Most of us are aware of the background: Section 415 of the Dodd-Frank Act (2010) required that Congress study criteria in 2013 to determine whether changes should be made to accredited investor definitions. This might include raising the financial thresholds (or recommending other criteria) to qualify for accredited investor status for eligibility to invest in private placement securities.

The General Accounting Office (GAO) is currently conducting this study (to be released in July) and has interviewed a few members of the ACA. We’ve heard some rumors that the GAO will be pressured by NASAA (North Am. Securities Administrators Assoc) to raise the income and net worth thresholds to qualify as an accredited investor. If they do recommend raising the criteria and Congress or the SEC complies, then the new standards could lead to a loss of the majority of angel investors in the U.S. market.

The America Invents Act (AIA), also known as the “patent reform bill,” is designed to modernize the U.S. patent system. One provision of the new bill, that went into effect in March, converts the United States from first-to-invent to a first-inventor-to-file system. You’ve had a few months to get used to the new law, but if you’re still wondering how it could affect biotech and medical-device products you invent, you’re not alone.

The new first-inventor-to-file patent law means that the first person or company to file a patent application on an invention has the right to pursue the patent on it. While this is new in the U.S., it’s the system that’s already being used in every other country in the world. So now the United States should be in synch with the rest of the world, right? Well, not quite.

Anyone who has started and ran a business knows the entrepreneur's curse.

The frustrating dichotomy between never having enough spare time outside the business and the frightening reality when you do.

When I started Wild Creations a number of years ago, I lived the curse firsthand. As someone who had just come from the corporate world and was a master at leveraging vacation days with three-day weekends and long holidays, the entrepreneurial transition was challenging. I had lofty aspirations of "being my own boss" and having more freedom and independence.

As mobile devices like smartphones and tablets take over many computing tasks from traditional desktops or laptops, they're also changing the way we consume entertainment.

In the past year alone, video-watching on mobile devices has doubled. And only recently, tablets have passed smartphones as the most popular type of device to watch video on.

From the painstakingly obvious in retrospect why did nobody think of it before department: London-based early-stage VC Passion Capital has updated its standard Term Sheet so that it’s written entirely in plain English. For those of you who have never had to navigate a venture capital Term Sheet, the document outlining the terms of any proposed investment, they are usually worded by the legal profession, and as a result, dense in legal-gobbledegook.

Why are they written that way, you may ask? Part of the answer is that’s just the way it’s always been done. So, Passion Capital, being one of the newer firms on the European VC block, has decided to buck the trend. And in doing so, the early-stage VC, run by Stefan Glaenzer, Eileen Burbidge and Robert Dighero, is inadvertently challenging the rest of the investment community to follow suit.

The NIH has been faced with considerable difficulties as of late in terms of finding the required means to continue moving science forward at the early stage. However, the group recently announced a commitment of $12.7 million to a novel project – funding further research on assets that have been cast-off by big pharma in key indication areas that represent a significant unmet medical need (e.g. Alzheimers, Duchenne, etc.). The initiative has been fittingly named Discovering New Therapeutic Uses for Existing Molecules, and it may be a groundbreaking solution to several problems facing drug development today. These include reducing time to market, alleviating early stage investment risk, and creating even more incentive for research scientists to orient themselves towards commercialization of research.

The Department of Energy's (DOE) National Laboratories System was created in the 1940s to develop the atomic bomb. From its national security origins, the Labs have become one of the centerpieces of the United States federal research enterprise, representing nearly $20 billion in annual public research dollars. However, as the pace of innovation has accelerated and the complexity of national challenges has increased, the national laboratory system has not kept stride. Significant reforms are required to better catalyze innovation and promote the 21st century economy.

To accomplish this goal, three think tanks, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), the Heritage Foundation, and the Center for American Progress (CAP), propose a set of nonpartisan policy proposals for reforming the national laboratories. Turning the Page: Re-imagining the National Labs in the 21st Century Innovation Economy makes a series of recommendations that if enacted will increase research flexibility, allow for greater cooperation between the labs and the private sector, and promote a more cohesive and efficient research program within the Department of Energy.

Vivek Wadhwa has become a leading voice in debates over technology policy, particularly with respect to entrepreneurship, innovation and immigration. Wadhwa holds academic appointments at Singularity University, Stanford University, and Duke University, and last year was named to Foreign Policy magazine’s list of the Top 100 Global Thinkers. An Indian-born U.S. citizen, Wadhwa worked at Credit Suisse First Boston earlier in his career, where he helped develop technology for creating computer-aided software-writing systems. He would later found software firm Relativity Technologies.

Continuing its efforts to promote changes to U.S. immigration law that would benefit foreign-born entrepreneurs, the National Venture Capital Association has updated a 2006 report on job creation by immigrant-founded companies.

The report, which will be released in full in July, found that one-third of U.S. venture-backed companies that went public between 2006 and 2012—including high-flyers such as Facebook FB -1.99%, LinkedIn and Zipcar—had at least one immigrant founder.

According to the Office of Technology Transfer, of the 274 intellectual properties submitted last year by university researchers, 141 patents were filed with the United States Patent Office, and of those 120 patents were issued. Between patents, startups, commercial and other agreements, N.C. State received a license revenue of $6.4 million in the last fiscal year. But the benefits of research go far beyond revenue, said Kelly Sexton, interim director of the Office of Technology Transfer. Sexton said there is a direct correlation between research expenditure and job creation.

Michigan has given large tax breaks and subsidies to employers more often than any other state, according to a new report that tallies up state and local “megadeals,” or incentive packages worth more than $75 million.

Good Jobs First, which tracks subsidies that state and local governments give to companies, found that Michigan has given 29 such deals to employers in the past 35 years. The state gave Chrysler and General Motors separate deals worth $1 billion each in 2010 and 2009, respectively.

I was just reading that nearly one in five American high school students has been diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD. And how do we treat these kids who have trouble focusing? We dope them up with amphetamines – enough for every man, woman, and child in America to consume more than 80 doses of stimulants a year.

Is it just me or is that completely nuts? Haven’t the doctors that write all those prescriptions heard the old adage, “There’s a time and place for drug abuse – it’s called college?” Don’t they know about the studies linking ADHD to drug abuse and alcoholism? Maybe they’re just trying to give kids a head start.

Need a reason to #unplug? How about four: Exxon Valdex, Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, Challenger. As we continue to look into these man-made disasters, we discover they're increasingly linked to insufficient sleep.

But sleepiness causes more everyday calamities, too.

As Jane E. Brody reports for the New York Times, more and more research shows how our sleeping habits affect just about every phase of our lives--be it your life expectancy, your decision making, or your ability to learn. In other words, if your attitude is that you'll sleep when you're dead, you'll soon be dead.

I've written before about the science that helps explain why and how constraints and limits, often in the form of intelligent, well-set stretch goals, result in more creative solutions.

Too often, though, managers set what appears to be a good stretch goal, only to discover that it did not produce the hoped-for innovative thinking. One common reason for this is that the goal was in fact not "stretch" enough. When I ask executives what they consider "stretch," I commonly hear about 5% to 10% increments in improvement.

The word innovation might be mantra of business leaders and the inevitable future star of The Atlantic  and Aspen Institute's forthcoming Aspen Ideas Festival. But the irony behind the king of buzzwords is that, originally, "innovation" wasn't a compliment. It was an accusation.

In fact, shouts of "Innovator!" used to be akin to charges of heresy. As with any question of intellectual history, the path of innovation through the centuries is complicated. Canadian historian Benoît Godin has done extensive research on the topic; oversimplifying his work quite a bit, a few of the key moments in the strange history of how innovation is framed and discussed seem particularly striking.

Since their creation in the 1940s, the Department of Energy’s, or DOE’s, National Labs have been a cor- nerstone of high-impact, federally funded research and development. The labs have helped seed society with new ideas and technologies in leading disciplines such as energy, biotechnology, nuclear physics, and material science. While the labs’ primary mission must continue to focus on supporting the nation’s research needs not met by the private sector, the time has come to move the DOE labs past their Cold War roots and into the 21st century.

As the United States moves deeper into the 21st century, the importance of advancing innovation be- comes even more important if our nation is to thrive. Creating wealth depends on the use of traditional inputs such as natural resources, land, and labor, but most importantly, it requires the discovery and development of new ideas and technology. Today’s science and technological challenges are increasing- ly complex and require multidisciplinary and often unique solutions that the labs can help provide.

Recessions call for change and innovation. Since 2008 there has been sector-wide disruption in areas such as finance, law, and consulting. Emergent trends that seem here to stay include opting for flexibility, having a lower full-time headcount and keeping cash on the balance sheet. This has given rise to an increasing number of part-time employees at all levels of the labor force, from tech talent to seasoned CFOs. Similarly, top professional talent is demonstrating increased interest in combining personal pursuits (travel, family, and social engagement) with the ability to monetize their sought-after skills as part-time freelancers.

Venture capital firms—and the high-tech startups they support—historically concentrated in suburban office parks, such as Silicon Valley and North Carolina’s Research Triangle.

Richard Florida, co-founder and editor of The Atlantic Cities and director of the Martin Prosperity Institute, has crunched the available data and found (along with some other studies) a shift underway within the venture capital community away from the suburbs and towards urban areas.

Cisco Systems will invest $15 million in Israeli venture capital funds as part of a broader plan to expand its operations in Israel and outside the United States, the company said on Wednesday.

The investment will be made in funds that support integration of Israelis and Arabs and the development of innovative security technologies.

Cisco, which last year bought Israeli pay-TV smartcard maker NDS for $5 billion, also said it would establish a development centre in Israel that will sponsor research on cyber security and analyze security in the financial, health and industrial sectors.

Europe needs a better framework for translating biological research into new drugs and treatments. It’s essential to collaborate and share best practice said experts at a workshop on advancing translational medicine at the Medical University of Warsaw

With Europe’s healthcare systems facing the dual pressures of austerity-era cuts and an ageing population, there has never been a more pressing need to establish robust systems for translating rich seams of basic research into the clinic, providing improvements in patient care and generating innovative commercial products.