Amazon is coming to town: Everybody panic! How will the government compete with the behemoth for tech talent? The government is up against more and more companies like Google that pay high salaries, offer free meals, book onsite masseuses, take teams on lavish retreats, you name it.

Speculations about Amazon’s impact on hiring in the area range between those convinced that Amazon will suck up all the tech talent to others who believe the company will bring a bigger, more diverse pool of candidates. Only time will tell, and regardless of Amazon, the government needs top tech talents more than ever. 

With technological advancement occurring at an increasingly breakneck pace, it's natural the number of life science and technology innovation clusters is growing as well. These clusters result from the increasing recognition that innovators do not perform at their best in widely dispersed buildings. Instead, they gain most from highly-specialized facilities and collaborative ecosystems that foster cross-fertilization of ideas.

For many businesses, the fear of being displaced virtually overnight by a startup looms like a dark cloud on the horizon: Even if a company is reporting record profits, its leaders fear that stormy days are headed their way. “Most executives worry about disruption. There are new types of competitors and new technologies to understand,” PwC Pulse reported. In this era, the “forces of disruption can shake up an entire industry sector in less time than it takes most companies to update their IT systems.”

I just received a thank-you note from a student who attended a fireside chat I held at the ranch. Something I said seemed to inspire her:

“I always thought you needed to be innovative, original to be an entrepreneur. Now I have a different perception. Entrepreneurs are the ones that make things happen. (That) takes focus, diligence, discipline, flexibility and perseverance. They can take an innovative idea and make it impactful. … successful entrepreneurs are also ones who take challenges in stride, adapt and adjust plans to accommodate whatever problems do come up.”

UK data find the mental well-being of Uber and Deliveroo drivers to be surprisingly good.

Around the world, Uber drivers encounter wage and security worries, Deliveroo workers have too much competition, Airbnb owners face problems in Paris and other cities. But rather than a dark cloud over the heads of those self- and/or temporarily employed in the gig economy, recent data unexpectedly show that they are about 33 percent more likely to self-report positive traits in terms of mental health.

Empathy, as a word, should rightfully be listed down as a synonym for entrepreneurship in thesauruses worldwide. As an entrepreneur, one comes face to face with thousands of challenges on a daily basis, every element of running a business puts your grit to test, every day. For an entrepreneur, it is most important to be able to understand, to respond to a situation as opposed to reacting to it. 

Although startups based in California, New York, and Massachusetts have traditionally accounted for the majority of VC tech investment in the US, VCs are spurring other hotbeds of innovation across the country.

Using CB Insights data, we analyzed the most active venture capital firm in each state. We based our selection on which VC had invested in the greatest number of tech startups located in a certain state from 2014 to 2019 YTD (8/7/2019).

The age of automation, and on the near horizon, artificial intelligence (AI) technologies offer new job opportunities and avenues for economic advancement, but women face new challenges overlaid on long-established ones. Between 40 million and 160 million women globally may need to transition between occupations by 2030, often into higher-skilled roles. To weather this disruption, women (and men) need to be skilled, mobile, and tech-savvy, but women face pervasive barriers on each, and will need targeted support to move forward in the world of work.

City officials in Columbus, Ohio, could hardly believe their luck. In less than a decade, $850,000 worth of state dollars for local startup CoverMyMeds appeared to have paid off many times over. Drug distribution giant McKesson Corp. acquired the company for $1.3 billion, a state record. At each stage of its development, CoverMyMeds, which makes software that automates insurance approvals for prescription drugs and sells it to doctors and pharmacists, had been nurtured by public money.

Image: ILLUSTRATION: TOMI UM FOR BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK

To those who have been following the space, it’s no surprise that 2018 has been a record year for venture capital investing in healthcare. With $28.8 billion raised through the end of November (and big deals like the $400 million Series C raised by Relay Therapeutics last week) startups in the sector have raised more money this year than any year before in the last 10 years that VC funding database Pitchbook has tracked investments in the space.

Rising drug prices and ever-increasing costs are two of the most debated subjects in healthcare. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) predicts (PDF link) that we will see 6.1 percent annual prescription drug cost increases until at least 2027. CMS expects healthcare spending as a whole to grow by 5.7 percent per year for the same timeframe. 

The Ohio Third Frontier program is looking to approve spending at least $82 million before the end of 2019.

The 17-year-old program, which has spent more than $2 billion to stimulate new business development, awaits decisions from the administration of Gov. Mike DeWine on its future. Earlier this summer, the Ohio Development Services Agency released requests for proposals (RFP) looking to invest Third Frontier bond money to help grow technology businesses in the state.

California, the birthplace of the American tech industry, is emerging as a great foe.

On Monday, the state legislature resumes and will consider a bill that, if passed, could classify drivers for ride-hailing companies like Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. as employees, entitled to better wages and benefits.

The bill, along with state...

The future is being invented in California, not in Germany. An entrepreneur and a VC who work in both places say the reasons for this are deep-rooted and will be very difficult to overcome — but things are improving.

Ask any entrepreneur why they went into business, and improving their quality of life will almost always rank in the top three answers. And more often than not, the location of the business and where they live will also play an important role. According to research from SCORE, rural entrepreneurs are reporting a better quality of life compared to their urban counterparts. This is despite the fact they face more challenges when it comes to the workforce, access to digital technology, and funding. But overall, they seem to be more content.

The people we've come to associate with the most successful technology companies were once relatively unknown names with big dreams. So if they could do it all over again, would they do it any differently?

The answer to this commonly-asked interview question tells us what we want to learn from the people who have, in our eyes, "made it." And leaders in the tech industry are successful because they created something — or saw potential in something — in a way that no one else did. The advice they would give their younger selves, then, is often informative and motivational.

Image: A photo of Bill Gates from 1992. AP Photo

For the first time, a BioTalk look inside BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI) with Entrepreneur-In-Residence (EIR) Dr. Ethel Rubin

Dr. Ethel Rubin leads a venture team that helps prepare and connect lifescience companies with capital, ensuring strategies that hit valuation inflection points, achieve strategic goals, and prepare for a product launch. She has previously held corporate leadership roles in global clinical strategy and medical affairs at Medtronic, plc, was Chief Scientific Officer of BioFortis, Inc. (acquired by Quintiles-Quest JV) and CSA Medical, Inc., is President of life sciences business development advisory firm Innovative BioStrategies, LLC, and a venture partner at various funds. She has over 25 products in the marketplace garnering 9 figure sales revenue, was instrumental in multiple M&As, partnerships & collaborations, and advises hundreds of CEOs in preparation for seed to series B financing each year. Ethel has held board seats at tech incubators and numerous business and clinical Advisory boards.  Dr. Rubin earned a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Biophysics from the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry and a certificate in corporate governance for Board of Directors service from The George Washington University School of Business.

Living in or near a big city comes with perks, like great entertainment options, shopping centers, and career opportunities.

But just how much will you have to fork over in living expenses to call one of these areas home?

Depending on where you live, the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the country's top metro areas can be less than $720 a month or higher than $2,500 a month.

Warren Buffett once said, “Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.”

In August of 2007, I had a meeting with the CEO one of the largest U.S. banks. At the time, the initial rumblings of the bank crisis, and the underpinnings of the great recession to follow, were starting to make headlines.

Rotterdam has made it to the final round of the competition between European cities to become the Innovation Capital of Europe. The organization announced this last week.

The competition was launched by the European Commission with the aim of stimulating innovation in European cities. An annual sum of 1 million euros has been earmarked to reward the winner. The five cities with the highest scores behind the winner will receive a reward of €100,000.