Here we highlight selected innovation related articles from around the world on a daily basis. These articles related to innovation and funding for innovative companies, and best practices for innovation based economic development.
Being an intern means you're at the bottom of the heap -- low or unpaid staffers have to prove themselves before landing those plum assignments and paid positions.
It's a rite of passage that many people endure, sometimes more than once.
Before they became successful CEOs, journalists, fashion designers and sports stars, these individuals paid their dues as interns.
I work with a lot of startups and to me, one of the most fascinating journeys of personal growth to watch is the transition from corporate employee to entrepreneur. While there are many who believe that "entrepreneurs are born not made" and that an entrepreneurial personality is completely antithetical to being a good corporate employee, my experience, supported by a 2009 Kauffman Foundation study(1), has been that this distinction is not so cut and dried.
According to the Kauffman Foundation study, there are two types of entrepreneurs. The first, whom they label "early entrepreneurs" fits the classic Silicon Valley stereotype: college educated, twenty-something single male who may or may not have graduated, technically oriented, iconoclast with a strong independent streak (e.g. Bill Gates, Larry Page).
However, the second more typical entrepreneur is a 40-year old married male with children. About half had over ten years industry experience working for other companies before starting their first company. Nearly half had either zero or negative entrepreneurial aspirations. The majority were good students in high school and college with 95% of these holding at least a Bachelor's degree and 47% holding an advanced degree. In short, these were people who fit the mold and in many cases performed well as corporate employees. So it is possible to become an entrepreneur after having a corporate background.
OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - June 6, 2011) - Deloitte's tax leaders commend the federal government for staying the course on planned corporate tax rate reductions. Nonetheless, Deloitte believes that the budget did not adequately address Canada's competitiveness nor help to cultivate a stronger knowledge economy. Deloitte would like to see the following in the 2012-2013 federal budget:
Commenting on the federal budget, Andrew W. Dunn, Deloitte's Managing Partner of Tax, said: "Today's budget further cultivates Canada's position as an attractive business destination for global enterprise. By choosing to proceed with planned corporate tax rate reductions, the government sends a signal that Canada is friendly to investment — both foreign and domestic."
Growing up, I vividly remember watching Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion on the Disney Channel. I loved that it was a place where "all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average." That sounded like exactly the type of place I would like to live. But then I got a bit older and realized - we can't all be above average.
The same thought occurred to me while reading McKinsey's 2010 Innovation and Commercialization survey. More than half said that "their companies are better than their peers at innovation." With the success rate of innovation estimated at anywhere from 2 percent to 30 percent, the bar for "being better than (your) peers" is not that high. But, we can't all be above average. Our experience frequently points to three root causes.
A modest reduction in consumption of carbohydrate foods may promote loss of deep belly fat, even with little or no change in weight, a new study finds. Presentation of the study results will be Sunday at The Endocrine Society’s 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston.
When paired with weight loss, consumption of a moderately reduced carbohydrate diet can help achieve a reduction of total body fat, according to principal author Barbara Gower, PhD, a professor of nutrition sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Year One Labs is a Lean Startup accelerator. I believe it’s one of the first of its kind, with a very heavy focus on customer development and a rigorous Lean Startup process. I co-founded Year One Labs with three partners (Raymond Luk, Alistair Croll and Ian Rae) in April 2010 and launched officially in September of that year.
Since our launch we’ve co-created and invested in 5 startups (which was our target number). We now work with those startups on a daily basis; they have up to 12 months in Year One Labs to get to product-market fit (or as close to it as possible) and move on to raise additional capital, become self-sufficient, or potentially fail.
The numerous incentives and programs run the gamut from loan programs that help companies to produce advanced technology vehicles and components to tax credits for alternative energy production to grants for advanced scientific endeavors and information technology research and testing. Additionally, there are specific programs for small and emerging businesses that help with funding, training, and technology transfer.
More complete information as to eligibility, application deadlines, and procedures for applying can be found at the website provided in the summaries for each program. These programs complement existing U.S. state and local efforts to promote inward investment.
NEW YORK, June 2, 2011 – ASME has announced that ten collegiate teams will be competing in the on June 11. The ASME IShow provides the full experience of product development and commercialization to undergraduate and graduate students, bridging the gap between engineering knowledge and practical business skills. The competition will be held in conjunction with the ASME Annual Meeting at the Intercontinental Hotel-Dallas in Addison, Texas.
Inspiring students to be product innovators and entrepreneurs, the ASME Innovation Showcase gives top collegiate teams an opportunity to compete for access to over $20,000 in prize funds to further develop their products. Using their technical knowledge and creativity, winners must prove to a judging panel of successful innovators, industry experts and intellectual property specialists that they have a sustainable business model and a product that will have a major impact on their chosen area.
In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court has ruled that a federally funded contractor does not necessarily own the patent rights to inventions resulting from funded projects. Here, the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University unsuccessfully argued that such rights automatically vest under the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980.
Ownership of patent rights and inchoate pre-filing rights are somewhat confusing because they involve a mixture of federal patent law and state laws of contracts, employment, and trade secrets. Here, the majority led by Chief Justice Roberts has held that US patent rights have always (since 1790) initially vested in "the inventor" and that the non-specific language of the Bayh-Dole Act does nothing to change the original setup.
After 22 years in retailing, the last six spent with Kohl’s, Jeff Rusinow was ready for something a bit more exciting.
He found it in angel investing and went on to start Milwaukee-based Silicon Pastures, modeled after a similar and highly successful angel group in Northern California.
Angel capital typically fills the gap in start-up financing between "friends and family" who provideinitial seed funding, and venture capital.
Rusinow will share his insights into early stage investing at the Wisconsin Entrepreneurs Conference, which will be held Tuesday and Wednesday at the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee and is expected to draw 400 participants.
CHICAGO (TheStreet) -- The market for technology startups is vast and growing, but it doesn't take pages and pages of business projections or even an off-the-charts innovative idea to get a venture capital firm on board.
Lightbank is a Chicago-based firm focused on early-stage technology companies. Its founders, Eric Lefkovsky and Brad Keywell, were the brains behind the hugely successful daily deal website Groupon.
Lightbank looks to invest primarily in early-stage technology companies. But the firm also serves as mentor, taking a hands-on role to help promising entrepreneurs grow their businesses.
Upstate New York is no one’s idea of the next Silicon Valley, but Ithaca, N.Y.-based Cayuga Venture Fund hopes to convince people the region might at least be the next Boulder, Colo.
Associated Press A view of the Adirondack Mountains is seen from Hurricane Mountain in Keene, N.Y
It’s a relatively modest goal, compared to the outlandish promises made by some boosters who portray their particular corner of the country as the next high-tech Mecca. But it’s still one that upstate New York, land of the Finger Lakes and Fort Ticonderoga, has a ways to go to achieve.
Venture capitalists have descended on New York City in recent years, fueling a boom in Web and media start-ups, but so far this enthusiasm hasn’t stretched beyond the NYC metro area. Outside of the city, just 16 deals were completed in the rest of the Empire State in each of the past three years, according to Dow Jones VentureSource.
PitchBook has published The PitchBook Decade Reports: Fundraising, the first installment of its four-part series exploring U.S. private equity development, growth and trends over the last 10 years. This report was compiled using data from the PitchBook Platform and focuses on all aspects of U.S. private equity fundraising from 2001 through 2010.
Click Here to Download the PE Decade Report:
Vol. I Fundraising - 4.8MB (PDF)
The technology IPO market is clearly on the rebound now – and there are strong odds that it will strengthen. With luck, this will help to begin reversing troublesome trends in the venture capital ecosystem and give more worthy entrepreneurs at shot at securing financing from those companies. This would be a huge benefit to the still-struggling U.S. economy.Photo credit of Refracted Moments
According to Renaissance Capital IPO Home, there have been more than 19 U.S. technology IPOs this year – the most of any sector. This is in addition to the more than $94 billion in U.S. technology M&A deals, already the highest total since 2000, according to Dealogic. (That’s up from $71B for all of 2010 and $40B in 2009, by the way.)
This is the first extended period since the 2008 financial crisis in which there have been a sizable number of significant technology liquidity events. The latest wave is highly concentrated among select social networking and other relatively high-profile companies, but it may spread to other technology companies and, eventually, perhaps even to more main street firms and brick-and-mortar entrepreneurs.
Leading figures from the finance and investment world met with digital media entrepreneurs and public policy planners at Badminton House in Gloucestershire, Englad last week, to discuss new ways of boosting growth and generating jobs in the creative industries. Designed to contribute to the government’s widely promoted ‘growth agenda’, the invitation-only event highlighted pioneering investment models in the South West while drawing on the experience of investors and creative entrepreneurs from across Britain.
‘Nice idea, or nice little earner? How to invest intelligently in the creative industries’ was hosted by Bristol-based South West Screen on 26 May. Eighty business angels, investors, entrepreneurs and public officials met to identify obstacles to growth in the creative industries, and to establish working groups tasked with driving forward practical solutions that can assist government, public support agencies and private investors in re-energising the UK economy.
While he was CEO of economic development group Ann Arbor SPARK, Michael Finney helped growing tech companies apply for tax credits from the Michigan Economic Development Corp.
But, as part of tax reform legislation pushed by Gov. Rick Snyder and approved by the Michigan Legislature last month, MEDC's Michigan Economic Growth Authority tax credits for high-tech companies were killed in favor of a $1.7 billion overall tax cut for Michigan businesses.
And Finney, who once said the tax credits were necessary to help attract new companies, is not shedding any tears for the MEGA tax credits.
Michael_Finney_Mike_Finney_MEDC_Michigan_Economic_Development_Corp.jpg
Michigan Economic Development Corp. CEO Michael Finney, pictured with Gov. Rick Snyder and DTE Energy CEO Gerry Anderson, speaks to reporters at a press conference at the Detroit Regional Chamber's Mackinac Policy Conference.
Nathan Bomey | AnnArbor.com The MEGA tax credits, created by former Gov. John Engler and expanded by Gov. Jennifer Granholm, were originally viewed as a way to attract growing companies to come to Michigan and to convince existing companies to expand here.
It happens. Open innovation initiatives fail to deliver on the expected outcome. There is not much of a surprise in this, but I am curious on the reasons and I have thus started to make a list on why this happens.
It would be great if you can help build this list by adding your comments to my starters.
• Companies have difficulties making innovation happen internally. Now they hear about open innovation and think of this as an approach that will make everything better. Not true. If you cannot make innovation happen internally, you will have even more difficulties doing this with external partners.
• Many companies start off with idea generation platforms hoping that external contributors will contribute with great ideas and/or technologies. Most do not deliver on the expectations as they get more trash than gold.
• Companies copy competitor’s initiatives rather than creating their own unique initiatives that match their business reasons for doing open innovation.
Even here in Nova Scotia, the term innovation is rearing its head. Donald Savoie’s economic report released last summer calls for Nova Scotia to “invest more, innovate more, trade more, learn more.” Savoie’s sentiments were clearly reflected in Nova Scotia’s recently published jobsHere economic strategy, which outlines steps to stimulate innovation, exports and workforce education.
So is innovation just one of the latest economic development buzzwords, or is it actually taking place here in Cape Breton? Innovation is not new to Cape Breton, which has a rich history of hosting some of the world’s greatest innovators such as Alexander Graham Bell and Guglielmo Marconi.
