BELLINGHAM, Washington, USA — A proposed five-year extension for programs strengthening the role of innovative U.S.-owned and -operated small businesses in federally funded research and development is welcome news for the photonics community, say leaders of SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics.

As part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) compromise agreement finalized today between the House and Senate, a five-year extension of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs at all agencies was included within report language, the Senate Small Business Committee announced today.

BLOOMBERG – For years, the rap on Europe’s technology scene was that it was dominated by consumer-oriented e-commerce companies, some of which were blatant knock-offs of successful U.S. businesses, while the real pioneering innovation was taking place back in Silicon Valley.

That is no longer the case, London-based venture capital firm Atomico says in its latest annual report on the state of European tech. Startups focusing on deep technology — which would encompass the kind of artificial intelligence developed by Google’s DeepMind, or typing prediction from Microsoft-acquired SwiftKey — are drawing an increasing share of European venture funding.

Historically, productivity enhancing innovations were responsible for spurring real economic growth that raises living standards. Today, governments are frequently not just partners but also critical initiators of the innovation process. Government support has contributed to the development of the semiconductor industry, telecommunication technology, the global positioning system (GPS), and famously, the internet.

America’s entrepreneurial economy is the envy of the world.  Young companies account for almost 30 percent of new jobs, and as we have fought back from the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes, startups have helped the U.S. private sector create 15.5 million jobs since early 2010—the longest streak of private-sector job creation on record. 

Today, in celebration of National Entrepreneurship Month, the Administration is releasing a Top 10 list of President Obama’s most significant specific actions to promote American entrepreneurship, as well as announcing new efforts to build on these successes.

For years, the rap on Europe’s technology scene was that it was dominated by consumer-oriented e-commerce companies, some of which were blatant knock-offs of successful U.S. businesses, while the real pioneering innovation was taking place back in Silicon Valley.

That is no longer the case, London-based venture capital firm Atomico says in its latest annual report on the state of European tech. Startups focusing on deep technology -- which would encompass the kind of artificial intelligence developed by Google’s DeepMind, or typing prediction from Microsoft-acquired SwiftKey -- are drawing an increasing share of European venture funding.

Abraham Lincoln’s famous description of our patent system’s merger of invention’s “fire” with “thefuel of interest” poetically describes commercialization, our innovation ecosystem’s prosaic journey from patent-to-product. The patent system protects innovation’s early stage development and promotes technological progress by publicizing patents’ content. It carefully balances exclusivity with technological progress. Because the system’s tendency is to tilt too far towards patent holder protection then not far enough, patent law’s history of congressional and judicial tinkering has repeatedly tried to adjust and readjust that  balance.

Public comments on the proposed revision to the joint U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) – U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust-IP Licensing Guidelines have, not surprisingly, focused primarily on fine points of antitrust analysis carried out by those two federal agencies (see, for example, the thoughtful recommendations by the Global Antitrust Institute, here).  In a September 23 submission to the FTC and the DOJ, however, U.S. International Trade Commissioner F. Scott Kieff focused on a broader theme – that patent-antitrust assessments should keep in mind the indirect effects on commercialization that stem from IP (and, in particular, patents).

Let’s consider the curious legacy of John Sculley. He’s known best for something that happened 31 years ago, when Sculley, then CEO of Apple, sidelined Steve Jobs, which led to Jobs’s exit from the company he founded. Sculley himself left Apple in 1993, when he was fired by the board of directors and replaced by Michael Spindler, better known as "Der Diesel." In almost every history of Apple, including the one Brent Schlender and I wrote, he’s compared unfavorably to Jobs.

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Sculley_III.jpg

Healthcare innovation incubators and accelerators around the country are helping entrepreneurs grow and develop their startup companies with funding, mentorship and investment resources.

Here are 12 healthcare innovation incubators and accelerators based around the U.S. This list was compiled through editorial research. Contact Laura Dyrda at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with any questions or comments about this list.

The emergence of big data, as well as advancements in data science approaches and technology, is providing pharmaceutical companies with an opportunity to gain novel insights that can enhance and accelerate drug development. It will increasingly help government health agencies, payers, and providers to make decisions about such issues as drug discovery, patient access, and marketing.

If you’re looking to move to the state with the most positive economic outlook for 2017, look no further than North Dakota.

A recent study by Expert Market gathered data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Kauffman startup Index, and Zillow, and determined that North Dakota is enjoying the most rapid economic growth in the nation, followed by Oklahoma and Texas.

Pinellas County and the city of St. Petersburg are partnering with the Tampa Bay Innovation Center to create a major new business incubator.

The partnership represents the latest step in a process that began in late 2013 when the Tampa Bay Innovation Center first envisioned the idea of a downtown innovator.

Google has never wanted to be an ordinary company. From its original motto, “Don’t be evil,” to last year’s updated mantra “Do the right thing,” it’s always styled itself as an organization with goals that are both more ambitious and more altruistic than the usual profit-focused corporate motivations. Among the strongest indicators of this mindset is its tech incubator, Jigsaw—launched earlier this year, in conjunction with the company’s reorganization into Alphabet, with the goal of tackling “geopolitical challenges.”

In 2013, Google launched Timelapse — a Google Earth project that shows us how the Earth has changed in the last thirty years or so. 

Now, Google has updated Timelapse with the four past years of imagery — it now spans the period from 1984 to 2016 — and "petabytes" of new data, which includes new, sharper images. 

Image: http://mashable.com

During the past two years, Australia's iconic Great Barrier Reef suffered its largest die-off ever recorded. The cause being unusually warm waters that pushed the intricate ecosystems past their limits of survival.

Plans. Dreams. We all had them growing up. When we are younger we’re taught to believe that if we plan properly, our dreams will come true. I went to college with the intent of being a plastic surgeon. I majored in neurobiology and physiology, but in my junior year decided to throw it all away and go into fashion. Fashion was not part of the plan. Fashion was never the goal. So much for plans.

In my book, Leave Your Mark, I speak about the idea of career journey. Our journeys have twists and turns, but there is not one right path. There are many.

At The Value Builder System, we help owners that run companies with between $1 million and $20 million improve the value of their businesses, and occasionally I’ll hear our market referred to as “lifestyle entrepreneurs”. It usually happens when I’m on the phone with a partner in a private equity group or a highfalutin investment banker and I get my back up every time I hear it.

The label lifestyle entrepreneur is usually used in a condescending tone to describe a business owner who has shunned outside capital in favor of growing more slowly.

Innovation is vital for every company, but it’s even more important if you’re a technology company. You need new, unique ideas and the ability to bring them to market before thecompetition. You likely face a variety of challenges with innovation. From mindset and culture to budget and resources, there’s a barrier at every corner. These challenges contribute to technology companies innovating far less than they need to remain competitive. Fortunately, that can be different for you – simply by incorporating crowdsourcing into your innovation efforts. Not only can crowdsourcing reduce the common roadblocks discussed above, but it can also help you iterate quickly, and perhaps reduce your speed-to-market.

Image: https://ideascale.com

Hi there,

We f'n love graphs at CB Insights.

But sometimes, people do really dumb things with graphs.

Case in point is the hype cycle or in this case, what author Thomas Friedman does in his latest book Thank You for Being Late where he presents us with this graphing atrocity.