SAN FRANCISCO — When Joe Fernandez, a tech entrepreneur, moved his start-up here last spring, a big goal, he said, was “to be best friends with the Twitter guys.” His theory was that by hanging around with executives at one of the hottest tech companies today, some of the magic could rub off.

And so he snagged an office at 795 Folsom, Twitter’s headquarters in the SoMa neighborhood. There, he has been stalking executives on — where else? — Twitter, to see who is to visit Twitter’s offices. When he finds out, he pounces and “hijacks the meeting,” he said, by asking them to swing by his company, Klout.

By doing that, he has met Robert Scoble, the influential technology blogger, and Steve Rubel, director of insights for the digital division of Edelman, the big public relations firm, and has spotted Kanye West in the lobby on his way to Twitter.

Máire Geoghegan Quinn, the Commissioner for Research & innovation in Europe, set a goal for Europe to become an innovation economy. By removing innovation bottlenecks, focusing on societal challenges and introducing a new form of Partnerships (European Innovation Partnerships) where (pan) European stakeholders can work together, Europe will create 3,7 million new jobs and position itself as a world player if not leader in innovation.

The Innovation Union is one of the seven pillars of the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, which will deliver high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion. It is a strategy that combines formidable goals with formidable challenges, a combination that might seem a recipe for failure. Or am I being too sceptical?

The dye has been cast on my career, but my business school alma mater, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, has, for the third consecutive time, been ranked the best business school in the US (and by default, the world) by BusinessWeek ! I am sure they are high-fiving in Hyde Park and at the Gleacher Center right now. Nice work.

Now down to business. Here are the top 10 from the 2010.

For the pat year, I've been interviewing entrepreneurs and business-builders as part of a book project. Their successes have inspired me, but so have their failures. In the course of interviewing them, I'm constantly reminded of the need for humility.

Through this quest to learn more about the elements and principles that drive business-building success, we have met people who have reached the highest echelons of their peer groups and have made the various lists that seem to matter (Fortune, Forbes, etc.). The media, and by extension media consumers, are quick to measure business success by objective financial metrics — revenue growth, profitability levels, money from an exit sale or IPO, market cap size, or annual salary.

The role of culture in entrepreneurial activity cannot be overstated.

Historically in America, our culture was a major contributor to our entrepreneurial spirit. In places like Eastern Europe, where communism suppressed free enterprise and limited private property, their culture still seems to hold back entrepreneurial aspirations among many of their citizens.

England is an interesting case in point to the interplay between culture and entrepreneurial activity.

Look, it's rough out there. Not only are there fewer companies hiring fewer people, but there's way more competition for those jobs than at any time I can remember. And I've been around a long time. That's the bad news. The good news is that I've got 10 tips that will give you a leg-up on all that competition and keep you from shooting yourself in the foot.

What makes me such an expert on job searches? First, I'm not hiring or searching for a job. I've got no skin in the game and no axe to grind. So I'm objective. We're talking Zen-like perspective. Second, if you add up all the interviewing I've done over the decades - on both sides of the table - you'd get a huge number nobody would believe. I've seen it all.

One more thing. The biggest blunder you can make is thinking you've got this job-search thing wired. You don't. And I've got 10 ways to prove it.

It does not matter if you design posters, t-shirts, logos, banners or even ads, one fact remains, you simply cannot convey your design without giving your messages text a powerful, effective and relevant visual effect that will land that final knock-out blow. All of the tutorials in this round-up offer unique and professional text-effects that you could easily use within your own designs, and with a little bit of thought and a touch of creativity, they could be modified to accommodate any artistic vision you may have. Hope they are helpful :)

What do cell phones and Amazon.com have in common? Both are popular technology in wide use today – but it wasn’t always that way. When cell phones and Amazon.com were introduced, they served the needs of a few people who were eager to try them, even though they had a few shortcomings. In the case of cell phones, users had to tolerate lower voice quality in exchange for the ability to call anyone from any place. In Amazon’s case, not everyone was ready to browse a store online and send their credit card information over the Internet.

Today online stores like Amazon.com are extremely popular with shoppers all over the world. And cell phone usage has exploded to 5 billion users as of July 2010. This number is expected to rise exponentially, as the industry average is currently 60 million new users every month. Compare that to the 74 years it took for the telephone to reach 50 million users, and you see the power of technology in action – as well as the influence of disruptive innovation.

When social experience designer Roz Duffy first organized Barcamp Philly--the local version of Silicon Valley's most ad-hoc tech conference, coming to the University of the Arts November 13th--she knew that she had to be flexible. After all, Barcamp is known for a come-as-you-are message, cheap admission (tickets are just $5) and speakers who sign up minutes before they are asked to take the podium. But there was one point on which Duffy would not be moved: the t-shirt would not be lame. Not on her watch. Today, Barcamp has some of the most recognizable t-shirts in the Philly tech world. This is no cheap throw-away. These shirts get worn.

"We don't half-ass the t-shirt, getting some white t-shirt and iron on the logo," says Duffy, a freelance web developer and event planner. "As a woman, I have to say, it is a real drag to go to a conference and see a bunch of men's extra-larges with just the name of the conference on it. We try to think about everyone who is experiencing the event and see it through their eyes. And the t-shirts are really cool!"

When I first heard about rental startup Airbnb, I thought it sounded a bit odd — and finding out its founder rents rooms from his customers only increased that impression. But now I’m hearing more and more buzz about the company, and today it announced that it has raised $7.2 million from Sequoia Capital and Greylock Partners.

The company was founded as a way for people to rent out spare couches and rooms to travelers. In today’s press release, Airbnb says it’s now used to rent out much more, including castles and sailboats. The site includes 50,000 listings in more than 8,000 cities and 166 countries. People have used the site to book more than 700,000 nights.

Back in August, we broke the news about AngelPad, a new incubator started by a group of seven ex-Googlers. A day later, we sat down with one of those ex-Googlers, Thomas Korte, to talk a bit about the project. At the time, the logistics of how everything would work were still being ironed out. Fast forward to today, not even three months later, and they’re having their first demo day.

In total, eight startups are ready to graduate from the program today. We got a chance to sit down with each of them for a bit, and overall the quality of the companies is very impressive. This shouldn’t be too surprising given how many of them are also ex-Google or former employees of several other high-profile tech companies.

As the G20 Summit gets underway in Seoul this week looming protectionism and the currency war between the U.S. and China will occupy most of the headlines. But a number global technology agendas have already emerged, including calls for the the G20 to make a commitment that trade in crucial rare earths will not be interrupted because of industrial policies or political disputes." Industry leaders are also pressing G20 nations to take a more enlightened approach to technology and economic development.

"Governments should show more urgency in adopting mobile broadband and other advanced digital technologies to drive productivity throughout the wider economy, according to the head of a leading U.S. communications firm."

I was finally able to sit down and watch the two hour video of the June 10, 2010 testimony “From the Lab Bench to the Marketplace: Improving Technology Transfer.” Several witnesses from different backgrounds (university tech transfer offices, VC, startup and NSF) shared their perspectives and recommendations about university technology transfer to the House Committee on Science and Technology, Subcommittee on Research & Science Education.

Lesa Mitchell, Vice President of the Kauffman Foundation summed up effective university technology development very nicely, I thought, as “opportunity recognition and analysis.” By now, many people who follow U.S. university research policy issues are familiar with Kauffman’s proposal to improve the effectiveness of university technology transfer services by allowing university researchers to choose their own commercialization agent (meaning they may opt to not use their university-provided technology transfer office).

CLEVELAND, Nov. 10, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NorTech, a regional nonprofit technology-based economic development organization, announced today the completion of a shared vision and action plan to accelerate the growth of Northeast Ohio's emerging flexible electronics industry.

The global electronics industry demands small, low cost devices that consume less power with more functionality that are integrated into a consumer's everyday life, including apparel and mobile devices. The flexible electronics industry has emerged to address those demands. According to the International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (iNEMI), the global flexible electronics market is estimated to grow to $250B by 2025.

The Northeast Ohio Flexible Electronics roadmap outlines strategies and initiatives to develop low-cost manufacturing of electronic devices printed on flexible materials with multiple global market applications. NorTech led the strategic roadmapping process in partnership with 23 technology and industry experts from Northeast Ohio research institutions, manufacturers, material suppliers, and product developers.

Microfinance has a respected history in the field of international development. Often described as a hand up rather than a hand out, its aim is to reach the un-bankable – providing access to financial services for populations traditionally marginalized by the economic mainstream.

October’s 2010 Toronto Microfinance Conference & Gala brought together several hundred microfinance practitioners, students, advocates and micro-newbies. The program featured speakers who live and breathe the “micro way” as well as individuals representing organizations who do not deliver microfinance programming but whose work falls into the very dynamic and growing space of social finance.

In only its second year, the conference’s co-hosts spanned the social finance spectrum; from micro-credit lending organizations that work in the global South like Impact First International, to local community fund organizations such as Access Community Capital Fund and corporations working in innovative ways like Home Ownership Alternatives.

Earlier this week, the Federal Government announced a plan to inject $80 million into high potential start-ups as part of its Innovation Investment Fund.

Four major venture capital funds will use the money to help start-up companies commercialise their research and see their ideas into reality. The VCs will have to match the government’s outlay, meaning that at least $160 million will be up for grabs.

So what do start-ups have to do to get a slice of the VC pie? We’ve spoken to the VC firms that will be investing the government cash to draw up 10 essential tips on how to attract funding.

1 Sell yourself

Formulate a compelling business plan, which clearly identifies the value proposition, reasons why the business will succeed and how it intends to achieve this success. 

Unusually warm ocean temperatures this year have led to mass devastation of the world's corals, and prospects for their long-term survival are grim, a top government scientist said yesterday.

"Right now, coral reefs around the world are either bleached, dead from bleaching or trying to recover from bleaching," said C. Mark Eakin, who coordinates the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Coral Reef Watch. "2010 has been a major, major year of coral bleaching in all of the oceans around the world."

Bleaching occurs when corals expel the microscopic algae that normally live inside their hard skeletons, providing them with food and their bright coloration. Changes in ocean salinity, nutrient runoff and other pollution can cause small-scale bleaching, but scientists say the widespread global bleaching this year is a symptom of unusual ocean warming.

Many young entrepreneurs face a bias from prospective customers or other dealmakers who make assumptions about maturity, business acumen and intellect based on their age. A scene from The Social Network, the movie about the founding of Facebook, captured the conflict well.

Mark Zuckerberg, the film's main character and 20-something founder of the wildly successful company, gazes out a window in deep thought, unrelated to his immediate predicament, as he is addressed by an older attorney in a deposition. Failing to get his attention, the older man is clearly upset. The patronizing patter is likely familiar to generations of young entrepreneurs.