Wouldn’t it be great if we humans could program our minds to dream of practical things? My answer - hell no! Although I believe many wish they could. In this information-driven world, we can learn so much today that we had no concept of yesterday. This fact is multiplied when we welcome time for our imaginations. So many of us get stuck in the routine commonality of what they do, their reality, they forget to nourish their most valuable asset their Imaginations. Things which are practical are always known, things which are revolutionary usually have no history to help us decide the merits of taking action. So those who stifle their imaginations or live with tunnel vision, will believe that sticking with what they know is a better gamble.

If there’s one thing that I’m getting sick of hearing about, it’s the skills gap. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a very real situation happening here: as of the last business day of June 2016, there were 5.6 million jobs available in the U.S. according to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) for said month. At the same time, the U.S. unemployment rate currently sits at 4.9%, which equates to about 7.77 million people. Why is it that we can’t fill these jobs? Why is it that we can’t cut unemployment down to half its current rate? The infamous skills gap, according to the internet… but what if I told you that this whole “skills gap” thing is a myth that those in power are clinging to, hoping to keep the “old way of doing things” alive while fiercely resisting change and innovation? A disclaimer: I’ve written about the skills gap before, what it all means, how to overcome it, etc. It’s only as I’ve grown older, watched the situation develop, and decided to dive into the origin of the skills gap that I’ve realized what a confused web has been woven.

There’s big trouble in venture capital land, with allegations of wild spending, electronic snooping and unhinged management dragging a slew of funds through the mud. That could be a shocking foretaste of a coming VC massacre, according to some analysts.

In just the past few months, one $100 million VC fund linked to Harvard University was ripped open by claims of violence and fraud; a Silicon Valley fund is accused of spending itself into insolvency; and a Bay Area fund disintegrated amidst petty infighting and arguments over travel expenses.

Nope, this isn't a scene out of Free Willy.

It's actually taking place in the Army Bay, New Zealand, where a kayaker casually jumped out of his vessel to hang out with a curious orca on Monday. Tim Stewart is said daring kayaker, who told the NZ Herald he went down to the ocean after he heard of orca sightings in the area.

S. 2812 would permanently authorize and expand the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. Those programs help small businesses compete for research and development contracts. The bill also would authorize federal agencies to use a portion of their funding for research and development to cover administrative costs of the SBIR and STTR programs. S. 2812 also would direct the Small Business Association (SBA) to develop a pilot program to provide grants to establish regional collaboratives to help small businesses increase their competitiveness for awards from these programs and would authorize a variety of other activities.

I’m amazed about Americans’ debate regarding immigration.  And all the rhetoric from candidate Trump about the need to close America’s borders.

I was raised in Oklahoma, which prior to statehood was called The Indian Territory.  I was raised around the only real Native Americans.  All the rest of us are immigrants.  Some voluntarily, some as slaves.  But the fact that people want to debate whether we allow people to become Americans seems to me somewhat ridiculous, since 98% of Americans are immigrants.  The majority within 2 generations.

Smart money VCs are on pace to participate in fewer cybersecurity deals through the end of this year, compared to 2015. This year, through Q2’16, the top two dozen smart money VCs participated in nearly 30 cybersecurity funding rounds — deals that totaled $657M in aggregate.

By year-end, 2016 is on track to see roughly 50 cybersecurity deals with smart money VCs involved, deals that together are projected to account for nearly $1.2B in funding. Last year we saw these VCs involved in 56 deals worth nearly $2B.

The Georgetown-based Halcyon Incubator celebrated the commencement of a new cohort on Thursday with another announcement — two years ago, to the day, the incubator itself was launched. In that time, S&R Foundation COO Kate Goodall informed the gathered crowd, the incubator has served 32 ventures, which have raised a collective $10 million in funding and “impacted” 2 million lives around the world.

Image: The Halcyon House. (Photo by Tajha Chappellet-Lanier)

Joseph Badaracco, Harvard Business School professor, explains what to do when no decision feels like a good decision. He is the author of Managing in the Gray: Five Timeless Questions for Resolving Your Toughest Problems at Work.

The United States has dominated the arena of technology startups since the beginning. There are a bevy of reasons for this, but chief among them is the venture capital infrastructure that has existed in the United States for decades. Across the rest of the world, venture capital simply didn’t exist as a major vehicle for investment.

But that is changing quickly. Consider that in 2005, startups in the United States garnered 94% of the world’s deployed venture capital. Just a decade later, however, the U.S. share has decreased to 59%.

These days, every company either is or must become a digital organization if they want to survive and grow in the age of platforms and networks. But getting there is no cakewalk. The journey requires leaving behind old mental models of industry and value.

A decade ago, the five most valuable companies on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index were Exxon, GE, Microsoft, Gazprom and Citigroup. Today, the ranking has radically changed. The index’s top five most valuable companies are in tech: Apple, Alphabet (parent company of Google), Amazon, Microsoft, and Facebook.

Knowledge@Wharton: What are some of the key ingredients that you think indicate we could be headed for a second Renaissance?

Kutarna: In the big picture, we boil it down to three things: new maps, new media, and a new human condition, which are the three very broad parallels that reshaped the European society 500 years ago and are reshaping our world today. Five hundred years ago a man named Johannes Gutenberg brings the printing press to Europe. It suddenly flips the economics of information exchange and knowledge creation, and that had enormous implications — not only to accelerate science and technology, but also to give new power to extremist movements, like the Bonfire of the Vanities that a man named (Girolamo) Savonarola ignited to rip control of Florence from the establishment, the Medici, and put his own populist agenda in power….

Self-driving vehicles promised to revolutionize the transportation industry. Automated cars could reshape every industry that relies on the automobile, from car manufacturing, to taxis, limousines and trucking. By taking human beings—who aren’t the drivers they think they are—out from behind the wheel, self-driving cars could also save millions of lives.

By the year 2020, there will be one billion entrepreneurs in the world. So chances are, with a genius start-up idea or a sideline creative business, you will be one of them. Even if you choose to remain an employee in a large company, the skills of the entrepreneurial brain could be the key to career success and happiness.

Here, Shaa Wasmund, one of Britain's most highly regarded digital entrepreneurs and author of bestselling books Stop Talking, Start Doing, and Do Less, Get More, shares her insider tips on how to think more like an entrepreneur and win at your career:

Image: http://www.marieclaire.co.uk

Here’s a bedtime story that college kids tell themselves while they toss and turn at the thought of surviving another term: “Once upon a time, in a land of Fierce Competition, a little college boy named Bill Gates (you can substitute Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg) worked very hard, so that one day he could have a good job. But evil old professors who knew that he was destined to be the Prince of Money burdened him with dull ideas that hurt his big brain very, very much. One day he broke free, ran far from the School of Dullards, and joined a merry group of brave escapees from college who had magical ideas: Michael Dell, David Karp, Kevin Rose, Larry Ellison, Jack Dorsey, and Paul Allen, to name a few. They had great fun, and soon ruled the entire kingdom—which they renamed DropOut Land, in honor of the proven fact of history that every billionaire dropped out of college—and lived happily ever after. With a hot girl. And a Gulfstream G500. The End. No, two hot girls, and a yacht with a helipad, like Larry Ellison’s. The End.”

Over the last month, the Economic Development Administration (EDA) announced over $8 million in grants to expand entrepreneurial and business support services in Alabama, New York, and Texas including:

• $2.9 million to PortAL – a business incubator in Mobile, AL –  to renovate and modernize the former Threaded Fasteners building to provide entrepreneurial support services and house tech startups; 
• $2.6 million to High Tech Rochester to facilitate the development of the Rochester-Finger Lakes Business Accelerator Hub Facility that will provide incubator space for high-growth potential startup businesses as well as services for existing manufacturing companies;

Immigrant entrepreneurs would be allowed to remain in the United States for an initial period of up to two years, and, conditional upon meeting certain benchmarks, could potentially stay in the country for one additional period of up to three years under a newly proposed rule by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) branch of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). As part of the International Entrepreneur Rule, which is now open for a 45-day comment period, certain international entrepreneurs would have an opportunity to start or scale their businesses in the United States.  

In opening a recent interview with Under Armour (NYSE:UA) founder and CEO Kevin Plank, the commentator described Plank as "next." 

As perhaps the most high-profile member of a cohort of younger CEOs, Plank's overwhelming success in starting and growing Under Armour has become the stuff of business lore. Here are a few of Plank's top quotes on a host of subjects including business, entrepreneurship, and leadership. 

Image: http://www.fool.com - Under Armour

U.S. employees are demanding more part-time and flexible work, and employers are listening. Many, like Amazon, are among the more than half that reported investing in flexible work options this year, according to a 2015 Workplace Trends study.

But tech workers aren't the only ones who can score these lucrative, part-time gigs. FlexJobs, an online marketplace that connects freelancers and employers, recently identified 10 high-paying jobs for those seeking part-time work. While the hours are reduced, the salaries start at $50 an hour.

Surviving Alberta’s current economic crisis isn’t about who is strongest, says Jay Slemp, it’s about who can adapt.

Slemp is the chair of the Palliser Economic Partnership in central Alberta and his region will test that theory when the Hanna coal mine closes.

He wants workers to stay in the region, but that means figuring out how to diversify the local economy.

That’s where a new provincial government grant comes in.

The Community and Regional Economic Support program will see $30 million available over two years to communities, regions, municipalities, regional economic development alliances and four Rural Alberta Business Centres.