Today is my last day running the Utah Science Technology and Research Initiative (USTAR), and it is a bittersweet day.  

While I am exceptionally proud of what our team at USTAR has accomplished—and excited for my new adventure in the private sector—I hope we will not lose sight of the fact that technology-based economic development efforts in our state are more important than ever to ensuring long-term economic resiliency and growth.

Technology-based economic development (TBED) programs seek to grow the economy through innovation, developing and commercializing new technologies.  Creating new technologies leads to the creation of new companies, new jobs, and even whole new sectors.

Close to 50 percent of chief executives say that the role was “not what I expected beforehand.” This was one finding from a series of interviews we conducted recently with 20 current and former CEOs of large public companies, including Bupa, Husky Energy, Standard Chartered, ATCO, and Lloyds Banking Group. The goal was to identify some of the challenges and best practices that senior executives should consider when assuming the CEO role in businesses today.

San Francisco tops the list with the highest rate of self-employed minorities as well as high parity of business ownership.

With close to 8 million minority-owned businesses in the country, identifying cities which are favorable in achieving success for minorities is a valuable insight for making an informed decision.

This is because there are a host of factors which affect the success rate of entrepreneurs, and one of these is location. The simple act of moving your business to the right city or state could make all the difference in the world.

In my role as a new business advisor and occasional investor, I hear lots of people talking about their dreams of “someday” starting and running a new venture. They can talk with passion about their innovative new idea, and ask lots of questions, but never seem to really get started. The challenge we all have as business founders is to move from the idea stage to a real business.

Haier’s business model has created a worldwide entrepreneurship movement.

In this year’s Global Talent Competitiveness Index, we have seen how vital entrepreneurial talent is for a thriving economy. Haier CEO Zhang Ruimin’s transformational Rendanheyi business model is one example writ large of how this resource can expand a business. The revenue of Haier, the world leader in white goods, was nearly US$40 billion in 2017.

Image: https://knowledge.insead.edu/

Digital is driving major changes in how companies set and execute strategy. New survey results point to four elements that top performers include in their digital-strategy operating model.

For many companies, the process of building and executing strategy in the digital age seems to generate more questions than answers. Despite digital’s dramatic effects on global business—the disruptions that have upended industries and the radically increasing speed at which business is done—the latest McKinsey Global Survey on the topic suggests that companies are making little progress in their efforts to digitalize the business model.

It's safe to say Gen Z has officially joined the workforce, and there is plenty of discussion predicting what kind of mark this young generation will make on society. Although there's much up for debate, one thing many are agreeing on is that Gen Z may be the most entrepreneurial generation yet.

Here are four reasons this prediction will most likely come true.

They Have Easy Access to Technology

Unlike Millennials, who started accessing the beginning stages of the internet and social media at an older age, Gen Z has had easier access to various social platforms and information on the internet since the beginning of their lives. This means Gen Z has had more of a connection to the world outside and all it contains at a younger age than any generation before them.

Most mom and pop shops stay precisely just that -- mom and pops. But some of the most recognizable and popular retail companies and brands came from family- or friend-owned businesses.

While some of these companies are part of larger conglomerates now, others have continued to keep it in the family -- and some have become conglomerates on their own. Whatever the case, here are 11 businesses that emphasize both family and growth.

Image: Ben & Jerry's

Our region’s prevailing view of entrepreneurship discourages many who have entrepreneurial personalities and reduces our economic potential. We need to chart a new course.

Our current views on entrepreneurship are driven by the dominance of the Silicon Valley model of innovation. This model puts a premium on attracting venture capital and rapidly growing and selling. Incubators, accelerators and educators focus on teaching presentation skills and raising money. The practical support entrepreneurs receive, whether in seed capital or advice, comes from people who are themselves drawn from same model.

The decisions by Amazon and Google to expand into the New York area have led some pundits to claim that the nation’s high-tech economic future will be shaped in dense urban areas. “Big cities won Amazon and everything else,” proclaimed Neil Irwin of the New York Times. “We’re living in a world where a small number of superstar companies choose to locate in a handful of superstar cities where they have the best chance of recruiting superstar employees.” Yet the trends in job creation, particularly in technology, are not nearly as favorable to the “superstars” as some urbanists imagine. If one looks at data, not press releases, a more nuanced picture emerges, with much of the fastest growth—including in tech—shifting dramatically not to the elite, dense urban centers but to more sprawling regions and the suburban periphery.

Image: http://www.newgeography.com

PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Asia has widened its lead in global innovation according to the Derwent Top 100 Global Innovators 2018-19 report published today by Clarivate Analytics, the global leader in providing trusted insights and analytics to accelerate discovery. Utilizing proprietary Derwent patent data, tools and technology, this annual report identifies and celebrates the world's most innovative organizations who successfully develop valuable patented inventions that also have strong commercialization potential based on originality, market reach, and opportunities for spin-off inventions.

Just about everyone has ordered a side of fries after catching an intoxicating whiff. But new research, which was published in the Journal of Marketing Research, says that basking in the scent of junk food for at least two minutes can actually help you make healthier food choices.

In a series of experiments, the researchers found a surprising relationship between ambient scents and food choices. Time after time, they found that people who sniffed indulgent foods, like pizza or cookies, were actually less likely to choose or purchase unhealthy foods than those who smelled nutritious options, such as apples and strawberries.

As a group, they are “sober, industrious and driven by money,” reports the Wall Street Journal, but also “socially awkward and timid about taking the reins.” They are risk-averse and more diverse, says Inc. magazine. Forbes says they “want to work on their own and be judged on their own merits rather than those of their team.”

Generation Z is arriving, and they are different than previous generations – or at least that’s how this young cohort is being portrayed as it begins to enter the workforce. After the traditionalists, baby boomers, Generation X and Generation Y/millennials, we have Generation Z – that group born after 1995 now starting to graduate college.

In an interesting article, Erin Griffith of the New York Times reveals the reality of venture capital that some of us in the wilderness have been shouting about for years – that there are few VC successes, and that VC should be delayed or avoided to minimize VC control of the venture.

Four Maryland colleges are expanding tech-focused programming with funding from a state program.

The Maryland E-Nnovation Initiative Fund was created to spur research in scientific and technical fields at colleges and universities in the state.

In all, the research chairs are being created with $6.7 million – $4 million that was raised by the schools in private funding, and $2.7 million in matching grants from the state fund. The program is in its fourth year, and has resulted in $34 million in funding.

Image: Towson is the first Maryland institution to get the NSA recognition. (Photo by Flickr user @empty_shelves, used under Creative Commons license)

It’s an age of startups, Gen Y or millennials, who are known to make headlines for several things like their lifestyle, trends, careers, handling finances and savings, are the ones also known to have nimble feet, reaching out for everything new. Another thing the millennials are also known for is their entrepreneurial practices. Every passing day number of young entrepreneurs are entering different sectors with their novel and exceptional ideas.

INNOVATION IS OFTEN associated with high-end technology and futuristic solutions, while being seen as "innovative" is a tag that today investors, companies and economies like to pour their money into. "The word 'innovation' has turned into something of a buzzword whose application is so broad and nebulous that it often feels useless," says Joe Dwyer, professor of innovation at Northwestern University and serial entrepreneur.

Here at StartupSmart, we spend all day every day talking about startups to those running and investing in them. But, never has an industry been more difficult to define.

The Australian government has no set definition for what constitutes a startup.

In a statement given to StartupSmart, the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science said different definitions are often used in different contexts, depending on things such as “macroeconomic analysis, policy research and program criteria”.

Image: CEA's Shelli Trung. Source: Supplied.

Intellectual property (IP) systems are designed in large part to provide adequate incentives for creators and inventors to invest in the production of novel ideas and content, while at the same time encouraging beneficial diffusion of knowledge. For example, publishing patent disclosures ensures inventors can learn from each other, and limiting patent terms to 20 years ensures they can build on each other’s innovations. As we move deeper into the data-driven economy, policymakers should take into account the need to maintain such a balance as they consider the relationship between IP rights and data.

When students at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia want a late-night coffee or meal, they’ll no longer have to walk across campus: The school now has a fleet of 25 delivery robots.