Norway is regarded as a ‘moderate innovator’ with a below average performance, coming 17th in the latest European Commission Innovation Union Scoreboard (IUS). Growth performance is just 1.3 percent, and the report states there are “relative weaknesses in firm investments, intellectual assets, innovators, and output.”

Daniel Ras-Vidal, the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprises’ (NHO) economic policy advisor, says the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), regards this as a mystery.

“’The Norwegian puzzle’, as the OECD calls it, is that Norway has strong productivity growth, wealth creation and GDP/capita, while measured innovation activity and investments in Research & Development (R & D) is much lower than in competing countries,” he tells The Foreigner.

While Silicon Valley startups have long enjoyed the benefits of the region’s history of entrepreneurial mentorship, with a number of seed programs and incubators focused on helping to the next big idea, New York City startups have historically had to go it alone. But now, the Entrepreneurs Roundtable is looking to change that by launching a new startup incubator that will inject some funds into promising New York-based startups and provide guidance over a three-month period this summer. It’s the latest in a wave of start-up help for local entrepreneurs, who now have a number of options.

The Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator program will run three months this summer, from June through August, and will conclude a demo day and investor pitch at the end. The 10 startups selected to participate in the program will each receive $25,000 and free, collaborative office space for the summer. In exchange, the program will get an 8-percent equity stake in participating startups.

Britain may have a royal wedding in the works, but America’s got risk- takers, brilliant innovation and an inspired entrepreneurial drive. That’s why 19 hand-picked, U.K.-based Web technology companies are in the United States this week hoping some of the residue of the American Dream – in the form of Twitter, Microsoft and Google -- will rub off on them.

Called Web Mission 2011, 19 growing British Web technology companies are meeting with a contingent of American web technology companies this week, including a meeting with Twitter that took place yesterday (March 7).

The participating companies were chosen by the U.K.’s Technology Strategy Board, a business-led government body which works to create economic growth and innovation. The goal of the mission is to help entrepreneurs in England’s Web technology sector take their businesses into the global marketplace. The group will meet with Facebook when they return to London next week.

Despite the high demand for IT workers, it's still an employer's market. That's due in part to the laundry lists of skill requirements for IT positions. Convergence and cloud computing are increasing the base of skills that workers need to have. We've occasionally touched upon what needs to be done to solve this problem, but what can workers do in the meantime?

Developers are increasingly turning to Github to highlight their skills, and we've covered this trend a couple times. Meanwhile, the IT recruitment company CWjobs.co.uk is trying to find more creative ways to present job candidates.

This week’s tax question:

If I live abroad, and my businesses are all online, do I still have to pay U.S. taxes?

We passed the question on to Michael Bowen of the law firm Akerman Senterfitt, where he’s chair of the state and local taxation practice. He also is a guest lecturer at Harvard University on corporate taxation. Here’s his answer:

This question – although simple – elicits a somewhat complicated answer.

First, it’s important to distinguish between federal as opposed to state and local taxes. In general, if the businesses are incorporated, domiciled, etc., in a foreign country and the owner is not a U.S. citizen, then no federal taxes would be due. If either of these assumptions is incorrect, the answer can quickly change depending on the specific facts. The other complicating factor on the federal side is the presence or absence of a tax treaty existing between the U.S. and the home country of the business. A tax treaty may provide additional protections to a foreign business not otherwise available in the general federal income tax law. (Look on the IRS website for detailed information about such treaties.)

Richard Bendis - Session 7 - Innovation Across Borders from Claude Soulodre on Vimeo.

Richard Bendis, Founding President and CEO, Innovation America and The Bendis Investment Group LLC, Pennsylvania, USA.

Creating transatlantic collaborations by selecting strategic complementary partners. Why do Transatlantic Innovation Partnerships work for large companies and for SMEs?

MaRS - Building Canada’s next generation of global technology companies. marsdd.com

Sen. Mark Kirk released the following statement:

The Senate today approved a key element of U.S. Senator Mark Kirk’s “Small Business Bill of Rights” agenda when it voted in favor of a bipartisan amendment the Illinois lawmaker authored to expedite assistance to small business owners during the federal patent approval process. The amendment passed as part of S. 23, The Patent Reform Act.

“This amendment seeks to assist some of our greatest innovators by providing a fast lane within the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for small businesses to receive information and assistance regarding their patent applications,” Senator Kirk said. “Currently, American small businesses produce thirteen to fourteen times more patents per employee than do large firms, proving the axiom that small businesses are the true incubators of American innovation.”

Co-founders. Suppliers. Employees. Customers. Government. So what are the compliance and risk management resources available to a startup?

* Do-It-Yourself Resources – There are a host of websites, guides, and other resources supplying legal templates, HR compliance kits, on-line payroll management etc. While inexpensive in terms of dollars, this route can be very time consuming, requiring the entrepreneur to learn about, select, integrate, implement, and manage all of the separate pieces.

Like many people, I have been watching the events unfolding in the Middle East with a jaw hovering somewhere near the floor. And curiously enough, many of the thoughts the revolutionary wave has inspired in me involve 1960s counterculture and the birth of '80s high tech in the United States.

Let me explain. A couple of decades back, I received a bit of notoriety for one widely quoted comment, "Money is the long hair of the '80s." I had intended to show that at least some of the seeds of entrepreneurship in the '80s—the flowering of personal computers, gaming, digital media, and so much more—had been sown in the counterculture of the '60s. I was convinced that much of the '60s experience of living according to social values, creating nontraditional organizations, the power of networks, grassroots organizing, and the general antiestablishment flavor of what I called the "corporate new wave" had been translated into the startups of the '80s. When the young reject the establishment, develop confidence in different ways of doing things, and, most important, find cultural and communications bridges to link them together, the stage is set for large scale social change.

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:

Space Florida PR – Florida-based small and medium sized, growth-oriented companies working in the state’s key industry clusters are poised to receive support from a new program that seeks to expand the level of investment available to these businesses. The I2 Capital Acceleration Program (pronounced I squared for “Igniting Innovation”) is a cooperative project between Space Florida and the Technological Research and Development Authority (TRDA) to assist Florida-based companies within the Aerospace/Aviation, Biotech/Life Science, Clean and Alternative Energy, Defense/Homeland Security, or IT/Telecommunications industry sectors.

“The I2 program is an exciting expansion of both Space Florida’s and TRDA’s activities in technology-led economic development,” remarked Frank DiBello, Space Florida President and CEO. “We look forward to working with TRDA to prepare Florida companies for investment and to boost deal flow in the state,” he continued. The program is funded under a U.S. Department of Commerce financial assistance award to Space Florida and was competitively awarded to TRDA.

 By Richard J. Anthony, Sr.

For almost ten years, as founder of The Entrepreneurs Network, I have marveled at the diversity of the hundreds of aspiring and serial entrepreneurs who attend the networking meetings we host every seven weeks.  Transcending their differences are the seven deadly sins many entrepreneurs commit when acquiring and building the human capital they need to grow their ventures.

1.    Entrepreneurs mistakenly hire on gut and instinct. They often become fixated on an impressive looking resume and a skills set that is a cut above their own.  In their eagerness to give their venture the needed gravitas of a senior hire, they ignore signs that impartial observers would see as reasons to slow the process and look behind the boasts of past accomplishments.  Some entrepreneurs are lucky; their first hire is one of their best.  In my experience, the first hire most entrepreneurs make is driven by expediency uncluttered by deliberate analysis or fact-checking.  That's when first-time entrepreneurs learn that an impetuous hire can be an expensive and lingering mistake.
SOLUTIONS: (a) Interview several candidates; (b) Have others whose impartial judgment you trust interview the candidates and rank them: (c) Consider using one or more of the better assessment tools; (d) Conduct a thorough background check, and (e) Get professional help - it will pay for itself in the long run.

A series of themed meetings were organised to promote the Innovation Agenda and encourage contributions to the National Reform Plan, under preparation within the scope of the Europe 2020 Strategy. These meetings aimed to optimise innovation policies in Portugal, by taking the best advantage of the results already achieved, both regarding research and development and corporate efforts.

These meetings took place between 19 January and 9 February 2011 (in Aveiro, Coimbra and Lisbon) and were attended by approximately 300 National Innovation System participants.

They are heads of state and heads of household, angry protesters in the city square and sly iconoclasts in remote villages. With a fiery new energy, women are building schools, starting businesses, fighting corruption, harnessing new technologies and breaking down old prejudices. Whenever a woman or girl gains control of her destiny, the local standard of living goes up and the values of human rights spread. So this year, and every year, Newsweek and The Daily Beast will honor local heroes, and the growing network of powerful women who support their efforts. Plus, read more about the Women in the World conference.

(KANSAS CITY, Mo.), March 7, 2011 – During the Great Recession, more Americans have become entrepreneurs than at any time in the past 15 years. However, while the economy and its high unemployment rates may have pressed more individuals into business ownership, most of them are going it alone, rather than starting companies that employ others.

According to the "Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity," a leading indicator of new business creation in the United States, 0.34 percent of American adults created a business per month in 2010, or 565,000 new businesses, a rate that remained consistent with 2009 and represents the highest level of entrepreneurship over the past decade and a half. In contrast, however, the quarterly employer firm rate has dropped from 0.13 percent in 2007 to 0.10 percent in 2010.

When a company like Plexxikon can’t pull off a big-time IPO, you know something’s out of whack in the biotech world.

Berkeley, CA-based Plexxikon hit the motherlode last week when it agreed to be acquired for $805 million upfront, plus $130 million in milestones, by Japan-based Daiichi Sankyo.

VCs everywhere drooled. That’s because in this most expensive and risky of businesses—where 90 percent of drugs fail in clinical trials, and it typically takes hundreds of millions to develop a new therapy—Plexxikon proved it had a winner after raising just $67 million. That’s the kind of return VCs live to see.

Venture capitalists never know for sure which energy innovations will succeed, but they've learned a lot about what it takes to give them a chance. The Wall Street Journal's Kimberley A. Strassel discussed the makings of a successful venture with Ray Lane, managing partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and Matthew Rogers, a McKinsey & Co. director and former senior adviser to the secretary of energy for Recovery Act implementation.

Here are edited excerpts of their conversation.

A highly informative and interactive program to provide U.S. private equity and venture capital fund managers the opportunity to build key business relationships with LPs in the Nordic Region.

The 2011: US-NORDIC Private Equity CertifiedTrade Mission is focused on the following objectives:

• Introduce U.S. private equity firms to potential LPs who have the ability to invest in U.S. private equity firms
• Create opportunities for intimate interactions between GPs and potential LPs. PromoteU.S.private equityfirms.
• Introduce NordicVCs, private equity firms, entrepreneurs, business and government leaders to U.S. private equity fund managers.

Invited Nordic LP’s shall include top-tier institutional investors, high net-worth family offices, sovereign funds, and pension funds who either have an exposure to U.S. private equity and venture capital fund investments or have a potential interest in doing so in the future.The 2011-US NORDIC Private Equity Mission will enable our delegates to engage in an open dialogue with Nordic investors with better insights into topics that may not be explored at other private equity meetings and industry forums.

SAN FRANCISCO — For Naval Ravikant, the problem with investing in start-ups boils down to coffee.

“I got really tired of coffee meetings,” said Mr. Ravikant, 37, a technology entrepreneur turned investor. So burned out, in fact, that he bought the Web address idontdocoffee.com. When start-up companies looking for financing request in-person meetings, they get a reply from the e-mail address This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

“I thought, we’re dealing with Internet start-ups here, there has got to be a better, more efficient way to evaluate them than to do thousands of coffee meetings,” Mr. Ravikant said. “Coffee should be the last step, not the first.”

With NIH budget cuts a real possibility, it’s interesting to see who has the most to lose.

Johns Hopkins University led all institutions in funding from the National Institutes of Health last year with $686 million. Meanwhile, California receives more NIH dollars than any other state, according to a third-party analysis that combined NIH and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act dollars from last year.

The NIH is the largest funder of biomedical research in the world.

A ranking of the Top 100 institutions getting NIH grants, followed by a ranking of all 50 states, is below. Johns Hopkins’ is a runaway leader in getting NIH grants, followed next by the University of Pennsylvania ($577 million), University of Washington ($571 million), University of Michigan ($565 million) and University of California San Francisco ($538 million).