Since 2001, The Baida Center has been a business incubator in Drexel’s Lebow School of Business that houses eight to ten companies on average, mostly winners of the school’s incubator competition. The center is also a big reason the school was named one of the top three entrepreneurship programs for graduate students in the country (three spots ahead of, ahem, Temple University).

Technically Philly sat down with the man behind the scenes: Executive Director and Senior Executive in Residence Mark P. Loschiavo and asked him how the incubator works and why, like the rest of us, Loschiavo has trouble pronouncing “Baiada.”

Every entrepreneur, whether their business is online or offline based, can take advantage of the multitude of free tools that exist online. We’re always surprised when we poll entrepreneurs to know that not many are aware of these tools, let alone using them. And no, we’re not talking about Twitter, or Facebook, or even Sprouter. We’re talking about lesser-known online tools you as an entrepreneur can adopt today to further your business and gain exposure. See below for our list of the top 4 online tools for entrepreneurs:

PRESS RELEASE

MADISON - The in-house research arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture will work with a Wisconsin tech-based organization to help make its world-class research more widely available to companies and academic institutions in Wisconsin, it was announced Tuesday.

The Agricultural Research Service, which has scientists working at 100 locations across the United States and abroad, has signed a “Partnership Intermediary Agreement” with the Wisconsin Security Research Consortium, an independent, non-profit corporation with ties to the Wisconsin Technology Council. The Tech Council is the independent, non-partisan science and technology adviser to the governor and the Legislature in Wisconsin.

I recently interviewed Mike Moritz of Sequoia Capital and Paul Graham of YCombinator. Mike Moritz is probably the most successful venture capitalist of the last twenty years since he invested in Google, Zappos, Yahoo, and PayPal. Paul Graham’s YCombinator is at the leading edge of tech startup creation. Contrary to the typical bull shiitake that most venture capitalists spin (“we want a proven team in a proven market with a proven technology”), these guys are really making things happen. I picked up these twelve lessons from the interview:

Despite its many otherwise amazing attributes, Argentina is not a particularly tech friendly country.

For tech-geeks, early adopters and innovators, Argentina can be a frustrating place to live because it constantly lags behind developed countries – and even some developing nations – in terms of innovation and the adoption of new technologies.

Positive economic signs for manufacturing continue, according to NEMA, Rockwell Automation, Valve Manufacturers Association, and IEEE.

Numbers from NEMA, along with hopeful signs from Rockwell Automation, valve manufacturers, and IEEE, are among recent news giving manufacturers positive economic hope. Links to related Control Engineering coverage follow at bottom.

The Minister was speaking at a BDO Stoy Hayward business breakfast today in Belfast, as she welcomed the launch of the company’s booklet ‘The Future Of Business Looks Like This’. Published in conjunction with the News Letter, it features a range of local companies and how each is successfully tackling the economic downturn.

The Minister said: “As I, and my Executive colleagues, continue to focus on providing much needed support for business during the economic downturn, I am always encouraged to learn about those companies that are facing the recession head-on, and winning.

The announcement of a new National Science Foundation grant to the University of Wisconsin to further develop a game-based science and math learning program, along with an associated assessment system, caught my eye. It’s the exact type of promising technology-enabled assessment system that I wrote about in “Beyond the Bubble.” It’s also a good opportunity to talk about how the various federal funding streams for assessment do not yet form a cohesive path for the development, testing, scaling, and mainstream use of innovative assessment practices.

Do you consider yourself a small-business owner? Or does that phrase make you cringe? Often, the terms entrepreneur and small-business owner are used interchangeably — but that’s not quite right either. Clearly, not all entrepreneurs are small-business owners and not all small-business owners are entrepreneurs. Still, there has to be some way to distinguish big businesses from, uh … not big businesses.

At an unconference, where many simultaneous sessions compete to lure attendees at the same time, coming up with an appealing title for your session is important.

Topics are determined at the beginning of the day by the attendees, and session titles are posted to a wall that attendees look at to make their decisions about how they'll spend their time. It's an agenda crossed with a bulletin board.

NASA GLENN WINS FEDERAL LABORATORY CONSORTIUM TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER EXCELLENCE AWARD

CLEVELAND -- A metallic foam developed at NASA's Glenn Research Center for the reduction of turbofan engine noise was selected the winner of the 2009 Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) Midwest Region Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer. The award was presented at the 2009 FLC Midwest Regional Meeting in Bloomington, Ind.

(Nanowerk News) The EU must do more to develop and deploy key enabling technologies (KETs) such as nanotechnology, micro- and nano-electronics, advanced materials and photonics. This is the main message from a new Commission communication on the subject.

The term KETs refers to technologies that enable the development of new goods and services in a wide range of fields. For example, nanotechnology holds the promise of breakthroughs in healthcare, energy, environment and manufacturing, while micro- and nano-electronics are expected to lead to smart control systems that could revolutionise the energy, transport and space sectors, among others. And advanced materials could lead to major improvements in aerospace, transport, building and healthcare. Currently, the potential of these exciting new technologies remains largely untapped.

Each week, The Chronicle tracks the latest investments, fundraising, mergers and initial public offerings involving Bay Area venture capitalists and startups. Here are some recent highlights.

-- Capital markets snapshot. The value of acquisitions of venture-backed companies in the third quarter slipped to $2.3 billion, down from $2.8 billion the previous quarter and barely half of the $5.2 billion recorded in the third quarter a year ago. But a perceived opening of the IPO markets is causing some optimism. There were two venture-backed IPOs in the quarter, A123 Systems Inc. and LogMeIn Inc., one fewer than the last quarter. But the two third-quarter IPOs raised a total $460.4 million, up from $232.1 million in the prior quarter. Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/01/BU3J19VNA7.DTL&type=business#ixzz0SnXZqsTQ

A proposal that would exempt the venture capital industry from strict regulations including requiring firms to register as investment advisers with the Securities and Exchange Commission drew cheers Thursday from the National Venture Capital Association, which has been fighting increased regulation.

The proposed exemption language was part of a draft of the Private Fund Investment Advisers Registration Act and was announced by Representative Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.), chairman of the House Financial Services Capital Markets Subcommittee.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Initial public offerings will rebound only in 2010, despite a pick-up in activity that some investors say signal a resurgence, the National Venture Capital Association said on Thursday.

For those encouraged by such signs as the $340.4 million raised by battery maker A123 Systems Inc in its recent IPO, the trade association's message in its quarterly report is that total IPOs "fell far short of historical norms."

MUMBAI, India -- General Electric Co. is restructuring its Indian healthcare business in an effort to boost revenues and develop more products domestically, for both Indian and global markets, GE chief executive Jeffrey Immelt said Friday.

GE Healthcare will consolidate all its India business within Wipro ( WIT - news - people ) GE Healthcare, a joint venture between Indian technology giant Wipro Ltd. and GE Healthcare set up in 1990, the companies said. The joint venture currently distributes about 85 percent of GE Healthcare's products in India.

WBAA, EBAN and FNABA congratulate Portugal for the new Business Angels’ Co-Investment Fund.

Brussels, September 1st, 2009

Worldwide Business Angels have increasingly been syndicating and co-investing with public and private funds. This new initiative will represent a global investment of 25 million euros in 60 new start ups.

The new Business Angels (BA) Co-Investment Fund that was announced yesterday by the Portuguese government, brings Portugal to a new era of innovation, risk taking, enabling the development of several early stage projects.

“Portugal is showing how important the Business Angels community is for the development of innovation and a new generation of entrepreneurial companies. Portugal is definitely in the forefront of the World BA community, as they were when hosting the formative first meeting of the World Business Angels Association. Congratulations to Portugal and FNABA for this exciting achievement!”, mentioned John May, President of the World Business Angels Association and Chair Emeritus of the Angel Capital Association (US).

Read the Full Release HERE.

This is the final text of the bill or resolution as approved by both the Senate and House, as it is sent to the President in the case of a bill. This is the latest version of the bill available on this website.

I am quite often asked, in some form or another, “What can [STATE][LOCAL] government do to spur on an innovation-based economy in [SEATTLE][WASHINGTON]?”

Well, as I said on a panel at the Technology Alliance meeting in Leavenworth yesterday, the single biggest correlate to the strength of an innovative biotechnology industry in any geography is the quality of the major research institutions. The two heavyweight biotech hubs are Boston and the San Francisco Bay Area. No surprise there: