Here we highlight selected innovation related articles from around the world on a daily basis. These articles related to innovation and funding for innovative companies, and best practices for innovation based economic development.
Over the last few years, Google executives have had plenty to say about patents. According to Google, patents, particularly software patents, are mostly bogus, largely low-quality, and used in court by companies that can’t innovate to hurt consumers and stifle true innovators.
Open innovation, the process of encouraging ideation across all stakeholders to drive enterprise innovation, is gaining traction in a diverse range of business applications - from automotive design to drug discovery. Two banks that are harnessing the power of Open Innovation to drive organization change were featured in the most recent edition of the Efma-Infosys Innovation in Retail Banking study.
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Got a bottle of wine on hand but no corkscrew to get it open? Just watch ...
More Indians are choosing to start their own businesses after college, says a study by International School of Entrepreneurship Education and Development (iSEED). In fact, many are launching their ventures much before completing college.
According to the study, iSEED-Indian Students Entrepreneurship Aspirations Survey, 87 per cent students said they wanted to become entrepreneurs, while 90 per cent said the country offered enough opportunities for starting a business. Of the respondents, 22 per cent wanted to start immediately after completing studies, while 32 per cent wanted to begin within five years. The 12 per cent who said they had started during college ran businesses in the education, entertainment and mobile apps segments, the study revealed.
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With technology making it easier for startups to go virtual and decrease overheads, many entrepreneurs are opting to have their teams telecommute. A recent study by Stanford University found a company can save approximately US$2 000 per employee just by allowing them to work from home. For startup companies without deep pockets, running a virtual team can be a great way to keep overhead low while the company grows.
The burning question when it comes to most résumés is how to wow them with the wonders of you all on an 8 ½ x 11 sheet of paper. For those readers who have seen my many blogs on résumé writing, you know I have no shortage of information regarding what you should include. Knowing what to leave off of your résumé is a topic that is of equal importance.
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Investors sitting through Incubator or Accelerator demo days have three metrics to judge fledgling startups – 1) great looking product demos, 2) compelling PowerPoint slides, and 3) a world-class team.
We think we can do better.
Much like the human body, Thanksgiving dinner has a particular anatomy that just makes it work.
In this comic, comedian Steve Adams dissects the foods of this Turkey-happy holiday, breaking down the function of each part.
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For many families, the only football involved in Thanksgiving traditions comes from a blockhead in a yellow sweater falling for the same trick once again. It's been 40 years since A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving made its way onto the screen and into our hearts, and it still manages to remind us of the true meaning of holidays.
Image: Mashable.com
THIS newspaper was established in 1843 to take part in “a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress.” One of the chief ways in which intelligence presses forward is through innovation, which is now recognised as one of the most important contributors to economic growth. Innovation, in turn, depends on the creative individuals who dream up new ideas and turn them into reality.
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Fess up, are you the anonymous entity who now holds $147 million in Bitcoin? What's the point of being a newly minted Bitcoin millionaire if you can't spend your bounty, right? In time for Black Friday, BitPay has compiled a directory with more than 12,000 businesses and charities that accept Bitcoin using its service, a PayPal-like electronic payment processing system for Bitcoin.
As on the dating scene, looking good is an easy way to stand out from the crowd. That could mean sporting a well-fitted suit or the right pair of shoes, but at a minimum it means being well-groomed and presentable. "Just because you may not be pitching an angel investor or VC every day doesn't mean it's acceptable to look like a mess," says Thomas Edwards, the founder of Confidence Unchained, an executive coaching firm. "You never know who you'll meet at any given moment and it's pivotal for your confidence to know you're looking good."
Image credit: ragesoss on Flickr
Q: I am a young entrepreneur who ventured into a popcorn-selling business in a small town. A long time has passed, but I am not reaping enough profits. Should I quit? -- Kimosop Kibet, Kenya
Kimosop, I’m sorry that you’re at this low point -- the moment when you’re getting ready to concede defeat is always tough. While the Kenyan popcorn market is not one I’m familiar with, Virgin has done business there, and recently opened a safari lodge called Mahali Mzuri in the southwest.
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Prominent VCs and angel investors may dominate the headlines with their big sticker investments, but personal loans and credit – along with investments from friends and family – make up the lion's share of funding for startups in the U.S.
According to data compiled by Fundable, only 0.91 percent of startups are funded by angel investors, while a measly 0.05 percent are funded by VCs. In contrast, 57 percent of startups are funded by personal loans and credit, while 38 percent receive funding from family and friends.
When it comes to your health, high blood pressure is known as the silent killer. Left untreated, it can combine with other conditions, such as high cholesterol or diabetes, and lead to heart disease and stroke.
But what about your business? Are there silent killers there, too? Steve Blue, business growth consultant and CEO of Miller Ingenuity, a Minnesota-based engineering firm, says yes.
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When it comes down to it, cooking is all about chemistry. Which, for those of us who never quite mastered the basics of stoichometry, makes it sound terrifying!
Luckily, the folks at Bytesize Science have thrown together a quick list of reasons why chemistry can make your upcoming Thanksgiving dinner awesome, from knowing how long to brine your turkey to coming up with a few chemical names to drop to justify that second helping of pumpkin pie as a health decision.
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In 2014, Target will set up a tech incubator in Bangalore. The Target Accelerator Program will invest up to $30,000 in one or two companies every year, likely in return for equity but more importantly for first dibs on new products the start-ups make. As Target’s Beth Jacob told TechCrunch, which first reported the story, ”Innovation is core to our culture and strategy and we are always looking for new ideas to enhance the shopping experience of our guests.”
Last summer when we were still waiting for the Supreme Court to rule on the Affordable Care Act, many people I talked to said that regardless of the decision, the wheels were in motion. Too much had already happened for the Court to get the horse back in the barn.
That may be true, but President Obama and the ACA got everything started on a national scale: the focus on reducing readmissions, on care coordination, on patient engagement. When would hospitals have started revamping the discharge process or getting serious about follow-up care without the stick of reduced reimbursements? When would doctors and hospitals and long-term care facilities have started really focusing on any of these serious problems without real incentives to do so?
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“In China victory for wildlife conservation as citizens persuaded to give up shark fin soup.” This October 19 headline in the Washington Post was one that marine conservationists had been waiting decades to read—and the story inside delivered, reporting a 50 to 70 percent decrease in consumption of the delicacy over the last two years in China. Demand for shark fin soup is one of the largest drivers of the global shark overfishing crisis that has resulted in one in six species of sharks, skates, and rays being evaluated as Threatened by the IUCN Red List.
Image: Neil Hammerschlag, University of Miami
Washington Post Columnist Dominic Basulto talks Turkeys and Innovation today:
In thinking about the first Thanksgiving in Plymouth Colony nearly 400 years ago, it’s impossible not to be impressed by the number of constraints and hardships this brave band of pilgrims faced and then ultimately overcame. Rather than focusing on what they didn’t have, the settlers gave thanks for what they did have and used their creativity and innovation to assemble a bounteous Thanksgiving feast that has since become an American tradition.
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