Mentorship is widely touted as a means of supporting professional women, but a good mentorship program is hard to come by. Over 90,000 women have contributed to our database here at InHerSight, ranking their employers on 14 fixed metrics like management opportunities, salary satisfaction, and mentorship programs. And according to their feedback covering some 17,500 companies, it's pretty clear that many employers talk a bigger game on mentorship than they actually deliver. "Mentorship and sponsorship programs" is the lowest-rated factor of all 14 criteria that we capture, with an overall score of 2.2 out of five stars.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors agreed Tuesday to match a $3 million private commitment to build a bioscience incubator in the South Bay on the campus of County Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.

Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who allocated the money out of a capital improvement fund set up for his district, said he expected construction to begin by the end of this year.

“It is about making Los Angeles the locus of what’s new, what’s next,” said Ridley-Thomas, who represents the inland South Bay.

For nearly 500 years, the emperors living within Beijing’s opulent Forbidden City dictated who could enter and leave. Well, the gates have opened, and tourists are pouring in to see it all for themselves. Attendance is up by 2.5 million since 2010.

The Forbidden City is a dream destination for some Americans, but most have never researched a trip to Everland or Lotte World. Yet these South Korean theme parks also rank among the world’s 50 most-visited tourist attractions—beating out the Eiffel Tower (nearly 7 million), the Great Pyramids (4 million), and Stonehenge (1 million). And there are more surprises.

Sydney accelerator BlueChilli has unveiled a $1 million early-stage startup fund to back the most promising female founders in Australia.

The fund will support participants in the SheStarts accelerator, which has just opened its applications to find 10 female founders for the inaugural program.

SheStarts director Nicola Hazell says BlueChilli has been supported by the likes of ANZ, MYOB and SunSuper to establish the fund.

Image: http://www.startupsmart.com.au

Given the difficulties in developing and working with metrics and measures for open innovation and ecosystems, I have pulled together some inspiration and insights from several articles. 16 Metrics for Tracking Collaborative Innovation Performance

My good friend, Hutch Carpenter, looks into what he calls collaborative innovation, which he defines as “…activities organizations use to improve their rates of innovation and problem solving by more effectively leveraging the diverse ideas and insights of employees, customers and partners.”

Thinking small, being engaging, and having a sense of humor don’t hurt. Those are a few of the traits of successful science crowdfunding efforts that emerge from a recent study that examined nearly 400 campaigns. But having a large network and some promotional savvy may be more crucial.

The Saudi British Bank (SABB) and KAUST are launching the KAUST-SABB University Entrepreneur Accelerator “TAQADAM.” The program aims to help early stage university student and faculty entrepreneurs at Saudi universities develop their concepts into high-potential startups.

“We believe this will significantly support the ongoing work at Saudi universities for the commercialization of inventions and ideas by students and faculty, with a particular focus on financial technology startups, given the rapid development of financial technology around the world and its potential applications for millions of consumers and corporates,” said David Dew, managing director of SABB.

Image: Members of KAUST and SABB leadership gather as KAUST President Jean-Lou Chameau and SABB Managing Director David Dew sign an agreement on September 27. Photo by Lilit Hovhannisyan.

Over the past week, administrators and investment managers at Harvard University have had to endure some public scrutiny over a $2-billion loss in the university’s endowment value. The editorial board at The Harvard Crimson, for example, gave administrators a scolding for the "subpar" performance of its investments. Harvard had been bested in the market by Princeton and others, the Crimson has noted in several articles. "Let’s not mince words: this is unacceptable," the editorial said. "… As crass as it might be to say, money makes Harvard go round."

I’ve been simplifying my life. Between my international travels, Wharton Global Consulting Practicum and Geneva Global responsibilities, putting out fires for Benari clients, and installing EOS to help small and midsize companies operate at their best, my existence is complex. Add in a round of golf and a good mystery novel now and then and it’s downright overwhelming. So it was time to streamline.

I began by cleaning house. Gone are boxes of things that weren’t opened since I moved in some years ago, extra furniture that filled a space but was rarely or never used, clothes that haven’t been worn since…really big bell bottoms were popular, kitchen stuff I don’t even know how to use, and the general detritus that having lots of space entices you to pile up.

University of California campuses have more resources to develop real-world applications for technology after Gov. Jerry Brown approved $22 million in funding Friday.

Brown signed Assembly Bill 2664, which provides $2.2 million in one-time funds to the 10 UC campuses to pay for incubator space, equipment, entrepreneurial training, legal services and other entrepreneurial tools.

State assembly member Jacqui Irwin said she thinks the funding will help bring research innovations to the marketplace.

Image: Gov. Jerry Brown approved a $22 million funding increase Friday for UC entrepreneurship and innovation. (Daily Bruin file photo)

Technological risks are becoming more prominent—and more dangerous. Six principles can guide banks as they manage them.

Technology is synonymous with the modern bank. From the algorithms used in proprietary trading strategies to the mobile applications customers use to deposit checks and pay bills, it supports and enhances every move banks and their customers make.

While banks have greatly benefited from the software and systems that power their work, they have also become more susceptible to the concomitant risks.

It has been more than a decade since the University System of Maryland (USM) redesigned its logo. In that time, logo design standards have changed considerably-and so has the system. USM has become increasingly focused on innovation, economic development, and student success, but its graphic identity has not kept pace.

That is, until now. Today, USM unveiled a new logo specifically designed to bring its visual identity up-to-date and in line with its strategic priorities.

"USM today is different from the USM 10 years ago" says Anne Moultrie, USM's vice chancellor for communications. "We have made significant progress in building our reputation for excellence and innovation. We have become a national model in several areas, including academic transformation, effectiveness and efficiency, and economic and workplace development. Our logo should reflect this progress and visually identify USM as the dynamic, forward-looking organization that it is today."

While the days of retiring from one company after a 40-year career may be long gone, many believe that the pendulum seems to have swung far into the opposite direction. In July, for example, voluntary turnover reached a level not seen since the pre-recession days of 2007, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And the much-documented job hopping trend might seem to indicate that employees have left company loyalty in the rearview mirror.

Image: https://hbr.org

G. Nagesh Rao — chief technologist at the U.S. Small Business Administration, where he advises on the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant and contract program — is energetic, enthusiastic and opinionated. All of which is complemented by his impressive resume: He’s got a background in engineering and has worked across both the private and public sectors. He was a 2016 Eisenhower Fellow, and spent time in both Vietnam and Sri Lanka over the past year advising both countries how to bring a SBIR-like program to life.

Image: Photo by Flickr user Phil Roeder, used under a Creative Commons license

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) granted approval to Fig for non-accredited investors. This means that unlike competing platforms such as Kickstarter, Fig grants you a financial stake in projects in return for your investments. According to a report on Venture Beat, the SEC gave approval to Fig's Psychonauts 2 project. Anyone who backed the game at $1,000 per share or greater will earn cash once the game starts earning revenue.

Canada’s first all-female tech accelerator has launched in Kitchener.

Communitech is home to the Fierce Founders Accelerator, a group of nine women led tech start-up who will take up residency in the Communitech Hub.

Communitech say the program was launched to encourage more women in the tech industry and to remove some of the road blocks facing female led start-ups.

Image: 570 News/Jeff Pickel

David J. Thouless, F. Duncan M. Haldane and J. Michael Kosterlitz were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday for discoveries in condensed-matter physics that have transformed the understanding of matter that assumes strange shapes. All three were born in Britain but work in the United States.

Using advanced mathematical models, the three scientists studied unusual phases, or states, of matter, such as superconductors, superfluids or thin magnetic films. Their findings have relevance for materials science and electronics.

Image: http://www.nytimes.com

The Revolt 1 is an economical, eco-friendly personal aircraft that is seeking funding on Kickstarter.

A surprising study suggests that the older you are, the happier

Despite the physical ravages of age, older people are actually happier than younger adults.

So finds a new study, published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, in which researchers analyzed data collected from a random sample of 1,546 people from ages 21 to 99 in San Diego. After a phone interview, the people in the study filled out a long survey asking about their physical, cognitive and mental health. Question topics included how happy and satisfied with life they were, as well as how depressed, anxious or stressed they were.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — When New Haven Mayor Toni Harp gazes out her office windows, she can see across the street to Yale University’s idyllic buildings and grounds — none of which are on her city’s property tax rolls.

Yale, a nonprofit despite its $25 billion endowment and sprawling property (it owns about half the land in the city, Harp says), doesn’t pay property taxes. And some officials in Connecticut, including Harp, would like to see that change.