In the waning hours of 2015, as we reflected on the images produced by a year dominated by Europe’s migrant crisis, the world hoped that policy changes might ease the burden on thousands of people fleeing Syria, Iraq and other countries at war. Unfortunately, 2016 has brought us more of the same heart-wrenching photographs, like those of the Associated Press’ Emilio Morenatti and Agence France-Presse’s Aris Messinis, of overloaded boats where desperation and fear can be read on everyone’s faces. This year, also saw a flood images out of Iraq and Syria, the epicenters of this refugee crisis, as coalitions of armed forces fought back against ISIS—most notably in Mosul as Laurent Van Der Stockt, Bryan Denton, Yuri Kozyrev and Emin Ozmen have shown in their stunning, at times terrifying, pictures.

Image: http://time.com/

Lingering for more than two years, the revamped 21st Century Cures bill, unveiled late Friday, now appears slated for House and Senate passage before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

The 996-page bill includes major tweaks to the way in which the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates drugs, devices and biologics, while providing the agency with $500 million over 10 years to implement provisions that seek to move such products to patients more quickly, while maintaining the same standard for safety and effectiveness that the agency has adhered to in the past.

The University of Washington (UW) has teamed up with Amazon to launch a startup accelerator, in an effort to help the tech powerhouse connect to new companies that are fueling innovation in artificial intelligence.

The Alexa Accelerator will take place at UW's Startup Hall (above).

Powered by Techstars and created by Amazon’s $100 million Alexa Fund, the newly launched Alexa Accelerator aims to advance conversational AI, including speech technology and voice application. The startup accelerator is “built around the belief that voice will fundamentally improve the way we interact with technology,” according to an announcement from Amazon.

Traveling the world and experiencing new cultures and ways of life is a dream of many human beings. The thrill of an airplane lifting off, the excitement of getting a visa stamp from a foreign country, and the first taste of food that you would have never dreamed of eating all make life a little more interesting. As we come to the end of another year, you may even be making plans for some exciting destinations that you plan to travel to in the New Year. You may have added some places to your bucket list. 

A few years ago, I was watching an interview with Seth Godin, who is one of my heroes of the business world. He was explaining the core differences between entrepreneurship and freelancing. I was getting heated just listening to him.

Here’s how Seth explains it:

Formal and informal communication networks often corrupt rather than complement one another.

In addition to its technical difficulties, designing an engine for commercial aircraft poses a daunting logistical challenge. Since each failed iteration can cost the manufacturer millions, it is imperative that the efforts of dozens of design teams be smoothly coordinated, which is easier said than done considering that the simplest tweak from one team can affect the work of many others. If the teams aren’t communicating enough about their points of overlap, expensive errors may occur.

The venture capital market is getting... beefier.

On Monday meat processor Tyson Foods announced it would be creating a $150 million venture capital fund designed to "fuel the future of food."

The fund, called Tyson New Ventures, will be looking for companies that are pursuing new ways to commercialize "delicious, safe and affordable alternative proteins," fight hunger and food loss, as well as tapping into the so-called "Internet of food" that uses technology and the internet to improve the food chain process.

Melbourne is promoting itself as a global city, to attract the best international companies to set up APAC headquarters. Two years ago, I profiled Melbourne’s startup and innovation ecosystem. Then, the local community was kicking into gear and several U.S. companies like Eventbrite planted itself in the city.

Today, Melbourne’s ecosystem is flourishing and a swath of international tech companies like Zendesk, Slack, Square, Hired, Stripe and GoPro are heading straight there. The energy, reputation and support from the Victorian Government have been major drivers for this. Despite this success, it’s still early and the people know there’s much more work to be done.

In Lagos, Nigeria, a man straddles a motorcycle. He speeds off into the sprawling network of streets in Africa’s largest city to deliver a package.

The biker is a delivery driver for MAX, a fledgling Nigerian startup that is trying to solve the problem of so-called “last-mile delivery.” How do you pick up and deliver packages or food in an efficient way in a city where many people don’t have an address?

With the development of Big Data mining, robotics and artificial intelligence, we are looking at the possibility of machines taking over a number of intellectual tasks, which is leading people to ask complicated questions such as, ‘What exactly makes humans special?’ This is not just a philosophical question, it is an economic one, because it amounts to asking, ‘What is the best division of labour between minds and machines?’

Parents, it’s time to push your kids to think beyond the lemonade stand. In today’s fast-paced global workforce, you're never too young to hone your entrepreneurial skills or start thinking like a business owner. Mashable reports 72 percent of Gen Z-ers want to start their own businesses.

Brothers Adam Toren and Matthew Toren are the founders of Kidpreneurs, a movement to empower young entrepreneurs. Their productions so far include an award-winning book for 7- to 12-year-olds that's already shipped more than 100,000 copies, an interactive parent-teacher guide and digital video kids' academy and Young Entrepreneur (acquired by Entrepreneur.com).

Suddenly the lights flickered. Then they went out. Everything in my hotel room run by electricity stopped working. It was a rainy evening and pitch black outside…and now inside.

A minute later, the lights flickered back on. For a minute or two. And then, once again, darkness returned.

The pattern repeated for ten minutes or so. I looked out the window to see if this was happening only in my room, or in the entire hotel, or in the entire area. To my annoyance, in this relatively new and quite fancy hotel and in the surrounding area, all had power but me.

Data have become core strategic assets in most organizations, and data management has become a top priority for most C-suite leaders. The structured and unstructured information companies collect about people and processes has the power to spur cutting-edge customer acquisition and retention strategies. It can reveal areas where processes could be made more efficient, and it can help business leaders make better decisions that reduce overall organizational risk. Data are the cornerstone upon which companies are launching their digital transformations—investing in analytics capabilities, machine learning, robotics, and other technologies to boost their odds of success.

Declines in the venture capital market are hitting startups of all sizes, but the ones left particularly vulnerable are the thousands of young companies that raised seed funding during headier times just a year or two ago.

The seed frenzy peaked in the first quarter of 2015 when more than 1,500 startups raised their first rounds of capital, according to research firm PitchBook Data. Many of those companies are now running out of cash, and most won't be able to get more.

Sean Parker decided to take on cancer by throwing so many deep-rooted basics of research tradition out the window that he very nearly drove away the academics he wanted to attract.

Among the many curious things about the institute established in April by Parker, Facebook Inc.’s first president and a co-founder of Napster Inc., is that scientists must pledge to collaborate instead of compete and to concentrate on making drugs rather than publishing papers. What’s more, marketable discoveries will be group affairs, with collaborative licensing deals -- no matter who led the research.

Most innovations are only as good as their weakest link. The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 may have been a great phone, full of new innovation, but most of us will never know. Obviously, that is an extreme example, but a great many innovations are let down, albeit to a lesser extent, by a weak link. As innovators, we are often passionate about a core idea. But if any part of an execution is flawed, it will likely not achieve its full potential, and in some cases may fail altogether.

Productivity growth is a hot topic in the United States right now. More specifically, the absence of productivity growth is creating headaches for the Federal Reserve and other policymakers, and prompting lower forecasts of American economic growth.

In August, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that U.S. productivity growth had fallen for a third consecutive quarter, the longest such streak since 1979. This means that, since 2007, annual productivity growth, at 1.3 percent per year, has been half of what it was from 2000 to 2007.

Regardless of your political leanings, there is one thing anyone who believes in America can agree on: Job creation is the lifeblood of our economy. Studies from the academics, US Census Bureau and Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation have found that new businesses account for nearly all net new job growth and close to 20% of gross job creation. Angel investors are behind many of the new businesses that create these jobs, with both financial and intellectual capital.

Zane Lowe’s first show as a DJ on Apple Music was a bit dizzying. The songs he played lurched from punk-pop to post-rock to grime to electronica to stadium rock and beyond. He showcased previously unheard songs along with tracks recorded decades ago by well-known rockers. Yet despite the disarray—or probably because of it—I enjoyed the show. Each new track took me in a surprising direction, while the mix of artists and the energy of the songs seemed to match Lowe’s slightly deranged chatter.