1. Asian countries are overtaking European countries when it comes to prosperity:

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Kids today! They’re online all the time, sharing every little aspect of their lives. What’s wrong with them? Actually, nothing, says Danah Boyd, a Microsoft researcher who studies social media. In a book coming out this winter, It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens, Boyd argues that teenagers aren’t doing much online that’s very different from what kids did at the sock hop, the roller rink, or the mall. They do so much socializing online mostly because they have little choice, Boyd says: parents now generally consider it unsafe to let kids roam their neighborhoods unsupervised. Boyd, 36, spoke with MIT Technology Review’s deputy editor, Brian Bergstein, at Microsoft Research’s offices in Manhattan.

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You need to relax. Your business… not so much. You can rest (only temporarily of course) while your company ploughs through the up-coming holiday season like the good workhorse it’s meant to be. Undoubtedly these tools will serve as your little helpers through the season only and their overall effectiveness will range depending on how much your operations and workforce depend on the internet.

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As the first calls are launched, Science|Business examines the Horizon 2020 draft programmes. Here’s the agenda for Innovation in SMEs.

Speaking at the launch of the first tranche of Horizon 2020 calls on December 11, EU Commissioner for Research and Innovation, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, said there is good news for businesses big and small, but the biggest boost is for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which will benefit from simplification, a shorter time to grant, improved access to risk finance, as well as a new dedicated instrument, which kicks off with €500 million in the first two years.

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GlaxoSmithKline is to invest another 200 million pounds ($330 million) on advanced manufacturing in Britain, the company said on Wednesday, underlining the draw of a tax break designed to encourage research and development.

Britain's so-called "patent box" scheme, which offers a reduced rate of corporation tax on income derived from patents, has been hailed by GSK, its biggest drugmaker, for transforming the country as a place to invest.

If you've fatigued your brain from decision overload, it won't function very well for complex tasks. And if you only have 15 minutes before your next appointment, diving into a big project will only make you late.

So why don't our to-do lists reflect these facts?

"Not all tasks are created equal," productivityist Mike Vardy argues at 99u. "As our workdays become increasingly complicated, we need efficient ways to focus on the things that matter."

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I’ve had the opportunity to invest in 15 startups over the last five years, and I’m currently “out of the game” as every bit of my energy and resources is going into my current startup, Dragon Army. But I still have the chance to meet with and advice many startups – part of the pleasure of working in the Atlanta Tech Village – and I was asked recently what I look for in startups that I invest in.

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What's the value of my university's name on the "statement of accomplishment" that students just earned for passing my first massive open online course? Is it at all enhanced by the robo-signature of their new favorite MOOC professor? Or, as Samuel Goldwyn probably didn't say about verbal contracts, is it just not worth the paper it's written on? (And might it be of higher value if the students print it out using a laser printer instead of an inkjet?)

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Savvy 'treps know that where there's change, there's opportunity. And perhaps no segment of American business life has been exposed to more change than traditional media outlets. That's where Matter Ventures, a San Francisco-based VC firm, sees promise. Through partnerships with nonprofit groups, the company looks to incubate new entrepreneurial ideas in journalism, social media and other forms of public-space communication.

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In the tech-dominated venture capital world, 2013 could be called the year of the crowd.  With the JOBS Act and the emergence of credible platforms like AngelList, crowdfunding has come into the mainstream in a meaningful way.

Social media, software, and other technology sectors have benefited most from this momentum and this has been the subject of much discussion elsewhere (here is a great post from my partner Fred Destin on the AngelList ‘Revolution’).  The impact on biotech, on the other hand, has been more limited and it’s worth exploring more as we contemplate the various funding approaches for early stage healthcare companies.

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The government shutdown and the Obamacare rollout debacle, both of which have significant tax implications, dominated the news in 2013. Looking ahead, some tax issues are certain while others are not. Below is what I see for the coming year.

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New apps, technologies and trends — ‘ideas’ — are a dime a dozen these days, says Brian Solis, Principal, Altimeter Group. What this means, he tells the audience at LeWeb, is that innovation is now a constant, and you need to think differently about technology to create for the next 10 years. You need to disrupt.

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Is it possible to be successful in business and not fulfilled? The answer is a resounding yes today, and I’m convinced that it will be even more true tomorrow, as young idealistic entrepreneurs try to adapt to the long-standing business culture if success is only measured in the money you make for yourself and your business.

That isn’t very fulfilling to the growing number of entrepreneurs whose vision and satisfaction comes from making the world a better place, and enjoying a leisurely lifestyle with friends and family. In fact, it’s already a problem with more successful entrepreneurs than you know, based on an interesting book by serial entrepreneur Brian Gast, “The Business of Wanting More.”

It’s not close to hundreds of millions of views on Youtube for Psy’s Gangnam style, the Harlem Shake or ‘The Fox’ by Ylvis. But for India more than 3 million views for a regional language film is a big deal. Telugu short film, the Viva, was watched over 3.6 million times and it’s one of the most watched YouTube videos this year. The short film is a funny take on oral examinations in colleges.

The Galaxy Gear smartwatch, Samsung’s recent entry into the wearable technology fad, didn’t merit rave reviews. The price is high, battery life short, and the notification system was lacking until the watch received a much-needed upgrade in November. But with more than 800,000 units sold, the company is on track to sell millions by the end of 2013. And according to Kevin Lee, director of product strategy at Samsung Design America, the device is exceeding internal sales expectations.

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In "The Innovator’s DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators," authors Jeffrey Dyer, Hal Gregersen, and Clayton Christensen uncover the origins of “innovative-and often disruptive-business ideas.” "Five primary discovery skills — skills that compose what we call the innovator’s DNA — surfaced from our conversations. We found that innovators 'Think Different,' to use a well-known Apple slogan. Their minds excel at linking together ideas that aren’t obviously related to produce original ideas (we call this cognitive skill 'associational thinking' or 'associating').

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An early start learning science, technology, engineering, and math—what educators formally, though clunkily, call STEM—can make a huge impact on a kid’s entire life. People with technical degrees tend to find better paying jobs, and those technical jobs remain in high demand.

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Consumers today are incredibly visual. Most would rather look at an image or chart than read an entire article or report. Luckily, there are now ways to fit just as much information into an image as there would normally be in a text article.

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Every entrepreneur can learn from a mentor, no matter how confident or successful they have been to date. Even one of the richest, Bill Gates, still values his friend Warren Buffett as his mentor. Yet these relationships require special efforts on both sides to be productive and satisfying. Mentoring is not as simple as one person giving the other all the right answers.

As entrepreneurs, we are always watching changes in our businesses and the marketplace, looking for an edge or insight to improve our performance. Through the day-to-day decisions and events that shape our experience, it is very easy to get caught up in the short-term details, and to fail to keep a wide-enough perspective to do our best. I recommend a set of mental exercises that help you to do a quick perspective shift as a regular part of your routine. Think of it as ‘mental calisthenics’ – and a necessary part of your week.

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