Midwestern health care companies raised $2.5 billion in capital last year, building slightly on a huge increase that was recorded in 2017, according to a new report published by BioEnterprise.

The 2018 Midwest Healthcare Growth Capital Report tracks capital investments made in biomedical companies across 11 Midwestern states in three sectors: medical device; biotechnology and pharmaceuticals; and health IT/software and services.

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U of T has received a $100 million donation to fund a new innovation research complex that will support artificial intelligence (AI) and biomedical research. The donation, from the Gerald Schwartz and Heather Reisman Foundation, is the largest that the university has ever received. U of T President Meric Gertler, Toronto Mayor John Tory, and Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Navdeep Bains were among the speakers who lauded the donation at U of T’s March 25 press conference.

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Imagine being a patient in the early 19th century, when all ailments were considered “humors” to be ejected from the body. To restore balance, various techniques such as diets, natural herbs, or bloodletting with leeches were used – the only “technology” available at the time.

Even when the basic structure of modern medicine came into place, the average life expectancy was just 34 years old in 1913. A patient from that era would surely be amazed by the leaps and bounds that healthcare has undergone since then, thanks to the influence of technology.

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Looking to the crowd for knowledge isn’t a new concept. The Sydney Opera House was the result of an open call for designs to a global community (to which 233 people submitted ideas) and the now-iconic building was selected from amongst them. Margarine was the answer to an open call for a butter alternative when Louis Napoleon III faced a butter shortage and looked to his citizens for a solution. And, of course, democracy is a long-held tradition of asking the public to weigh in on important decisions and representatives. These are just a few examples.

One of the things I have learned the hard way over my years in business, and in advising others, is that it takes more than passion, creativity, and hard work to start and grow a business. A key skill that many of you don’t appreciate is the ability to effectively manage the negotiations that come with every business. The results are lost opportunity, poor contracts, or a failed business.

Before you start shopping for business space, you need to have a clear picture of what you must have, what you'd like to have, what you absolutely won't tolerate and how much you're able to pay. Developing that picture can be a time-consuming process that's both exciting and tedious, but it's essential you give it the attention it deserves. While many startup mistakes can be corrected later on, a poor choice of location is sometimes impossible to repair.

You’re the manager of a high-performing team of great people. The team has hit its stride; members have even developed a bit of a shorthand with each other that helps them weather challenges and nail deadlines.

The origins of the global directory of women in venture capital is relatively straightforward: two New York City based venture capitalists wanted to gather together other women in the industry so they could get to know each other. As numerous networking studies have revealed, it is only by getting to know each other that individuals build trust and with trust, comes helpfulness – in the venture industry, helpfulness is defined primarily by deal flow.

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Tuesday’s federal budget announcement provided some long-awaited details about how the government’s $645 million package to support journalism will be rolled out. Disappointingly, the policy seems purpose-built to help only one kind of media: newspapers.

Here’s how it will work: An “independent” panel will be struck to certify “Qualified Canadian Journalism Organizations.” To qualify, media have to employ more than two journalists as employees and primarily produce general-interest news in written format. (See the full policy on page 373 of the federal budget.)

As per Wikipedia, the daydream is “a short-term detachment from one's immediate surroundings, during which a person's contact with reality is blurred and partially substituted by a visionary fantasy, especially one of happy, pleasant thoughts, hopes or ambitions, imagined as coming to pass, and experienced while awake.”

Many entrepreneurs are not prepared for conflict, or actively avoid it. Their vision, passion, and focus are so strong that they can’t imagine someone disagreeing, much less fighting them to the death. But the reality is that startups are composed of smart people, with emotions as well as intellects, working in close proximity under much pressure, so conflicts will occur.

In fact, most business conflict is constructive and should be embraced in steering through the maze of innovation and change that is part of every successful business. Surround yourself with “yes” people, and you may feel good initially, but the brick walls no one mentions will hurt later.

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You can’t do it all, no matter what our crazed culture tells you—and there’s no shame in walking away from a commitment that isn’t working out, as long as you do it thoughtfully, respectfully, and with plenty of advance warning. In this episode, Tina Seelig, Professor of the Practice in Stanford’s Department of Management Science & Engineering, and guests Konstantine Buhler of Meritech Capital Partners and John Melas-Kyriazi of Spark Capital embrace the negative, exploring when, why, and how to say no. Life is full of great opportunities, but they’re not all for you.

Beijing is currently hosting the 2019 China Development Forum, where a range of issues related to China's economic development will be discussed. And when it comes to China's economic outlook, there is no escaping that it has a lot to do with the country's economic relationship with the U.S. 

In the past year, we have witnessed the tense rivalry between the two countries, especially in the economic sphere. The intersection between trade, tariffs and IP violations (especially with regards to forced technology transfer and trade secrets) has featured prominently in the ongoing U.S.-China trade negotiations.

I tell entrepreneurs that Google was an “exception” to all the investment and startup rules, but I’ve always wondered what it takes to be an exception. Since every business is built by unique individuals, I’m totally convinced that exceptional people are the key to an exceptional company.

To check out the Google founders, and because I still see so many business plans that are modeled after Google (more search engines, and more billion dollar growth models), I had to take a look at the classic book about them a while back, called “Inside Larry & Sergey’s Brain,” by Richard L. Brandt. It didn’t disappoint me.

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A sampling of recent reports shows just how much immuno-oncology continues to grow. Last month, GrandView Research projected a more than doubling of the global cancer immunotherapy market, from the $58.1 billion it tallied in 2018, to $126.9 billion by 2026. As GEN noted when it ranked the top immuno-oncology startups in February, market projections range from $124.88 billion (Transparency Market Research) to $173 billion (Market Research Engine) by 2024.

The federal government, principally through the National Institutes of Health (NIH), funds scientific research related to biology and human health that sets the stage for applied research and development (R&D) activity by industry, ultimately leading to the commercialization of new medicines and treatments. New drugs not only improve the quality and length of lives but reduce the costs to society from illness. In order to accelerate biomedical innovation, Congress doubled NIH founding around the turn of the millennium. The results are paying off with basic and translational research, including discoveries of the genetic basis of disease and development of related diagnostics and therapies. For example, cancer therapies are being tailored not just to a patient’s genome but to the genome of that patient’s tumors. Other discoveries include sickle cell genomic therapy,1 immunotherapy for breast cancer,2 a universal flu vaccine, the TAILORx genetic screening breast cancer trial,3 and discoveries for the treatment of Alzheimer’s.4 NIH funding overall plays an important role, not only in biomedical innovation, but in enabling a competitive U.S. life sciences industry, and the millions of good paying jobs associated with it. In fact, while overall manufacturing jobs have declined in the last two decades, the number of biopharmaceutical industry jobs has grown. As such, increasing NIH funding is important not only to improving the health of Americans, but in reducing health care costs and spurring global life sciences competitiveness.

Watching GrowFL’s celebration at the Straz Performing Arts Center last month, it was almost easy to forget I was at a business gathering. Companies that were being celebrated as the top 50 Companies to Watch in Florida were given the rock star treatment that is generally reserved for, well, rock stars!

This a small but an important part of what GrowFL does. The organization does not just help second-stage companies reach their full potential, but also celebrates and validates them both for their employees and for the community in which they operate. A community can sometimes take local companies for granted. GrowFL reminds us not to.

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Everyone knows by now that building a successful business is more likely to be a bumpy ride on a rollercoaster than a routine walk in the park – you’ll probably get to your wit’s end on at least more than one occasion.

Despite the harsh realities, though, it’s kind of ironic that it seems pretty simple in the beginning. All that talk of coming up with an immaculate business plan and kickass model can be reduced to you just wanting to roll out an amazing product and having people pay for it because they can’t help it.

If you believe the pop-psych literature, perseverance is the most predictive characteristic of successful people. But isn’t knowing when to quit equally important for a satisfied and fulfilled life as an entrepreneur?

The basic narrative is that anything worth doing will have major setbacks, and in the face of adversity what you must do is get up, dust yourself off, and try again.

These and many other insights are from the Boston Consulting Group’s 13th annual report defining the world’s most innovative companies in 2019. The Most Innovative Companies 2019: The Rise of AI, Platforms, and Ecosystems is a fascinating glimpse into the rising importance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and of platforms that support innovation. What makes this survey noteworthy is how it captures how AI’s use is rapidly expanding and how enterprises are relying on platforms to scale their efforts in this area. BCG is providing an Interactive Guide that compares the 50 most innovative companies in the world, sortable by industry, company and year.