Starting a company is really, really hard. Helping entrepreneurs start and build companies is really, really hard. Much has been written about the mechanics of entrepreneur/investor interaction, from how to pitch investors, structure the round, assemble board decks, undertake strategic planning, etc. But after more than six years of seed stage investing, perhaps the most important and least well-understood aspect of the relationship is the implicit covenant that exists between entrepreneur and investor.

Governor M. Jodi Rell recently announced that a key provision of the bipartisan Jobs Bill that Governor Rell helped shepherd to passage in the most recent legislative session is triggering a $72 million investment in at least 25 Connecticut small businesses, helping to create jobs, spur innovation and strengthen the state’s economy.

Advantage Capital Partners is the first venture capital and small business finance firm to be certified as a fund manager under the newly revised Insurance Reinvestment Tax Credit program, which was updated as part of the Jobs Bill. The program leverages private capital provided by insurance companies that is then invested by state-certified fund managers.

The Jobs Bill – passed by the Legislature in the waning days of the regular session – is a sweeping, bipartisan package that offers incentives for employers, supports small business and emerging industries, provides resources for tuition and training, helps manufacturers find efficiencies and includes accountability measures to safeguard state taxpayer dollars. The bill was the product of cooperative efforts Governor Rell began in the first leadership meeting of the legislative session.

News reaches WIREDVC HQ from snow-bound Scotland, that a new £20m ($31m) venture capital fund is to be launched by Steve Leach, the founder of digital advertising agency bigmouthmedia. To be named (unsurprisingly) The Steve Leach Partnership, the new firm is going to target Internet based businesses, but is understood to also have its eyes on at at least one Scottish renewable energy concern, starting next year.

Mr Leach is raising the money for his new firm by selling eighty percent of his holding in LBI, a Dutch agency that acquired bigmouthmedia earlier this year. He quit his executive duties at the agency last summer, following the takeover.

The Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM) is one of five new centres to be funded by the Government of Canada through the 2010 Centres of Excellence for the Commercialization of Research (CECR) competition. The CECR program is administered by the Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) Secretariat, which supports successful research partnerships between universities, industry, not-for-profit organizations and government.

The centre was awarded $15 million over five years, allowing its members to address the barriers faced by the Canadian regenerative medicine (RM) industry, such as the licensing of early-stage RM technologies to companies outside of Canada before their market value is realized.

Hosted by the University of Toronto, CCRM brings together leading RM experts from the University of Toronto and McMaster University, with researchers from the Hospital for Sick Children, the University Heath Network, the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and Mount Sinai Hospital, to accelerate RM research and development, and create a commercialization pipeline that rapidly brings RM technologies to market. These researchers are working to harness the power of stem cells, biomaterials and molecules through innovative technologies to treat, and perhaps cure, diseased cells, tissues and organs.

Dear SBIR Insider,

This is a quick interim update as to congressional actions affecting SBIR/STTR reauthorization. It's hard to believe that things are still "fluid" in these waning hours of this 111th "lame duck" (some may say "insane duck") congress. As Lawrence Peter (Yogi) Berra said, "It ain't over till it's over." We may issue an update (perhaps with a call to action) at anytime, however we will have a full blown SBIR Insider for you later this week.

Regardless of the outcome of congressional efforts, the SBIR Insider wants to acknowledge the extraordinary work of all the congressional staffers and parliamentarians, who due to the stress and strain are buckling at the knees, but somehow manage to keep going under the extreme load during this manic period.

The retail season is in full swing for the holidays, and it couldn't happen without two giants of logistics, UPS and FedEx. As those brown UPS trucks remind us, the global economy thrives on "synchronizing the world of commerce."

Not long ago, I talked with FedEx founder Fred Smith at a World 50 meeting of executives in Memphis, Tennessee. More recently I visited the company's operations in the midst of holiday-season madness.

Although economic growth stagnated in 2009, a new survey says scientific research from about 150 universities created 555 startup companies and resulted in over 4,500 patent optioning and licensing deals last year, earning $1.8 billion in payouts for the institutions in the process. The numbers continue a decade-long trend of the increased role of universities in generating commercial products for businesses.

"Technology transfer" -- as the process of universities commercializing their findings is known -- allows businesses to turn the fruits of academic research into new technologies, such as new drugs and energy-saving products. In return, universities collect licensing fees or royalties, or a partial ownership stake in a product. Universities also typically have a small staff dedicated to brokering deals on hand -- not an insignificant source of employment itself.

America Competes Bill to Be Heard in House Tuesday
Bill Includes Science Park Support

My journey into crowdfunding was not exactly typical.

Originally, I began exploring a new concept for an early-stage VC firm, one that was a radical departure from the old-school model, which seems to hold a belief that the minds of a few partners and their ‘Rolodex’ can outperform the collective wisdom of the billions of people on the planet.

In researching this new model, I became increasingly exposed to and excited about crowdfunding, which shares many of the dynamics. While in many ways still in its “first inning”, crowdfunding is already on an exponential tear, and has the potential to be a powerhouse of capital formation and an integral part of Venture Capital’s future.

Philadelphia, Pa., December 20, 2010 – Mayor Michael Nutter announced details of a report, which highlights Philadelphia’s creative sector performance as ranking above average when compared to local, state and national benchmarks. The report, called Creative Vitality in Philadelphia; A Three Year Index: 2006-2008, used the Creative Vitality Index (CVI) to measure Philadelphia’s strength in the creative sector. Philadelphia’s CVI score was established based on revenue, sales and employment figures. The analysis and report were funded by the William Penn Foundation.

• From 2006- 2008, Philadelphia’s creative sector performance increased by 7% and measured at 1.7, which is 70% stronger than the national baseline score of 1.0
• From 2006-2008, the CVI score for Philadelphia’s nonprofit arts sector was five times the national benchmark
• In 2008, Philadelphia’s creative sector employed 17,699 people.

Ideally, you'll find some time over the next few weeks to curl up with a good story. Or hey, at least that's what I look forward to on vacation. If you are looking for some books on entrepreneurship to read, or even to gift, here are some recommended books from 2010. There were a number of great business books published this year, many of which we reviewed here as part of ReadWriteWeb's "Weekend Reading" series. But here are a few of the standouts, startup books we've chosen specifically because they are such great stories:

Do More Faster: TechStars Lessons to Accelerate Your Startup

Do More Faster: TechStars Lessons to Accelerate Your Startup is the recent book by TechStars co-founder David Cohen and Brad Feld. The book aims to share some of the insights gleaned from those who've participated in the TechStars accelerator program, and many of the chapters were contributed by TechStars' mentors and entrepreneurs. The book, according to its authors, is like TechStars: "community-driven and mentorship-oriented."

As we approach another week holiday shopping a lot of us are disheartened by increasing commercialism at Christmas.   And again we ask: Can money buy happiness?

Well back in 1974 something called the Easterlin Paradox answered this question. It was economist Richard Easterlin who discovered that high incomes are correlated with lots of happiness. But over the long term there’s this point at which increased income doesn’t correlate with increased happiness. This is the paradox.

Just last week Easterlin published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science an update on his famous paper.

Building a Creative Innovation Economy Opportunities for the Australian and New Zealand creative sectors in the digital environment Progress Report Cultural Ministers Council ...

For those of you who receive our newsletter, these predictions are the same ones we made in our December 2010 edition. For those who don't know about the newsletter or our yearly predictions about innovation, please read ahead.

Keeping with the publishing traditions that demand that most articles in December relate to a "top ten" list from the year just past or predictions about the near future, each year we boldly stake out several predictions about the future of innovation. Each year we also recap the predictions we got right, and wrong, from the previous year. For 2011, we're making the following predictions about innovation:

1. Ideas come from everywhere - "open" innovation is ubiquitous
2. Experience is more important than product - the outcomes change from new products to new experiences
3. Timeframes shorten - while organizations are getting better at generating ideas, the timeframe from idea to commercialization hasn't changed.
4. Creativity re-enters the workforce.

What’s in a name? A lot, when it comes to small-business success. The right name can make your company the talk of the town. The wrong one can doom it to obscurity and failure. Ideally, your name should convey the expertise, value and uniqueness of the product or service you have developed.

Some experts believe that the best names are abstract, a blank slate upon which to create an image. Others think that names should be informative so customers know immediately what your business is. Some believe that coined names (that come from made-up words) are more memorable than names that use real words. Others think they’re forgettable.

It’s time to give your staff a little something nice. But, hey, do them a favor and put more thought into it this year rather than just pass out the same bland checks or company coffee mugs.

Still short on cash? That’s not an excuse. See the list below for 10 creative ways to mix things up a bit this holiday season and give employees a boost — without breaking the bank.

1. Try their luck

Over the course of his 30 year career, New York-based CPA Steven Elliott has received everything from gifts of wine to engraved pens to a company bowling night. His all-time favorite: lottery tickets. “You often come out with nothing. But there is that chance that maybe, just maybe, you might walk away with something.” And one year he did: $400.

What do website gadget developer LabPixies and insulin pump maker Medingo have in common? It's not only that both companies are based in Israel. They also are among the country's start-ups that have attracted the attention of international investors, with U.S. Internet giant Google recently snapping up LabPixies and Swiss pharmaceutical multinational Roche buying Medingo, a subsidiary of local medical device conglomerate Elron Electronic Industries. Israel is indeed becoming fertile ground for the likes of Google, Roche and other companies looking to acquire innovative businesses to add to their portfolios.

That's why when U.S. software firm Microsoft was scanning the globe for new sites to expand its international research and development presence a few years ago, Israel was on its itinerary, according to Zach Weisfeld, the firm's country director of business development and strategy.

For biotech to blossom in any European region, several key parameters must exist locally and simultaneously:

• Intense and excellent academic research in life sciences with effective technology transfer;
• Entrepreneurial spirit;
• Proactive venture capitalists;
• Government incentives for young innovative companies;
• Experienced management;
• A supportive stock market.

      And some might add: a sunny environment with good international schools for kids of management and biotech-savvy large pharmaceutical companies. I will focus on academic research and financial support of startups. The most important factor in biotech cluster success is academic research. Although some companies, like the French firm Carmat, an EADS spinoff which is developing the most advanced totally artificial heart, come out of corporations, they benefit from academic backing. Carmat would not exist without the academic support of Paris VI University.

It's been a fun year for tech fans.

We saw the rise of tablets like the iPad and Galaxy Tab, envelope-pushing smartphones like the iPhone 4 and Nexus S, and surprise hits like Microsoft's Kinect and Amazon's third Kindle.

We also saw hints of more cool stuff for 2011 like more tablets, new computer technology, and much more.