By a majority of votes and voluminous citations, Jacobs tops the list of the 20th century's most influential urban thinkers. Had this been a transient fascination, as with literary works, it would be a major achievement in itself. In this case, it's far greater: an entire profession mesmerised in thought and action.

Image: http://www.newgeography.com

Reinventing a city is a challenge and a feat of such immense proportion that it can rival building a new city from the ground up. It requires no less than rethinking and rearchitecting everything that worked decades or centuries ago, for both present and future needs.

That’s why public-private partnerships, or P3s, are enjoying a renaissance. They provide a real, practical solution to cities’ most pressing problems. P3s are nothing new: Two of the most successful and most celebrated developments in U.S. history — the Erie Canal and the Transcontinental Railroad — date back to pioneering P3s of the 19th century. In one assessment, the Erie Canal was said to provide “a model of public-private partnerships that endure to this day.”

Community researchers raised several thoughtful questions about the impact of gig and independent work at a well-attended session on Measuring the Gig Economy at the State and Local Level during the C2ER annual conference in St. Louis. The Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER) is a membership organization promoting excellence in community and economic research. 

EUGENE, Ore. - Oregon swept the Top 5 spots in Pollen.com's list of the nation's worst cities for allergy sufferers on Monday.

Pendleton in eastern Oregon came in at No. 5, just behind Medford at No. 4.

Portland and Salem claimed No. 3 and No. 2 - which can mean only one thing.

Achoo-gene! Oregon again reigns supreme as the worst place to be if you suffer from allergies.

Image: https://nbc16.com

Does college still matter? The Department of Education makes the case that college is more valuable than ever: Degree holders earn $1 million more that workers without postsecondary education and the innovation economy is likely to require a more educated workforce. But averages and projections hide the rapid loss of faith in higher education as the escalator to the middle class.

Americans speak a ton of languages, and this map shows which languages other than English and Spanish are the most common in each state and Washington, D.C.

The US Census Bureau's American Community Survey annually asks more than 1 million Americans questions about their lives, families, and backgrounds. One question asks respondents what language they mainly speak in their homes.

Intel has launched a start-up initiative in Israel with the aim to foster innovation in artificial intelligence and autonomous systems.

The project, named Ignite, will take in 10 to 15 Israeli start-ups which will then be mentored by Intel employees over the course of a 20 week programme.

Over those 20 weeks the start-ups will receive mentoring from Intel and industry experts on an array of business critical areas such as technical impediments, human resources, as well as product and business management.

1. "Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." -- Goethe

2. "Security is mostly a superstition. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." -- Helen Keller

3. "It's not because things are difficult that we dare not venture. It's because we dare not venture that they are difficult." -- Seneca

4. "Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far it is possible to go." -- T.S. Eliot

5. "What you have to do and the way you have to do it is incredibly simple. Whether you are willing to do it is another matter." -- Peter Drucker

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.

Image: http://www.koreabiomed.com

Companies across the globe are coping with major disruption caused by enterprises such as Amazon in retail and Uber in transportation. Where are they innovating and seeking growth? Gabriel Hamani is CEO of BHI, a division of Bank Hapoalim, Israel’s leading financial institution. He discusses some of the key trends BHI is seeing among its clients across the many industries the bank serves.

Image: CEO GABRIEL HAMANI. (photo credit: SHAHAR AZRAN)  

70 Years of Scientific Research on Diseases (1947-2017) - number of research articles published (PubMed) # For more interesting & helpful content on healthcare & data science, follow me & Brainformatika on LinkedIn.

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It’s no secret that companies are reducing the number of employees in their workforce and relying more on workers in the Gig Economy, including independent contractors, consultants, and freelancers. Employees make up only half of the workforce at some tech companies and are already the minority at Google.

By definition, most entrepreneurs are thought leaders. They have the ability to recognize a market need, the skills to design and implement a solution, and the drive to start a business from that solution. It all comes from within themselves. A business leader does the same thing and more, through the people around them. Most entrepreneurs are not both.

Not every AI-loving company operates in logistics, marketing or healthcare. Artificial intelligence isn’t picky about which industries it revolutionizes, and many niches have already embraced automation.

Given the global value of AI, it’s no surprise the tech is spreading. Statista estimates that worldwide AI revenue will hit $90 billion by 2025. With so much wealth to go around, no industry is safe from disruption.

Robots are joining the workforce around the world. But while it’s obvious their numbers are rising, it can be hard to work out which countries are currently ahead of the curve.

The most common measure is one used by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) each year: the number of industrial robots per 10,000 manufacturing workers in the country. According to information released by the IFR to the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), the global average in 2017 was 85 bots per 10,000 workers. This is a 15% increase from last year.

A change that Indiana lawmakers made this spring to a tax incentive for startups is being hailed as a big win for the tech industry because it promises to make it easier for fledgling businesses to attract out-of-state investors.

Legislation signed by Gov. Eric Holcomb will allow investors to transfer Indiana's Venture Capital Investment tax credits starting next year. Transferring the credits will allow out-of-state investors to essentially sell them to someone in the state who can take advantage, the Indianapolis Business Journal reported .

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It’s one of the most contentious fronts in the U.S.-China trade war: so-called forced technology transfers. The term refers to a spectrum of practices through which foreign companies that want to operate in China are induced to part with their know-how. That may be simply through a requirement to form a joint venture with a local firm, or more insidious bureaucratic methods like overly intrusive inspections.

A divided Congress leaves precious few legislative items that offer true bipartisan appeal. One of those issues is reducing drug prices, a subject the Trump administration has made a high priority.

But not every idea proposed to reduce drug prices is wise.

Recommended Video Generic drugs can offer cheaper alternatives to brand-name prescription drugs. But a “generics at all costs” approach has a serious downside that may not be fully appreciated.

Innovation is the buzzword in the industrial, trade and technological lexicon of nations across the globe that aspires to boost their productivity and improve the living standard of their citizens. There is consistent innovative redesigning of products and processes for convenience and value addition. Ever since Australia has begun its journey of innovation, it is continuously making progress. The latest ABS (Australian Bureau of statistics) data about innovation reveals that 44.5% of businesses are innovation- active. By employment size, however, 70% of the businesses with 200 or more employees are innovation-active.

Image: Melbourne city. Photo: Alf Scalise, Pixabay

If every entrepreneur could predict the future, starting the right new business would be easy. Since my experience and interests have been primarily with technology, I’ve been watching those trends for a long time, and I see rapid change, but predicting impact is a challenge. Recently I’ve changed my focus a bit to people demographics, and I find the implications a bit more concrete.