The fifth annual Maker Faire drew tens of thousands of people to the county fairgrounds in San Mateo, Calif. Started by Make magazine for the Do-It-Yourself crowd, the event is a blend of wacky Burning Man style creativity, Rube Goldberg inventions, and technological marvels. Organizers estimate 95,000 people will attend by the end of this weekend. The 600 exhibits featured science projects by kids at local schools to well-financed projects by major corporations. All of them were celebrations of the can-do attitude that fuels Silicon Valley, breathing life into the innovative prototyping process and the culture of hacking.

Today’s the opening day our of TechCrunch Disrupt conference, and we’re starting it off with a bang. Famed interviewer/journalist/host Charlie Rose is talking to John Doerr, partner at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Doerr is known for his massively successful investments in companies such as Google, Amazon, Intuit, and more recently Zynga (among many others).

Rose asked Doerr for his thoughts about what’s coming next. Doerr says that’s we’re on the third great wave of innovation. The first was the microchip/PC in the 80s. The second was the Internet in the 90s. And now we’re entering a wave of social, mobile, and new commerce, Doerr says.

And what’s leading that wave? The iPad.

In an informal partnership with Philadelphia magazine’s new Philly Post daily news blog, Technically Philly will be offering our insight on Philadelphia technology to a broader audience of tech-interested individuals every Tuesday. As is true of so much of our effort, this is yet another opportunity to voice the triumphs and concerns of the community to a broader audience in the city and beyond.

Inside the pages of this magazine’s December 2008 issue, the 100 moments that most shaped this city were listed in careful detail.

Grants, loans and capital investments can provide a crucial boost to a young business, but not every region provides the same level of support. Find out if your state is a good place for entrepreneurs to find the backing they need.

In today's economic climate, even the most experienced entrepreneurs might need a helping hand. But although federal stimulus funding has been used to support ailing automakers and banks, small businesses and startups have had a more difficult time obtaining public funds or loans for their enterprises. Fortunately, conditions tend to be better on a regional level, with many states providing benefits and favorable lending practices to encourage local entrepreneurship.

Over 20,000 students and supporters from around the world will travel to Michigan for the 31st annual Odyssey of the Mind World Finals from May 26 – 29 at Michigan State University. Students from different cultures and widely varying economic backgrounds will prove that creativity is universal. They will all demonstrate their unique creative solution to an Odyssey of the Mind problem.

The teams have worked throughout the school year solving an OotM problem and were judged as the most creative in a series of rigorous state and national competitions. At MSU, the teams will represent their state and country in hopes to prove that they are the world's most creative problem-solvers. Odyssey of the Mind has teams throughout the United States and in more than 15 other countries including China, South Korea, Poland, Germany, Singapore, and Mexico.

Google unveiled the results of its first state-by-state analysis of the company’s impact on regional economies at press events in 10 cities on Tuesday, including Cambridge, MA, Detroit, and Seattle. For the most part, Google measured the value it generates when local advertisers and Web publishers use its AdWords and AdSense platforms for Web advertising.

Overall, Google claimed that transactions enabled by its search and advertising tools added up to $54 billion across the United States in 2009. About one-fourth of that that activity, $14.13 billion, took place in California. New York felt the second-biggest Google impact, with $6.27 billion in advertising-driven activity, followed by Illinois at $3.24 billion and Texas at $3.18 billion. Xconomy’s other home states of Massachusetts, Michigan, and Washington saw total economic value of $2.2 billion, $906 million, and $2.8 billion, respectively.

Women across the nation are preparing to play an integral role in the green economy, and the United States will need their help if we’re going to pull ourselves out of the recession and compete in the new economy on a global scale.

It’s true that men have been hit the hardest in the recession as far an unemployment numbers go, but we will need to seize the opportunity to diversify the future workforce in a way that will incorporate all workers in all areas of the clean energy economy—including those where women have been traditionally underrepresented.

Sir,

Regarding ‘Regional ’stars’ rewarded for innovative projects‘:

The EU’s integrated ‘innovation chain’ has never been complete and therefore will never work. For if we have a broken link in any connected chain or necklace, it will always inextricably fall to the ground. The only way to fix that link is to connect the two unconnected ends together: likewise for Europe’s innovation strategy, which is currently missing its vital link of ‘independent’ invention and ideas - the prerequisite of economic dynamism in the 21st Century.

Martin Schuurmans, chairman of the newly-formed European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), says he is "not pessimistic" about Europe's ability to lead on research and innovation. But it needs to speed up if it wants to keep up with global competitors, the EIT chairman told EurActiv in an interview.

According to Dr. Schuurmans, Europe is not in a bad position when it comes to research and innovation.

Even a brand new computer can be slowed down by a particular combination of hardware or software, and it's difficult to figure out what's wrong. Soluto, a startup based in Tel Aviv, Israel, that launched this week, hopes to offer users advice on how to avoid this kind of slowdown.

Soluto's software runs in the background on a PC and is designed to detect problems that slow a machine down as well as solutions that speed it up again. The idea is to collect this information and use it to recommend software and hardware fixes to other users. "We know when you're frustrated, we know what causes it, and if you do something smart to your PC, we learn from it," says Roee Adler, chief product officer for the company.

Launched only 3 months ago, The IP Net is the first f-r-e-e to all technology matching system. Already, more than 50 international universities are using IP Net to market their technologies to corporations, and more than 140 industry organizations including 80 large corporations and multinationals have registered to receive IP updates from the site. . The site is truly international, with more than 60 countries visiting the site to date.  While BFW policies prohibit the promotion of commercial products or for profit companies, IP Net is a product of the University of Manchester, with input and philanthropic sponsorship from industry. No party is making income from the project.

The IP Net allows "anyone/anywhere" to market technology or to seek innovations. It is "two way" both for technology offers and technology requests.  Technologies are added to the system directly by university users. Then, these technologies are simultaneously marketed and promoted to companies using a very simple and lean e-mail system. This e-mail technique makes it quick and easy for corporations to quickly filter large numbers of technology opportunities.

It’s often said we know more about the moon than we do about the depths of the ocean. There is a lot we don’t know about the H2O that covers much of the planet. Now we’re getting closer, though, to an important understanding: Just how deep are the oceans, and what’s the volume of all that water? The latest, best estimate is 1.332 billion cubic kilometers, according to research published in the journal Oceanography.

That’s actually lower than previous estimates by about five Gulf of Mexicos. It’s not that there’s less water out there. Rather, new satelite images have presented a clearer image of all the mountain ranges strewn across the ocean floor. Those peaks displace what we’d thought of as space for water.

Nokia’s Calling All Innovators competition has always been about trying to find the best big ideas for mobile applications from developers around the world. This year, Nokia is taking that desire to find big ideas to a whole new level. We’re looking to invest in an idea that is worth $1 million!

Nokia’s Growth Economy Venture Challenge will provide a venture capital investment in the winning proposal of $1 million (USD). Bear in mind, this is not a gift, grant or prize. It’s an investment aimed at creating a strong, vibrant business that will also improve people’s lives.

Over the past 50 years, the United States has led the world in science and technology innovation. Yet now there are troubling signs of a downward trend in American innovation. Last year, for example, was the first time that non-U.S. innovators filed more patents than Americans; the United States is also falling behind other countries in the percentage of gross domestic product spent on national research and development.

On June 8, the Brookings Institution will host a forum on improving U.S. science and technology innovation and investment. The inaugural A. Alfred Taubman Forum will convene leaders from government, higher education, and business to discuss policy actions that will improve the climate for science and technology in the United States.

New York City and FirstMark Capital LLC, a private equity firm, created a $22 million partnership to help finance new businesses and made its first investment today in MyCityWay, a creator of mobile-device applications.

The fund, described by Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office as the first of its kind outside the Silicon Valley, was created with $19 million from Manhattan-based FirstMark and $3 million from the city, the mayor’s office said in a news release.

This year's 100 Most Creative People offers our own, idiosyncratic perspective on business. The selections reflect he breadth of news ideas and new pursuits at play in our business landscape. From interface designer Yugo Nakamura to HBO Documentary Films president Sheila Nevins to futurist Ray Kurzweil, we can attest that creativity is alive and well in 2010.

JumpStart - President, JumpStart Advisors

Title: President, JumpStart Advisors
Reports to: CEO
Anticipated Hire Date: ASAP
Commitment: Full-time Position
Location: Cleveland, OH preferred but not required

About JumpStart Inc.

JumpStart Inc. is a non-profit venture development organization whose vision is to solidify, celebrate, and continually grow Northeast Ohio as a nationally significant center of entrepreneurship and innovation.

Over the last six years JumpStart has been focused on leading and executing a wide range of programs and initiatives to build an entrepreneurial, high-growth ecosystem in Northeast Ohio. Its work has been recognized with numerous national awards including recognition from the U.S. Commerce Department stating that “JumpStart is the best and brightest example of 21st century economic development”.

Last week, the flagship federal legislation for U.S. competitiveness containing broad support for science, technology, and advanced education - called the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 - collapsed in Congress after it was blocked from passage through the House, despite already being significantly weakened.

Enter the age of American polarization, where bread-and-butter competitiveness and innovation policy is subject to hyper-partisan politics and obstructionism, even in the face of rapidly rising global competition. America COMPETES, which was originally passed with strong bipartisan support under President Bush, may be yet one more casualty of today's extreme political polarization, which according to one major study is at the highest level in over a century.

“God formed the man from the dust in the ground.” —Genesis 2:7

The announcement by Craig Venter last week that his eponymous institute has “rebooted” a cell using a made-from-scratch length of DNA has excited the usual round of pronouncements that a milestone has been reached, that Venter is the first scientist to truly “play God.” This ambiguous assertion is in some cases accompanied by demands that synthetic genomics cease and desist, and that if necessary there should be a government ban. The world of science got a remarkably similar shock in 1828 when Friedrich Wohler first synthesized an organic compound from non-organic chemicals. But more on that in a moment.

Sovereign Wealth Funds, the large investment funds supported by governments, are mostly a positive economic force that can provide a shot in the arm to the companies -- and countries -- they invest in. They are also a stabilizing force for the nation where the investment originates. Those are some of the main takeaways from a new study, "The Brave New World of Sovereign Wealth Funds," conducted by Wharton MBA students and sponsored by the Wharton Leadership Center and the Joseph H. Lauder Institute of Management & International Studies. The research suggests there is little reason to worry about these funds acting from political rather than economic motives. In an interview with Knowledge@Wharton, Wharton management professor Mauro F. Guillén, who helped to oversee the research, and two Wharton MBA candidates present some of the study's key findings. An edited transcript of the interview follows. The complete study can be downloaded as a pdf here.