I can only shake my head on days like today when I read about the state of biogenerics policy in the United States. The Wall Street Journal reports (Firms Push for Biotech Generics) that biotech companies are lined up against health plans and PBMs over the interpretation of the waiting period for biogenerics embedded in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The dispute is over the meaning of the 12 year ’exclusivity’ period specified in the Act. Biotech companies want generic companies to wait 12 years before starting development (that’s ’data exclusivity’), while PBMs that distribute drugs and health plans that reimburse for them want companies to wait 12 years before the drugs are sold (’market exclusivity’). The PBM/health plan position is somewhat better for consumers, because it would get the drugs on the market a year or more earlier, but this really shouldn’t be the debate we’re having.

The Importance of a Point of View

Most professional careers celebrate objectivity. Doctors, engineers, bankers, and anthropologists all describe a need for a clear, sensible, emotionless approach to their work. Data is king in these fields -- until hard data is provided, professionals are taught to be skeptical, and to reject unsubstantiated changes. Metrics and empirical tests of efficiency, validity, or productivity are celebrated. Even marketers -- whom often produce humorous and emotionally charged artifacts -- tend to substantiate their work with rigorous data collection both before and after the production of these artifacts, in an attempt to add some form of rationalization, and to track and analyze their successes. Google Analytics has made the infamous A/B testing ubiquitous in web properties, where a full suite of metrics can be processed and tracked in order to understand the causal relationship between a decision and the behavior of the community of users. This idea of causality is the holy grail of statistics, as it -- when combined with appropriate sampling and other qualities of statistical significance -- indicates a direct and logical relationship between an action and a response.

Long ago, long before MIT hatched plans for its OpenCourseWare initiative, the university taped a lecture series covering the equivalent of a freshman-level calculus course. Released in 1970, the introductory class taught by Herbert Gross was suited for any student brushing up on his/her calculus, or learning the subject for the first time. MIT has now revived the lecture series, called “Calculus Revisited: Single Variable Calculus,” and you can find it on YouTube, iTunes Video and the Web. It’s also listed in the Math section of our Free Online Course collection (where you’ll find many other calc courses)…

CHARLOTTETOWN - Prince Edward Island's BioCommons Research Park will see its first building take shape over the next three months with a major injection of taxpayers' money.

The BioCommons Manufacturing Centre will cost $4.65-million, including $2-million from Ottawa and a $2.65-million loan from the province.

Premier Robert Ghiz is defending the investment even as the province tries to control spending in light of a $55-million budget shortfall.

2009 was a tough year for U.S. technology transfer programs, which saw licensing income drop 32 percent, according to a survey published by trade group the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM).

The 181 tech transfer programs that responded to the survey reported a combined $2.3 billion in income. AUTM blamed the year-over-year decline on the economic downturn and a lack of large, one-time payments to tech transfer programs. For example, 2009 leader Northwestern University’s income fell to $161 million from $942 million in 2008 as one-time payments dropped.

Big, audacious goals. Thinking big. Punching above its weight. Global growth. Laser focused. Putting Kansas on the map.

These are just a few ways national experts describe the Pipeline technology entrepreneur immersion program and its rapid success.

Big words and even bigger goals. But all of us with Pipeline were motivated to take on this challenge. And the results have surprised many — and inspired even more.

How do your employee salaries compare to other start-ups in Ontario? Complete the TechEdge Survey and find out!

TechEdge helps companies make informed salary decisions. They’re growing their GTA data and relationships right now while allowing us to “test-drive” the data and assess its value. They plan to offer their first report in June 2011.

What’s in it for you?

Participate and receive a free report!

Your report will include 2011 GTA-based results for every job for which you submit data. You’ll also be eligible to purchase subscriptions and reports for Ontario overall.

“Formal education will make you a living; self education will make you a fortune,” entrepreneur and motivational speaker Jim Rohn once said. But where is one to start? Amazon returns 12,146 book results for the term “entrepreneur,” and most people who define themselves as such are too busy to even begin making a modest dent in that sum.

We asked venture capitalists and entrepreneurs for the books that they would recommend entrepreneurs keep in their shelves. The 11 recommendations we got back include some expected startup classics like Jessica Livingston’s Founders at Work, but also a few surprising novels and creative takes on business strategy.

TechConnectWV, in conjunction with the Battelle Technology Partnership Practice, today released its Biotechnology Blueprint, a detailed strategy for growing the bioscience industry in West Virginia.

“The Biotechnology Blueprint lays out five strategies for growth, and will help guide efforts in the state to develop this important sector of our economy,” said Anne Barth, Executive Director of TechConnectWV.

Government, business, academic and NGO officials from the 34 nations of the Western Hemisphere and beyond came to Atlanta in November for the fourth Americas Competitiveness Forum. Free trade, supply chain, green technologies, work force education and innovation were among the themes. Among the keynote speakers were Tony Clement, Canada’s Minister of Industry, and UPS Chairman and CEO Scott Davis — whom many in the audience sincerely wished would vie for office.

Clement was in the midst of a tough decision involving his government’s rejection of a foreign takeover of Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan by BHP Billiton, owing to conditions set forth by the Canada Investment Act, which is also at the heart of a Canadian legal dispute with U.S. Steel. Davis, meanwhile, spoke of free trade advocates such as himself being able to “come out of hiding” after the November elections in the U.S.

Before you as an entrepreneur can hope to successfully start a new business, you need to set some goals and milestones to lead the way. It’s easy to talk in the abstract about all the possible applications for a new technology, but you don’t have a viable business plan, until you have specific targets on what you will produce, when, and how.

Yet many people avoid these specifics out of fear of the unknown, or set some totally unreachable goals. I’m a believer in having a healthy disregard for the impossible, but it does help to have a structured path to get there. Only when you have conceptualized your idea into realistic goals can you move on to prepare an implementation plan.

Don’t be “misled” by the engaging and conversational style of Action Trumps Everything.  Not only is it an enjoyable read, but lurking inside is also a profound idea: analysis and planning from the bench works when playing a well-known game. But when the rules, players, and even the goal posts are consistently shifting, you have no choice but to get out on the field way before you have all of the information you (think you) need, and in some cases, as the only way of generating any useful information at all. This uncertain world is near-ubiquitous for entrepreneurs, and so the authors base their thesis on their observations of what real-world entrepreneurs do, not the prevalent myths which lead the novice astray by emphasizing detailed planning and long term forecasting in intricate business plans. Experienced entrepreneurs know these plans are notoriously poor guides to action.

Long after the winners of Super Bowl XLV have taken home the Lombardi trophy, this season will be remembered for new efforts to mitigate the seemingly inevitable head injuries sustained by so many football players.

The average player sustains an estimated 950 impacts to the head during a season. These hits could result not only in concussions but also long-term brain damage. In response to the greater awareness of head injuries, the NFL made significant rule changes this season—harsher penalties and heavy fines for helmet-to-helmet hits or hits against defenseless players. But another way to protect players comes from better helmet technology.

Urgent action is needed to safeguard the UK games industry from a brain drain caused by tax breaks being offered in countries such as Canada and the US, says a lobby group.

Tiga, which represents games developers and companies, says that the disappointing GDP figures released today indicate the need for action to prevent any further shrinkage of the UK industry, which has seen its headcount fall by 9% since 2008, and its direct and indirect contribution in tax revenues fall by £55m, and the sector's contribution to GDP decline by £132m.

WASHINGTON, D.C.— In one of the toughest budgetary climates in modern history, and amid renewed threats from Congressional Republicans to eliminate government art support, the advocacy group Americans for the Arts rolled out its National Arts Index on Monday. Essentially, the measure aims to speak for the arts in a language that even complete philistines might understand, offering a method to track the health of the creative economy in a way that's similar to how Gross Domestic Product tracks the growth of the global economy in general.

Having started Box.net in his college dorm room, CEO Aaron Levie has learned some valuable lessons. In this clip, Levie elaborates on five lessons: 1) Do something that was not possible three years ago, 2) Do something you are extremely passionate about, 3) Don't compromise, 4) If you feel comfortable, you're probably not doing it right, and 5) Don't write your obituary too early.

If you think covering the green economy means chasing the latest solar, wind and biofuels projects; keeping up with sustainable building trends; and test-driving the latest electric car, you're only partially correct. As the hoopla over climate change and global warming accelerates, it's bumping up against the status quo.

Thus, President Obama can't find the political support to provide incentives for renewable energy without keeping them in place for oil and gas exploration. And coal and nuclear have nudged their way onto the “clean” energy list.

“You can have renewables -- you should have renewables -- but you can't abandon the traditional parts of the industry,” says Martin Frost, a former Democratic congressman from Texas who works as a lobbyist in Washington, D.C., for the law firm Polsinelli Shughart.

Stanford Business School is one of the most selective in the nation.

Do you have what it takes to get accepted?

In an interview with PoetsAndQuants.com, Derrick Bolton, Stanford's head of admissions, says just how competitive the process is. The 390 member class of 2011 was chosen from a pool of 7,546 applicants. That's 18 applicants for every seat.

Do you have what it takes to snag one of the 390 slots? If you come up short on even one of these questions, you'll probably get the axe.

Rachel Sterne is the new chief digital officer for the city of New York. She got the job yesterday.

Her first task is to make sense out of the city's very popular (27 million uniques!), but pretty much useless Web site.

Sounds like a pretty cool job.

Before this, Rachel founded a citizen news site called GroundReport.com.

Deep sea hunting is something you have to see to believe - in the video above, an Indonesian hunter swims to a depth of 65 feet, and stays there for just under three minutes. Other dives can send them underwater for up to five minutes. Armed with nothing more than his trunks, a pair of goggles and a spear gun, this hunter scours the seabed for his catch - staying underwater as long as it takes to catch what he needs.