Thanks to social media, you can’t really ignore your competitors like you used to. I mean, you can, but it’s a lot more obvious that that’s what you’re doing. You’re both on Twitter. You’re both on Facebook. You’re both using the same tools and communicating in the same space to a very similar group of people.
So how do you handle competitors in this new world? You embrace them and build your business by promoting your competitors, opening the doors to new alliances, potential partnerships and the knowledge that you make one another stronger.
I know, it sounds crazy and all new-agey, but it’s really quite simple. How can you build up your own business by promoting a direct competitor? Here are a few ways.
innovation DAILY
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.
So You Want to Start an Incubator? II
Last month, Sandra Cochrane gave us an overview of how to start an incubator. Judging by the sheer number of emails and direct messages (via Twitter) we received, it’s without a doubt that many of you are interested in learning more.
Through Cochrane, we got in touch with Mark Long “The King,” a very likable incubation veteran with 3 decades of experience under his belt. In this interview, Long imparts his expertise in founding an incubation facility and talks about what it takes to start an incubation program, the investment required, and some common mistakes would-be incubators make.
Voices: Tim Draper: flowing venture capital where it’s needed
Tim Draper is managing director of venture capital at Draper Fisher Jurvetson, which was instrumental in the success of Hotmail, Skype, and Digidesign, among others. He is chairman of Bizworld, a nonprofit organization that teaches entrepreneurship and business to children. Draper has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University and a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard Business School and served on the California State Board of Education from 1998 to 1999. EDN recently conducted an interview with him.
Was there a key person who steered you toward technology?
Yes. I planned to be a physics major at Stanford, but my father steered me toward electrical engineering by telling me there are lots of jobs for EEs with a bachelor’s degree, but that, with physics, I would need a doctorate. I was fortunate that he was investing in the companies that were on the cutting edge of technology at the time.
Creathor Venture: European VC Moving to Federated Model for Global Expansion (RWS Interview)
Creathor Venture is a 25-year-old venture capital firm based in Germany and Switzerland. That makes it unusual. In 1984, when it started, not a lot of VC funds were in Europe. So, we decided to speak with Cédric Köhler in Creathor's Zurich office. As innovation accelerates and globalizes, we wanted to find out how a smaller regional fund like Creathor can compete with much larger Valley-based firms that have a global footprint. And of course, we wanted to find out what's hot on the European tech scene. Read on to find out.
Future of transportation, fly or drive, choice is now yours
Terrafugia was founded in 2006 by award-winning MIT-trained aeronautical engineers and MBA’s – who also happen to be passionate private pilots. The company’s mission is to provide innovative solutions to the challenges facing personal aviation. The result: the Transition® Roadable Aircraft.
Ottawa Canada: Goodbye Silicon Valley North, hello creative economy
By all accounts, it's been a challenging ride.
We've watched the breakup of Nortel, Ottawa's anchor tenant, and for Ottawa's technology community we are in the trailing end of a global economic crisis. Many may have thought we've been witnessing the untimely death of Ottawa's technology industries, but I don't believe that's the case.
On the contrary, Ottawa is better positioned than ever to become a global leader. The market migrations and diversification we've experienced, coupled with our world-class talent, continue to lay the path to future success. Ottawa has definitely changed – and the new reality here includes new companies, new sectors, new success stories, renewed growth, revitalized energy and enormous potential.
Technology Innovation Program seeks comments on funding areas.
November 27, 2009 - NIST is asking for public comment on 4 white papers that outline potential areas for research funding grants under Institute's Technology Innovation Program. Papers outline national needs for new and improved technologies in areas of monitoring and repair of civil infrastructure, manufacturing technologies for advanced materials, enabling technologies for electric power smart grid, and technologies for health care based on proteomics, data analysis, and biomanufacturing.
British govt puts 150 mln stg in venture fund
LONDON, Nov 27 (Reuters) - The government on Friday pledged 150 million pounds ($246 million) to a new venture capital fund, planned as Europe's largest, as it looks to kick start British technology investment and the ailing business sector.
The government hopes to build up the fund to 1 billion pounds over ten years and has been calling on private sector investors to invest alongside it in the UK Innovation Investment Fund, science and innovation minister Lord Drayson said.
"The fund will be the largest technology venture capital fund raised in Europe and will be able to match the scale of the funds we see being raised in the U.S.," Drayson told Reuters in a telephone interview.
Connecting SMEs through Design, a Framework for the Intermediary
Purpose - Open Innovation provides opportunities to overcome the problems that SMEs have in a product innovation process. The purpose of this study is to understand and improve the pivotal roles of the innovation intermediary in an open setting to match small firms through design activities. The matching process is caught in a model that pinpoints which essential roles are important at several stages.
What’s technology innovation got to do with it? Final thoughts on the Summit on the Global Agenda
As this weekend’s Summit on the Global Agenda came to a close this morning, I was left with an abiding impression of a looming yet largely hidden potential crisis in global security and prosperity: A failure to develop and use technology innovation effectively in serving the growing needs of society.
The summit set out to address a multitude of challenges to “improving the state of the world” (as the World Economic Forum tagline goes), and identified many innovative solutions to overcoming them. Yet in many cases there was a disconnect between the ideas and their effective implementation.
Thai economy must restructure
Thailand must restructure its economy to cope with demands from the post-crisis world economy, says Narongchai Akrasanee, MFC Asset Managements chairman.
Thailand needs to focus on developing its logistics system, particularly water and rail systems, Dr Narongchai said speaking at the MFC Finance Forum yesterday.
Automotive Summit: Reinventing a modern classic
In this speech, Peter Mandelson recognises the engineering and technological strengths of Britain’s automotive industry as the cornerstone of our manufacturing economy. And sets out what he believes Government and business must do to secure the sectors’ continued success, as it tackles the twin challenges of decarbonisation and over-capacity in the years ahead.
“Our challenge certainly isn’t to fight off that process of technological and structural change – if anything Government has an obligation to drive it faster both for environmental and economic reasons. Our job has to be to help you make sure that when the technological kaleidoscope slows again, Britain emerges as one of the best place in the world to makes these new kinds of vehicles and their components, to design and manufacture these new kinds of technologies.”
Take Your Company Public Without the Headache
Lending Institutions and hedge funds have dried up. Scams like shelf corporations and platform based funding are on the rise so where can an entrepreneur turn to raise capital? It’s sad to be faced with the reality that legitimate fund raising methods have fallen into a minority position in today’s depressed economy.
Company owners still need expansion capital, start-up companies need seed capital, how can the owners of these companies bypass the learning curve set in place by the online scammers and find the legitimate ways of raising capital? There are two solid ways of raising capital that are supported by the SEC and can have you raising capital without the drawbacks of dealing with people that just want to take your money and run, Private Placement Memorandums and OTCBB.
Help a Solver Succeed – What problem solving routines are successful?
At InnoCentive we strive to provide our Solvers with the best tools and processes in support of their solution efforts. We plan, build and deploy these services based on Solver’s needs and the resources we have at hand. While we make every effort to frame and support a successful Challenge process, we rely on our Solvers for performing the creative part of process. This key step of our value chain is in your, the Solvers hands. We rely on your know-how, skills and commitment to submit solutions which our Seekers value and award. Without your creativity and work no problems would be solved and no business was possible.
Even though InnoCentive does not “own”’ the creative step of the innovation process we have a deep interest in understanding the prerequisites and conditions of successful solving routines. This has many reasons, the most important being our realization that we can effectively support this process only if we understand the factors which are indicative for success. No doubt problem solving routines are different from person to person and depend on the education, work experience etc. Nevertheless, there may be a preferred routine underlying successful solution finding efforts. Earlier this year, we launched a collaboration to study these questions with researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Indiana University – Bloomington.
Thank You Richard Florida
I [Peter Kageyama] thought in my first blog post for CCE I should give props to Richard for helping me get to this point. I first met Richard in 2003 when he came to speak in Tampa, Florida for the first time. I had read TROCC at the suggestion of my wife (at the time), Michelle Bauer, who was the executive director of the Tampa Bay Technology Forum. They were part of a unique coalition of groups that brought Richard to Tampa. Also key in the process were the Tampa Chamber of Commerce, the Arts Council, and Workforce Tampa. Getting these four entities to agree on one speaker truly was historic!
COMMAND AND CONTROL: INNOVATION NEEDED!
executives have the command and control management style. That is the dominant style which they have learned (and copied) from their bosses and that is the style with which they grew up in the organization. Although many would say that they are not applying that style, the day-to-day practice proves otherwise. That is quite natural. In times of a crisis we fall back to the behavior with which we are most comfortable.
However, both command and control are totally not working anymore in the modern workplace.
South Africa: Tax breaks for angel investors
Business angels in South Africa received a much welcomed boost in the form of a great article published in the business report this month. Carien Engelbrecht argues that business angel groups in South Africa should be given tax breaks on money invested into new and growing business.
The report and recommendations make an enormous amount of sense. The small business sector created both jobs and income for the country, in many cases also ensuring an inflow of foreign currency. As the government has always been clear on their support of the small business sector through making available numerous grants and funding initiatives as well as creating bodies like SEDA and the IDC amongst others to support entrepreneurs, this will be a step in the right direction. If cash rich individuals or groups are prepared to risk their money to create jobs, income opportunities and revenue for the country as a whole then surely they are in part supporting what the government is setting out to do. Its a real win-win!!
China pilots venture capital funds for innovation, restructuring
BEIJING, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- China's central government Thursday announced it is to join local governments and private investors in a pilot program to facilitate venture capital funds for innovative and high- technology industries, and industrial restructuring.
The National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planning body, and Ministry of Finance announced in a joint statement plans to create venture capital funds in accordance with the central government's call to promote development of innovative businesses with growth potential.
Cultivate a Culture of Innovation
Innovate. Innovation. Innovative. These words get thrown around a lot these days. As far as our organization’s self-image is concerned, we’d all like to think of ourselves as innovative. After all, it implies a progressive, forward-thinking view of the world and a willingness to challenge the status quo and embrace evolution (and the occasional revolution).
Reality, however, often tells a different story. While it’s convenient to tack on the word "innovative" to our marketing materials, actually cultivating a culture and value system of innovation is easier said than done. Every company with even a semblance of success faces a harsh reality: the gravitational pull of success tends to make us change less and not more. Oddly, companies often need to be in serious trouble to start to think innovatively.
Interested in Becoming a Green Entrepreneur?
Many opportunities are on the horizon, if you know what to look for.
Many people have high hopes that the green movement will create many new businesses and jobs. One very important aspect of any economy is small businesses, and the green economy is no different. Green entrepreneurs will lead America by creating the jobs of the future.
