Quebec’s economic development minister Clément Gignac says entrepreneurship – along with innovation and education – is a top priority. Later this fall, Mr. Gignac is expected to unveil his strategy to foster a more entrepreneurial mindset in the province. It’s a delicate balancing act, since he’s doing so at a time when Premier Jean Charest’s Liberal government is more concerned with budget cuts and program trimming. Mr. Gignac has kept his cards close to his chest.

(RTTNews) - Dr. Jill Biden, the wife of Vice President Joe Biden, on Tuesday called together representatives of the nation's community colleges and industry leaders for a summit aimed at advancing the nation's education system.

Biden, who has taught in community college for 17 years, said community colleges will be a critical element in putting the country back to work.

"As we meet here today, families all across our country are struggling," she said. "We see that struggle firsthand in community colleges. We see people who are determined to build a better life for themselves and their families, no matter how hard it is."

The European Commission proposed today an innovation strategy that aims to improve conditions and access to finance for research and innovation in Europe, to ensure that innovative ideas can be turned into products and services that create growth and jobs.

"As we emerge from crisis…, we face an innovation emergency," said EU Research, Innovation and Science Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn and European Commission Vice President Antonio Tajani, responsible for Industry and Entrepreneurship. "Innovation is the key to building sustainable growth and fairer and greener societies. A sea change in Europe's innovation performance is the only way to create lasting and well-paid jobs that withstand the pressures of globalization." 

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These days we’ve got heavy competition for our products and services and even stiffer competition for our jobs. The one thing none of us needs is to make matters worse by shooting ourselves in the foot.

Over the years, I’ve noticed a number of behavioral attributes that really annoy the heck out of managers, especially senior executives. We’re not talking light-hearted annoyance like constant interruptions or incessant whining. We’re talking career-limiting behavior that’s bad for business, bad for the organization, and far outweighs whatever benefits you might bring to the party.

This is Jeff Rose from Goodfinancialcents.com. Welcome to my first real video cast. Today, I will be talking little bit about the tips or necessary steps to become an entrepreneur. All of my life, I really did not considered myself to be an entrepreneur  until 2007 .

The reason why I am talking about being an entrepreneur is that we are actually in car heading up to Saint Louis and I am going to meet David Siteman Garland who has the website The Rise to The Top. He has awesome video blog, he has got some great shows, he is soon to be an author. He just really inspired me which is obvious since we are on the way to Saint Louis on a Wednesday. So I am taking time of work but I am going to meet him and get inspired by him and some of the people he has been inspired by. I am going to share some of my tips and some of my experiences of being an entrepreneur and hope that you get something out of it.

Most interviewees focus solely on their potential answers to interviewer queries when they prepare for an interview.

But it's really the questions you ask that can make or break your candidacy.

At appropriate intervals during an interview, you should ask questions that communicate your interest in the position, highlight your capabilities and demonstrate your commitment to excelling in your career.

The U.S. economy is being slowly but surely destroyed and many Americans have no idea that it is happening. That is at least partially due to the fact that most financial news is entirely focused on the short-term. Whenever a key economic statistic goes up the financial markets surge and analysts rejoice.

The European Commission today tabled its ‘Innovation Union’ initiative, which sets out a strategic approach to challenges such as climate change, energy and food security, health and an ageing population.

In a statement today, the Commission said it will use public sector intervention to stimulate the private sector and to “remove bottlenecks which stop ideas reaching the markets.”

These barriers can include lack of finance, fragmented research systems and markets, underuse of public procurement for innovation and slow standard setting.

Obama won't be the first U.S. President to install solar on the roof of the White House.  And his efforts would be better spent crafting a consistent and intelligent energy policy and creating a fertile environment for the U.S. solar industry.  Instead, we get a sideshow.

Yes, President Carter installed solar on the White House and President Reagan removed the panels.  There's been a bit of noise of late about solar going back on the White House roofs -- but the saga is deeper than that.

George Bush is involved, but Bill Clinton is not. 

Steven Strong is a leading authority on integrating renewable energy systems, especially solar, in buildings in North America. Strong's firm consults to architects on the integration of solar power, and to the building industry on product development through his firm, Solar Design Associates.  He has quite possibly been doing it longer than anyone else.

The Internet is an overwhelmingly powerful source of information, but the technology for harnessing that information, for getting it filtered and delivered how and when we want it, is still in its infancy. If you don’t believe it, see what kind of useful information you get when you Google “What kind of harmonica should I get for my 10-year-old?”

Recently, though, a flock of new services have cropped up to deliver highly targeted answers by passing your queries on to a sea of strangers. Call it informational crowdsourcing.

Some are simple Web sites where you can post a question for all to see, then wait for random Web users to reply. That’s how Yahoo Answers and Answerbag.com work. “What’s a good starter beer?” “Do you believe spanking is a good form of discipline?” “Is it cheating if I have chat-room sex?”

"So, have you packed yet?" Andrew Kress, CEO of health analytics firm SDI Health LLC, playfully queries two project directors as they pass outside a conference room. Kress' company has run out of room, the result of some spirited growth and an acquisition two years back. SDI is moving into a much larger complex down the road from its current headquarters in the Philadelphia suburb of Plymouth Meeting, combining 550 employees split between two buildings.

"I'm employing high-skill, high-wage people, and we're expanding," Kress says. Even in local discussions about job creation and economic growth, "that kind of situation gets overlooked."

Kress, a boyish-looking 43, explains this without obvious rancor. But his point is critical. It is hundreds of healthcare and technology companies like SDI, tucked into various suburban office parks and standalone buildings hugging perimeter freeways, that propel the Philadelphia region these days. And they rarely get their due.

You already know what not to buy at Walmart (that MoneyWatch.com post has been making the rounds for nearly a year), but I’ve got a secret: there are some things you definitely should buy at the discount retailer. Namely, tech products.

As a bona fide Cheapskate, I know good deals when I see them. Walmart isn’t the low-price leader for every product category, but I’ve found some business-savvy gadgets and gear too sweet to pass up:

1. Acer Aspire AS5551-2013 15.6-inch Laptop

Acer deserves its reputation for offering feature-packed laptops at low prices. The Windows 7-powered Aspire AS5551 offers everything that 97% of users need: a dual-core processor, 2GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive, and a roomy 15.6-inch screen powered by a dedicated graphics subsystem (just in case you want to edit some video or dabble in 3D graphics). Price: $448.

When asked which entrepreneur teenagers admire most, Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs reigns supreme according to the 2010 Junior Achievement Teens and Entrepreneurship survey (PDF), leaving Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in the dust.

Junior Achievement surveyed 1,000 teens in the United States by telephone to get an idea of which entrepreneurs they admire most. Nearly a quarter of respondents (23 percent) named Jobs as the most admired entrepreneur, albeit down from 35 percent in the 2009 survey.

This weekend I had the opportunity to spend a day at a program lead by Peter Senge - author of the Fifth Discipline - and expert on systemic change. A key part of his presentation was about the importance of looking at the WHOLE SYSTEM. This concept of the WHOLE SYSTEM is important to keep in mind as we invest time in Market Mining.

Market Mining is a methodical process of comparing and contrasting what you and your organization does with what others do. In the “old days” this was often challenging as it would be difficult to gain access to the spec sheets and offer details of competitors, customers and suppliers. Today, with the internet it’s painless.

When it comes to saving money at an early-stage startup, labor is one of the most difficult areas to penny pinch. If you care deeply about your product and your idea, it's hard to not want to go out and hire the very best employees and contractors, but this isn't always in the budget of a new venture.

CrowdFlower is one way startups can save some dough by leveraging labor-on-demand services for things like data entry and content moderation. As of Monday, startups using the platform can not only save cash, but can now also apply to receive as much as $10,000 of investment from Dave McClure's 500 Startups seed fund.

Investments by Europe's venture capital firms hit their lowest level for seven years during the third quarter, in a fresh sign that the sector is still struggling almost a decade after the dotcom bubble burst and brought and end to the industry's boom years.

Canada’s future prosperity depends largely on a very few people. High-impact entrepreneurs who redefine an industry (think Lazaridis and Balsillie with RIM) or create an international cultural phenomenon (think Guy Laliberte with Cirque du Soleil) are some of our greatest nation builders. There’s no doubt that Canada needs more of them.

The Next 36 takes aim at Canada’s prosperity challenge by focusing resources on a small number of young innovators. It’s backed by an array of Canadian business icons and entrepreneurs—Nadir Mohamed, Galen Weston and Anthony Lacavera, to name a few. We’re staking out the territory to cultivate 36 young nation builders each year.

The Next 36 is looking to select the best, most innovative, determined and ambitious student talent from across Canada—any faculty or university—and give them an elite and transformative experience. Something that’s a cross between the Rhodes Scholarship and Y-Combinator.

There’s a lot of prep work that goes into readying your business plan for presenting to angels, but most of it is about identifying your market and profitability. Campbell McKellar of LooseCubes points out that, for her, the most frequently asked question was about the market: “How big is the market? How are you going to reach that market? Collect good data on your intended market,” she says, “and be ready to talk about it.” Being ready at a moments notice to explain the market, how you’re going to capture it, and, most importantly, how you plan to monetize it could mean the difference between catching the attention of an angel investor or going unfunded.

After all, you can have a great idea with all B-plan elements in place, but if you’re only presenting to your full-length mirror, you’re not going to be cashing checks.

The average U.S. household has to pay an exorbitant amount of money for an Internet connection that the rest of the industrial world would find mediocre. According to a recent report by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, broadband Internet service in the U.S. is not just slower and more expensive than it is in tech-savvy nations such as South Korea and Japan; the U.S. has fallen behind infrastructure-challenged countries such as Portugal and Italy as well.

The consequences are far worse than having to wait a few extra seconds for a movie to load. Because broadband connections are the railroads of the 21st century—essential infrastructure required to transmit products (these days, in the form of information) from seller to buyer—our creaky Internet makes it harder for U.S. entrepreneurs to compete in global markets. As evidence, consider that the U.S. came in dead last in another recent study that compared how quickly 40 countries and regions have been progressing toward a knowledge-based economy over the past 10 years. “We are at risk in the global race for leadership in innovation,” FCC chairman Julius Genachowski said recently. “Consumers in Japan and France are paying less for broadband and getting faster connections. We’ve got work to do.”

What's the best way to find opportunities? Create them!

Create WV is all about empowering our people and the businesses, schools, non-profits and governments they work in to create opportunities through innovative thinking and creative problem-solving.

Highlights:

• Amazing keynote speakers
• Six different tracks on business innovation, technology, diversity, education, quality of place and community resources
• Four different pre-conference workshops on social media, sustainable innovation, thinking creatively and securing resources.
• Exciting arts and music talent from all over West Virginia
• Networking and side meetings with people you won't find at typical conferences!
• The beautiful Oglebay Resort, museums, historic preservation and technology companies that make up today's Wheeling!