public-affairs and research company, reveals that the challenges plaguing students since the pandemic began haven’t disappeared. Some are getting worse.

When Nick von Hindenburg  moved from the Netherlands to the District at the start of seventh grade last fall, the ongoing pandemic and online school limited his opportunities to make friends. But after moving seven times and living on three continents in his 12 years, he had the skills to adapt.

LONDON—The coronavirus has torn through nursing homes in the U.K., as it has in the U.S., taking tens of thousands of lives. Now, the U.K. hopes it is turning the tide, thanks to a homegrown vaccine that has yet to be authorized elsewhere in the West.

Image: Churches like Lichfield Cathedral near Birmingham, England, have been turned into vaccination hubs. CARL RECINE/REUTERS  

Given the world-turned-upside-down year we just closed out, it is probably wise to steer clear of making predictions. But it can be hard to resist the temptation in January to submit to this traditional exercise of forecasting the future.

We all know that the pandemic has changed the world of work for the long term, but one aspect of that change that may be underappreciated right now is the number of senior executives who are likely to balk at the idea of going back to the office full time.

After a year unlike any other for SPACs in 2020, a vast majority will spend this year on the hunt for their perfect target company — something that could leave many scrambling in an ultra-competitive environment while also disrupting the venture capital market.