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.
Two small U.S. cities are among 21 localities around the globe that are being recognized for their investment in broadband connectivity and their innovative use of Internet applications.
Walla Walla, Washington (population 32,000), and Mitchell, South Dakota (population 15,000), are on an elite list of 21 cities and regions that are using broadband to improve their communities and create economic opportunity.
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At some point most executive teams will make a bet-the-company decision. Sometimes they’ll make the right one and will be handsomely rewarded. Southwest’s decision in 2007 to hedge against increases in the price of jet fuel proved remarkably prescient. But sometimes the big decision will go horribly wrong. In 2007 AOL and Time Warner finally pulled the plug on the $350 billion 2001 merger that Time Warner chiefs Jeff Bewkes and Gerald Levin later called “the biggest mistake in corporate history.”
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If you’re thinking about co-founding a company with your B-school buddy, break it off right now.
This is the “Cool Kids Start Companies” syndrome. But for every Warby Parker or Rent the Runway, there are hundreds more that quietly combust in the background without fanfare or notice. And as I’ve argued before, it’s certainly tempting to imagine that your Batman-and-Robin duo might be the team to beat the odds but it’s just not going to happen (at least for 99.998 percent of new entrepreneurs).
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Roger Schwarz, author of Smart Leaders, Smarter Teams, explains how to build trust and accountability on your team.
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14 November 2013 – In addition to economic benefits, the creative economy - which includes audiovisual products, design, new media, performing arts, publishing and visual arts - also contributes significantly to inclusive social development, dialogue and understanding between people, the United Nations today reported.
Image: UNESCO/IFCD
The next decade of manufacturing will require an innovation capacity and entrepreneurial spirit that only the U.S. can harness. When we talk about the future of the industry, we are not talking about our fathers’ manufacturing. We are talking about software solutions, service integration, 3D printing and the utilization of big data. These trends will allow entrepreneurs to capture new business opportunities and pave the way for the U.S. to stay relevant in the global manufacturing economy.
We have been working on getting you up to date with the different startup ecosystems in Africa. We began this with South Africa and then moved on to East Africa. People have been asking us about other parts of Africa, such as the West and if we could put together a comprehensive guide for that region as well.
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The Times has just published a conversation with Adeo Ressi, who created the Founder Institute. In the conversation, Mr. Ressi reports that more than 1,000 aspiring entrepreneurs have graduated from his start-up incubator, each with a new company idea. Of those companies, about 10 percent have failed and 15 percent have gone dormant, Mr. Ressi said, while the rest are moving forward..
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Next week, thousands of entrepreneurs will come together for Global Entrepreneurship Week 2013. This worldwide event, involving seven and half million people from over 130 countries, will take place throughout the week of 18 – 24 November. It seeks to develop and support promising entrepreneurs and produce new ventures. The Week enables recent start ups and growing small businesses to receive practical advice from people at all ends of the entrepreneurial spectrum.
There’s been no shortage of gloomy headlines about the struggles of workers age 50 and over. But there’s one area in which this age group continues to shine: entrepreneurship.
“The older you are, the more likely you are to be an entrepreneur,” said Edward Rogoff, professor of entrepreneurship at Baruch College’s Zicklin School of Business, and co-author of “The Second Chance Revolution: Becoming Your Own Boss After 50.”
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If you’re thinking of becoming an entrepreneur, or are one already, you know a big part of entrepreneurship is to always be learning. No matter what stage of the journey you’re on, it’s key to keep seeking out new tips and tricks to make your business more successful (and keep yourself as sane as possible).
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Let’s face it: No one in their right mind starts a business to become a tax expert, this is exactly why taxes are one of the last things on the “to do” list of most startups, at least until tax time. By far one of the biggest mistakes most small business owners make is they don’t take the time to put an accounting system in place before they are making money to help them manage their newly found cash flow or to help mitigate the risk of a new startup. So to help you avoid this costly pitfall, here are four things every entrepreneur should know about small business taxes.
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In 1967, The Public Interest, then a leading venue for highbrow policy debate, published a provocative essay by Paul Baran, one of the fathers of the data transmission method known as packet switching. Titled “The Future Computer Utility,” the essay speculated that someday a few big, centralized computers would provide “information processing … the same way one now buys electricity.”
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Crowdfunding is a global phenomenon but contrary to what most think, it's not a new model of funding. Nonprofits have been utilizing crowdfunding for longer than you may realize. In 1949, Actor and Comedian Milton Berle hosted the very first telethon for the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation. A little over $100,000 was raised in 16 hours. That's the equivalent of nearly a million dollars today! This telethon is probably the earliest example of public nonprofit crowdfunding.
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The color of water is one of the best reflections of the health of the surrounding environment. Blue glacial ice is often thought of as the purest form of water. A mountain stream is usually clean and clear without color at its headwaters, but soon starts to pick up colors and contaminants as it runs down through the landscape of our modern world. Pollution and some of the by-products of poorly planned development can then spread all sorts of artificial casts in the water. This slide show from the book Our Beautiful, Fragile World depicts water at its purest–and its most polluted.
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China produces more than a million engineering graduates a year—which is seven times as many as America. It is second in academic publications to America and by 2015 will file more patents annually than America. China has already invested tens of billions of dollars in research and has labs and infrastructure that are at par with the best in the world. Its government is focused on building an innovation economy and will do whatever it takes to leap ahead—even if that means stealing technology from the West.
Technology jobs have replaced those in middle management as the positions employers are trying to fill most, new research shows.
A study by job-matching service TheLadders revealed that the fastest-growing jobs shy away from management, and instead require deep educational qualifications and specific skills in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Image: mashable.com
Americans know their celebrities, living or dead: a full 96 percent recognize the name Marilyn Monroe.
But say "Steve Jobs" to a U.S. resident, and the odds are barely better than 50/50 that you'll get a nod of recognition for the founder of Apple.
Even entrepreneurs who have made extraordinary contributions to the U.S. economy – and to daily life for millions – have relatively low public awareness, according to a study released today by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
Plenty of people work from home on occasion. According to the American Time Use Survey, 38% of those with a college education or more did some work from home on the days they worked. If working from home is a remotely regular thing for you, then you probably have a home office. But if you have a home office, you can have things go wrong there that don’t go wrong in the “real” office. Here are several common snafus and how to avoid them.
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Starbucks locations already seem to be everywhere you look. But starting November 21, the company will take on a new frontier: trains. Starbucks, with the help of Swiss train company SBB, has converted a double-decker car running from Geneva Airport to St. Gallen in Switzerland into a fully functional Starbucks store, complete with wood tables, leather chairs, and, in another first for the company, waitstaff.
