The number of changes being implemented by the new administration in the White House are likely too many to count. And while many are significant, one strikes a chord with the scientific community in a very meaningful way. In the days leading up to his inauguration, President Biden made it clear that science is a priority. He has backed that up with several recent announcements.

WE’RE NOT OUT OF THE WOODS, NOT YET. ONE year after the first case of COVID-19 was detected in the U.S., more than 400,000 people have died and thousands of businesses have shuttered. On the political front, our democracy endured a months long campaign to subvert the presidential election, culminating in a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. But at Fast Company, we're also looking to the future. Amid the horrors of 2020, we saw the world awaken to the power of new technology and radical ideas, from mRNA and BLM to satellite internet and sustainable fashion. So as a new president takes office with a mandate to build back better, we’re pausing to reflect on these lights in the darkness. Here are 21 reasons to hope in 2021.

After a bitter battle with Democratic lawmakers last year, the Department of Commerce is looking to alter the biotech, cybersecurity and research and development tax credits.

The pandemic has upended the U.S. economy and it has also had a far-reaching effect on Silicon Valley, the venture capital industry and the entrepreneurial ecosystem in America.

According to PitchBook’s 2021 US Venture Capital Outlook report that was released late last month, the Bay area’s share of total VC count in the U.S. will fall below 20% for the first time in history, while other cities around the country grab larger amounts of equity capital for their home-grown innovators.

A common challenge faced by every entrepreneur is that they don’t have the bandwidth, interest or skills to do everything that is required to build their startup. Of course, they can outsource part of the work or hire employees, but that approach means more time and money to manage the work, which they don’t have. The right answer is to find a co-founder with complementary skills.

Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com

Registration Link: NHLBI Catalyze webinar

Topic: The NHLBI Catalyze Preclinical Program informational webinar

Time: January 26, 2021 3:00 PM EST

Description:

The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute recently launched the Catalyze program to empower and support translational research through a comprehensive suite of funding, technical services, training, and mentorship to translational investigators working across NHLBI's entire heart, lung, blood, and sleep portfolio.

Projects supported by NHLBI Catalyze receive funding, project management support, access to technical services and expertise, advisory services (IP, regulatory, commercialization), training opportunities, access to best practices and the opportunity to become part of an innovation network.

The NHLBI Catalyze Program funding initiatives support product development, including product definition, preclinical research and development from post-discovery to Phase I trial readiness, and enabling technologies and transformative platforms that address heart, lung, blood and sleep diseases and disorders.

Nearly 75 years ago, the head of the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development, Vannevar Bush, published what became a seminal report in the science community. The report chronicled the necessity of basic scientific research, investment by government in science and innovation, and identified the reasons to push the limits of our own knowledge. Science, The Endless Frontier was Bush’s call for a committed relationship between government and science. In the spirit on Bush’s pioneering report, the National Academies of Science (NAS) and the Council on Competitiveness (the Council) have published reports outlining the ways in which policymakers, the private sector, and researchers can boost American innovation in the years ahead.

In a world where job opportunities are limited as well as limiting, entrepreneurship is a journey that many have opted to traverse. Some successfully: Tom Moyal, CEO of Digital Event, and Jay Awal, Founder and CEO of MxM, are entrepreneurs who have succeeded and share their secrets.

Digital Event is a marketing agency that caters to clients who need logos, Web designing, and even influencer contacts to boost their brand visibility. Moyal has worked with celebrities to personalize their social media filters, for instance, Alexa Dellanos and Tana Mongeau.

In the aftermath of COVID-19’s first wave in March-April 2020, an astonishing 62 percent of employed Americans said they’d worked remotely for at least a portion of the first few weeks of the pandemic.

While many of those people didn’t make a permanent shift to working remotely and a large percentage have returned to their physical workplaces, many economists expect the shift from traditional office settings to working from home to continue.

2020 INVESTMENTS HIT NEW ANNUAL RECORD DESPITE THE PANDEMIC 

US-based, VC-backed companies raise nearly $130B in 2020, up 14% year-over-year (YoY) from 2019, despite the impacts of Covid-19 around the world.

However, annual deal activity is down YoY, falling to 6,022 deals, a 9% decline from 6,599 in 2019. 

Image: https://www.cbinsights.com

Angel investors and venture capitalists are looking for startups with real products and a proven business model, ready to scale. Yet I still get too many business plans that clearly are looking for money to do research and development (R&D) on a new and unproven technology. If you need funding for these early stage activities, I have some suggestions on better strategies to follow.

For America to remain the global leader in IT, the U.S. government must formulate a grand strategy grounded in a new doctrine of “digital realpolitik.” The first priority should be advancing U.S. interests by spreading the U.S. digital innovation policy system and constraining digital adversaries, especially China. This will entail working with allies when possible—and pressuring them when necessary.

EDA is pleased to announce today that seven organizations from across the United States have been awarded a total of $2 million in grants through the inaugural STEM Talent Challenge, which aims to boost local science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) talent.

Grant projects are building STEM workforce readiness while fueling innovation and entrepreneurship in emerging and transformative sectors, such as space commerce, aeronautics, digital manufacturing, biotechnology, advanced manufacturing, and cybersecurity. Click here for more about each project.

Asking any one industry to save the world is, admittedly, hyperbolic. But the fast-growing private equity industry is, in many ways, uniquely positioned to use its strengths, market position and capabilities to generate positive returns for society in specific areas as it generates returns for investors. In fact, the ways the industry creates value today is directly translatable to an environment in which we face an imperative to repair, rethink and reconfigure. PE’s edge has always been to create value by driving transformation more quickly and deeply than other owners can. In the industry’s first decades, that meant swiftly reducing costs and repositioning assets. Today and tomorrow, that can mean turning its catalysing power to decarbonisation and sustainability—and, to do so throughout large portfolios that cut across geographies and industry sectors.  

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has established the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Office, which will advance artificial intelligence research and policymaking across government, industry and academia, FedScoop reported Tuesday. 

“The National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Office will be integral to the federal government’s AI efforts for many years to come, serving as a central hub for national AI research and policy for the entire U.S. innovation ecosystem,” said Michael Kratsios, chief technology officer of the U.S. and 2020 Wash100 Award recipient. 

Image: Michael Kratsios US CTO  - https://www.govconwire.com

January 12, 2021 -- Although immuno-oncology therapies have been around for many years, investors are excited to partner with innovators in the space who can push the boundaries of what these therapies are able to achieve. A panel of investors and business development executives discussed what exactly makes a specific candidate attractive as a business opportunity during a recorded session at the Biotech Showcase virtual event.

Immuno-oncology therapies are set to have another exciting year in 2021. These molecules have seen waves of interest for the last two decades, but are finally making progress toward clinical use and reaching patient populations. From checkpoint inhibitors and antibody-based therapies to chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies, innovation is happening at a rapid pace.

Context is always important. In the grand scheme of things, I have privilege: I was born a male, in the most powerful country in the world, during the most prosperous time in history, to parents who both went to college, all in a middle-class neighborhood.

I could have been born during my dad’s generation when there were still signs that said “Whites Only” and he was barred from entry. Even now, the fact that I’m half-Jewish and look more ambiguous than “Black” has been a privilege.

The COVID-19 pandemic challenged Canadian tech entrepreneurs like never before. But through great resolve and business savvy, Canada’s innovation community weathered the storm, adding roughly 100,000 STEM jobs between February and October, with many startups transforming their everyday practices to fight the coronavirus. With the end of the crisis now in sight, we’ll need our tech leaders to create more jobs, repair the healthcare system and heal the planet.

Image: https://www.marsdd.com

Undeterred by Brexit or the Covid-19 pandemic, technology firms in London attracted $10.5 billion in venture capital money last year, a new record for the U.K. and Europe.

Fintech (financial technology) firm Revolut, electric vehicle maker Arrival, and renewable energy provider Octopus Energy led the capital's tech firms to new highs according to a report released on Thursday (14 January) from the Mayor of London and Dealroom.co.

Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's joint biological innovation center has secured $76 million and signed a lease for a new facility in Watertown, Mass., according to a Jan. 14 news release.

Harvard and MIT partnered with several Harvard-affiliated teaching hospitals including Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women's in November 2019 to launch the Center for Advanced Biological Innovation and Manufacturing.