If we subscribe to the adage that time is money, five minutes might not seem like much. But for time-strapped city dwellers, saving five minutes a day looking for parking using a smart parking app can add up quickly. Cities are now home to more than half the world’s population—and that proportion is still rising. But heavy traffic and congestion has contributed to air quality falling below safe health guidelines in many of the world’s largest cities. To balance clean air, easy mobility, and rapid population growth, city officials are bracing for a Herculean task.

Amazon’s decision on Valentine’s Day to break up with New York — chosen as one of two sites for its second headquarters — is a story of missteps on both sides set within a politicized environment that resulted in lost opportunities for all, according to experts from Wharton and elsewhere. If cooler heads had prevailed to work through the issues, New York would have gotten a big boost to its standing as a main tech hub on the East Coast while Amazon would have gained an exceptional talent pool and tax breaks.

Given the opportunity, female founders go out there and prove themselves. The good news: More are getting that opportunity.

Yes, venture-funded entrepreneurship remains largely a Y-chromosome game. In 2017 startups with at least one woman founder received just 16 percent of the more than $80 billion invested in U.S. venture-backed companies, according to PitchBook. Startups with all women founders scored a measly 2.5 percent. Inside venture firms, just 9 percent of general partners are women.

Innovation is a top priority for almost every organization. But to achieve success through innovation, companies must put as much energy and investment into marketing new offerings as they do in generating them.

Youngme Moon, Felix Oberholzer-Gee, and Mihir Desai discuss whether WeWork’s success is sustainable. Plus, can the government really spend as much money as it wants without worrying about deficits? What in the world is Modern Monetary Theory and does it actually make sense?

Over the past nearly 60 years, I have engaged with many leaders of governments, companies, and other organizations, and I have observed how our societies have developed and changed. I am happy to share some of my observations in case others may benefit from what I have learned.

Leaders, whatever field they work in, have a strong impact on people’s lives and on how the world develops. We should remember that we are visitors on this planet. We are here for 90 or 100 years at the most. During this time, we should work to leave the world a better place.

Maryland is the third-best environment in the U.S. for tech and science companies and employees, according to a new national report.

The Milken Institute, a California-based economic think tank, puts out its "State Technology and Science Index" every two years. The index ranks states based on 107 different indicators of healthy tech ecosystems — research and development inputs, entrepreneurial infrastructure, science and tech workforce and more.

Smart people only visit and buy from credible and memorable websites. In the past, if your startup had a website presence, the company was credible by definition. In today’s world, a website is necessary but not sufficient for credibility. Dreamers and gamblers have found out that if the website isn’t validated as credible, it’s probably a scam, and everyone loses.

Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com

Microsoft outlined how emerging technologies can support diagnosis of rare diseases among children in a report released Feb. 20.

Rare diseases affect almost 350 million people globally, and they can take an average of five years to diagnose, according to the report.

Microsoft set out to combat this issue in 2018, joining forces with Japanese drug developer Takeda and European health alliance Eurodis to launch the Global Commission to End the Diagnostic Odyssey for Children.

The 2018 Silicon Bayou 100 is the annual list of the 100 most influential and active people in tech and entrepreneurship in Louisiana over the last year. The list is compiled by the community through an anonymous nomination process.

Over the next week we will be sharing the bios of each of the 100 in alphabetical order. View the full Silicon Bayou 100 here and meet group 8 below.

Image: http://siliconbayounews.com

NC State has partnered with HQ Raleigh, a local company that supports startups, and the university’s Entrepreneurship Garage (eGarage) to establish a creative space in Partners I on Centennial Campus in an effort to give students more entrepreneurial opportunities on campus.

According to the NC State Entrepreneurship website, the eGarage is a place where students can go to design, prototype and generally pursue entrepreneurial ideas.

It is currently housed in Centennial's Innovation Hall, according to Megan Greer, assistant vice provost and managing director of NC State Entrepreneurship.

Image: Dasola Olanrewaju, a fourth-year studying computer engineering and electrical engineering, explains workshop spaces at the eGarage new-member orientation on Monday, Feb. 11, 2019 at Innovation Hall on Centennial Campus. The eGarage has multiple rooms for students to create prototyping projects and share entrepreneurial ideas. Solynna Crownson

Gone are the days when the first choice of preference was to acquire a 'decent' job, in today's world aspiration is to work for oneself. A quick search on Wikipedia will tell us that if a person who is self-employed and is not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term is called a freelancer. But if a person is independent isn't he/she also an entrepreneur?

Money makes the startupland go round. No matter the business model, the market, the mindblowing idea, you’re going to need a little (or large) cash injection if you’re going to make your mark on the world. This is our guide to funding options to help you get your startup off the ground.

Venture capital One of the most popular forms of startup funding is through venture capital.

Investors from high-net-worth individuals to giant super funds invest in venture funds, which are managed by investors, who invest in startups on their behalf, taking equity stakes in the business.

Entrepreneurship, a term almost all of us are aware of. As per the Oxford dictionary, entrepreneurship can be defined as “the activity of making money by starting or running a business.” So, the idea of what this term is is pretty clear. Now, entrepreneurship can be divided into a number of categories based on the origin, basis, working and what not. And the one we are going to talk or discuss here is content-based entrepreneurship.

Every year, Inc. magazine compiles the Inc. 5000, the definitive list of America's fastest-growing private companies based on growth over a three-year period. The latest round-up features a variety of booming businesses, from innovative healthcare and tech start-ups to game-changing construction businesses and quirky consumer goods firms.

Nutrition experts tend to favor a “less is more” approach when it comes to deciding what to eat: choosing whole, minimally processed foods over those with long, unpronounceable ingredient lists. Raisins, otherwise known as dried grapes, fit the bill. “They’re a whole food that’s minimally processed with no added ingredients or preservatives,” says Jenny Friedman, a Philadelphia-based dietitian. But raisins are also relatively high in sugar and calories.

Innovation is a top priority for almost every organization. But to achieve success through innovation, companies must put as much energy and investment into marketing new offerings as they do in generating them.

There’s been a lot of buzz in the startup world recently about the advantages of — wait for it — not raising venture capital dollars. With bootstrapped successes like MailChimp and LeaseQuery providing a model for ambitious founders to aspire to, more startups are joining a movement encouraging them to build their company without giving anything away.

But some companies can’t get to the scale they want to see without any outside capital at all. In those cases, there are still options beyond VC. Since the JOBS Act began rolling out in 2012, equity crowdfunding — raising money from a large base of investors in an online public offering — has been steadily picking up popularity.

Image: https://hypepotamus.com

As markets become flooded with competition and more and more buying options become available to consumers, brand loyalty is increasingly difficult to maintain.

Today, it takes more than just a good product to hold onto a customer.

“Traditionally we think of a simple paradigm that you satisfy your customers and you provide good value and you will be rewarded with their loyalty and capture market share. What we are finding is that is not enough,” said Charles L. Colby, chief methodologist and founder of Rockbridge Associates, in an exclusive interview with R&D Magazine.

For more than a decade, Fast Company has been recognizing outstanding achievement with three different awards programs. The Most Innovative Companies, Innovation by Design, and World Changing Ideas lists have celebrated thousands of organizations transforming industries and shaping society through paradigm-shifting products, insights, or services.

Image: Thomas Vanhuyse