After 15 years of working with companies and sometimes governments, helping them to manage the sustainability and the issues that affect sustainable development, I still oftentimes find it a fuzzy concept. So I really appreciate it when something comes along that helps even me to put a real image to the issues.

This time, that image has come from (for me) a surprising place. Not too long ago Newsweek released a special issue that looks at some of the places that could disappear or be radically changed as global warming exerts a growing influence on the world in which we live (100 Places to Remember Before They Disappear; Newsweek Special Issue, Spring 2010).

During the worst of the Great Recession, we heard much about how it would lead to a Great Reset for America's economy and society. Profligacy was out. Sustainability was in. And this wasn't just coming from greens and doomers.

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said we faced "a fundamental economic reset" as the era of cheap credit and growth built on debt was exhausted.

About a month ago I received an email from Erik Wesner asking me to review his new book “Success Made Simple: An Inside Look at Why Amish Businesses Thrive.” I said “Yes” because I was completely intrigued by the topic. This is about the second time in as many months as I’ve seen Amish and business success linked together. And I couldn’t wait to receive the review copy of the book and see what all the chatter was about.

Success Made SimpleI wondered what it was about Amish simplicity that called to Erik Wesner over the siren song of technology, social media-driven relationships and mobile apps that the rest of us have been following.

We've launched a new series where we ask successful entrepreneurs and executives a simple question:

What's the best business advice you ever got?

We started with Mark Cuban, the entrepreneur who built broadcast.com and then sold it to Yahoo for $8 billion in the late 1990s. Mark has since invested in dozens of other companies and owns and runs the Dallas Mavericks...

What's the biggest problem facing battery startups?

It might be ambition.

To break into the battery business, startups have focused on designing, manufacturing and selling their own lithium-ion or rechargeable zinc batteries. Unfortunately, it's a high-risk, capital-intensive endeavor that requires scientific creativity and engineering breakthroughs. Most companies fail in the early stages.

And the ones that succeed face even a more daunting task: competing against giants like LG and Toshiba that have extensive R&D teams, worldwide sales channels, strong links with government officials, friends at car companies (they sell chips to automakers already), and factory capacity that could cover several football fields. Plus, they've got the financial resources to allow them to lose billions during temporary downturns.

The virtues of exercise are myriad: better cardiovascular health, decreased risk for diabetes, boosted mood, and even perhaps a leaner physique. But aside from such macro links and knowledge about the heart rates, blood–oxygen levels and hormonal responses related to exercise, scientists have a relatively cursory understanding of the chemical mechanisms at work in the body during and after physical activity.

A new study, published online May 26 in Science Translational Medicine, presents a thorough profile of exercise's impact on the human body's metabolites in plasma—and reveals vast biological differences among more- and less-fit individuals. The findings also reinforce links between exercise and insulin sensitivity as well as point to new ways to enhance exercise for both healthy individuals and those suffering from cardiovascular or metabolic diseases.

Technology innovation is something anyone can undertake these days. Or so we are told.

The notion that low barriers to entry (via low cost or free online office management tools, open-source software and Internet connectivity) enable anyone with a laptop, a cell phone and a good idea to become an instant tech entrepreneur is one we hear often in tech circles.

It is without doubt that we live in an increasingly consumer-driven society. This, coupled with a tech-savvy, product-aware and fickle public, means that advertisers are having to conjure ever more inventive and innovative ways to sell their products.

The internet has enabled ever greater possibilities for creative viral marketing, which encourage potential customers to jump on the meme bandwagon and fuel the dissemination of commercial messages with their own enthusiasm. However, as with most things on the internet, the lifespan of this approach is generally short lived.

There is a great deal of conversation about collaborative environments built on trust and engagement within corporations or across corporate relationships. The problem is that when layoffs come around, people will throw each other under the bus.

It reminds me of the old backward tipping demonstration where the team dynamics leader would have everyone fall backwards into the arms of their co-workers to demonstrate “letting go” and trusting thy colleague.

Some university technology administrators are adopting the idea that the crowning outcome of public research is commercial money-making. This idea is wrapped around a shift in vocabulary from “technology transfer” to “technology licensing” to “commercialization”. These are very different concepts. But in the hands of the bozonet, they are all the same thing–meaning, I guess, the concepts mean next to nothing (see Frankfurt, again, for the details–here).

Technology transfer means the new development of the capabilities needed to practice a technology (a means of accomplishing some practical thing, a “useful art”). A technology is transferred when someone new is using a technology that someone else knows. This could be from an established use in one industry to a new use in another, or from a developed country to a developing country, or from a lab to practice. There is nothing in technology transfer that requires company formation, commercial products, or even licensing of rights. These things may come along for the ride, but they are not front and center and certainly are not essential. Technology transfer is challenging, worthy, and not an unqualified public good.

National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grantees associated with the winning i6 Challenge teams may be eligible for additional funding from their respective funding agencies. An applicant may partner with NIH or NSF SBIR grantees, or SBIR grantees can be part of a team that forms a non-profit, which becomes an applicant

As a consultant who works in the innovation space, I've seen lots of innovation initiatives. Some were successful in spite of themselves, and some were failures even when all the "right" people were involved. Some rely overmuch on technology, and some succeed using paper and pencil. Some have plenty of training and process, some purely adhoc. But the common denominators of all successful innovation projects are two factors: vision and passion. Let's explore each of them briefly.

When I say vision, I am using the word to represent several characteristics or components. To me, vision is understanding the need to create something new, and understanding the emerging opportunities and/or challenges that a team should address. Vision is also about being able to communicate those facts to others and get them to see the same opportunities as you do.

From the zany to the dangerous to the just plain dumb, here is TIME's list (in no particular order) of some of the world's bright ideas that just didn't work out.

WINDY talk about innovation is mind-numbingly abundant. Unusually, however, the grandees taking part in a conference in Paris this week organised by the OECD received some pointed advice. The rich-country think-tank has unveiled a thoughtful new report on how governments can do better at spurring and measuring innovation.

The grandees were also unusually attentive. Many governments are facing not only slow economic growth but also big deficits and heavy debts. At the same time, problems such as global warming and rising prices for natural resources demand their attention. Innovation, the OECD argues, offers a way out. It is already the chief engine of productivity in the rich world, and thus holds out the tantalising prospect of sustaining economic growth on the cheap. It could also provide affordable fixes to the thorniest global problems, argues John Kao, the founder of the Institute for Large Scale Innovation, which advocates the use of prizes and contests to encourage breakthroughs on social ills.

Each year the IISE announces a list of the Top 10 New Species for the preceding calendar year. The Top 10 New Species described in 2009 are listed below with links to additional details about each species.

If you would like to nominate a species for the 2011 Top 10 New Species please click here.

An overwhelming majority – 88pc – of venture capitalists polled believe some form of State intervention is needed to help increase the supply of equity finance and stimulate the venture capital market.

Two years after the Government unveiled its smart economy vision and promised a €700m Innovation Fund would be available to support start-ups, it is clear that all is not well in the equity business.

It is clear that high-growth entrepreneurial companies will lead Ireland out of recession. However, lack of funding, particularly at an early stage due to banks not lending and Government cutbacks, will take a serious toll on the recovery.

In honor of National Small Business Week and as part of her continued efforts to help Central Florida’s small businesses, Congresswoman Suzanne Kosmas (FL-24) today introduced legislation to support small business incubators so they can foster innovation and reduce costs for early-stage businesses. The Early-Stage Business Investment and Incubation (ESBII) Act (HR 5411) will create a national incubator grant program administered by the Economic Development Agency (EDA) to provide grants for incubators that support the development of early-stage small businesses in targeted, high-growth industries.

A 2008 EDA study found that business incubators are an effective public-private approach that produces new jobs at a low cost to the government. According to the study, up to an estimated 70 jobs are created for every $10,000 in EDA funds invested in business incubation programs.

PEOPLE tend to think of entrepreneurs as lone heroes, but this isn’t how it works in real life. Many live up to their reputation as risk-takers and some remain outsiders, but despite this outlier status, entrepreneurs need support to be successful.

In fact, we’re a lot like Formula One drivers: the person in the cockpit gets all the glory since fans tend to forget about the pit crew and all the behind- the-scenes effort it takes to keep the driver out on the track. Business is no different, since an entrepreneur does not succeed alone.

As part of a broad effort to spur innovation and achieve clean energy breakthroughs, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman today announced the selection of a team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) for an award of up to $122 million over five years to establish and operate a new Nuclear Energy Modeling and Simulation Energy Innovation Hub.

The Hub, which includes partners from universities, industry and other national labs, will use advanced capabilities of the world’s most powerful computers to make significant leaps forward in nuclear reactor design and engineering.

From the tropical rainforest to the backyard garden there are key elements keeping that ecosystem in balance and nurturing the larger global bionetwork. For economies, that key element is the small business. Nurturing the environment where small businesses can take root and grow is an ongoing challenge.

Around the country, simultaneous light bulbs are turning on across a network of local, state and federal agencies that regulate small business. With over 26 million ‘small businesses’ in America, and fewer than 17,000 ‘other-than-small businesses,’ the S.O.S. messages being sent by small companies over the past few years have finally been heard. These critical lifelines to the corporate world have had weak vital signs since the start of the recession in late-2007 and current assistance program offerings simply haven’t been enough to revive these companies. Small business is the backbone of our economy and people are starting to take notice.