Microsoft Corp. is teaming up with U.K. drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc on creating a health-tech incubator in Paris aimed at bringing new solutions to the field’s most difficult problems.

Startups joining the AI Factory for Health will gain access to AstraZeneca’s clinical expertise and legal skills, along with its links to health-care establishments and data, the companies said in a statement. Microsoft will provide technological skills and the services of its Azure cloud network.

“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” This declaration from Shakespeare’s Henry VI is made by Dick the Butcher, a gang member plotting to overthrow the King of England who is afraid the honorable lawyers might gum up the works.

I was recently reminded of this line when a startup I invested in was acquired and the company’s founder shared with me that he was aghast at the legal bureaucracy he encountered at his new parent corporation. The lawyers were not adept at delivering speedy, practical solutions, and the founder was forced to spend far too much time micromanaging or working around them.

Do you want to make the jump from working for an employer to running your own business? Odds are that if you suck as an employee now, then you won’t make it as an entrepreneur. It sounds harsh, but that’s real talk.

As an employee, if you don’t build the skills you need to thrive as an entrepreneur, especially in terms of having a strong work ethic, then it’s incredibly difficult to flip a switch and all of a sudden thrive as an entrepreneur.

Having a high-paying job doesn't necessarily mean you'll have job stability, and vice versa.

Some college majors that lead to high-paying jobs also come with above-average unemployment rates — and that includes majors in fields like engineering, cognitive science, and the arts.

KANSAS CITY, Mo., Sept. 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Angel investors are the life blood that nourishes startups before VCs step in.  In fact, angels provide 90% of early equity capital.  Yet there are few detailed, verified data reports available on angel investments.  The Angel Capital Association, the world's largest angel investor association, is working to change this.  The 2019 Angel Funders Report is the largest source of verified angel investment data available.  This report is part of the ACA Data Initiative designed to build a comprehensive and actionable database to help angels make smarter investments. 

New entrepreneurs need to think of strategies of making their businesses flourish past the numerous market challenges they face. There is no better way of weathering such turbulence that considering working with a business mentor. Working with a competent entrepreneurship mentor gives you a rare opportunity to benefit from his or her expertise and experience in the industry. Finding one, however, is an uphill task that can be simplified by considering the following recommendations.

The Forbes list of America’s 100 most innovative leaders posted Saturday includes such luminaries as Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.

And, all the way down at No. 75, a single woman: Barbara Rentler, CEO of California-based Ross Stores Inc. owner of Ross Dress for Less stores.

Rentler has been credited with growing revenues at the discount retailer chain, headquartered in Dublin in the Bay Area, to four times those of Macy’s in 2017, KNTV reported.

Image: https://www.miamiherald.com

Venture funding for digital health companies reached an all-time high in the first half of 2019, totaling $5.1 billion across 318 deals, according to a recent report.

In the first six months of the year, analytics, telemedicine and mobile health apps were the biggest draw for investors. Going into the second half, however, their priorities have somewhat shifted.

Here are nine trends, most in the digital space, that three top healthcare venture firms, F-Prime Capital, Echo Health Ventures and Jumpstart Foundry, told Business Insider they are currently keeping an eye on.

"It was an invasion — but a positive one!"

That's how Giuseppe Cacioppo, the deputy mayor of Sambuca, Sicily, described the sale of his town's abandoned homes to foreign buyers, the auctions of which started at just 1 euro, or $1.12.

Sambuca succeeded in selling off 16 historical but derelict stone homes to buyers from the US, China, France, Britain, Russia, and Argentina.

Image: Tamara Holm in her new home in Sambuca, Sicily. Tom Murray / Business Insider

The BioHealth Capital Region (BHCR) continues to thrive and currently occupies the fourth spot in the most recent Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology (GEN) top ten U.S. biohealth cluster rankings. More importantly, the collaborative efforts across industry, academia, government and nonprofits within the BHCR have generated powerful momentum that is now producing tangible results: The region has moved up two spots in GEN’s rankings in the last five years.

Image: Richard Bendis, Founder and CEO of BioHealth Innovation (BHI) Photo Credit: The Business Journals

It’s a shiny, tightly framed snapshot of a couple of friends of mine, posing as we share a booth at a New York diner. It’s almost (but not quite) square, with a distinctive white border that’s thicker at the bottom than on the other sides.

ADVERTISEMENT As you may already have figured out, the item I am cradling in my hand is a Polaroid photo.

Image: courtesy of Polaroid

Corporate America’s “growth at all costs” has worked for too few, for too long. Recently, leading CEOs at the Business Roundtable came to a similar conclusion, issuing a statement on corporate purpose rejecting maximizing shareholder returns as the sole corporate objective.

Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (September 10, 2019) — Pharmaceutical company Mallinckrodt plc today announced that it has sold Charlottetown-based BioVectra to international private equity firm H.I.G. Capital for $250 million USD.

"We are very excited to enter into this new chapter with H.I.G. Capital!" said Oliver Technow, President, BioVectra, "Under H.I.G Capital's stewardship we have a fantastic opportunity to continue building and growing our business right here in Atlantic Canada.”

You’ve been in this role for two years; how well is Cornell integrating and promoting research across its campuses?

First of all, let me say it’s really an honor, a privilege, to be a part of the leadership team, and also to represent all these brilliant star faculty members.

In an interesting way, I have two roles – one is vice provost for research, and my portfolio covers the Ithaca campus and Cornell Tech. As vice president for technology transfer, I also oversee all intellectual property (IP), including that which comes out of Weill Cornell Medicine.

Image: Emmanuel Giannelis - https://news.cornell.edu

Good afternoon everyone, and thank you Mark Anthony Thomas for that gracious introduction. Thank you also Jason Wolfe and his team here at the Pittsburgh Technology Council for hosting us, to the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce, and Frank Cullen and the Global Innovation Policy Center for co-sponsoring today’s event. It’s great to be here in the “City of Bridges.” I’m honored to be among such an extraordinary gathering of public and private sector leaders, and distinguished speakers, including the Deputy Secretary of Commerce, Karen Dunn Kelley.

Making Wyoming a leader in supporting and promoting blockchain technology is a great way to attract entrepreneurial technologists to our state to start and support new businesses. But are regulatory incentives enough to keep them here? Will their spouses and kids be excited to relocate to Wyoming? And will our UW grads with the new Blockchain Certificate stay or be lured to other states? One sure way to attract new business and prevent youth outmigration is to grow our cultural and creative economy through innovative public stimulus investment and unique new funding strategies. Wyoming’s creative and cultural arts sectors are currently estimated to be between 3-5 percent of our state’s economy.

Angel investors and venture capitalists don’t make equity investments in nonprofit good causes. The simple reason is that it’s impossible to make money for investors when the goal of the company is to not make money. Yet as an active angel investor, I still get this question on a regular basis, so I’ll try to outline the considerations in common-sense terms.

Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com

Some of the most prestigious institutions of higher learning in the US are also the country's most exclusive.

Using data from the Department of Education's College Scorecard database, we found the colleges and universities in the US with the lowest admissions rates for the 2017-2018 academic year, the most recently available data. We looked specifically at schools that were predominantly four-year bachelor's degree-granting institutions, as reported to the Department.

The University of South Florida’s innovation ecosystem pumps more than half a billion dollars annually into the state’s economy, with the bulk of that staying in the Tampa Bay Area, a new report says.

Miami-based consulting firm the Washington Economics Group finds that USF’s innovation enterprise, which includes the Technology Transfer Office, Tampa Bay Technology Incubator, the Office of Corporate Partnerships, and startups, early-stage companies, researchers and community partners in the USF Research Park, pumped $582 million annually into the Florida economy in 2018, with $548 million of that staying in Tampa Bay. That is a significant 45 percent increase from the firm’s initial analysis three years ago.

For years, Amtrak has been publicizing its large market share compared with planes in the Northeast Corridor, which covers the major metropolitan air markets of Washington to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Providence and Boston. Amtrak’s Acela fast train provides quick service on the route, and its somewhat slower Northeast Regional trains make stops at locations less convenient to airline travel. Yet its overall share is much lower once all the transportation forms are included.

Image: http://www.newgeography.com