With a concentration of start-ups just behind that of Silicon Valley and an impressive pool of engineers, Israel is becoming the new standard for high-tech, with a unique business model.

Internet-related activities contributed 9 billion euros (12.6 billion dollars) to the Israeli economy in 2009, representing 6.5 percent of GDP, according to a report from management consultancy McKinsey.

The sector is worth more than the construction industry (5.4 percent of GDP) and almost as much as health (6.8 percent).

Presenting your startup vision as a founder to a potential investor, or presenting an idea as an employee to an executive, requires that you effectively communicate, or “translate”, the value proposition into terms that the receiver can fully understand and appreciate. If you fail, it’s your loss, not theirs, no matter what the reason.

For example, if your investor has been a senior business leader, you need to transform your message so that it addresses the issues that senior business leaders have experienced as priorities. For the business leaders I know, these priorities almost always include the following:

Business agility. How can my company keep up with the ever increasing rate of change in technology, core business strategies, and culture trends? Implicit in agility is increased productivity on change initiatives. This applies to startups as well as big companies.

In this three-part series I will explore the ways that the Venture Capital industry has changed over the past 5 years that I would argue are a direct result of changes in the software industry, not the other way around. Specifically, Amazon has changed our entire industry in profound ways often not attributed strongly enough to them.

I believe the changes to the industry will be lasting rather than temporal change. Venture capital is in the process of its own creative destruction with new market entrants and new models of innovation at the precise moment that our industry itself is contracting.

So you made it to the “full partnership pitch.” You have already had one (or likely multiple) meetings with a subset of a firm’s investment team, including a principal and perhaps a general partner. You’ve impressed your point person (or people) sufficiently so that you have been invited to present to the broader partnership. What do you do now? Here are five things to keep in mind.

1. Focus on Style, Not Just Substance

This may sound counterintuitive. However, if you have been asked to come in and present to the full partnership, you have already done a good job defining, defending and articulating your business plan, and addressing many questions and concerns. Your initial contacts from the firm have likely already written up one or more memos introducing your company, and have had multiple internal discussions about your company’s compelling prospective investment.

In the 1980s, Mikhail Gorbachev initiated Perestroika, a political-economic reform that transformed Russia from a government-planned economy to a Western-oriented market economy.  Today, President Medvedev is putting his weight behind an almost equally colossal initiative – Skolkovo, which is perhaps the world’s largest government-backed entrepreneurial hot-spot, built from scratch within a global context.  Although it is still unclear whether Skolkovo will achieve its next milestone and become a prosperous hub of innovation, one thing is certain – Russia will never be the same after the globalization and modernization that the Skolkovo initiative brings. Indeed, Skolkovo is the new Perestroika.

The government has allocated $2.8 billion for the Skolkovo Foundation, which was established “to create a special environment that will concentrate intellectual resources and encourage free creativity and scientific inquiry.”  Although this undertaking will not likely result in a Silicon Valley look-alike, it is clearly one of the most significant steps that Russia has taken toward modernization and innovation to date. This outreach to the global technological innovation community will create Russia’s globalized cluster – a hub of entrepreneurial activity built on Moscow’s local talent, wealth and favorable regulation, with global reach and scale.

(KANSAS CITY, Mo.) June 29, 2011 – A new, inspiring online education program designed to engage students in the unlimited opportunities that an entrepreneurial mindset can provide launches today. Backed by the support of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the world’s largest foundation dedicated to advancing entrepreneurship, the Ice House Entrepreneurship Program is an interactive online learning program that enables participants to learn from the firsthand experiences of successful real-world entrepreneurs.

Created through a collaboration with the Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative and Pulitzer Prize nominee Clifton Taulbert, the Ice House Entrepreneurship Program is a two-part learning project:

The Book: Based on the personal experience of author Clifton Taulbert, Who Owns the Icehouse? is a powerful and compelling story that draws on the entrepreneurial influence and eight essential life-lessons Taulbert gained from his Uncle Cleve, an unlikely entrepreneur in the segregated South. More information about the book is available here.

Last July, I spoke at the ImmigrationWorks USA Summit, in Seattle, about the importance of immigration reform. It was a difficult decision for me, and not because I didn’t support the cause. Instead, it was a question of safety.

Speakers at this event received letters, eventually collected by the FBI, telling them that if they attended “the biggest gathering of traitors of the century,” they would do so “at their own peril.” Attached to the letters were M1 bullets -- a carbine used in semi-automatic weapons by government and paramilitary forces. I never found out what the FBI did with those letters, and I don’t want to know.

There’s been a storm around Skype ever since former employee Yee Lee let rip and accused the company’s investors, Silver Lake, of screwing employees over in its $9 billion sale to Microsoft. Specifically, Lee was upset by the discovery that his stock options suddenly become subject to “clawback” deals that made his stake in the company (which he had left before the sale) worthless.

With Silver Lake on the ropes, everyone has been jumping in to get their punches in. Michael Arrington almost popped at the prospect of such sneaky clauses; Reuters super-blogger Felix Salmon got (rightly) angry about the way the fine print worked. All in all,this bare knuckle brawl sends a simple message: Clawbacks are bad, and they should be fought wherever possible.

Broadly speaking, capitalism does not deal with its social consequences. Even as communities grow richer on average, so the gap between the “haves” and the “have-nots” increases. For example, since the mid-1970s, both the USA and UK have actually become less equal rather than more equal. In the long post-war boom many governments did make significant headway in ameliorating the consequences of social inequality. This can be seen in levels of investment in areas such as health and in critical performance measures such as life expectancy. Nevertheless, governments, despite their best efforts and even in the best of times, have not been able to resolve all social problems.

Commentators on one side of the political spectrum attribute this failure to the lack of resources available to the state and to the state’s reluctance or inability to act appropriately. Commentators on the other side attribute government’s shortcomings to the inherent inefficiency of the state itself. The truth is that the political process, which focuses on short-term gains, does not favor long-term, preventative investment of the type required to address major social problems.

Ian Jeffery, general manager of startup accelerator program founderfuel.com, summed up to me yesterday why you should join an accelerator program: it’s all about the networks and the connections.

Currently, it takes less and less resources to develop and launch a product. With $10,000, a startup team can take a few months to build a web or mobile app, and have enough to support an initial product launch. What matters though is access to markets, getting connected to network, or having first customers, and programs like FounderFuel can exactly do that: get your first foot into the door. FounderFuel has all the mentors you could need, such as successful entrepreneurs to mentor you in your startup process, executives to get deals, and access to investors. Moreover, Ian Jeffrey explains that those mentors will also introduce you to their network. And that’s something money can’t buy.

Today, I would like to discuss regulatory aspects of crowdfunding. There are several proposals now that aim to change existing regulation to provide small businesses with easier access to capital markets.

One such proposal comes from the Sustainable Economies Law Center (SELC). In July 2010, SELC proposed to the SEC to exempt from registration requirements of Section 5 of the Securities Act securities offerings up to $100,000 in total amount raised with a $100 maximum investment limit per investor. Investors can be only individuals and must be either U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Investors cannot participate in multiple offerings at the same time. Petition is available at www.sec.gov/rules/petitions/2010/petn4-605.pdf.

In my opinion, the SELC proposal is not practical in limiting investment amount to only $100 per investor. A $10,000 limit is much more reasonable, and if lost, would unlikely lead to investor's bankruptcy. Also, the rationale for limiting investors only to one offering at a time is unclear. After all, if they are choosing to participate in risky investments, then they have to be prepared to bear the risks (especially, if the investments are limited to $100).

When I left the private sector to make my first run for public office, I kept saying things that some people thought were naïve, too idealistic or both. Michigan’s biggest challenge was a culture of doubt that was inhibiting meaningful change.

It wasn’t just a matter of “entitled” or “entrenched” special interests. We simply grew too pessimistic.

Our public policy debates too often focused on the view from our economic rearview mirror, rather than looking straight ahead. Some Michiganders lost sight of our legacy: the optimism and imagination that put the world on wheels and helped win World War II by out-engineering and out-producing the Axis war machines. After defeating foreign rivals, we spent too much time fighting each other.

DuPont announced today its plan to open new global Innovation Centers, with the first in Asia Pacific. The two Innovation Centers opening this month include one in Korea, servicing the electronics and automotive industries, and another in Taiwan, focusing on the electronics and communications markets. Beginning in autumn, new Innovation Centers in Thailand and India also will be ready to collaborate with customers around renewable energy initiatives and innovations. Additional Innovation Centers are planned in Latin America, Europe and North America.

DuPont's goal is to partner on solutions that fuel local collaboration and application development and engage customers in inclusive innovation – wherever they are in the world.

“The global population has grown to 7 billion, generating great need for food, energy and protection. We realize that meeting these needs will require more than science. Globally, we are committed to leading collaborative and inclusive innovations to respond to the challenges facing the world today. Collaboration is the driving force behind establishing these country-focused Innovation Centers,” said Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer Thomas M. Connelly.

By Rosemarie Truman

Product development in the Life Sciences industry is generally a risky business…for every 25,000 compounds tested in the laboratory, 25 will enter clinical trials, 5 will be approved by regulatory authorities, and only 1 is likely to recoup the investment made.

To see how the industry and the risks involved have become so daunting, let’s examine what has occurred over the past 10 years:

a) Lack of Incentive to Invest:

• a. Biotech: A cumulative operating income statement over the last 10 years for publically traded biotech companies (excluding Amgen) illustrates a loss on average of 12%
• b. Biopharma: On average, over the last 10 years, large biopharma companies have lost 50% of their market cap (even with the large number of ongoing M&A deals)

b) Herculean Effort Required to Get a Product to Market:

• a. Clinical Trials: The number of clinical trials required to get one drug approved has risen by 80-100%, going from 8 clinical trials to 15-16
• b. Product Development Cost: Over the last 10 years, it has nearly doubled, going from $1 billion to $1.8 billion

c) Margin Compression:

• a. Growth rates in product demand are largest in China, where a biopharma can only command a fraction of typical prices
• b. Where prices used to be “healthy” in places like the US and the UK, the US healthcare reform has also driven down prices and, in the UK, Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme delivered cuts of 3.9% in 2009, followed by 1.9% in 2010
• c. In addition, health care authorities and payers are seeking significant “real life” value of drugs to justify paying a premium (e.g., they require true differentiation vs. basic efficacy)

2011 BIO International Convention WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) released today a summary of legislative proposals to reform the investment and regulatory environment for biotech innovation. These proposals are designed to unleash the innovation required to cure disease and make the U.S. healthcare system more affordable, efficient, and of higher quality, as well as to foster the development of breakthrough technologies to provide alternative energy sources, combat hunger and protect against bio-terrorism. The policy proposals, released at a press briefing at the 2011 BIO International Convention held here this week, will serve as the organization’s targeted advocacy plan in these two areas.

“Mankind’s need for the promise of biotechnology to cure disease, to combat hunger, and to discover new forms of energy has never been more urgent,” said Jim Greenwood, BIO’s President and CEO. “Yet despite the extraordinary hope offered by biotechnology, government policies and the capital formation environment necessary to support these policies are insufficiently conducive to enable our industry to most effectively meet these challenges. Our policy proposals are designed to improve the odds for biotech innovation and the patients and communities we serve.”

Whether it’s due to the lingering recession, job insecurity, increased workload or other factors entirely, job burnout is on the rise around the world, according to the World Economic Forum.

Job burnout isn’t simply being bored or disenchanted with your work. Rather, it’s the result of prolonged work stress and is characterized by exhaustion, cynicism, a lower sense of accomplishment and severely reduced productivity. Burnout can also lead to increases in stress hormones, heart disease, and mental health issues like depression. Studies on the condition have found that there are generally three types of burnout: frenetic, under-challenged, and worn-out.

I don’t know about you, but I’m kind of inclined to sit up and listen to someone who self-describes himself as a “green energy czar” no matter how pretentious I think the title. So, that’s why I’m perched in front of my notebook computer late on a Tuesday night, reading Google.org Green Energy Czar Bill Weihl’s commentary about his organization’s new research covering why new clean energy is worth the investment. Actually the blog is signed by both Weihl and Charles Baron, from the Google.org Clean Energy Team. Google has invested plenty of money in this area — nearly $1 billion — so it had better be sure that there is a payoff.

The data that Google uses was crunched with the McKinsey Low Carbon Economics tool, which calculates the potential economic impact of certain technologies based on both policy and innovation. The research that the Google energy team has created and analyzed focuses on potential long-term economic impacts for the United States ASSUMING certain breakthroughs (policy and technology) for technologies including wind, geothermal, energy storage, and electric vehicles. The Google team is studying two primary time frames: 2030 and 2050.

Seedcamp, the London-based startup accelerator program which has been operating in Europe for the past four years, has been named the top European startup accelerator by a year-long independent study. However programmes run by Startupbootcamp in Europe took three of the remaining positions in the top eight named in the study. And three of the eight singled out are based in Ireland. The study was commissioned by the Kauffman Fellows Program in the US. I don’t know about you but I find these results fascinating, and they reveal quite a bit about the European startup scene as it stands today.

Seedcamp was singled out for its “Seedcamp Week” jumpstart where A-List mentors swarm over startups in London and described as the European “gold standard” of accelerator programs, with the biggest number of Alumni and three exits to date.

On a quiet Wednesday night in April, an unusual group has assembled in a garage turned hacker studio nestled in a student-dominated neighborhood outside Boston. Those gathered here—mostly in their 20s or 30s and mostly male—are united by a deep interest in themselves. They have come to share the results of their latest self-experiments: monthlong tests of the Zeo, a consumer device designed to analyze sleep.

The group is part of a rapidly growing movement of fitness buffs, techno-geeks, and patients with chronic conditions who obsessively monitor various personal metrics. At the center of the movement is a loosely organized group known as the Quantified Self, whose members are driven by the idea that collecting detailed data can help them make better choices about their health and behavior. In meetings held all over the world, self-trackers discuss how they use a combination of traditional spreadsheets, an expanding selection of smart-phone apps, and various consumer and custom-built devices to monitor patterns of food intake, sleep, fatigue, mood, and heart rate.

When you own a home-based business, you might not be certain which marketing tactics are a good option for you and which are too ambitious for your company. Social media, a very popular form of networking and marketing facilitated through websites like Twitter and Facebook, offers home-based business owners a fantastic marketing, branding and networking tool that costs nothing but time and a little creativity. If you are on the fence about adding time for social networking to your daily schedule, consider these six upsides to using social media. (For more assistance with your business, read In Small Business, Success Is Spelled With 5 "C"s.)

TUTORIAL: Starting a Small Business

1. Flexible Networking There once was a time when you had to go out to a meeting, class or other group event in order to network with clients who might be interested in your product or service. With online social media sites, you can network with a targeted group of individuals on your own schedule, from the comfort of your office.