The skillset necessary for entrepreneurial success is changing rapidly.

There’s an irony to being a start-up founder these days. As the next generation of entrepreneurs emerges with disruptive designs on their respective industries, they’re entering a business world that has already been disrupted by start-ups that have gone before. The certainties of even five or ten years ago no longer apply. Because the rulebook is being extensively rewritten, we should expect start-up failure rates to remain high, even as the opportunities for the successful few have never been greater.

Leading an organisation’s digital transformation requires simultaneously tackling three questions.

With digital disruption no longer a question of “if” but “when”, CEOs are increasingly focused on transforming their organisations to reap the benefits, and meet the challenges brought by the successive waves of technological innovations.

FITCHBURG – There’s probably no “secret sauce” for what makes some communities successful and others not, although the recipe usually includes a homegrown mix of economic vibrancy, civic leadership and a dash of urgency.

Such is the case these days in a number of Wisconsin communities that have charted competitive paths forward, often banking on indigenous strengths and local “champions” from both the private and public sectors.

Madison is one story that sometimes catches national attention because of its growing base of startup and emerging companies, but there are other examples, as well. 

Stephen Hawking made a bold headline last week: “This is the most dangerous time for our planet.”

In an essay in the Guardian, the renowned theoretical physicist wrote: “Whatever we might think about the decision by the British electorate to reject membership of the European Union and by the American public to embrace Donald Trump as their next president, there is no doubt in the minds of commentators that this was a cry of anger by people who felt they had been abandoned by their leaders.”

Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Stephen_Hawking.StarChild.jpg

Minebea, a Japanese automotive industry supplier, will invest EUR 60 million in a new factory in the city of Kosice, Eastern Slovakia. The investment may increase to EUR 100 million and may also include a research & development center, if all goes well.

The company also considered Romania for opening the new plant, according to the Slovak newspaper Slovak Spectator. Although labor costs are lower in Romania, Minebea chose Slovakia for its higher availability of well-trained engineers and technicians.

Partnerships with industry and the promotion of technology transfer and commercialization are increasingly important for ensuring the widespread dissemination and deployment of national laboratory innovations. Argonne National Laboratory contracted with Innovation Associates to identify exemplars from national laboratories that could serve as models for enhancing industry partnerships, technology transfer, and commercialization for Argonne and other national laboratories in a recent report, Enhancing National Laboratory Partnership and Commercialization Opportunities.

CEDAR RAPIDS, IA—DECEMBER 7, 2016—Curt Nelson, President and CEO of Cedar Rapids-based business accelerator Entrepreneurial Development Center (EDC), Manager of Iowa Seed Funds I & II, has been named President of the Iowa Venture Capital Association (IVCA). The IVCA was formed in late 2015 as a non-profit organization with 30 member companies that influence and contribute to the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the State of Iowa. The member organizations range from seed-stage to later-stage venture capital funds, providing critical capital to Iowa-based businesses; from start-ups to later-stage growth entities.

Ascension Ventures (AV) has finalized its latest strategic venture capital fund at $255 million. This fourth fund for AV, CHV IV, L.P., brings the firm’s total assets under management to more than $800 million. The new fund is backed by 13 health system partners, which enable AV to continue to add value to its portfolio companies while simultaneously delivering financial and strategic returns to the partners.

Plentiful, high-paying spots on assembly lines were once a powerhouse component in the employment mix in the U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign trafficked heavily in the idea that it’s time to wrest these jobs back to our shores and return the American worker to a dependable middle class existence. The message was met with eager ears, especially in parts of the traditional U.S. manufacturing base.

Despite a recent tapering of year-on-year growth, the global market for prescription drugs is forecast to reach $1.5 trillion per year by 2021, a 33 percent increase from 2016.

That’s according to a new report by the QuintilesIMS Institute, the research arm of the healthcare informatics company QuintilesIMS.

Facebook is apparently connecting with many of its own employees. 

It ranked as the best tech company to work for in 2017 and came in second among U.S. companies overall, according to a new report from Glassdoor. The ninth annual list is based on employee reviews posted on the job site from Nov. 2, 2015 to Oct. 30, 2016. 

‘Tis the time of year when the frenzy of holiday shopping hits and you find yourself wracking your brain for good gift ideas. This time, you’re trying to plan far enough ahead so you don’t end up emailing Amazon e-certificates at the 11th hour. 

Fear not, there’s still plenty of time to get everyone a thoughtful and really cool gift. Here’s a handy guide of tech gifts for everyone you’re shopping for. Ranging from affordable to splurge-worthy, there’s plenty of tech to go around.

Image: VIEW-MASTER® DELUXE VR VIEWER 

The biggest battle you have to win when raising capital is the battle in your head. This battle begins long before any shots are fired. As an entrepreneur, you must be willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done. First and foremost, you must unconditionally adopt the attitude of “failure is not an option.” Visualize, in detail, on a daily basis, your successful outcome. With that said, you’re going to be playing many roles in this process (from general to officer to infantryman). Many of your days will be spent doing the less than glamorous tasks of preparation and prospecting. Accept that now. If you want to be the leader of a Fortune 100 company some day, you have to start by paying your dues today—it’s simply the cost of success.

For many years, companies were convinced of the competitive advantage of closed research and development. They jealously protected their intellectual property behind closed doors and dramatically revealed it to the public after years of development. This old model has since been replaced by open innovation. Open innovation is a term coined by Professor Henry Chesbrough in his book, Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology. Specifically, Chesbrough defines open innovation as “a paradigm that assumes that firms can and should use external ideas as well as internal ideas, and internal and external paths to market, as the firms look to advance their technology.”

Bayh-Dole passed in a time just like this. In 1980 a candidate who was widely derided by the media unexpectedly won the presidency when voters concerned with the direction of the country decided to shake things up. At the time many pundits were writing that America’s best days were behind us and we should resign ourselves to no longer being the leading economic power. We had widespread unemployment, had lost our lead in traditional industries like cars, electronics and steel and it looked like just a matter of time until we lost the rest. Many of the “best and brightest” said our only hope was to copy the Japanese model where centralized government planners working with dominant companies confidently charted the economic future. They added that the days of “cowboy entrepreneurs” were over.

WASHINGTON, DC – Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) and Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), sponsors of the 21st Century Cures Act, issued the following statement after the Senate passed the medical innovation bill by a vote of 94-5.

“After three years, our legislative work is finally complete. 21st Century Cures is ready for the president,” said Upton and DeGette. “With this innovation game-changer, a new day for medical research is on the horizon. Today’s vote is for patients and their loved ones. We all have more reason for hope.” 

Video-analytics technology is transforming the Internet of Things and creating new opportunities. Are companies prepared to capture growth?

Some of the most innovative Internet of Things (IoT) applications involve video analytics—a technology that applies machine-learning algorithms to video feeds, allowing cameras to recognize people, objects, and situations automatically. These applications are relatively new, but several factors are encouraging their growth, including the increased sophistication of analytical algorithms and lower costs for hardware, software, and storage.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science published the Fiscal Year 2017 Phase I, Release 2 Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) on November 28, 2016, for the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs. Under DE-FOA-0001619, whose complete listing of technical topics was released on October 31, DOE seeks applicants for grants directed toward FY17 Phase I, Release 2 projects. Topics for this funding opportunity can be found at http://science.energy.gov/sbir/funding-opportunities and include LED and OLED lighting (see topic 10b).

RPA is a promising new development in business automation that offers a potential ROI of 30–200 percent—in the first year. Employees may like it too.

Robotics are beginning to have a profound effect on business. In this interview, Xavier Lhuer, an associate principal in McKinsey’s London office, speaks with Leslie Willcocks, professor of technology, work, and globalization at the London School of Economics’ department of management, about his work on robotic process automation—its impact on work, and how companies can capture its strategic and financial benefits.1

In 2009, virtual computing company VMware was in a state of transition. The founder and CEO had left and a new leader was at the helm. While server virtualization had powered a decade of success, the company needed to find its next revenue growth engine. The CEO had made several acquisitions, but employees struggled to understand why. The company decided to take an unconventional route to address a rapidly changing landscape: Do a business simulation. VMware partnered with consultancy BTS to build a simulation that mimicked the challenges facing the company. The two-day “game” forced company leaders to wrestle with funding challenges and make trade offs between short- and long-term investments. Leaders also swapped roles, such as sales switching with product. The all-encompassing exercise did the trick, upleveling empathy, understanding and collaboration at a critical time.