The combination of business with social issues has gained momentum in the last decade, and we are witnessing more and more startups that are recognizing social problems and finding ways to tackle them. Although social entrepreneurship is mainly driven by societal needs, here are 10 success stories which prove that you can do good and make money at the same time.

How do you address the global demand for social impact initiatives – ensuring healthy cities, creating social inclusion through community-driven innovation, and providing opportunity for early childhood development? This is the mission of MIT Solve, a global initiative of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that enables technology entrepreneurs to create solutions that address the most pressing global social challenges. In a recent Boston Globe article, A World-Changing Forum at MIT, London-based freelance writer Linda Rodriguez McRobbie describes the program selection process and offers vivid examples of some of the “world changing” global initiatives that MIT Solve is enabling.

Johnson & Johnson Innovation is recruiting a Head of Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS @ Washington DC.    The goal of Johnson & Johnson Innovation (JJI) is to advance transformative healthcare solutions that improve the lives of people around the world and, in so doing, to deliver value to Johnson & Johnson (“J&J”).  JJI accomplishes this by catalyzing new science and technology through collaboration and exchange of ideas. This growing team is looking for a colleague inspired to help build and innovate new ways of fostering a productive life-science ecosystem.

Area Development’s annual Gold and Silver Shovel Awards recognize states for their achievements in attracting high-value investment projects that will create a significant number of new jobs in their communities. We asked for information from all 50 states about their top-10 job-creation and investment projects initiated in 2018. Based on a combination of weighted factors — including the number of new jobs to be created in relation to the state’s population, the combined dollar amount of the investments, the number of new facilities, and the diversity of industry represented — six states achieving the highest weighted overall scores were awarded Area Development’s Gold Shovels in five population categories: 12+ million, 8+ to 12 million, 5+ to 8 million, 3+ to 5 million, and fewer than 3 million. Runners-up in each of these population categories were awarded Silver Shovels

Image: https://www.areadevelopment.com

Nonprofit Knowledge for Innovation (K4I) is at the heart of efforts to establish a European Innovation Area.

With the backing of politicians, it has the support of dozens of MEPs; and in partnership with businesses, startups and academia, it has been the nexus point for promoting and nurturing the continent’s innovation ambitions for the past 10 years, bringing together key stakeholders dedicated to delivering a truly sustainable Europe.

AstraZeneca said it would invest $630 million into Korea’s biotech and healthcare sector over the next five years.

Leif Johansson, chairman of the British-Swedish drugmaker, announced the plan at the Korea-Sweden Business Summit, attended by President Moon Jae-in, Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf, and Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven in Stockholm on Friday, local time. The business summit was held as part of President Moon’s state visit.

If you are a business professional or owner today, success is more and more about relationships. People relationships are the key to career growth, more than results, and customer relationships build brands, rather than the other way around. In this era of communication overload with many misleading messages, we have learned to count first on the people we know well, even virtually.

Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com

Northeastern University’s student-run business accelerator, IDEA, connects students with the resources they need to get their businesses up and running. It makes sense that Dan Gregory, who was the founding faculty advisor of IDEA, also made a career out of connecting people to each other.

The Pew Research Center defines millennials as people born between  1981 to 1996 who are now 23 to 38 years old. According to the Census Bureau, millennials consist of 83.1 million people in the United States. They also contribute to 21% of end-user discretionary purchases, which are anticipated to exceed one trillion dollars per year. Because they tend to be environmentally conscious, millennial consumer trends are going to play a significant role in changes on the planet.

Many startup founders with whom I’ve worked believe that getting into an accelerator is like achieving the startup dream. They believe that it will provide them with all the resources they need to get where they want to go. However, this isn’t always the case. The accelerator could very well be an advantage, but it’s just like anything else — it is what you make of it. There are many successful startups reaching new heights despite never having gone through accelerators.

Attorneys Vern Norviel and Charles Andres recently sat down with Katharine "Kathy" Ku, WSGR’s new chief licensing advisor, to discuss questions and situations that come up in the licensing process. Kathy is an internationally recognized leader in the field of licensing and technology transfer, and spent almost three decades as the executive director of Stanford University’s Office of Technology Licensing. Kathy’s many accomplishments include implementation of the Cohen-Boyer DNA Cloning licensing program which contributed to the creation of the biotechnology industry, and her work on the document: In the Public Interest: Nine Points to Consider in Licensing University Technology. This document, which provides nine principles that continue to influence and guide university licensing, should be read by any start-up contemplating taking a university license.

Image: https://www.wsgr.com

Family businesses are the cornerstone of most national economies, according to a recent report by Credit Suisse Research. They can create jobs, spur innovation, and drive superior returns.

However, as we highlighted in this 2015 HBR article, such success can only be achieved by following four rules: maintain good governance, identify and develop both family and non-family talent, pursue disciplined succession, and preserve family gravity. We had originally associated the latter with having at least one but up to three family members keeping a strong presence in the firm. But clients kept asking us for more detail. And so, with the Family Business Network International (FBNI), we embarked on a three-year global study to discover what makes up “family gravity.”

Sanofi will apply Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing capabilities toward developing new drugs, through a collaboration whose value was not disclosed.

The companies said they have agreed to create a virtual Innovation Lab to “radically” transform how future medicines and health services are developed and delivered.

Sanofi has articulated three goals for the collaboration with Google: better understand patients and diseases, increase Sanofi’s operational efficiency, and improve the experience of Sanofi patients and customers.

Yesterday, Intel announced a new program in Tel Aviv to help advance open innovation and accelerate early-stage startup companies in Israel. The program, called Ignite, will target key areas, including artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous systems and other data-centric technologies and business models.

Image: https://techstartups.com

Statistics tell us thousands of entrepreneurs start businesses every year.  After four years, more than 50 percent are gone. Getting a good start is important to success, and one way to do so is by selecting from among the right niche industries.

Best Niche Industries

Here are the 15 best niche industries for startups.

The ups and downs of bookstore chain Barnes & Noble paint a tale as gripping as the plot of a bestselling potboiler: A Horatio Alger-type entrepreneur whose dad was a boxer and part-time taxicab driver drops out of college to build the biggest bookstore chain in the country. The success of Barnes & Noble even served as the backdrop for the Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan 1998 romantic comedy You’ve Got Mail, where a superstore chain offering book discounts kills the business of a beloved local bookshop.

Being an entrepreneur and building your path to success isn’t always about looks. But what you wear does play a vital role unless you are Steve Jobs, Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg. Not everyone is a tech guru. Well, we bet your idea might be unique in its own way but adding a dash of style to your mundane appearance can spike up your life.

For all those who feel we are coming up with expensive styling references, let us tell you this has got nothing to do with designer labels, expensive brands or latest trends. You just need to stick to the basics and it will make you stick out of the crowd.

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) and The Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (FNLCR) recently hosted the third annual Technology Showcase at The FNLCR’s Advanced Technology Research Center (ATRF) in Frederick, Maryland. The event provided industry thought leaders, inventors and entrepreneurs a platform to network, showcase their technologies, and learn more about the tech transfer process, starting a new business and various fundraising strategies.

Image: https://biobuzz.io

Brand equity can be a challenging thing to build.

Even with access to deep pockets and an innovative product, it can take decades of grit to scrape your way into the mainstream consciousness of consumers.

On the path to becoming established as a globally significant brand, companies must fight through fierce competition, publicity scandals, changing regulations, and rapidly-evolving consumer tastes – all to take a bite from the same piece of pie.

Image: https://www.visualcapitalist.com

As Greenhouse’s CTO, Mike Boufford built an engineering team that grew from one to 60 in its first five years — with zero regrettable attrition.

When he first shared this statistic with other engineering leaders, they were blown away. “Three years in, I started going around town saying, ‘I’ve had zero regrettable turnover,’” says Boufford. (In fact, it was at a First Round CTO salon where we first heard about this remarkable retention.) “As I realized that it was uncommon, it started to feel like a badge of honor,” he says.