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.
The most promising Covid-19 treatments and vaccines being explored right now were made possible by a little-known law that encourages licensing agreements between private pharmaceutical companies and government-funded researchers.
Treatments such as Gilead’s remdesivir, Ridgeback Biotherapeutics’ EIDD-2801 drug, and Moderna’s vaccine candidate were all achieved through public-private partnerships that didn’t exist before the Bayh-Dole Act in 1980.
As the world opens back up, even with COVID-19 in an unrelenting swing, one guideline is repeated again and again: Keep six feet of social distance. And this number makes us feel safe because it comes from the authorities. But this number is, according to a new study, inaccurate and flawed.
Image: https://www.fastcompany.com
They call it commencement because it’s supposed to be a new beginning.
College graduation is one of life’s last clean transitions, a final passage from adolescence to adulthood that is predictable in ways other transitions rarely are. Relationships end with breakups or death, jobs often end with quitting or firing, but college is one of the only things in life that ends with a fresh start. Except when it doesn’t.
Image: Photograph by Hannah Beier for TIME
Healthcare organizations face a myriad of challenges as the Covid-19 pandemic sweeps across the United States. While all businesses face marked uncertainty and a risk of infection within their workforce, the direct delivery of care to Covid-19 patients introduces an additional and novel level of leadership complexity for the healthcare industry. Healthcare workers—doctors, nurses, medical assistants, environmental services, and others—face unprecedented stress, and with this maintaining the morale and safety of all involved in the delivery of healthcare has become the most important task. We have observed several recurring themes from organizations that are effectively managing through the Covid-19 crisis and summarize a few emerging leadership principles.
The state of Michigan has approved $950,000 in funding for commercialization of technologies developed at the public university level.
In a series of the votes Tuesday, the board of the Michigan Strategic Fund approved the funds for the Michigan Translational Research and Commercialization, or MTRAC, state program grant.
The funds will go to programs at Michigan State University MTRAC Agriculture-Biology Innovation Hub, Wayne State University MTRAC Advanced Computing Innovation Hub and Michigan Tech University MTRAC Advanced Materials Innovation Hub.
Title III crowdfunding may be an attractive capital raising alternative during the current Coronavirus pandemic because it allows companies to use the internet to solicit potential investors and not be restricted to accredited investors. But some of the requirements under Regulation Crowdfunding may diminish its utility for issuers with urgent capital needs as a result of COVID-19. Recognizing this, the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 4 stepped up and issued temporary final rules relaxing certain timing and financial information requirements for offerings initiated under Regulation Crowdfunding between May 4 and August 31.
You are feeling feverish and have a cough. Is it just a cold, or is it covid-19? That’s a question that’s going to be hanging over all of us, possibly for several years.
Right now, getting tested for the coronavirus means going to a doctor or a drive-in clinic and potentially exposing other people, and even then, a test can be hard to obtain. The US Centers for Disease Control is still telling people that if their symptoms are mild, they should simply stay at home.
Fundraising activity has stalled over the past few months as investors have remained uncertain around the path/timeline to recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Despite the state of the market, as a principal at Bling Capital and the founder of a seed-stage venture capital firm, I have seen several founders who have successfully raised large checks at pre-coronavirus market prices.
Open now? Open later? As debate rages about restarting economies, one critical element is absent from discussion. The predictor of our success or failure will have less to do with when businesses open their doors and more to do with how often people open their mouths. Decades of research suggest that the heart of a high reliability culture is immediate peer accountability.
Power and control impact family businesses, just like any other enterprise. What makes the inevitable power and control struggles even more complex in a family business are the family dynamics that play a significant role in decision-making and succession planning. If family dynamics are not centered on a shared purpose, the result is often organizational friction and low performance. A common mission, high-trust relationships, and effective decision-making can help to bolster family-business performance, especially in today’s uncertain business climate.
For the past four decades, globalization and urbanization have been two of the world’s most powerful drivers. Global trade increased from under 40% of the world’s GDP in 1980 to over 60% today. Over the same period, the number of people living in cities more than doubled to over 4 billion people today — more than half the world’s population.
In response to the global race to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization embraced a proposal Friday to create a voluntary pool to collect patent rights, regulatory test data, and other information that could be shared for developing drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics.
The notion was raised several weeks ago by Costa Rican officials amid mounting concern that some Covid-19 medical products may not be accessible for poorer populations. By establishing a voluntary mechanism under the auspices of the WHO, the goal is to establish a pathway that will attract numerous governments, as well as industry, universities and nonprofit organizations.
A new study covering eighty European cities and their efforts to exploit data to monitor and improve city infrastructure shows an increasing use of data in cities. Improving city operations, enhancing environmental sustainability, informing decision-making and a wish to spur innovation and new services are mentioned by cities as main reasons for setting up urban data platforms.
Urban data platforms (UDPs) enable digital technologies to integrate data flows via open standards within and across city systems used by both the public and private sector. For example, platforms can share raw data streams or show 3-D visualizations of how underground piping, bus lines, thermal grids, environmental data and a wide range of other information is connected.
Opalesque Industry Update - Global venture capital funding has dropped by 20 percent since the onset of the crisis in December 2019. The drop, however, is far from evenly distributed, said a study titled 'The Impact of COVID-19 on Global Startup Ecosystems' by Startup Genome.
China, the first country hit by the coronavirus crisis, had a drop of over 50 percent in funding relatively to the rest of the world in January and February. Nonetheless, China has seen a rebound in March, although with numbers still lower than pre-crisis levels.
It seems like there will never be enough “thank you’s” for the incredible doctors, nurses technicians and support staff members who are working around the clock to help patients with this dangerous disease. It is their dedication, determination and spirit that allow Johns Hopkins to deliver the promise of medicine.
“You need to make Anil do his job!”
My client, let’s call her Robin, received this text from her sales manager during their virtual leadership meeting. As a food manufacturer, her company is deemed essential during the pandemic. But like many managers today, Robin is feeling the pressure of running a $1.5B division remotely with a team whose nerves are starting to fray.
The greatest challenge we face in the current crisis is striking the right balance between preventing not only the damage inflicted by Covid-19 but also that which comes from a severe contraction of economic activity.
This is a matter of both life and death, and prosperity or poverty, as a deep recession is likely to cause widespread hardship, including increased mortality rates for reasons other than the virus. We must, therefore, find smart strategies for reopening businesses while minimizing health risks.
Kansas City, MO (May 18, 2020) – A peak pandemic April survey of leading angel investors revealed strong continued commitment to creating jobs via investment in start-ups. The result of “Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Angel Groups and Portfolio Companies” were announced at the Angel Capital Association’s (ACA) annual Summit, ACA 2020 - The Summit of Angel Investing. More than 50 major angel investing groups, representing thousands of active investors and hundreds of their portfolio companies around the US, responded. Findings included:
The big picture: The stage seems to be set for a global mental health crisis. Anxiety is rising and it’s no surprise, given so many of the pillars keeping us sane have been toppled. We need to get people help now, before the stress they’re feeling spirals into something worse. A solution might be to teach them how to help themselves—virtually.
Image: https://mailchi.mp/f3bea2250871/bmmxr061og-783141?e=4d778a166c
Biological innovations could help us meet some of the great global challenges of our time. This new infographic from McKinsey Global Institute shows the potential impact of the #BioRevolution.
