88 companies went public in 2018 with venture capital backing. Excluding Spotify's (NYSE:SPOT) direct listing, the group raised $15 billion in the IPO market. Venture exits accounted for 46% of 2018's total, and VC deal count and proceeds reached a 4-year high. The pickup in activity was driven by biotechs and Chinese tech, so naturally healthcare VCs like Atlas, Flagship, and OrbiMed were active, along with VCs with a strong presence in China (e.g. Sequoia). By sector, venture exits came from 57 healthcare IPOs, 27 technology IPOs, 3 consumer discretionary IPOs (all Chinese), and 1 industrials IPO.

This past year, 2018, has been a very good one for innovation. We've seen the blockchain boom, the increase in low-code and no-code app development, the start of the rollout of 5G technology and AI and AR: All came into their own with countless programs and applications for both business and consumer life.

The Small Business Innovation Research Program seeks to stimulate technological breakthroughs by channeling federal research and development funds to small businesses. In 2017, 11 federal agencies awarded $2.3 billion to participants.

Since 2013, small businesses owned by venture capital companies, hedge funds, or private equity firms may participate in some cases. Our review of fiscal years 2015 through 2018 found:

Image: https://www.gao.gov

Hanging a wreath on a door or a wall is almost as essential to decorating for yuletide as setting up a Christmas tree — and, as it turns out, the two traditions come from the same place.

“The tree gave birth to the wreath,” says Ace Collins, author of Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas.

The custom of bringing evergreens home during the winter began in the 16th century among northern and eastern Europeans — with Germans commonly credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition. During this period, pruning the tree was a part of the preparation process.

Languages provide a window into culture and history. They’re also a unique way to map the world – not through landmasses or geopolitical borders, but through mother tongues.

THE TOWER OF BABEL Today’s infographic from Alberto Lucas Lopez condenses the 7,102 known living languages today into a stunning visualization, with individual colors representing each world region.

Image: https://www.visualcapitalist.com

Executives report the least-positive views on economic conditions—at home and in the world economy—that they have all year.

As executives reflect on 2018, their views on current economic conditions are more downbeat than they have been all year, both domestically and globally. And while pockets of optimism for the economy’s prospects are evident in certain geographies, such as India and Latin America, respondents to McKinsey’s latest survey on executive sentiment express overall cautious expectations for the future.

The future of nanotechnology is in stands today, and it could be at the mercy of a tiny game of tic-tac-toe played by researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

In a proof-of-concept for 'DNA origami', Caltech researchers used a new technique to create tiny structures out of DNA strands, and then played a game of tic-tac-toe with it using the DNA board, because why not?

Image: DNA Origami meets tic tac toe at Caltech. Image: Caltech

Job-search site Indeed crunched its Silicon Valley hiring numbers for 2018, looking at tech job searches, salaries, and employers, and found that engineers who combine tech skills with business skills as directors of product management earn the most, with an average salary of US $186,766. Last year, the gig came in as number two, at $173,556.

Also climbing up the ranks, and now in the number two spot with an average annual salary of $181,100, is senior reliability engineer. Application security engineer is third at $173,903. Neither made the top 20 in 2017.

In my career in business, I’ve found that the people you work with make all the difference. If everyone works well together, you all feel a sense of job satisfaction. If some people on the team are irritating to you and others, the whole environment becomes toxic, killing your motivation and the productivity of the team. Everyone thinks this is a management or the other person’s problem.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a crystal ball? It might also be scary. The biggest news stories from 2018, according to Google searches, involved hurricanes, elections, and the Parkland, Fla. shooting. But there were good things on people’s minds, like the World Cup, royal wedding, and a record-breaking lottery jackpot. We wondered what 2019 will bring to the business world. Here are predictions from 10 CEOs:

MACAU, Dec. 21, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Enterprise Asia, the leading non-governmental organization for entrepreneurship in Asia, announced 35 winners at the International Innovation Awards (IIA) 2018 held at MGM Cotai, Macau.

Over 400 attendees were present at the event, comprising of industry experts, entrepreneurs, and innovation leaders.

A Columbus venture development group nurturing several Ohio State University spinoffs has raised a $10 million fund called Startup Nursery to commercialize technology from top research institutions.

Ikove Venture Partners LLC plans to build and incubate 10 to 15 early-stage technology companies over the next three years, freeing inventions from university labs and getting them to market.

Image: Ikove's leaders, from left, are Flavio Lobato, Rodolfo Bellesi, David Moritz, Rob Lee and John D'Orazio. IKOVE VENTURE PARTNERS

Investors invest in people, not ideas. Customers buy from people, not companies. Employees rally for a great leader, not a brand. As an entrepreneur, you need relationships to succeed. That means relationships with team members, investors, customers, and vendors. One of the best ways to build a good relationship with anyone is to make them feel important.

Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com/

As you rise in your career and your visibility grows, you’ll likely be called upon to participate in a panel discussion. It’s a powerful way to share your ideas and become recognized in your field, but there’s no question that preparing to speak on a panel can be stressful — you have to figure out what to say, practice being concise, and worry about overlapping with your colleagues.

88 companies went public in 2018 with venture capital backing . Excluding Spotify's direct listing, the group raised $15 billion in the IPO market. Venture exits accounted for 46% of 2018's total, and VC deal count and proceeds reached a 4-year high. The pickup in activity was driven by biotechs and Chinese tech, so naturally healthcare VCs like Atlas, Flagship, and OrbiMed were active, along with VCs with a strong presence in China (e.g. Sequoia). By sector, venture exits came from 57 healthcare IPOs, 27 technology IPOs, 3 consumer discretionary IPOs (all Chinese), and 1 industrials IPO.

How can the American Heartland raise the quality of its economic growth for its region and the nation? This was a core issue raised by the recent State of the Heartland: Factbook 2018 report, and the question continues to be raised in m

For companies that need to raise capital, there are a lot of options they can choose from, but there is no question that raising money is hard. It doesn't happen with the snap of a finger.

Pitching to friends and family, selling a product before it exists, figuring out which of your friends or LinkedIn connections knows a VC, then eventually pitching to that VC if you can even get the meeting, determining which bank gives fair-termed loans and even what terms are fair. None of these options are easy.

Just out is this year’s edition of 35 Innovators Under 35, the annual list published by MIT Technology Review magazine, which names the world's top 35 innovators under the age of 35. Once again, the list features a significant number of scientists working in photonics-related fields. The subcategories for these awards vary from year to year, but generally focus on biomedicine, computing, communications, business, energy, materials, and the web. Nominations are sent from around the world and evaluated by a panel of expert judges.

Image: MIT Technology Review's 2018 tips for the top: (from upper left) Nabiha Saklayen, Carlos Abellan, Shinjini Kundu, Huanping Zhou, (lower left) Yin Qi, Archana Kamal, Prineha Narang, and Menno Veldhorst. - http://optics.org

CLEVELAND, Dec. 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- JumpStart Inc. is closing 2018 with its most significant investing milestone to date, having deployed more than $51M of pre-seed and seed venture capital into high-potential tech companies across Ohio.

This milestone follows a record-setting year for the JumpStart investing team, which deployed nearly $8M in Fiscal Year 2018, the most capital ever invested by the organization in a single fiscal year. 

If you want to win big in the war for talent, you have to be able to attract and retain the best talent. Well-resourced tech companies are now seeking talent like never before — seeking to attract the top tech prospects and engineers and recruiting heavily out of Stanford, Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, and MIT. The truly “smart kids” have noticed this trend with more Harvard Business School grads going into technology than into banking for the first time since the dot-com era.

Image: http://www.areadevelopment.com