I rode a bike around Amsterdam for three days last week. How easy was it? When I walked into the convention center to register for the 2010 meeting of the Global Reporting Initiative, the first person to greet me was a young woman from a company called MacBike offering free bike rental for the remainder of my visit to the city. Fifteen minutes later, I was on my way to explore the city center.

Amsterdam, I’m told, has 550,000 bicycles and 800,000 people. It has 400 km of bike lanes. And about 37% of all commuter trips are made by bike, according to Amsterdam Cycling to Sustainability website. (You’ll have to trust me; it’s in Dutch.) Clearly, the Dutch love their bikes. More important–this city, its businesses and its people have found a way to make bicycling easy, convenient, fun and (mostly) safe for people of all ages. If American cities could become more bike-friendly, we’d do the planet and ourselves a favor.

It’s commonly thought that even though globalization was shifting manufacturing jobs from America to lower-cost, more efficient, off-shore competitors, the U.S. retained a vast lead in high-end innovation. But are the powerful forces of globalization now leading to the off-shoring of America’s innovation and R&D? New statistics from the National Science Foundation (via Mike Mandel) certainly point in that direction.

Way back in 1990, I wrote a book titled The Breakthrough Illusion with Martin Kenney that argued that the U.S. had developed a powerful capacity for venture capital-backed innovation, but that the actual manufacturing and production of those innovative new products – and the jobs that flow from that – was increasingly being shifted off-shore.

China is really frightening. Having spent the last three days meeting with Chinese startups and investors, I can see how their culture could easily eat our lunch. it is still difficult and expensive to get wi-fi here, so I will briefly summarize my thoughts and refer you to this presentation by Benjamin Joffee that tells it all. Benjamin is an Internet strategist who has been working here for five years. If what he’s seen is anything like what I’ve experienced on this return visit, my fourth over a 30 year period, it is mind boggling. Just look at the chopsticks in the preso and you will be convinced.

There was a time when it looked as if David Kelley’s design career might have been summed up in two words: “Lavatory Occupied.”

Kelley, then a fresh grad from Carnegie Mellon, was working for aviation giant Boeing when he helped design the bathroom sign that went into 747s. “I spent six months on that,” recalls Kelley, now 59. “I had a narrow role. I wanted the ability to come up with solutions that were new to the world and to see them have an impact.”

This is a talk by Phil Libin, CEO of Evernote at the quarterly Founder Showcase in Silicon Valley. Phil discusses the detailed revenues and underlying statistics, including conversion rates, of Evernote. Phil is a Mentor at the Founder Institute, where this talk was first given.

The economy has affected all of us, and Detroit, which has been hit harder than most, has been working on the solution harder than most. They’re fighting back by supporting entrepreneurship.

This is entrepreneurship in a nutshell: You identify a need; you create a solution; and then you either make money – or you start over. Henry Ford said, “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.”  I think I got a little more intelligent with each of my failures.  At least I stopped doing what didn’t work.   And so has Detroit.Venture capital research says that 60% of the blame for investment failures lies not in the business plan or the IP or the strategy or even the economy.  It lies in people’s failure to work together effectively.

Usually if we want to be more creative, we look at the new things we can do to help us. But what is equally, if not MORE important, is to be aware of your current ways of thinking and acting that actually sabotage your creativity.

Here are 21 of the most common ways you may be slowly killing your creativity.

1. You don’t actually believe you’re very creative. Answer this honestly: How creative do you REALLY think you are? If your answer is less than an emphatic declaration of your endless ability to be creative, then these beliefs aren’t going to support your creativity as well as they could. The first step is to notice these kind of thoughts. Then turn each of them around to their positive opposite. Retrain yourself to believe only the thoughts that will serve your creativity best.

After exploring the mobile and Internet landscapes in Shanghai and Beijing, the GeeksOnAPlane (GOAP) group (30+ techies mostly from the Silicon Valley) continued their Asian field trip to Korea today. In Beijing, the GOAP attended two of China’s largest tech conferences: CHINICT, “the largest conference on China tech innovation” (which was livestreamed on TechCrunch), and the “Global Mobile Internet Conference” (GMIC), both of which are held in the city every year.

The GOAP got in touch with and gained unfiltered insight from dozens and dozens of local entrepreneurs, VCs and industry observers during the conferences and the events that took place around them. What follows are just a few learnings and impressions the GOAP group picked up during their China web crash course in Beijing (the size of the tech landscape is summarized in my previous post).

National Science Foundation - U.S companies grossed nearly $11 trillion in worldwide sales and spent $330 billion on R&D in 2008. This is according to new figures from the National Science Foundation's first ever Business R&D and Innovation Survey (BRDIS) developed jointly with the U.S. Census Bureau.

Specifically, it will allow policymakers and industry officials to gain information about worldwide R&D expenses, R&D employee headcount by occupation category, R&D expenses by detailed business segments, and share of R&D devoted to new business areas and new science or technology activities. None of these capabilities existed with the previous survey, which solely focused on domestic R&D and asked few questions about the makeup of industry employees or a company's ability to innovate technologically in the competitive global marketplace.

Research ministers from across Europe have urged Innovation Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn to make finance a top priority in the EU's forthcoming research and innovation plan.

Ministers gathered in Brussels this week (26 May) to shape the strategy agreed that the combined efforts of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and encouragement for private venture capital funds is fundamental to boosting innovation.

I have attended many Clean Tech conferences in the southwest over the last six months. Frankly, I wish I saw more women in the room. So this post on EcoAid’s website really resonated with me, so I am sharing it with you. It’s a juicy topic. Please join in on the conversation by leaving your comments below. And if you are a woman working in clean tech now, what do you know now that you didn’t know before that could help other women wanting to enter the clean energy sector? — Carolyn

Women across the nation are preparing to play an integral role in the green economy, and the United States will need their help if we’re going to pull ourselves out of the recession and compete in the new economy on a global scale. CAP’s Jorge Madrid has the story in this repost.

In an article for the Wall Street Journal, Anjali Athavaley recently described why it is so hard to design an umbrella that won't collapse or flip inside out. It's not that companies aren't trying - they are experimenting with space-age materials, testing umbrellas in high-tech wind tunnels and even consulting experts in aerodynamics to find a "perfect" umbrella that doesn't flip inside out on a particularly gusty day. Any incremental improvements, of course, come with costs.

Once you get to the $20 price point for an umbrella, there does appear to be some improvement in umbrella performance, and at the $100 price point, you can build a superior canopy-style umbrella. However, the problem (from the perspective of umbrella manufacturers) is that consumers are only willing to plunk down $6 for a cheap throwaway umbrella. Once you get to the $100 price point, the size of the umbrella becomes so enormous that it's completely impractical for anyone other than golfers.

On Friday, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would do many things, including raising the taxes that venture capitalists pay on capital gains. In so doing, Congress is taking a page from Willie Sutton -- who famously said he robbed banks because that's where the money was -- and turning that page on its side.

Ten years ago venture capital, or VC, was where the money was. But not anymore -- the costs of this tax change will exceed its benefits.

The latest organization to spring fully formed from the brow of San Diego’s Life Sciences community was not Athena, but the San Diego Entrepreneurs Exchange, which Denise profiled in March when the SDEE was preparing to hold its first meeting.

I’d guess close to 140 people turned out earlier this week for the group’s second meeting, which was organized around a case study presentation and discussion among local biotech entrepreneurs who were successful in winning Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants from the National Institutes of Health. These are small grants. David Larocca, the founder, CEO, and principle scientist of Mandala Biosciences, says a Phase I SBIR “proof of principle” grant is usually limited to $150,000, while a Phase II “commercialization” grant is typically limited to $1.2 million.

1. Aiming too low. For fear of failure, low self expectations and a slough of other possible reasons, many people tend to limit themselves when thinking about what’s possible for their business. You don’t have to want to conquer the world, but it’s ok to dream big when planning and building your business. In fact, it’s not just ok, it’s really important. Setting your goals too small can kill your business, because you’re likely to get what you aim for. It’s infinitely better to just miss a huge goal than to barely hit a mediocre goal. Plan for mediocrity, and that’s what you’ll get.

2. Procrastination. Entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs alike suffer from this ailment, which is a surefire dream killer. Putting off what needs to be done in your business opens up the possibility for a competitor to take advantage of your procrastination. You might end up inconveniencing a customer or client, or you might end up taking time away from another important task later. Either way, you’re hurting your business, and this habit is bound to catch up with you. One of our favorite quotes on this topic is “Procrastination is the thief of fortune!”

Does your startup need a lawyer? I can't legally answer that question, of course. My background is in folklore and literature, so when it comes to lawyers I'm able to quote Shakepeare's Henry VI or reference Madame Bovary, and that's about it.

Laugh all you want at my background, but I would wager a lot of first-time entrepreneurs aren't certain of the answer to whether or not they need a lawyer either. So I called one - Katherine Moyer, an attorney who specializes in startups at Endeavor Law Group

It's commonly thought that even though globalization was shifting manufacturing jobs from America to lower-cost, more efficient, off-shore competitors, the U.S. retained a vast lead in high-end innovation. But are the powerful forces of globalization now leading to the off-shoring of America's innovation and R&D? New statistics from the National Science Foundation (via Mike Mandel) certainly point in that direction.

Way back in 1990, I wrote a book titled The Breakthrough Illusion with Martin Kenney that argued that the U.S. had developed a powerful capacity for venture capital-backed innovation, but that the actual manufacturing and production of those innovative new products - and the jobs that flow from that - was increasingly being shifted off-shore.

Few will dispute Amazon’s role as current king of the e-commerce space, but this week’s TechCrunch Disrupt conference raised an interesting question: Did Amazon miss the boat on social commerce?

At the conference last week in New York, John Caplan, CEO, OpenSky; Rob Kalin, CEO, Etsy; Susan Lyne, CEO, Gilt Groupe and Dan Porter, CEO, OMGPOP sat down to discuss the idea of social commerce and where the marketplace is going in the future in terms of both monetization and socialization. All of the panelists seemed to agree that Amazon will continue to reign supreme in “commodity commerce” but will not be able to lead social commerce. Kalin stated, “I think Amazon is doing a good job monopolizing the boring way of shopping.” Caplan agreed, saying that “Amazon will own commodity commerce. They won’t lead the way to relationship commerce and more and more people are craving relationships in shopping.”

Siguler Guff & Company, a US-based private equity firm with over $8.5 billion of assets under management, is investing $250 million in a high-tech hub outside Moscow that is often referred to as Russia’s ‘answer to Silicon Valley’, according to various reports.

Siguler Guff, owner of a subsidiary called Russia Partners, has made the investment public right after a visit to innovation center Skolkovo.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev recently invited a group of US venture capitalists and entrepreneurs to visit the high-tech hub, which is located in Moscow’s woody suburbs, in an effort to convince them of his plans to spur economic modernization and reduce its dependence on oil and gas by giving birth to a local ‘Silicon Valley’.

Switching off the pilot light on your furnace or fireplace during warm summer months will save natural gas and save you money.

Consider that the pilot light on a gas fireplace can use half the total gas that fireplace burns in one year!

Depending on gas prices, you can save about $50 on bills each year if you turn off a pilot light during warm months.