It has become a trend for countries, Nordics in particular, to publicize global statistics that rank them favorably in one thing or another. However, that people vote with their feet (this obviously excludes China), is a generally undisputed overall indicator.

Canada’s declining position in the Global Competitiveness Index, the lower productivity of Canadian companies compared to U.S. firms, and the low ranking of Canadian companies in the Global Innovation Index despite the strengths of our scientific community and the quality of its research suggest that Canadians are adroit in transforming “money into knowledge,” but have difficulty mastering the alchemy of transforming “knowledge into money."

At Austin Startup Week, Scott Kupor, author of Secrets of Sand Hill Road, brought a bit of Silicon Valley big thinking to Austin.

Kupor, managing partner at Andreessen Horowitz, has overseen the firm’s growth to 150 employees and more than $7 billion in assets under management. Its portfolio companies include Lyft, Airbnb, Facebook, Slack, Instacart, and Magic Leap.

Image: http://www.siliconhillsnews.com

With the global population projected to increase by nearly 3 billion people by midcentury, demand for food—as well as the land and energy required to produce it—is to set to soar.

If the world doesn’t figure out ways to cultivate far more food on less land, we’ll need to convert nearly two Indias’ worth of forests, grasslands, and other ecosystems to agricultural fields, according to a new study led by World Resources Institute researchers. That, in turn, would increase annual emissions by 15 billion tons of carbon dioxide and equivalent gases—far exceeding the 4 billion tons permissible under models that hold global warming below 2 ˚C.

Venture Investors LLC, a Madison, Wis.-based venture capital firm with an Ann Arbor office and a strong local presence, plans to announce Monday that it has closed on its latest fund, the $75 million Venture Investors Health Fund VI LP.

On the surface, Karst notebooks look like those of any other luxury paper brand with colorful covers and smooth white pages. But while the $90.6 billion worldwide stationery industry relies largely on wood pulp, the Sydney-based startup creates notebooks that aren’t made from trees. Instead, they’re made largely from stones that are mixed with a small quantity of resin, a type of plastic.

You may have heard or read the phrase “core competency” lately and wondered if it's the latest example of meaningless corporate lingo, or at best another buzzword representing a basic concept that could be described much more simply. The answer is not exactly. Core competency actually holds significant importance for entrepreneurs and small-business owners.

Isn’t it frustrating to think you finally understand something in business, like marketing with social media, only to realize that the landscape changed while you were looking at other priorities? For example, it used to be that marketing via social media meant banner ads on Facebook, buying search engine results, and sponsoring blog entries, but these don’t suffice anymore.

A theme I often hear from the entrepreneurs and startups I advise is that once they see that first surge of traction from customers, they can relax and enjoy life for a change. The reality could not be further from the truth. In today’s world of growing competition and customer evolution, holding your own, and growing to the next level is a constant challenge that can never be ignored.

Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com

Interoperability can be dubbed as a data superhighway, but majority of healthcare stakeholders are still stuck in a parking lot. Integrating and utilizing EHRs together are the first baby steps. Healthcare Interoperability will be an ongoing challenge for healthcare stakeholders due to the industry's unique information exchange requirements and stringent compliance mandates. If we aim to overcome these hurdles, then achieving 100% EHR interoperability is the final summit where we are yet to reach.

As your District Attorney, I’m committed to increasing communication and accessibility between the DA’s Office and you, the community. One way I have been doing that is through this monthly column, where I provide consumer tips on public safety matters.

We’ve all been scrolling through a social media feed when a fundraising campaign catches our eye. Either someone is raising money for medical expenses, a friend’s daughter is collecting funds for a school trip or your old college roommate is creating a life-changing product, but needs cash to get it to the market.

Accelerators are on the rise and are viewed as having a positive impact on the startup landscape. For many startup founders, getting accepted to an accelerator program is a key step in moving their dreams forward in one big leap. In many cases, it can determine whether you ever make those dreams a reality.

Silicon Valley has long been dominated by men, and the venture capital scene is no exception. A new book, Alpha Girls: The Women Upstarts Who Took On Silicon Valley’s Male Culture and Made the Deals of a Lifetime, sheds light on the unsung contributions of four female VCs in shaping some of the world’s largest companies such as Google, Facebook, McAfee and Salesforce. Author and journalist Julian Guthrie joined the Knowledge@Wharton radio show on SiriusXM to share their stories. The book is being adapted for TV. (Listen to the podcast at the top of this page.)

Google has booted dozens of apps from a big Chinese developer en masse without giving any explanation, BuzzFeed reported Thursday.

The apps are from Chinese developer iHandy, and BuzzFeed reports that the 46 apps which were taken down collectively garnered tens of millions of downloads. The apps were varied, with a horoscope app, a security app, and a selfie camera filter among those removed.

Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundar_Pichai

PASADENA, Calif., Sept. 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE: ARE), an urban office REIT and the first and longest-tenured owner, operator and developer uniquely focused on collaborative life science, technology and agtech campuses in AAA innovation cluster locations, today announced that it has acquired 3160 Porter Drive, a 92,000 RSF redevelopment project in Stanford Research Park, for $26 million. Alexandria was selected by Stanford University to transform 3160 Porter Drive into a dynamic, intentionally designed innovation center to foster the growth of promising early- and growth-stage life science companies and enable the discovery and development of new treatments and cures that will positively impact human health. Ideally located in the heart of the Stanford Research Park within the greater Stanford innovation cluster at the intersection of life science and technology and in close proximity to the Stanford University campus, renowned hospitals and a diverse mix of innovative companies, 3160 Porter Drive will serve as the flagship anchor of an emerging life science district focused on bioengineering, gene therapies, diagnostics, medical technologies and devices, surgical robotics and digital health.

The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) annual Industry Day 2019 conference on U.S. Government Medical Countermeasures is planned for 15-16 October 2019 in Washington, D.C.

As a member of the BARDA DRIVe incubator network, we are pleased to be a remote host site for Day 1 of the annual conference. Come join us and learn about U.S. government medical countermeasure priorities by attending BID 2019 via livestream at the New Orleans BioInnovation Center. The day will include plenary Sessions, BARDA updates, on-site networking sessions & more!

Wouldn’t you like to be one of the lucky people who joined Google and Facebook when these were startups, and now be a multi-millionaire or better? So people ask me “How many shares should I ask for or expect when I join a startup today?” In reality, the number of shares doesn’t mean anything – it’s your percent of the total that you need to negotiate.

Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com

To Steve Case, the former CEO of America Online, venture capital should be doing much more than merely supporting startups that create jobs and innovations. To him, that's the least of it. He actually thinks venture capital can bring together a divided country. Case made his remarks at the Concordia Annual Summit, where I interviewed him onstage.

Dell, Microsoft, Reddit, Facebook, Google.What do they all have in common?

Aside from being among the country’s most successful companies, they’re all ventures that were started by college students — often out of dorm rooms with little-to-no money. What their founders lacked in capital they made up for in ingenuity and determination. They refused to let their status as college students get in the way of their vision. In fact, in many cases, they used it to their advantage.