At the center of our solar system is the sun, a turbulent sphere of incandescent plasma that has burned for the past 4.6 billion years, providing the energy that powers almost every living thing on Earth. The means of creating this energy is relatively simple, but also mind-boggling: Every second, the sun transforms some 600 million tons of hydrogen into helium through a process called nuclear fusion, converting tiny bits of matter into almost unfathomable amounts of energy. 

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has selected 19 small businesses to develop new technologies through grants totaling over $4.4 million in value. The awardees will address various technology needs under phases one and two of the agency's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, NIST said Thursday.

The first phase provides each awardee up to $100,000 for feasibility studies, then the second phase will add up to $400,000 for projects qualified to continue. A third phase would use non-SBIR funds to commercialize the resulting technologies.

Congratulations! You’ve successfully gotten your new business off the ground and made it through the first year. Of course, the hard work isn’t finished. As you approach your second year of being in business, there are new challenges to meet and overcome.

Image: Forbes Coaches Council members give their best advice for entrepreneurs entering their second year in business. PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS.

The pandemic and related government lockdowns have caused widespread economic and social disruption over the past several months. There is much to despair about, as tens of thousands of small businesses have permanently closed and rates of depression and suicide rise. Yet, there are signs of hope.

Image: Nenad Stojkovic-Flickr | (CC BY 2.0)

Entrepreneurs seem more quickly frustrated these days when their “million-dollar idea” doesn’t turn into a sustainable business overnight. They don’t realize that it takes many skills to build a business under the best of circumstances, and today’s world of instant gratification doesn’t leave room for the patience and practice to develop these skills.

Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com

Brett Cooper, an Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO) member in Atlanta, is the founder of BlueFletch, a leading software development agency focused on helping retailers migrate to modern mobile technology to improve employee and customer experience. We asked Brett and his business partner, Richard Makerson, what they learned from starting a business in the Great Recession of 2008. Here's what they shared.

When it comes to ranking the top 10 venture capital funds in the U.S., there are many ways to go about it. You can look at it based on assets under management and dry powder or deal flow. You can look at it based on more subjective factors as well. Here’s our list of the top 10 venture capital funds in the U.S. based on a combination of these factors.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Commission is proposing to the EU member states to continue flexing state aid rules until the middle of next year to help mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Since the pandemic struck, the EU has approved a multi-billion rescue package. Meanwhile, member states have agreed on a 1.8 trillion euro recovery plan and long-term budget for the 2021-2027 period.

The marriage between industry, community colleges, and career and technical education is real. However, perhaps now is the time for marital counseling.

Dating back to the groundbreaking Morrill Act of 1862, which formally recognized the role of higher education in preparing citizens for vocations, community-based education has been a staple in America’s history. We educators should remain committed to teaching all students with the mission of advancing our cities, states and nation by preparing citizens to meet the economic development and workforce needs of today and tomorrow.

A sweeping new report urges significant policy and funding action to ensure the United States does not lose the preeminent position in discovery and innovation it has built since the end of World War II.

"The Perils of Complacency: America at a Tipping Point in Science and Engineering" was released today by Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Image: Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Nonverbal communication in the workplace is extremely important. Whether you’re trying to sell a car, pitch a project to your boss, or nail a job interview, what you convey beyond words can determine the difference between success and failure. This makes communication in the age of Covid-19 more challenging for the obvious reason that masks, a necessary component of fighting the pandemic, hide the parts of our faces that display facial expressions — particularly those micro expressions that we use without thinking to convey as well as perceive sincerity, trustworthiness, and good intentions.

As a coastal city, Copenhagen faces the risk of storm surges from rising sea levels. But it also faces an even larger risk of flooding from extreme rainstorms, which are becoming more common as climate change progresses. A massive new “climate park” is designed to capture water in sudden storms—nearly six billion gallons—to keep it from flooding streets and buildings when the sewer system is overwhelmed.

Image: Photo: Flemming Rafn/courtesy Tredje Natur

After Europe led the 2G network generation and Japan led 3G, the US held the global leadership position in the 4G economy. This was driven by important policy decisions that led to increased investment by telecom firms, such as expedited tower siting and tight timeframes for deployment review.

Based on its research of the 4G period, BCG identified five success factors needed for the US to maintain its primary position in the emerging 5G era.

Image: https://www.consulting.us

Kalon Venture Partners, CEO, Clive Butkow has a wealth of advice to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses and raise VC capital.  Butkow has outlined 10 critical tips of advice for entrepreneurs wanting to raise venture capital and increase their investor readiness. 

The rapid development of technology often captures our imaginations to the extent that we are ever wearier of tech taking over the world. This has helped one too many tech myths to be spun and circulate across the internet.

Corporate venture capital firms are cementing their presence in the startup ecosystem in a year when they could have retreated to the sidelines. So far in 2020, these investors have participated in 25.5% of all US venture capital deals, on pace to match a recent high in 2018, according to PitchBook data.

A common question I get is “How do I get a bank loan to fund my startup?” The default answer is that it probably won’t happen, because most banks just don’t make bank loans to startups. The failure rate is just too high, and startups typically don’t have the assets or revenue stream to back up the loan. That’s why angel and equity investors are so sought after by entrepreneurs.

Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com

The University and Small Business Patent Procedures Act, better known as “The Bayh-Dole” Act, became law on December 12, 1980. To commemorate the 40th anniversary of this historic legislation, Bayh-Dole 40 is hosting a video webinar to celebrate the Bayh-Dole Act’s benefits to America’s innovation system and economy.

Speakers from across the political, technology transfer, university research, and legal spheres will share their insights and unique experiences with the Bayh-Dole Act — which range from surviving non-Hodgkin lymphoma thanks to a Bayh-Dole-spurred cancer treatment, to overseeing the tech transfer office that managed the licensing of Google, to drafting the legislation itself. The webinar will also touch on the impact of misusing march-in rights as a price control, the relationship between Bayh-Dole and the U.S. patent system, and the risks assumed by the private sector when commercializing a publicly-funded innovation.

Antarctica contains more than half of the world's freshwater in its sprawling, frozen ice sheet, but humanity's decisions over the next century could send that water irreversibly into the sea.  

If global warming is allowed to continue unchecked, Antarctica will soon pass a "point of no return" that could reduce the continent to a barren, ice-free mass for the first time in more than 30 million years, according to a new study published Sep. 23 in the journal Nature.

Image: https://www.livescience.com

I knocked on the door of Quinby House, the 1867 Italianate mansion that serves as the president’s residence at Illinois’s Monmouth College, then quickly scampered back down the steps to wait at the bottom, a good 12 feet from the door, as Clarence R. Wyatt opened it and invited me inside.

Image: COURTESY OF MONMOUTH COLLEGE Monmouth College, in Illinois