Ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues,

A year ago almost to the day, I had the pleasure to close the first ERAC mutual learning seminar organised under the new Europe 2020 strategy.

At that time, the focus was on fiscal consolidation, albeit “smart consolidation”, protecting, where possible, investment in research and innovation, and other growth-enhancing areas.

Today, public finances are still a major focus. But there’s a change of emphasis. People recognise that, vital though it is, fiscal discipline isn’t enough to solve Europe’s problems. It must be complemented by action for growth.

Here's a fun 5-minute exercise -- a good icebreaker or brainstorm session starter.

Make a list of every bad thing that will happen to you and your business if you don't figure out how to free yourself from being stuck between a rock and a hard place.

France’s first ever seed-capital fund for young management companies and its future star managers has been launched after it received the support of a number of major French institutional players.

The Emergence fund was launched as an initiative of Finance Innovation, an organisation aimed at guiding and supporting entrepreneurial initiatives in the French market, and has the backing of the AFG, the French asset management association

In the past 10 years more than 400 entrepreneurial management companies have been created in France and the fund aims to capitalise on the country’s active boutique asset management market.

Three Michigan companies recently received investments from the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund, totaling $585,000. To date, the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund, a collaborative effort of Michigan's SmartZones, has awarded 63 Michigan companies with seed funding totaling more than $14 million.

http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnthumb/20120125/DE42049

The Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund companies have attracted more than $18 million in matching grant and equity funds. In 2011, the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund made 12 investments totaling $2.4 million, matched with more than $2 million in investments and grants. Combined, the Michigan Pre-Seed Fund investments have helped to create more than 100 jobs in Michigan.

As the New Year begins, a lot of us are hoping to do better in our business than last year. And if last year did not meet our expectations, we are looking to improve things. Here are a few thoughts that have emerged as I battle to grow my business:

Get a Higher Goal

We all know how hard it was to start our company, get the product out and get those first 10-20 customers. Now, you are sitting at 65 customers and there is a little bit of money coming in. There is hope for more. You would be at a super comfortable income at 200 customers. Make sure you aim for a 1000 this year. If you don’t plan for a large enough target, you will find it a tough hike to 200 as well.

Small business ownership can be a challenge, especially in the beginning. The rewards can be great but you may need a survival guide to get you through the tough parts or just to provide that simple advice that seems so elusive when the pressure is on. We hope the links below will help, and don’t forget to enjoy the journey.

Basic Resources

Small business blogger survival guide. A big part of surviving as a small business blogger involves being a social animal. Here David Leonhardt gives every small business blogger some great resources to keep you, your business, and your blog alive. ProBlogger

Tax tips for business. How you manage money once your business makes it can sometimes be as critical as your business model. Here are some basic deductions you must take to be sure you are saving all that you can. The One of a Kind Preneur

One of the toughest things about running a business is the feeling of loneliness and isolation. You are on your own and nobody supports you because it’s hard for them to see what you see and feel the excitement that you feel at the critical stages. This is especially true if you run your small business from home.

The leadership position alone can cause loneliness and disconnectedness, and that sometimes results in self-defeating behaviors. If your personality already leans toward narcissism, being the boss will likely bring out the worst in you, leading to intimidation, deception, and the use of coercive power. Of course, that leads to further isolation.

In June 50 recent college graduates, from some of the best schools in the U.S., will join start-ups in struggling cities as part of Venture for America, a new program designed to help young companies, promote entrepreneurship and generate job growth. As VFA fellows, the graduates will receive five weeks of training at Brown University—where they’ll learn Excel and other consulting and banking-type skills—before moving to Detroit, New Orleans, Cincinnati and Providence for two years. Fifty companies— like The Brandery, in Cincinnati, and Detroit Venture Partners— will pay the fellows up to $38,000 a year, plus health benefits, to do everything from buying office supplies to making sales calls— whatever the small, fast-growing companies need.

“It’s true that a challenge is to put a fellow in a position where he or she can contribute and develop,” says VFA founder Andrew Yang, 37. “These companies have to have a genuine need for someone. It’s very difficult for a start-up to compete alongside big consulting firms and banks when they’re only looking to hire one or two people.”

Hey kids: If you’ve got a great idea for a startup, we know a guy who’d love to help you out over the summer.

The Teens In Tech incubator started last year as a way for ambitious, bright teenagers to accelerate their business and app ideas.

This year, the Teens In Tech gang is welcoming a second class and is taking applications now.

Last summer, six teams went through the incubation process. Nine out of thirteen founding team members were still in high school, but they presented unique approaches to problems most adults couldn’t even perceive.

Building on the momentum of the InvestMaryland initiative passed last session, Gov. Martin O'Malley unveiled a joint venture between the state, federal research labs and academic institutions to accelerate technology commercialization. Under the Maryland Innovation Initiative, participating universities would pay a fee of $250,000 each year and, when leveraged with state funds and private donations, a pool of money would be used to award grants to startup companies seeking to advance research from Maryland labs. The program would be administered by the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO). Legislation to establish the program was introduced as SB 239.

With countries struggling to build their post-crisis knowledge based growth strategies, there is an increased interest in understanding science to as engine of growth. Society’s grand challenges like climate change, ageing, security … all require science to effectively tackle them. The US science system is typically invoked as the frontier.  But one typically lacks detailed knowledge on how it actually operates.

Paula Stephan’s book provides a wealth of facts, figures and stories on the recent trends in the US science system. The data are processed through an economic framework, analyzing the incentives of researchers, what university science costs, who pays for it and who benefits. Paula’s book can help corporate users of science and science policy makers see what levers they have (or do not have) to direct science.

Building a community around your startup can be one of the cheapest ways to create momentum for your product. A community is much more than a one-time marketing campaign, and can help you throughout your company’s life cycle if you take the time to grow it right.

Here are 10 tips for getting started.

1. Look Before You Leap

First, take stock of who is already talking about your product or industry and where they’re doing it. Mike Handy, a community consultant, suggests you seek out “pockets of users who are excited about your product or service.” If users are already talking about your product on Twitter, for instance, that’s a good place to start building.

What happens when everybody’s a venture capitalist? The crowd is waiting to disrupt yet another industry, and the time is now for the venture industry to take advantage of it. Thoughts about crowdfunding and its potential impact on the venture capital industry.

Outside The In Crowd, New York, NY, 2011

A couple weeks ago I wrote about how the crowd is disrupting the photojournalism industry. Put a camera in everyone’s hand, and it’s not a surprise that the photography industry has to adapt a bit.

As the crowdfunding bill winds its way into Congress, the venture capital community has to start thinking about how the crowd could change how new ventures are funded and how they could have to adapt.  Let anyone invest a money in startups, and what happens?

In a world where knowledge workers are more in demand than ever, students must be able to keep pace with the evolving technical needs of employers. Visit The Chronicle's Online Learning microsite to learn how colleges are working with top education companies to prepare students for life after graduation.

The venture capital industry bounced back considerably in 2011, according a report released last week by PricewaterhouseCoopers  and the National Venture Capital Association. Investments totaled $28.4 billion, an increase of 22 percent over 2010 and a whopping 44 percent from 2009. They are almost back to their 2007 pre-crisis high of $30.8 billion.

The map above, by the Martin Prosperity Institute's Zara Matheson, shows the regional breakdown. (The PWC MoneyTree data is only available for this set of regions). Silicon Valley remains the leading center for venture capital investment with $11.6 billion, 40 percent of the total. New England (mainly the greater Boston area) was second with $3.2 billion in capital, 11 percent of the total. Greater New York was not far behind, with $2.7 billion or almost 10 percent. It also bested New England in the third quarter of 2011.

Women who consumed a diet high in animal fat and cholesterol before pregnancy were at higher risk for gestational diabetes than women whose diets were lower in animal fat and cholesterol, according to researchers at the National Institutes of Health and Harvard University.

Gestational diabetes is a form of diabetes seen during pregnancy. Gestational diabetes increases the risk for certain pregnancy complications and health problems in the newborn.

Women whose diets were high in total fat or other kinds of fats—but not in animal fat or cholesterol—did not have an increased risk.

Moreover, the increased risk for gestational diabetes seen with animal fat and cholesterol appeared to be independent of other, dietary and non-dietary, risk factors for gestational diabetes. For example, exercise is known to reduce the risk of gestational diabetes. Among women who exercised, however, those who consumed higher amounts of animal fat and cholesterol had a higher risk than those whose diets were lower in these types of fat.

As Medicon Valley‘s visitors introduced themselves to their Research Triangle Park, North Carolina hosts, members of the Scandinavian delegation took care to note whether they speak Danish, Swedish or both.

Medicon Valley is the life sciences cluster in Northern Europe that encompasses eastern Denmark and southwest Sweden. The cluster, spanning the Oresund Strait, includes 4 million inhabitants, 10 universities, 14,000 university researchers, 32 hospitals, 450 companies and seven science parks.

But although Medicon Valley has firmly established itself as a European sciences hub, the region has always cast its eyes for opportunities beyond Europe. For two days, those eyes were set on North Carolina as a group of 30 Medicon Valley representatives toured North Carolina’s Research Triangle. The visit was capped by a Tuesday night gathering at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center that brought scientists and companies from Scandinavia together with their counterparts in North Carolina. Their common language was nanotechnology.

Boston has no place for “serious, venture-backed startups” to grow from five employees to 25 employees, akin to San Francisco’s RocketSpace, or New York City’s General Assembly, says Mark Kasdorf.

Enter Intrepid Labs, the co-working space he recently established in the former digs of another co-working space (Dogpatch Labs) at 222 Third Street near Kendall Square in Cambridge, MA.

Intrepid Labs comes as the answer to a problem Kasdorf himself was facing. His mobile development company Intrepid Pursuits started with three people in the co-working unit (C3) of the Cambridge Innovation Center around the spring of 2010. It grew pretty quickly to eight people, so was kicked out of the C3. The building gave them an attractive “transition” rate to move into the more grownup office space, says Kasdorf, but they outgrew that, too, hitting about 15 employees last fall.

The “show me” state is showing some love and money to entrepreneurs willing to locate there.

A new program dubbed Arch Grants, which debuted this week, sponsors an annual business competition and will award $50,000 to at least ten start-ups each year once they move to St. Louis, Mo. Two companies that excel will also be eligible for up to another $100,000 each year and introductions to angel investors.

Along with the cash–which program co-founder Jerry Schlichter says goes a lot farther in St. Louis than in other urban areas–start-ups are given free legal and accounting services, discounts on housing and affordable office space. Companies will be part of a business networking and mentoring network and be invited to collaborate with local universities including Washington University, St. Louis University, University of Missouri at St. Louis, Webster University and Harris Stowe University.