When the COVID-19 pandemic began, many speculated there would be a slowdown in funding for the remainder of 2020. But while the markets felt the initial shock of the pandemic, funding picked back up and several companies were able to raise billion-dollar rounds. 

Image: Sophia Kunthara

In my role as a mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs, I find that most have the technical challenges well understood, but many are a bit short on some basic street smarts, or basic business realities. Thus I often recommend that before you kick off your own business, you join another startup or existing business to see how things really work. Even the best college degree is not a substitute.

LONDON — Britain on Wednesday became the first country to give emergency authorization to the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, clearing the path for a cheap and easy-to-store shot that much of the world will rely on to help end the pandemic.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) announced the commencement of the Phase III trial (NCT04611802) of the Novavax investigational COVID-19 vaccine, in a press release issued on Monday, December 28, 2020. The trial will evaluate the effectiveness, immune response, and safety of a COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by Novavax, Inc., of Gaithersburg, Maryland, called NVX-CoV2373, and is estimated to complete data collection by March 31, 2021.

Big tech companies could face multibillion dollar fines in Europe and the threat of being broken up unless they comply with sweeping new regulations announced by the European Commission on Tuesday.

After years of wrangling in the U.S. over whether to hold tech companies accountable for data practices and anticompetitive behavior, the new rules in the E.U.—which has a total population of some 450 million across 27 countries—could force tech companies to change their practices globally.

Despite the deep tragedies of 2020, it was also a year of hope. Behind the daily toll of the pandemic was the knowledge that scientists were working at record speed to make a vaccine using a new breakthrough technology. Every day people made new advances in technological solutions to prevent the virus spreading (surely more innovation—both scientific and DIY—happened in the mask world than in any previous year) and in policy solutions to help people caught in the economic disaster brought on by COVID-19. And in a year that felt like it changed everything, people also began contemplating how we might rebuild differently, with new ideas about how to fix the climate crisis, how we work, and how we live.

Image: https://www.fastcompany.com

Happy New Year from Rich Bendis and the Innovation America Team.

If you look back on your 2020 resolutions, you may be chuckling to yourself at how the universe threw us all a big ol’ curveball. Given the unexpected circumstances of this year, perhaps it’s a sign to all of us to reframe how we think about goal-setting in January. After all, even during more “normal” times, New Year’s aspirations tend to be hard to keep. 

No one knows exactly what life will look like in 2021. But we can be pretty sure things won't be as bleak as they were this year.

After reporting on the coronavirus pandemic throughout 2020 and asking leading infectious-disease experts to peer into their crystal balls to make conjectures about the year ahead, Business Insider's health and science reporters Hilary Brueck, Andrew Dunn, and Aria Bendix mapped out a best guess at what the next 12 months may look like in the US.

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Entrepreneurs who succeed in building strong, sustainable businesses know that success doesn’t come from a great idea. 

And yet, this is what countless first-time entrepreneurs focus on. Finding the right idea can easily become an all-consuming task. 

However, in order to succeed, entrepreneurs must make a critical shift: They have to go from thinking about their business in terms of themselves (“Here’s my idea” or “Here’s my product”), to thinking about it in terms of their customers (“Who are my customers, and what do they want?”).

Image: Fred Cary mentors and partners with entrepreneurs across industries. PROVIDED 

Becoming an entrepreneur is one of the most commonly chosen career paths young individuals are venturing into. They want to own a business, be their own bosses, and leave their mark on the world one way or another. The reality is that nowadays there are 582 million entrepreneurs in the world, and in the US they seem to be doing great as 62% of the billionaires are self-made. All in all, becoming an entrepreneur could be the smartest decision you ever make.

As coronavirus continues to surge across the country, spotting COVID early can be crucial in treating the virus. But how can you know that you're dealing with coronavirus in the earliest days of infection? According to Johns Hopkins, there are certain telltale signs of COVID that tend to emerge sooner rather than later—five to be exact—and these could tip you off that it's time to lock down. Read on to find out what they are, and for more information on COVID symptoms, check out If Your Symptoms Appear in This Order, You May Have Severe COVID.

AUSTIN, Texas—A few years ago, some blocks of Austin’s South Congress Avenue featured a castle-themed wax museum and comic book shop, a neighborhood bar with $1 taco deals, an auto shop and, in season, a Santa Claus on horseback.

Then, as at so many other places in Austin, the construction cranes came.

One of the biggest challenges in any business, large or small, is overcoming the natural human preference for status quo, or fear of change. It means that most team members and executives alike have a natural tendency to prefer killing innovations rather than implementing them. Even customers, while they all want the next big thing, want it to happen with minimal new learning.

This one was a banner year for remote work, but 2021 is poised to be even bigger, and better, for those who continue to enjoy a flexible work arrangement.

Most Americans who work remotely today were forced out of their offices, and challenged to manage the sudden change, along with the added obstacles brought on by the pandemic. Despite this, however, the majority express an interest in working remotely moving forward, even after the crisis is over.

Image: Photos: Daria Shevtsova/Pexels; RF._.studio/Pexels; Ketut Subiyanto/Pexels; Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels; Taryn Elliott/Pexles

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the word “sustainability” come up in conversation lately. The word seems to be all the rage. That straightforward construct here undoubtedly needs no elaboration, no explanation.

Not so with climate, another buzzword, catch-phrase of this modern era we’re living in. While the number of times I hear climate is let’s just say, innumerable – cannot be counted – there is more to climate than just its connection to meteorology. Don’t forget there is such thing as political climate, social climate, etc.

A year ago, who could have even imagined 2020 would turn out the way it did? A pandemic, closed borders, lockdowns, economic crisis, a delayed election … but here we are at the end of a year like no other.

So, if New Zealand were to receive a report card for its performance in the year of COVID-19, measured against members of the global community, how might that look?

Report data from 150 countries and regions reveal nation's rise on international stage

China has retained its No 1 position worldwide across a wide spectrum of intellectual property, according to a recent report by the World Intellectual Property Organization.

The World Intellectual Property Indicators 2020 report released earlier this month analyzed last year's data from some 150 countries and regions around the world, covering patents, industrial designs, trademarks, geographical indications and plant varieties.

How many entrepreneurs do you know that “almost” made it big? Startups are very risky, and most fail. Yet entrepreneurship is one of the fastest growing trends in business today. Surveys show that entrepreneurs are among the happiest people in the world, despite the challenges. Yet it would pay real dividends to know at the start what separates the “also-rans” from the winners.

Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com

Nate Storey, founder of a startup in the burgeoning agtech sector, which applies high-tech solutions to agriculture and farming, is convinced that the future of vegetable production is vertical and indoor cultivation, an approach that allows crops to be grown anywhere in the world to supply local markets. His company, Plenty, has just demonstrated that about two acres laid out vertically and growing hydroponically, produces more than a conventional farm covering some 720 acres.