In my business of mentoring new entrepreneurs and advising small company owners, I recognize that most don’t start as experienced leaders, and most don’t realize that people leadership is a primary key to their future success. Building a business is not a one-person job, and leading by edict rarely works today. You need to pick the right people, and learn as you go to lead the team.

Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com

BRUNSWICK, Maine (PRWEB) February 19, 2020

The Maine Technology Institute (MTI) is soliciting proposals from Maine organizations looking to make investments in R&D equipment, infrastructure and technology upgrades to drive innovation and generate economic impact in Maine. MTI has $2 million in available funding for the Maine Technology Asset Fund 2.5 program and is capping individual funding requests at $500,000 or less.

"MTI is seeking proposals that will provide extraordinary economic benefits to Maine and its citizens," said Brian Whitney, MTI's President.

Skype founder Niklas Zennström's venture capital group Atomico has unveiled a tech-focused fund focused on entrepreneurs' start-up companies.

The Atomico V fund is aligned with the firm’s core strategy to partner with mission-driven European tech startups with innovative business models that help to drive change across every aspect of society and economy.

Image: https://citywireselector.com

Let me start with the obvious: Innovation is the buzzword. In fact, it has been the buzzword for so long, you could say we’ve developed a cult around it.

A Louisville-based entrepreneurial organization has merged with a Knoxville, Tennessee-headquartered capital company to form a new angel network.

The Sheltowee Business Network and the Angel Capital Group (ACG) have formally partnered to form the Louisville Sheltowee Angel Network, which targets early-stage businesses with strong earning potential and a positive societal impact, according to a news release.

DOYLESTOWN, Pa., Feb. 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center (PABC), a nonprofit life science incubator, was recently acknowledged in an International Business Innovation Association study as one of the most successful Biotech incubators in the country. Today, the PABC has announced the launch of an innovative sponsorship program that will provide support and services to help meet the needs of early stage Biotech companies. The program was created by and is being administered for PABC by Hatch Biofund Management LLC (Hatch), operators of an early stage life sciences venture fund formed as a companion fund to the PABC.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, a diverse group of research and scientific organizations, as well as those directly involved in commercializing new products, launched Bayh-Dole 40, a coalition that will celebrate and protect the University and Small Business Patent Procedures Act of 1980, better known as the "Bayh-Dole Act."

The Bayh-Dole Act has empowered universities, small businesses, and nonprofits that have received federal grants to retain ownership of any patented inventions -- and license those patents to private firms, who then turn promising ideas into real-life products that improve peoples' lives. Thanks to Bayh-Dole, the public and private sectors have worked together to translate basic scientific research into life-saving drugs and medical devices, internet and GPS technologies, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, and countless other innovations.

Genetic matchmaking is entering the mainstream. The prospect of meeting and selecting potential romantic partners based upon purported DNA compatibility—until very recently the subject of science fiction from films like The Perfect 46 to independently published romances by Clarissa Lake—has increasingly garnered both scientific and commercial attention. Earlier this year, Nozze, a well-established Japanese dating service, established a DNA Matching Course and hosted a related DNA Matching Party, both first-time offerings in that nation. For 86,400 yen ($790), men are paired with prospective dates based upon 16,000 variations in HLA gene complexes.

Last November, the Turkish government oversaw the planting of 11 million trees in a single day. One Turkish city broke a world record for the number of trees planted in an hour (303,153 trees). By late January, though, the head of the country’s agriculture and forestry trade union was reporting that most of the trees were already dead, though the government denied those claims.

Image: https://www.fastcompany.com

Becoming an entrepreneur was already firmly in Jaclyn Dunphy’s mind when she began her studies in biomedical sciences. Her passion was the potential she saw for developing new drugs for brain diseases, and she knew she was not cut out to confine herself to the lab.

Image: “The things that make me a good scientist also make me a good entrepreneur: creativity, motivation, the desire to have an impact,” said Jaclyn Dunphy, GBS19, who now works at a venture-creation enterprise in Cambridge, Mass. Photo: Courtesy Jaclyn Dunphy

More and more technology companies are adopting open innovation initiatives. This is largely due to the realization of the benefits of working with outside experts to gain external perspectives and insights. This situation wherein an organization thinks beyond its internal resources for innovation and collaborates with external resources is known as open innovation. Open innovation is an opportunity for the company to utilize those external ideas and use them to develop innovative products and services. It may seem simple, but there is more to the collaboration process than just brainstorming.

The PACT 2019 Philadelphia Venture Report is now available, powered by PitchBook Data and breaking down all key trends in the Philly MSA from last year.

At $2.5 billion invested across 225 venture financings, Philly’s venture ecosystem closed out a record 2019 for both dollars invested and the number of deals closed. Philadelphia is firmly in the top ten venture capital markets in the U.S. ranking 7th in dollars invested in 2019. Moreover, the region’s pharma & biotech sector commanded more than $1 billion in overall deal value, also setting a record.

Hello and welcome back to our regular morning look at private companies, public markets and the gray space in between.

Heading into the new year, it wasn’t known that the coronavirus, known as COVD-19, would shutter much of China, slowing its industrial output, its services industry and more. But heading into 2020, China’s venture capital world was already in steep decline. This morning we’re exploring the country’s Q4 2019 venture capital results and pulling in fresh data from 2020 to get a handle on what’s happening in China today.

Opportunities abound for every investor looking for deal flow. Conversely, there have never been so many opportunities for entrepreneurs to pitch, network and mingle with investors. No matter what space you are in – fintech, biotech, edtech, cleantech, medtech – the world of investor showcases is exploding. Nevertheless, whatever the stage of your technology, there is nothing like a “warm” introduction and a few surefire ways of getting investors to take a look at you:

At a time when the average company on the S&P 500 only survives for two decades, it’s surprising to see that there are companies that have existed for centuries around the world. The oldest company still operating today is in Japan. It’s a construction firm called Kongo Gumi that dates to 578 and has specialized in building temples for 14 centuries. Today, though the company has been bought by a construction conglomerate, temples still account for 80% of its business.

Image: https://www.fastcompany.com

Could reimagining 500,000 years of evolution uncover how to conserve one of the world’s greatest natural wonders — the Great Barrier Reef?

The Great Barrier Reef is facing warmer sea temperatures, rising sea levels, coral bleaching, and greater acidity as a result of climate change. The threat climate change poses to the reef is significant, rapid, and presents a danger to the reef’s entire ecosystem.

After an entrepreneur comes up with a business idea, one of their first tasks is to figure out a logo and how they want their brand to look. And because many entrepreneurs lack design skills, they often turn to platforms with template designs like Canva or PicMonkey, or to companies like 99Designs and Design Contest — which connect new businesses with freelance designers who enter “contests” in the hope of landing new clients. 

With the rise of freelancers, location-independent professionals, and burgeoning startup communities, entrepreneurs around the world are looking for plug-and-play setups that don’t require huge upfront investments and endless admin hassles- and that’s why we have co-working spaces. If you are an extrovert who likes to be surrounded by like-minded individuals, and gather motivation from them while working in a busy environment, here’s what you need to look for in your next co-working space:

Race, gender and class may be shaping our society, but increasingly generational change drives our politics.

Over time this suggests a major realignment of America’s party system that could create either whole new parties or transform the current, and failing, political duopoly.

One must look just at the results in New Hampshire. Bernie Sanders won by winning roughly half of voters under 30, according to exit polls, almost twice the percentage he gained among the rest of the electorate.

Every year, over 650 students from almost 100 nationalities participate as scholarship holders in the European Forum Alpbach. Join smart minds from around the world in a charming Alpine village, immersing yourself in an environment bursting with novel ideas, new ways of thinking and opportunities for making great contacts.