In the first four posts in this series Nicholas and I have addressed big meaty questions – what is venture capital?, what exactly is an investor? and so on, which has been fun, but has been a bit like building a house before the foundations are down.  This week I want to look at those foundations – asking the question ‘where do VCs get their money from?’

The quintessential answer to this question is ‘institutional investors’ or ‘pension funds, insurance companies and endowments’.  These are all examples of companies that manage huge pools of money which they invest for maximum risk weighted return.  Generally speaking, they have a high level ‘asset allocation’ policy which splits their money across different types of investment with the major groups being equities (i.e. shares traded on public exchanges like NASDAQ or the LSE), fixed income (i.e. government and corporate debt), cash, and ‘alternative assets’ (which includes venture capital).  The idea is that if you have a large pool of money under management you should have a mix of low risk-low return, medium risk-medium return and high risk-high return investments and alternative assets/venture capital is one of a small number of high risk-high return options.  The allocation to alternative assets is typically 1-5% of the total, and the good news is that modern portfolio theory is pushing fund managers to increase their exposure to alternative assets and so this percentage is slowly rising. 

FORTUNE -- Some day early next year, Warren Buffett -- and 14 others including former President George H.W. Bush, Maya Angelou, and Stan Musial -- will descend upon Washington to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. (The date is uncertain right now, apparently contingent upon the schedule of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, another recipient.) This has become a familiar destination for Buffett, who has kept himself in the news lately doing interviews and speaking out on issues -- much more so than he has done previously. Just this Tuesday, Buffett, along with his billionaire buddies Bill and Melinda Gates, met with President Obama in the Oval Office to discuss their Giving Pledge initiative and the economy. What's interesting to consider is whether Buffett's new higher profile contributed to his being considered for the medal (not that this was necessarily a goal of his).

Artist Evan Roth has a radical idea to help let our ideas live long after we die.

Taking inspiration from organ donation programs, Roth advocates donating intellectual property to the public domain to contribute to the ‘progress of science’ and ensure that your creative legacy lives on.

Why let all of your ideas die with you? Current Copyright law prevents anyone from building upon your creativity for 70 years after your death.

The European Commission has formally presented its proposal to create a single European patent, invoking the Enhanced Cooperation mechanism, which allows it to go ahead despite failing to convince all Member States - and notably Italy and Spain - to support the creation of unitary patent protection across the EU.

This means any scheme that is introduced will only be valid in participating countries. “European inventors can afford no further delay,” said Michel Barnier, the European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, announcing the proposal on Tuesday (14 December).

At present, he said, “Filing for patents in Europe is a costly and complicated affair, making it available only to those companies who have deep pockets: The unacceptable reality is that on average innovators validate and protect their patents in only five of the EU's 27 Member States because of the high costs. “

We live our lives by routines.  In January, we all make resolutions for the new year.  In November, we give thanks for the bounty of the harvest at Thanksgiving.  And for those in the tech industry, in October we go to the Web 2.0 Conference and try to outdo each other with our declarations of "Bubble 2.0".

Today's NY Times story declares that "Silicon Valley’s math is getting fuzzy again."  This sounds somewhat similar to their story last year which concluded that: "Web 2.0...has in recent months become the focus of dot-com-style hype in Silicon Valley..."

As people leave the conference this evening to write their obligatory "we're in a bubble" story, I thought it would be helpful to provide them with examples from the last few years, so they can find new ways to express the same thoughts...

When someone introduces me to an “idea person,” I automatically jump to the down-side conclusion that this person doesn’t do follow-up. Of course there are people who are great at getting things done, but haven’t had an original idea in their life. Great entrepreneurs, like Bill Gates, are great at both.

I was with IBM in the early PC days when Bill worked with us to provide PC DOS and other software. He was relentless in his focus on getting a project done, and he always assigned himself the toughest tasks. At the same time, he was always pushing the limits of our business relationship with new ideas.

URBANA — Is red seaweed a viable future biofuel? Now that a University of Illinois metabolic engineer has developed a strain of yeast that can make short work of fermenting galactose, the answer is an unequivocal yes.

“When Americans think about biofuel crops, they think of corn, miscanthus, and switchgrass. ln small island or peninsular nations, though, the natural, obvious choice is marine biomass,” said Yong-Su Jin, a U of I assistant professor of microbial genomics and a faculty member in its Institute for Genomic Biology.

Producers of biofuels made from terrestrial biomass crops have had difficulty breaking down recalcitrant fibers and extracting fermentable sugars. The harsh pretreatment processes used to release the sugars also resulted in toxic byproducts, inhibiting subsequent microbial fermentation, he said.

Shoppers may notice an increased number of electronic displays around them this holiday season—flickering advertisements that can change instantly and show video. Obviously, they're meant to grab shoppers' attention, lure them into stores, and encourage them to buy more. Retailers would like to know how well the signs succeed.

Absent solid information, many stores are hesitant to invest in electronic signage because installation and maintenance are expensive. A startup recently acquired by Intel could provide the analytics that retailers need to decide if these signs are worth the money.

The just-ended Thanksgiving holiday is one of America's best. It is a day devoted to contemplating the powers far beyond our control that have shaped our lives for the better. The common name for them is blessings, be they of family, friends, health, knowledge or possessions, and we dedicate this holiday to the spirit of gratitude for all we have been given.

Blessings, however are unevenly distributed. Stark disparity is the way of things, whether between nations, regions or the citizens of our own community. As your community uses information and communications technology to build economic prosperity – becoming more "intelligent," in our terms – you need to pay attention to who is getting left out of the broadband economy. Otherwise you risk making existing social ills worse, at a cost to the lives of the excluded and to the community as a whole.

A new development paradigm is emerging that links the economy and culture, embracing economic, cultural, technological and social aspects of development at both the macro and micro levels. Central to the new paradigm is the fact that creativity, knowledge and access to information are increasingly recognized as powerful engines driving economic growth and promoting development in a globalizing world.

The emerging creative economy has become a leading component of economic growth, employment, trade and innovation, and social cohesion in most advanced economies. Unfortunately, however, the large majority of developing countries are not yet able to harness their creative capacity for development. This is a reflection of weaknesses both in domestic policy and in the business environment, and global systemic biases. Nevertheless, the creative economy offers to developing countries a feasible option and new opportunities to leapfrog into emerging high-growth areas of the world economy.

Patricia Martin, a really sharp writer and consultant who follows consumer trends, marketing and sponsorship, and has a special interest in arts and culture, has just come out with a new study called Tipping the Culture: How engaging Millennials will change things. It is actually available as a free download by clicking on the link above.

The study was commissioned by Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, and funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation as part of its support for Nonprofit Finance Fund's "Leading for the Future Initiative." 

A perfect storm of environmental deterioration, economic opportunism and geopolitical jockeying for position is fuelling a rapid Chinese move into renewable technologies such as wind, solar and wave power, according to Miranda Schreurs, director of the Environmental Policy Research Institute at the Freie Universität Berlin.

"China is moving in the same direction as the European Union," Schreurs told Euractiv Czech Republic in an interview. "Europe still leads in the development and deployment of new renewable technologies but China is becoming an increasingly big player," she said.

"Of course, China does not want to simply follow Europe in this area. They want to compete, and maybe even overtake Europe," she added.

Invention is creating something new which may or may not have a commercial or social value. Invention has been typically the domain of scientists who want to discover new technology or a new product without necessarily knowing if there is going to be any other outcome.

Innovation is different – when you look at a need in the market – this is what the customer needs or this is what the industry needs and you work backwards. You ask what different tools can I combine to fulfil that need.

Innovation approaches from a Lego blocks concept. The analogy is this is what is in the market but by arranging it in such a way, I get a product or technology to meet the need of the user. Another way of looking at it – invention is spending money to create ideas while innovation is using the ideas to create money.

Let me start by explaining two terms in the question. 

‘LP’ is a generic term for an investor in a venture capital fund. Typically they are pension funds or insurance companies (otherwise known as ‘institutional investors’), but they can also be corporates, wealthy individuals or governments looking to stimulate the startup ecosystem.  LP is short for Limited Partner, a reference to the legal status of investors in venture capital funds – technically they are partners in the fund with limited rights and obligations.  I covered this in a little more detail when I answered the question Where do VCs get their money from?

A ‘venture capital fund manager’ or sometimes ‘venture capitalist’ is the team of people that decide which companies to invest in and then manage them to exit, they are often known as the ‘GP’ or ‘general partner’.  A GP can have multiple funds under management at any one time and they are compensated according to the terms of the GP agreement for each fund which determines the fees and profit share they receive.  I covered this in a little more detail when I answered the question What is venture capital?

Are business accelerators poised for explosive growth? The founder of one network of accelerators thinks so. Reuters recently talked to David Cohen, co-founder with David Brown of accelerator TechStars, about emerging trends in this space.

What’s the difference between a business incubator and a business accelerator? Incubators typically provide a shared location for several fledgling businesses to operate, along with services that can include equipment, reception, networking and mentoring by experts. Initially most incubators were tied to colleges, universities or economic development programs to encourage entrepreneurship.

The wait is finally over: it’s holiday season, which means it’s time for First Round Capital’s annual video greeting card. From the intro by First Round Managing Partner Josh Kopelman to Path’s flamingos (you’ll see), this video reaches new heights of awesome (and goofiness). I’ve never wanted a muscle suit more.

Created by VentureHacks' Naval Ravikant and Babak Nivi, AngelList vets startup pitches and distributes them to a list of angel investors. Since launching in February, AngelList has received a lot of praise, from both investors and entrepreneurs, for the work it does in helping startups find early stage funding and helping angel investors find new companies.

Initially an email list, now there's a whole website devoted to the endeavor. And now, new features will give entrepreneurs even more control over where their pitch is directed.

When you add your startup to AngelList, you will have the option to select the angels you think should see your startup. If you don't pick them, these angels will not have access to your information. You will be able to search for investors by name, as well as filter the list by fund type (angel, VC), activity (for example, is the angel actively seeking investments), and location.