Life in America has changed a lot since the 1980s: the Cold War ended, the internet went mainstream, and the world became far more connected.

The US economy has also changed a lot since that neon-colored decade. To take a look at how things have transformed, we found 20 industries that have seen massive declines in employment over the last four decades.

Image: These jobs can't go back to the future. Universal via YouTube screengrab

The news: According to a report in the Financial Times, a team of researchers from Google led by John Martinis have demonstrated quantum supremacy for the first time. This is the point at which a quantum computer is shown to be capable of performing a task that’s beyond the reach of even the most powerful conventional supercomputer. The claim appeared in a paper that was posted on a NASA website, but the publication was then taken down. Google did not respond to a request for comment from MIT Technology Review.

Image: https://www.technologyreview.com

In preparation for my new role as the National Venture Capital Association chair, I've been reflecting on the VC industry and where it fits in today's world.

VC is an extraordinary space filled with risk-takers making outsized positive impacts in their fields. Unfortunately, public perception of the industry has shifted in recent years.

Image: Jan Garfinkle is CEO of Arboretum Ventures and the new chair of the National Venture Capital Association. - https://www.crainsdetroit.com

A UNIVERSITY can actively and directly manage the creation of new companies and invest in the human and physical resources needed for their success. Such an approach may provide a greater chance for success than licensing the university’s technology to a start-up company, which would likely be completely separate from the university. The approach of establishing and licensing to a spinout does, however, introduce a number of significant risks. 

After a generation spent shaping the growth and development of biopharma clusters, Alexandria Real Estate Equities executive chairman and founder Joel Marcus recently spoke publicly about what will most likely drive the upcoming generation of hubs for biopharma and other emerging life sciences.

“If we focus for a moment on the next life science frontier, it’s pretty clear that the sheer scale of unmet medical needs for patients suffering from diseases of the brain is quite staggering, the cost to society enormous,” Marcus told analysts on Alexandria’s quarterly conference call July 30, according to a transcript published by Seeking Alpha.

The first year after the Great Recession, 2010, marked the historical peak of college and university enrollment in the United States. In the decade since, a popular narrative has emerged that the value of a college degree is rapidly declining. As a new wave of well-capitalized educational technology companies arrived on the scene — including massive open online courses (MOOCs) — it became popular to prognosticate about the disruption of American higher education. Badges earned online would challenge and replace traditional diplomas. Renowned business theorist Clayton Christensen forecasted that half of all colleges may be in bankruptcy within 15 years. Others said the degree was “doomed.”

We all have to communicate and collaborate with other people at work, but most of us start out instinctively trying to maintain an emotional distance from others in the work environment. In fact, most employee training courses recommend the distance if the work relationship crosses management levels, and most management policies strictly forbid fraternizing with the team.

Today, technology has become central to how every business competes. Futuristic advancements like artificial intelligence, big data and cloud computing are no longer pie-in-the-sky propositions, but mission critical initiatives that leaders are racing to implement within their organizations.

Unfortunately, most  of these initiatives fail. In fact, McKinsey found that fewer than a third of organizational transformations succeed. That’s incredibly sobering. Imagine any other initiative with that type of expected return not only getting consistently funded, but enthusiastically viewed as a smart bet on the future.

Jeff Spiegel, U.S. Head of iShares Megatrends and International ETFs, joins Cheddar to break down the five iShares megatrends that are shaping the way we live and work.

Image: https://cheddar.com

InnovationQuarter as an international best practice according to the OECD - OCDE!

Had the honour to adress a conference of the Metropolregion Hamburg on the occassion of the presentation of the OECD review of this region. A lot of similarities with the Greater Rotterdam The Hague Area in economic structure and challenges. One of the key recommendations of the OECD is to set up an organisation like InnovationQuarter as a growth engine for the Hamburg region.

With news of a major hack breaking almost every week this year, it can be hard to keep track of whether your data is safe.

Hackers have targeted mobile devices with increasing frequency, aiming to track users' activity, steal their data, or trick users into disclosing sensitive information for financial gain.

The pharmaceutical industry in the U.S. is under the regulatory gun to bolster its ability to accurately track and trace the drugs it manufactures and ships to store shelves and healthcare facilities.

Those regulations include tracking medications that are returned by stores and healthcare facilities for resale.

Currently, the industry uses a patchwork of central databases based on the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) standard that features point-to-point connections between manufacturer and distributor; that system is costly and makes large-scale interoperability almost impossible. The central database approach is also cumbersome and leaves open the risk of diversion, counterfeit and a trust gap between siloed systems.

Uncertainty is an aspect of life everyone deals with at some point.  In particular, when someone decides to venture out on their own and become an entrepreneur, there is a unique rush of emotions and feelings one cannot describe. Outside the normal work environment and someone else managing you, starting a business brings out a multitude of feelings. One of these includes uncertainty. What are some ways to deal with uncertainty as an entrepreneur? 

If an entrepreneur doesn’t find themselves in over their head at least 20% of the time, they are probably not pushing the limits, not taking enough risk, and probably not working on an idea that’s worth doing. The challenge in to know when and how to ask for help, and not let bravado and ego mask anxieties. The best people know when they don’t know, and know how to find the right help.

Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com

When the economy tanks as it did in the last recession, that’s a strong signal that things have to change, and it’s hard to miss. But most of us in business have to deal most of the time with weak signals, or change that is happening in a far more subtle way. These changes can be cultural, like the increasing need to be social, spawning Facebook and a hundred others, or technological, like the explosion of mobile devices around the world.

Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — The Idea Fund of La Crosse and Great North Labs in St. Cloud, Minn., have a lot in common when it comes to early stage investing in the Upper Midwest.

Both funds are roughly the same size in terms of dollars they manage ($13 million and $24 million, respectively) and both like to invest in young companies operating in small to mid-sized cities, having closed a collective 24 deals so far.

The mysterious disappearance and eventual suicide of VG Siddhartha, Founder, Café Coffee Day, puts the spotlight on the perils of entrepreneurship. His death was like a wake-up call for me that no matter how arduous a road is, it should never reach a point where it results in the loss of human life.

As a necessary part of the start-up ecosystem, angel investors often step in when no one else is willing to take the risk of investing in an entrepreneur. In more than 18 years as an entrepreneur, I have come across all sorts of ‘angels’ — from corporate professionals to high net worth families to successful first generation entrepreneurs.

It’s just after 7 in the morning in the Pakistani city of Jacobabad, and donkey-cart driver Ahsan Khosoo is already drenched in sweat. For the past two hours, the 24-year-old laborer has been hauling jugs of drinking water to local residences. When the water invariably spills from the blue jerricans, it hits the pavement with an audible hiss and turns to steam. It’s hot, he agrees, but that’s not an excuse to stop. The heat will only increase as the day wears on, and what choice does he have? “Even if it were so hot as if the land were on fire, we would keep working.” He pauses to douse his head with a bucket of water.

Image: Ice sellers offer one of the few ways to stay cool in Jacobabad, Pakistan, a city where electricity blackouts can last as long as 12 hours, on June 29.Matthieu Paley for TIME - https://time.com

When deciding where to put down roots, many factors are in the eye of the beholder, such as climate, politics, or proximity to extended family.

Other aspects are coveted by nearly everybody: affordable housing, access to well-paying jobs, a low cost of living, good schools, and quality healthcare. In its ranking of the best places to live in America for 2019, U.S. News & World Report gathered data on these crucial components for more than 100 US cities.

Image: Austin, Texas, took the top spot for the third year in a row. Flickr Creative commons/Ian Aberle