Ever wondered which state had the highest percentage of grown kids still living with their parents? If you imagined that it might be the great state of New Jersey, you win the prize. Census data released on Sept. 15 says that just less than 47% of New Jersey’s 18-to-34-year-olds are living in their parents’ home. Yep, almost half.

The Garden State has the highest proportion of so-called boomerang kids, but it’s not alone. As the map below shows, more than 40% of Connecticut and New York millennials are living with their parents as well. And California and Florida aren’t too far behind.

Image: http://time.com

Innovation ranks high among our culture’s most cherished attributes, a key underpinning for progress and prosperity. So it’s a little shocking to consider how innovation once was considered more of a threat than a boon.

In the 16th and 17th Centuries, “innovators” drew scorn as disrupters who threatened the established political or religious order. “Traitorous innovators,” Shakespeare thundered in one of his plays, and Scottish writer James Boswell lumped together “modern infidels and innovators” as “all vain men.”

Are entrepreneurs born or made? That debate still rages, but for Central University of Technology Vice-chancellor Professor Thandwa Mthembu the answer is clear: Entrepreneurs can indeed be made and it’s time to invest more seriously in that process.

“Everything is teachable, given the right environment. If you think something is not teachable, then you probably don’t belong in an educational institution,” he told University World News in an interview last week, in which he outlined his institution’s strategic focus on innovation and entrepreneurship education in line with its vision to become an agent for socio-economic development, particularly at the level of cities and regions.

“‘Disruptor’’ has negative connotations to it, if you look it up,” she said.

It shouldn’t be used in business for that reason. She points out that Google is not a disruptor.

“It builds great businesses by looking for a problem and finding a creative solution,” she said. “We found 94 percent of all fatal accidents are caused by driver error. We set out to save lives.”

When you first moved your things into your office, you couldn’t wait to put your talents to use and impress your new colleagues with your dedication and drive.

But at some point, that passion to succeed did a slow fade. Instead of killing it on projects, you found yourself going through the motions, bored and uninspired.

You’re not the only one who spends the workday feeling this way. A 2014 Gallup report determined that 51% of employees were "not engaged" at the office—in other words, they don’t feel invested in their work, and they’re not getting anything meaningful out of it. Another 17.5% of employees described themselves as "actively disengaged."

There has been a lot of money sloshing around the startup world for the past few years. Cheap and accessible capital has advantages: More founders get the opportunity to pursue big dreams and previously “unfundable companies” not only raise huge amounts of money, but some ultimately achieve unicorn status.

Discussions about the downside of this trend are usually related to systemic risks, like the perpetual bubble talk, but few are discussing the problem as it relates to founders — more capital equals more risk. But who is bearing this risk, and what really is the downside? Sure, capital providers are taking this risk — but they aren’t the only ones.

Helping patients means transparency and clarity

Every day, thousands of Americans hear the dreaded “c word” from their doctor. I know the fear and the numbness that sets in with the cancer of a loved one.

What happens next can make the difference between life and death. If there’s a treatment that can help, there’s hope. But for some people, hope is a clinical trial that will ultimately determine whether a new therapy can slow or stop their cancer.

Image: Ints Kalnins—Reuters - Joe Biden delivers a speech in Riga, Latvia, on Aug.23, 2016.

A question that always props up in a job seeker’s mind while joining a startup has to be “job security.” While the startup ecosystem has the perks of having flexible working hours and leaner or zero hierarchy, sudden plug on projects and in situations of deals and mergers, one always sees startups layoff a string of employees.

So should a job seeker looking for security not join any traditional startup?

Image: Entrepreneur India

Graduates of the Ice House leadership program, received their certificates Friday, signifying that they are now certified to go out and teach the course to people around the Erie community.

The program gives the leaders of new businesses an opportunity to learn a different approaches to entrepreneurship. People learned how to think with an innovative mind to find new ideas and positives in the everyday work environment.

Political dysfunction limits many sources of economic promise for the U.S., and this problem far precedes the events of this year’s election cycle.  

Today, Harvard Business School’s U.S. Competitiveness Project released a report titled, “Problems Unsolved and a Nation Divided.” Competitiveness, according to the authors, refers to “the ability of firms operating in the U.S. to compete successfully in the global economy while supporting high and rising living standards for the average American.” In other words, the U.S. cannot sustain prosperity through corporate gains alone.

IXA valorisation centre (a collaboration between the University of Amsterdam, Academic Medical Center (AMC), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, VU University Medical Center Amsterdam and Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences) and the research institutes AMOLF and Nikhef will be collaborating closely in the new programme ‘IXAnext, Talent for innovation’. This collaboration aims to make the knowledge institutes’ knowledge and expertise more readily available for societal and private parties. Together they dedicate themselves to increasing the use and dissemination of knowledge in the region. This will be accomplished among others in the form of Innovation Labs, which will intensify cooperation with the business community and increase the support given to start-ups and spin-offs. By developing this programme, IXA is taking the next step towards professionalising and improving services in the valorisation process.

Image: http://www.vu.nl

A new era of opportunity, inspiration and creativity is launching at the University of Oklahoma with the opening of the Innovation Hub during the week of Sept. 19. This cutting-edge facility is designed to foster the creation, refinement and implementation of innovative ideas.

The Innovation Hub features multiple zones that can be utilized by students, faculty and staff. The digital fabrication lab brings ideas to tangible reality through 3D printers, laser cutters, CNC milling machines, a woodshop and on-site experts. The data visualization zone utilizes virtual reality to immerse users in the world of informatics. The collaboration zone has customizable spaces for students to meet and work together on their projects and ideas, including initiating new technology-based business and jobs for Oklahoma’s future economy.

Image: http://www.normantranscript.com

Creativity has enabled humans to conquer every corner of this planet. Indeed our yen for innovation is one of the most salient characteristics of our kind. Yet our species is not the only one given to inventiveness. Researchers have documented the capacity in a growing number of other creatures. And some of their findings run counter to received wisdom about the origins of creativity and how to foster it in human minds.

A man completing the 22 Pushup Challenge in an unique way was surprised to see two massive humpback whales photobomb his routine.

YouTuber Erik Jones was filming his friend Mike Pelayo on day nine of the 22 Pushup Challenge in order to raise awareness for veteran suicide prevention. The challenge asks participants to complete 22 pushups for 22 days, so Pelayo was switching it up a little bit by performing his pushups on a kayak in the middle of the ocean. We're sure it seemed like a great idea at the time.

A surfing camera in San Francisco captured the moment a massive great white shark put on a splashy (and scary) show.

The clip, which was shot Wednesday morning at Ocean Beach, shows nearly a dozen surfers waiting in the water as the shark jumps clear out of the water for a pretty sweet belly flop. While many of the surfers missed seeing the shark showing off, a few surfers witnessed the action. 

Image: http://mashable.com

The only thing that’s been consistent for digital health accelerators in the past couple of years is that most of them have been tweaking their model. That’s no less true of the New York Digital Accelerator, which is run by the New York eHealth Collaborative and the Partnership Fund for New York City.

Now in its fourth year, the accelerator did away with an open call for applicants. Instead, the program relied the four investment firms and 16 healthcare organizations that serve as mentors to the accelerator to nominate companies they viewed as worthy.

Deloitte’s new family leave program for its U.S. employees includes time off for elder care, spousal care and child care beyond infancy.

Both male and female employees can take up to 16 weeks of paid family leave each year, and new mothers will be eligible for six months of paid time off, including short-term disability for childbirth. Staff must take at least three consecutive days off to qualify for the program.

Thursday night  was the 2016 Mississippi Innovator’s Hall of Fame, and I’m going to spend the next few weeks talking about some of the honorees and inductees from the event.

One of the great things about the Mississippi Innovator’s Hall of Fame is that while most inductees are companies that are household names, many of the companies honored as “Innovators to Watch” are great Mississippi companies that are mostly under the radar.

Image: Special to The Clarion-Ledger

“Bipartisan approval by the Ways and Means Committee of this important bill is welcome news for the entrepreneurial ecosystem and startup employees across the country who are unfairly penalized with tax liabilities on vested stock but no liquid market to sell those shares to meet their tax obligations,” said Bobby Franklin, President and CEO of NVCA.  “Allowing for an additional period of time for employees to defer taxes on exercised stock options is a common sense solution to this challenge that will encourage more talented individuals to help build the next generation of great American companies.  We thank Congressmen Paulsen and Crowley for their leadership and commitment to avoiding a startup brain drain by preserving the value of stock options for employees, and look forward to working with them to pass this bill into law.”

As an entrepreneur, I see the world a bit differently. Since I have never had a full-time job or received much training at my part-time work, I have always gone with my gut on how certain tasks should be approached.

While experience has its benefits, in my experience, inexperience can lead to innovation and out-of-the-box thinking. That is how I approached my idea for Valuation App, a mobile app for financial analysis. I did not have the money or the marketing resources to get an app built and promoted, so I used crowdfunding as a means to finance it. Using just a deck, I raised money from 57 people to crowdfund the app’s expenses. I requested $11 from each person and raised close to $4,000. It worked — the app is now available on Android and iOS, and even led to my next venture.

Image: http://www.alleywatch.com