The need for scientific research to deliver economic growth has never been more pressing. The EU’s first chief scientific adviser Anne Glover tells Science|Business what she will do to close the gap between science and industry, and promote innovation.

When Anne Glover first donned a white lab coat as a biochemistry student at Edinburgh University in 1974, academic science and industry were separate worlds. Even as a PhD student at Cambridge University, she didn’t meet a single industrialist. “It would have been frowned on had I spoken to industry,” says Glover. “I thought business people were a foreign species.”

Continuous innovation is required to survive in all businesses, beginning with a startup, and increasing in importance as your business matures. Technologists often insist that new things can’t be invented on a schedule, but successful companies seem to be able to do it on a regular basis.

Many people have tried to define a process for innovation, but most are too abstract for me. I like the easy to remember approach found in “Robert’s Rules of Innovation: A 10-Step Program for Corporate Survival,” by Robert F. Brands. It seems to be more concrete, and chronicles several decades of practical experience to solidify the principles which together spell INNOVATION:

With the publication of Horizon 2020 the Commission has put forth its research and innovation (R&I) priorities for the coming years,  however it is still uncertain what will be in it for SMEs.  Finances directly earmarked for SMEs support activities have decreased compared to FP7 however new initiatives such as the SMEs dedicated instrument are being developed but it is not yet clear how it will work in practice. Understanding complementarity between measure under Horizon 2020 and those provided at regional and local level through the Structural Funds is also essential. The aim is to have a better understanding of the existing/planned initiatives so as to develop within both programmes a coherent ecosystem for R&I support to SMEs.

BIO International Convention organizers are hoping for the usual surge in attendance provided by the Boston biotech community at the event scheduled for June 18-21 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. While it may not reach the 22,000 level achieved at the last Boston BIO in 2007, it should surpass the 15,600 who came to last year's event in Washington, D.C. Exhibitors will occupy more than 215,000 sq. ft of exhibit space.

Attendance for the event has been off its historic highs since the Atlanta event in 2009 which drew about 14,000. Organizers attribute the drop that year to the H1N1 influenza epidemic which surfaced a few weeks before the convention and to the economic downturn. Attendance has been slowly recovering since 2009.

Equity capital markets bankers staring glumly at the US$217 million balance raised via Australian IPOs so far this year could soon have a new crop of clients: U.S. biotech companies and device-makers.

Californian sleep apnea device-maker Ventus Medical is currently raising A$40 million as part of its IPO while Minnesota’s Osprey Medical joined the Australian Securities Exchange on May 2, and – unlike Facebook — has held onto its offer price of 40 cents a share.

Thanks to the Internet and the advent of social networking communities, raising capital to start or grow a business has never been easier. These days, there is really no limit on how small or big an idea is, and there is a high likelihood that some outside party will be willing to fund at least a part of its development. There are opportunities to raise money from individuals, as well as sophisticated shops that specialize in funding venture capital endeavors. Below are five tips to help find that capital.

SEE: How Venture Capitalists Make Investment Choices

Create Your Business Plan At the risk of sounding obvious, success in obtaining funding stems directly from how strong the business idea is. The best way to investigate this is to get a detailed business plan together. The basic points of a plan include a summary of the company or opportunity, industry overview and details of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) facing the venture, as well as a financial overview, including past performance (if available), and projections for at least the next five years.

Last week I talked about the earliest market research on crowdfunding. Out of the responses to that column as well as to my initial column in Harvard Business Review, this caught my eye: RocketHub, one of the major crowdfunding platforms in the U.S. is working with the SEC in hopes of helping to guide the rules and criteria for lending-based and equity-based crowdfund investing when it becomes legal in the U.S., as the result of the JOBS bill, next year.

The whitepaper itself is 25 pages and pretty intense reading for the lay entrepreneur. If you’d like a copy, you can get it here: http://bit.ly/JuKSBb.

A chemical that can be found almost everywhere causes stem cells to become fat cells. It won’t make you fat on your own, but it makes your crappy diet a lot worse for you. How can you avoid it?

BPA, a potentially toxic estrogen-mimicking compound used in plastic production, has been linked to obesity in the past. That’s bad news; BPA is in everything from soup cans to store receipts. But this is even worse: a chemical that breaks down into BPA can cause stem cells to become fat cells. And we’re exposed to a whole lot more of that chemical than BPA.

A study by researchers at the UCLA School of Nursing has found that serious male cyclists may experience hormonal imbalances that could affect their reproductive health.

The study, “Reproductive Hormones and Interleukin-6 in Serious Leisure Male Athletes,” was recently published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology.

To date, an extensive amount of research has been done documenting the positive effects of long-term exercise on health. Yet while moderate exercise can lead to enhanced cardiovascular and metabolic function and reduced body fat, studies have shown that ultra-endurance levels of exercise can also adversely affect the neuroendocrine system and reproductive health.

As part of a lengthy meeting with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last week, the National Crowdfunding Association, www.NLCFA.org, delivered a twenty-four-point memorandum outlining the primary concerns and open questions regarding the regulations the SEC is currently drafting for the American investment crowdfunding market.  "We have a terrific team," said David Marlett, Executive Director of the NLCFA.  "When good people come together to work for a greater good, it's an honor just to be in the room."

Co-Chairing the NLCFA's SEC Regulatory Committee is Steve Vidal, an Austin, Texas venture capitalist and entrepreneur, and Sara Hanks, a Washington D.C. securities attorney who served as general counsel to the TARP Congressional Oversight Panel.  Ms. Hanks is CEO of CrowdCheck, www.CrowdCheck.biz, which provides due diligence services to the crowdfund market.  Joining the SEC meeting last week was another member of the NLCFA's SEC Committee, Kiran Lingam, a securities attorney and strong contributor to the crowdfunding dialogue through his blog, www.1billionangels.com.  Also participating were representatives of the crowdfunding portal, Early Shares, www.EarlyShares.com, helping give the portal's perspective on the issues being discussed.

Starting a business is a lot like starting a marriage. At first, all parties are in dreamland, with a vision of changing the world, having lots of fun, and raking in the profits. But all too soon, reality sets in. Product development is stuck at that 90% mark, a key person leaves, and customers are talking but not buying.

In his book Reality Check, Guy Kawasaki summarizes some of the key issues. I’ve seen them too often, and they seem to be the same for every company (and every marriage) no matter how great the team is. I challenge any startup to show me they have avoided all of these:

One of the founders isn’t delivering. Maybe he was the only guy around who could design the product you envisioned, but delivering a scalable, quality product is another story. Besides, he is now more interested in designing the next product.

Hands down, my favorite productivity tool is a simple digital timer. I’ve written before at ProfHacker about some of the ways I use it for writing, for exercising, and for household chores. (If you don’t have a physical timer handy, you can use one of these online versions, or download one for your phone.)

One of the questions I frequently get asked is: how long should my timed interval be?

The answer depends on what you’re doing and how you want the timer to help you.

For instance, a quick five-minute clean up can be a great way to tackle a messy desk.  When I’m engaged in serious writing, I’ll often set my timer for 40 minutes for concentrated effort. But many tasks fall somewhere in between.

In the last episode of TechStars, we saw why it is so important to choose the right name for your startup.

In this episode, we’ll get an inside look at how startups in an accelerator program prepare for the annual Demo Day, a rite of passage at which they present to a room full of investors and journalists.

One of the big secrets to a successful pitch is to practice, practice, practice. Before presenting on Demo Day, startups at TechStars will have pitched their business to fellow entrepreneurs, advisers and other peers over 100 times — often purposely subjecting themselves to harsh criticism that will prepare them for the critical eye of potential investors.

After the JOBS Act legalized crowdfunding-based investments in new businesses, the startup community set its sights on a new legislative goal: granting visas to foreigners who are pursuing a high-tech degree or building a business in the United States.

The Startup Act 2.0, introduced to the Senate this week, would create two new types of visas: a “STEM visa” for foreign-born students earning advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering and math in the U.S. and an “Entrepreneur’s visa” for foreigners starting businesses in the country.

This one comes up a lot, particularly in regards to our students, alumni and teachers. And while there is no single recipe for what makes a good entrepreneur or Acton MBA candidate, there are a number of common ingredients.

So What Do Entrepreneurs Have in Common?

There have been numerous articles published about the characteristics shared by all – or almost all – entrepreneurs, each taking its own unique spin. Rather than compile a single comprehensive list, we’re highlighting a few of the characteristics that stand out amongst Acton entrepreneurs – students, alumni and teachers alike.

Continuing our series on The Rise of the Creative Class, let’s look today at what Richard Florida calls the “no-caller workplace.” Remember, to join in on this conversation, join us next Thursday, May 31, at 7 p.m. for the Book Club Pub Crawl.

The Creative Class has created a monumental shift in the new economy’s workplace over the past few decades. Members of the Creative Class are attracted to companies and organizations that have evolved and embraced the “No-Collar Workplace,” which is the result of companies adapting to the rise of the creative work tends to resemble a flexible, open interactive model of a scientist’s lab or artist’s studio more so than a traditional, rigid and chain of command type model of factories or corporate offices.

Millionaires please apply: Australia needs you.

The resource-rich country is encouraging the world’s wealthy to migrate here with an overhaul of visa regulations designed to attract investors and entrepreneurs.

The center-left Labor government Friday unveiled a so-called significant investor visa, to be introduced from July 1, targeting migrants who can make an investment of at least 5 million Australian dollars (US$4.87 million) in the Australian economy.

Here's a new twist on an long-running story: an artificial heart kept a baby boy alive for 13 days while doctors waited for his new heart, reports Reuters. The bridge-to-transplant device was an infant version of the Jarvik 2000 and weighed only 11 grams (you can see the device in this slideshow). The titanium implant does not beat but instead uses a rotating motion to pump blood from the heart and through the body.

This is "LiquiGlide," a coating of non-toxic materials that allows every single drop of your favorite condiment to flow effortlessly out of the bottle.

LiquiGlide was invented by MIT PhD candidate Dave Smith, along with a team of mechanical engineers and nano-technologists, according to the story, first reported over at Fast Company.

The team, part of the Varanasi Research Group spent the last two months holed up in MIT's labs developing the amazing substance.

We're going to produce the ultimate "who to pitch" list of New York and Bay Area angel investors.

But first, we have to gather information. One way we're doing that is this survey.

If you're a New York or Bay Area angel investor, and you want startup entrepreneurs to know it, take this survey.