IBM launches another Africa Innovation Centre

IBM on Thursday opened an Africa Innovation Centre in Cape Town as it pushes its agenda on development of information technology.

Speaking to IT News Africa from Cape Town, Clifford Foster, IBM’s CTO said this was the beginning of exciting opportunities his company will offer in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Quick Facts: How Successful Angels Invest

Savvy investors know they aren’t psychics and aren’t living in an ideal world. They know that many startups will fail so they use a portfolio approach to balance their risks. They invest in a number of companies rather than just one and only scope for those that have a potential payoff of at least 5 to as much as 30x their invested capital in 3 to 5 years. This way, the startups that succeed would generate a return handsome enough to not only recoup their losses but also fatten up their bank accounts.

Experts Outline Challenges to Translational Research in the United States at a Capitol...

Experts Outline Challenges to Translational Research in the United States at a Capitol Hill Briefing, Emphasizing the Importance of Bringing Medical Innovation from 'Bench to Bedside'

Council for American Medical Innovation Brings Together Policy Experts for 'Translational Research: From Bench to Bedside,' the Second in a Series of Briefings About Achieving 'Recovery Through Discovery'

Join the Entrepreneurs' Movement

The Public Forum Institute, together with our PDE partners at the Kauffman Foundation, invite you to join Build a Stronger America , the Entrepreneurs' Movement.

Regardless of where you live, if you are like 80 percent of Americans, you believe that the economy has been, and will continue to be, built by entrepreneurs. We believe that entrepreneurs' voices need to be heard and will work to educate government officials about the important role entrepreneurs play in our economy.

WSJ: When Venture Investors Change Their Playbook

Good quarterbacks often make adjustments on the spot, calling an audible and changing the playbook when they sense an opening in the defense.

It’s a mindset that some venture capital firms are adopting amid a fractured economy that is toying with their original investment strategy and forcing them to look at other opportunities.

Venture capital still a big deal for the US economy, study says

Venture capital remained crucial to national economic growth over the last two years, according to a new study conducted by IHS Global Insight and commissioned by the National Venture Capital Association.

Russia faces long road to diversify economy

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia must deliver on pledges to reform the tax system and encourage the creation of home-grown seed capital if it wants to make long-standing dreams of reducing its reliance on oil a reality.

Economic diversification has for years been the holy grail for a Russian economy that grew fat on the proceeds from oil, gas and metals revenues, but these goals have proved just as elusive in the financial crisis as they did in the boom years.

Nigeria: Dedicate Annual Budget to Micro Credit, Napep Tells States

Abuja — The National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) has advised state governments to dedicate a portion of their yearly budgets to the provision micro-credit for Nigerians, to ensure that substantial funds are made available to the poor in the society.

While addressing newsmen in Abuja, the Senior Special Assistant to President/National Coordinator of NAPEP, Dr. Magnus Kpakol, stressed that NAPEP is also partnering states to ensure the success of the Village Trust Fund Scheme (VTFS).

Argentina, Iran Push TBED Strategies

Earlier this month, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved $750 million in financing over the next five years to Argentina's federal government for the country's Technology Innovation Program.

Argentina's R&D intensity as gauged by the ratio of R&D expenditures to GDP has increased in recent years, from 0.4 in 2003 to 0.51 in 2007. However, compared to a R&D intensity of 2.3 percent of GDP for OCED countries, Argentina lags considerably behind.

Report: San Diego’s Innovation Economy Shows Q2 Uptick in Startups, Patents, and Investments

A just-released report on San Diego’s innovation economy shows 102 new technology companies were created during the three months that ended on June 30—a 53 percent increase over the 66 startups launched during the first three months of 2009, and 34 percent more than the 76 companies started during the second quarter of 2008.

A key factor in the startup surge was a 90 percent increase in venture capital investments in the region over the three-month period, according to the report, which was released by Connect, a San Diego nonprofit group that promotes technology innovation and entrepreneurship. The report found that venture firms invested a total of $172 million in 22 San Diego area companies, based on regional data from the National Venture Capital Association, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Thomson Reuters.

Does cloud computing affect innovation?

Earlier this summer, Jonathan Zittrain wrote a New York Times OpEd piece that discussed his concerns with the cloud computing paradigm. Zittrain stated that, while it may seem on the surface that cloud adoption is as "inevitable as the move from answering machines to voice mail," he sees some real dangers.

Zittrain covered the usual concerns about data ownership, privacy, and the access that data placed in the cloud gives governments all over the world--a concern I certainly share. He went on to point out that these problems are solvable "with a little effort and political will," a view that I also adhere to.

Angel investors: Wings clipped, but still taking their time in the candy store

I checked in with veteran angel investor and expert John May about the state of angel investing. May, who is Managing Partner of the New Vantage Group, which manages the accounts of a number of angel funds, and who founded a bunch of angel groups and is chairman emeritus of the Angel Capital Association, not only has a broad perspective on the topic but also is usually an upbeat person.

WSJ: How Important Is Profitability For Tech IPOs?

Before the financial crisis hit, public-market investors frequently took chances on unprofitable technology start-ups. Companies such as Clearwire and Vonage whose IPO filings warned of mounting losses for the forseeable future were escorted by venture capitalists to the public markets as institutional investors grew comfortable with taking big risks.

Halfway through its money and its first decade, Ohio's Third Frontier Initiative has helped generate a $6.6 billion impact for the state, according to an independent assessment released by the Ohio Department of Development (ODOD) on Tuesday. The report also credits the initiative's investments for creating 41,300 jobs within Ohio over the past five years. Making an Impact: Assessing the Benefits of Ohio's Investment in Technology-Based Economic Development Programsprovides a supporting backdrop as Gov. Ted Strickland and the state legislature consider whether or not to place a possible extension of the Third Frontier Initiative on the May 2010 ballot. A large component of the Third Frontier's funding comes from a $500 million bond package Ohio voters passed four years ago.

Original Report

The Power of Daydreaming (Daydreams as a Source of Innovation & Motivation)

Barack Obama certainly had a dream . . . that one day he would be president. I'm sure that in his younger years many people would have mocked him for this audacious dream, but he followed his inner vision and now he's the 44th President of the United States.

The most dynamic and innovative people in any endeavor--business, science, athletics, politics, or the arts--are visionaries. And what exactly is a "vision?" At the end of the day I argue that a "vision" is just an upscale word for "daydream," and "visionary," an upscale word for daydreamer.

Governor's task force examines startup funding gap

Upstate university and business leaders Tuesday urged a state task force to help bridge the "valley of death" — the seed-funding wasteland that lies between higher-education research and profitable commercialization.

Speakers at a public hearing Tuesday at the University of Rochester Medical Center emphasized that New York lacks adequate private venture capital and public financing to get startup companies arising from university research into the competitive marketplace. The state ranks 25th nationwide in the amount of public dollars dedicated to startup capital and seed funding.

Forbes: Best Part Of Being An Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurs certainly experience extreme highs and lows at unpredictable frequencies. The highs have been numerous, and that's probably what keeps entrepreneurs as entrepreneurs once they have tried it. For example, after VEXTEC had developed a significant portion of our VLM technology core, the federal government arranged for some "blind" testing of our predictive capabilities. The large government contractors in the military world have proprietary materials that only they know the behavior of. It was arranged that VEXTEC predict a proprietary aerospace material--one that we could never have access to--and the large corporate entity who agreed to participate in this would only share information about the material after VEXTEC sent its prediction results to the government.

Secretary Vilsack comments on Innovation at NASVF Conference

OKLAHOMA CITY – America’s agricultural core is in the midst of a massive economic and environmental change, producing equally large opportunities for venture capital investment, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Wednesday

Climate change and ever-tighter market competition will drive new technologies in areas such as soil testing, petroleum alternatives, energy transmission, water management and supply chain refinement, Vilsack said at the annual conference of the National Association of Seed and Venture Funds. About 300 people attended the event in downtown Oklahoma City this week.

Economic Club heading to Metro

When leaders are looking to communicate with the Canadian people, the Economic Club of Canada is the choice forum. That's why the club has welcomed people such as Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Senator John McCain, Ukrainian president Victor Yushchenko, and California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to its podium in downtown Toronto in the past few years, not to mention practically every Canadian premier and cabinet minister.

Next month, that prized podium will hit the road, coming to Atlantic Canada for the first time so that one of the brains behind Barack Obama's epochal social media campaign for president can speak to the people of Metro Moncton.

InformationWeek 500: A Year Of Relentless Innovation

It's the first half of 2009, and unemployment's rising to a 26-year high of 9.5%. Sound like the perfect time to launch an aggressive technology-driven product?

It was for Progressive Insurance, which kicked off its "Name Your Price" Web site tool, letting customers build their own insurance policies, starting with what they think they can afford. It was for Coca-Cola, which tested a prototype fountain drink dispenser IT developed over two years with the company's R&D team, letting consumers mix a variety of new flavors while aligning Coke with a select group of fast-food restaurants to analyze buying data and manage inventories better. And it was for CME Group, the world's largest derivatives exchange, which partnered with Brazil's top exchange to give traders electronic access to CME products, expanding CME's global presence.