Unlike most conferences, the BIF Summit has no theme beyond presenting remarkable stories of transformation. Why? The BIF organizers know that the participants themselves will discover patterns, aha’s, and insights that make sense for them. I’ve been to most of the 12 BIF Summits. I now work for BIF, but like everybody else at the Summit, I have to — and always do — discover my own insights each time.

London is at a crossroads in more ways than one. The capital must navigate the aftermath of the country’s decision to leave the European Union while addressing the issues surrounding its own expanding population and looking to the future by embracing new technologies and ways of working. This represents a steep task in anyone’s book.

The University Startups Conference and Demo Day is a networking and best practices conference focused on bringing together universities and university startups, Fortune 500 and Global 1000 corporations, VCs and angel investors, and federal government agencies. All committed to creating and supporting startups for job creation and economic development.

In the past three years, EU-InnovatE has explored the emerging phenomenon of how user innovators, citizens and entrepreneurs can accelerate the transition towards more sustainable lifestyles and green economy in Europe. This fast-paced, immersive event will launch our findings and engage 100+ businesses, sustainable entrepreneurs, policy-makers, citizen pioneers, and educators to rethink ways to nurture innovation and entrepreneurship for sustainability in line with wider EU policy ambitions. We are pleased to invite you to join us in Brussels on 22 November for the Final Conference of this groundbreaking initiative, with three objectives in mind:

1/ To invite dynamic and critical comment and feedback on the headline insights, recommendations and implications emerging from our work;

2/ To showcase the inspirational stories and cases of citizen innovators and sustainable entrepreneurs from across Europe who are pioneering new solutions in the domains of food, energy, mobility and living; and

3/ To debate the potential implications of this emerging phenomenon for Europe's wider ambitions for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.

About two years ago, my friend Marcel Benson (Barry) wanted to start a watch company.

A lot of people probably thought that was a dumb idea. Watches? The world doesn’t need more watches! But that’s not what Barry thought. He likes watches. He’d always been fascinated with them. He had a whole collection, even as a kid.

What is the difference between a businessman and an entrepreneur? originally appeared on Quora: the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered by people with unique insights.

Answer by Peter Lynch, VP at a private equity firm, on Quora:

I moonlight as an entrepreneur, and work as an investment professional otherwise. This is not a recent arrangement, but one I have survived since November of 2012. At times my day job requires late evenings and weekends at the office, and when it does not, my startup does. To maintain both, I work a lot. Whether it will pay off is difficult to say, but it has been a terrific education.

Amway’s 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Report reveals that while interest and support for entrepreneurship is growing, gender and education gaps exist regarding who is most likely to take the leap to become a business owner.

This is the seventh-annual Global Entrepreneurship Report from Ada-based Amway, and it measures the “public pulse of self-employment around the world.”

This year’s report spans 45 countries, with in person and telephone interviews conducted with more than 50,000 men and women ages 14-99.

Boldstart Ventures started off with $1 million in 2010 as a kind of experiment. Could a New York-based outfit find enough seed-stage, enterprise-focused, East Coast opportunities to rationalize a bigger fund?

The answer, seemingly, is yes. Boldstart, founded by longtime VC Ed Sim (who’d spent the previous decade-plus an investor with Dawntreader Ventures), just closed its third fund with $47 million.

ZURICH –  Roche has launched a global cancer immunotherapy Centers of Research Excellence network, saying it will invest up to 100 million Swiss francs ($100.3 million) in the project.

The research network of 21 academic centers around the world is intended to support basic and clinical research collaboration to advance the science of cancer immunotherapy, the Basel-based drugmaker said on Tuesday.

The planet's streak of heat milestones continued into October, which came in as the second-warmest such month on record, according to NASA. 

The top three warmest Octobers on record worldwide have each occurred in the past three years, NASA reported on Tuesday, with October 2015 ranking as the warmest of them. 

Even though this October didn't beat last year's level of heat, it will still help ensure that 2016 will eclipse 2015 to become the warmest year on record since instrument records began in 1880. 

Image: UNIVERSITY OF MAINE

Remember that monster sinkhole that opened in the heart of Fukuoka, Japan, swallowing parts of the main street and growing to more than half the size of an Olympic pool (30m)?

Well, people in Japan repaired it in 48 hours. 

Working around the clock, workers filled in the section of the road with 6,200 cubic metres of sand and cement, according to local media. 

How many times this month have you already been asked to donate to crowdfunding campaigns? One could easily go broke donating to every play, short film, or web-series that friends are starring in! I’m thinking of starting a crowdfunding campaign simply to help replenish my bank account for all of the campaigns I’ve contributed to.

Here’s the thing. Crowdfunding is popular for a reason—it is a great tool for actors who want to create their own projects without dealing with the hassle of investors and sponsors (or begging their families).

New equity crowdfunding regulations that began taking effect last year have transformed the landscape for both entrepreneurs and investors in America. By enabling non-accredited individuals (the vast majority of the population) to invest in early stage startups for the first time, these new regulations have not only leveled the playing field of investing, but also uncapped a completely new source of funding for new growing companies. The new rules were a long time coming, as they were first passed by congress and signed into law in 2012. Only last year, after years of debate and discussion, did the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) actually begin to implement the first of these rules. So needles to say, it's a very exciting time to be in the crowdfunding industry. 

LeBron James famously declared after the Cleveland Cavaliers won their first NBA title this past June that “It’s Cleveland Against The World”.

If you haven’t been paying attention since then, Cleveland is still on a winning roll. And I’m not just talking about the Cavs or the Indians, who are playing the Chicago Cubs in the World Series this week vying to win their first baseball championship in 68 years. This past July, every hotel room downtown was sold out for the week when the Republican National Convention came to town.

Many early startups find themselves in a difficult spot when it comes to capital.

Friends and family may not be in a position to get you off the ground. If you are not heavily networked, you may not have access to angel capital. And without two years of history with revenue, a traditional bank won’t take your call.

As the IoT reels from and struggles with ongoing security issues stemming from DDoS and botnet and SSH and DNS and innumerable other interrelated problems, the industry needs outside input and leadership to give it strategic guidance.

According to a recent announcement, one such source of guidance will be in the form of the Rockville Innovation Center (RIC) in Montgomery County, Maryland, where BioHealth Innovation (BHI) has partnered with The MITRE Corporation, a not-for-profit corporation that operates federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs), including the National Cybersecurity FFRDC, to look for innovative solutions to next-generation security threats.

A team of Chinese scientists has become the first to test CRISPR gene-edited cells in a human. The researchers, from Sichuan University in Chengdu, injected the cells into a patient with lung cancer. The experiment uses CRISPR—a cheap, easy, and accurate way to edit DNA in living cells—to disable a gene that suppresses immune response. By editing a small number of cells then growing them outside the body, the team was able to inject a large number back into the patient, with the intention of having them fight off the cancer. Human trials of CRISPR have been proposed in the U.S., but so far none have been carried out. Carl June, a researcher from the University of Pennsylvania who hopes to carry out some of the first such experiments in America, told Nature that he thinks that the news could “trigger ‘Sputnik 2.0’, a biomedical duel on progress between China and the United States.”

Knowledge@Wharton: Give us a brief overview of your research.

Gideon Nave: I came to Wharton from a neuroscience department, and my work is mostly focused on the biological basis of how people make decisions. We all know that the way we make decisions is influenced by our biological state. Things like hunger, sleep deprivation and stress influence the process of decision-making, and I’m trying to study this in a rigorous way, using lab experiments and some biological data.

Why do some songs stick in our heads for infuriatingly long periods of time? According to the first large-scale study of its kind, it’s all about their combination of upbeat tempos, easy-to-remember melodies, and a little something unexpected. The new research looked at some of the most popular songs with this “stick factor”—and gives advice for how to get them unstuck, as well.

Tunes that we can’t seem to shake are sometimes known as earworms, or referred to in the scientific community as involuntary musical imagery. It makes sense that recent chart-toppers that get lots of radio play are more likely to find their place deep in our brains, but that theory—and the reasoning why some songs are catchier (and stickier) than others—has not been widely examined in a scientific way.

We all know the stereotypes: Great CEOs are extroverted. They’re self-promoting. They’re risk takers. But are these stereotypes true? Which traits actually differentiate CEOs from other executives? And, most important, which attributes separate successful CEOs from other CEOs?

There is a great deal of conjecture and mythology about CEOs and the attributes that define their success. So what should companies look for when they hire a new CEO?