Reason #5:  Membership-centric business models require a significant investment of human effort for an insufficient return.

Associations use a variety of high-touch (and often more costly) methods to recruit and retain their members. Implementing these methods can be extremely time consuming for association staff and voluntary contributors alike, and ultimately may have only minimal impact. According to a recent study, associations (on average) had just a three percent increase in membership in the past year, and only a six percent increase in their five-year membership numbers. From a business model point of view, associations would be better served by devoting more of their human capabilities to the work of new value creation.

Tom Ridge, the first secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and a former governor of Pennsylvania, has been elected chairman of the State Science and Technology Institute's (SSTI) Board of Trustees. As chairman, Ridge will lead the board in providing strategic guidance and oversight of SSTI's operations as the group works to encourage economic growth through science, technology and innovation.

"SSTI focuses on issues central to our nation's competitiveness," said Ridge. "Many of the interests and areas that I'm passionate about, such as rebuilding America's manufacturing sector, align with SSTI's mission. I look forward to helping them advance their goals."

The dynamics of global innovation are changing as a result of the activities of emerging economies, according to The Global Innovation Index 2012.

Countries like China, India – and even Paraguay and Sri Lanka – show that while innovative activity generally increases with income levels, good results can be achieved using their own innovation models.

The innovation report, which was released last month by the European Institute of Business Administration (INSEAD) in France, and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva, Switzerland, evaluated 141 countries.

Jeff De Cagna’s new e-book, Associations Unorthodox: Six Really Radical Shifts Toward the Future, will be available as a free download beginning this Wednesday, August 8. The e-book was produced in collaboration with DC-based branding firm, CHIEF. Jeff De Cagna serves as a senior advisor to CHIEF.

Scott Johnson, co-founder of CHIEF, said ”For 35 years, I have watched associations do the same thing over and over again and expect different results. That is why it has been such a great privilege to collaborate on this amazing e-book with our friend and partner Jeff De Cagna. Jeff has long been the nagging voice in the wilderness, committing the heresy of suggesting associations may want to try something radically different. If Jeff’s new e-book isn’t enough of a wake up call, stay tuned. There’s more radical thinking to come!”

While innovation is reserved for specific generations or only for the young and restless, it is no secret that millennials are responsible for a shift in the way companies operate as well as their vision for future success.

We continuously talk about young entrepreneurs such as Mark Zuckerberg or Kevin Rose driving innovation but rarely do we talk about the millennials that are inside the companies, driving change and introducing an innovative culture to their respective workplace.

Another fantastic time-wasting Olympic-themed doodle? Aww Google, you shouldn’t have. After the search giant made up for all those static Olympic doodles by launching a hurdles game yesterday, we thought it would be back to the standard, non-interactive Olympic doodles this morning. But today, Google’s logo is nestled in the stands at a basketball court, and you can take aim and shoot a stack of balls through the hoop.

Tap the spacebar once to build up momentum, and twice to release. But don’t hold on too long — if the ball goes red, it’ll end up soaring over the hoop. The player moves backwards as the game progresses, so you’ll have to gradually use more effort to make sure the ball doesn’t end up bouncing away harmlessly on the court.

Students in the professional fields have for years listened to professors and career advisers drone on about the importance – indeed, the necessity – of a solid undergraduate internship experience.

But more of their liberal-arts oriented peers may soon be getting in on the action, as institutions expand their focus to emphasize the importance of internships across all majors, and some even make the experience a requirement for graduation.

The College of Saint Rose in Albany, N.Y. has done just that. After a voluntary internship course in the department gained traction, Saint Rose decided to make internships mandatory for all English majors, starting with students who enrolled in 2007. And as those students are entering the job market, officials thus far have been pleased with the results.

If Vladimir Putin glances out the windows of the Kremlin window at just the right moment, he has a chance of glimpsing the world's best computer programmer in Google's Moscow office across the river.

He is Petr Mitrichev, a 27-year-old Russian who works on Google's search engine and earned his champion's title in competitive programming, a sport where hackers write computer code in pursuit of cash prizes, travel opportunities, and a deep fulfillment unattainable anywhere else.

It seems to be an accepted fact these days that big companies normally innovate by buying a startup with innovative products, rather than focusing on in-house innovations. This is a good thing for entrepreneurs and investors, who can win big, but it’s not a given. I see many startups who seem satisfied with a “me too” approach, building yet another social network or e-commerce site, rather than being truly innovative.

Much has been published on this subject, including a recent book “Look at More: A Proven Approach to Innovation, Growth, and Change ” by Andy Stefanovich, which is really a guide to established companies for unleashing creativity within their organizations. He asserts that the problem is lack of inspiration, and he supports this with twenty years of real case studies from his own experience.

A TEA company which won the Evening News-backed Local Business Accelerator competition is to launch a new blend at a city boutique.

Last year’s contest winner eteaket has created a white tea blend to compliment Peoneve, the latest fragrance from George Street’s Penhaligon’s.

Today 14 companies due to graduate from the Dreamit Ventures business accelerator in New York will pitch their ideas to an expected audience of some 400, which includes potential investors and alumni of the program. Dreamit Ventures, a pre-seed stage venture firm based in Bryn Mawr, PA, runs its accelerator programs in Philadelphia in the fall, New York in the summer, and overseas in Israel.

Dreamit held its first New York demo day last August. That inaugural class included online video employee-screening startup Take the Interview, which then moved its headquarters from Boston to New York.

The happiest and healthiest state to live in the future may be Utah, according to a new Gallup poll that finds the Beehive State leads the nation in more than a dozen forward-looking metrics, such as intellectual curiosity, a healthy work environment and low smoking rates.

Rounding out the top five best U.S. states for future living are Minnesota, Colorado, Nebraska and North Dakota. Hawaii, considered the happiest state by 2011 Gallup scorecards, ranks in the top 10.

The $25 million funding and sales deal announced late yesterday between mobile payments startup Square and coffee giant Starbucks is big, but it is only the tip of the iceberg for what the implications will be for Square and for mobile payments in general.

The deal formally covers 7,000 U.S. Starbucks stores, where Starbucks says customers will have “another way to enjoy a quick and seamless payment experience” at the coffee houses, alongside Starbucks’ existing mobile app, which also lets users pay without cards or cash and has seen some 60 million transactions to date.

Some seasonal businesses heat up during the summer months, but for most, the peak of summer signals a slow-down in the business calendar. Clients take last minute vacations, review cycles slow to a grinding halt, and new projects are put on hold until everyone returns from their assorted holidays. In short, it seems that everyone’s focus is anywhere but work.

While the slow pace can be a disconcerting for the freelancer, it can also be a great opportunity to revisit your business toolbox – including your skills, capabilities, technology, and marketing. Savvy small business owners know they can use the downtime to make their business more successful when things get rolling again. Here are eight easy ways to make the most of your summer:

Is London 2012 the world’s first social Olympics?

Well, it’s possibly the world’s first social summer Olympics. Four years ago, Facebook had just 100 million users (and we thought that was big). Upstart Twitter was almost as small as the number of characters in a vintage non-media-enhanced tweet: six lonely millions.

Now the top Olympic athletes have more fans and followers than Twitter had users: NBA stars LeBron James and Kobe Bryant have 17 million and 14 million, respectively. Tennis stars Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are both around 11 million.

Michael Weymouth is CEO of TechWizard, a technology consulting firm on Long Island. The big twist: He’s 14 years old. So what can a junior geek, speaking at CompTIA Breakaway 2012, teach technology entrepreneurs about sales, marketing, business development, branding, consulting and customer support? Plenty.

Check out The VAR Guy’s FastChat Video (below right).

(Also on stage: CompTIA CEO Todd Thibodeaux, CompTIA Chairman and ChannelEyes CEO Bob Godgart, and CompTIA Honoree Brant Backes.)

Listen closely and take a look at Weymouth’s website and you’ll find tips for mastering:

A college grad with a computer science degree from a brand-name school typically has little trouble snagging a good job and perhaps even launching a startup — even in this tough economy. But there’s an untapped reservoir of creative talent in college– people that could build next-generation startups — that is getting lost in the shuffle.

That’s a resource that Upstart hopes to nurture by finding private funding and experienced mentors for young talent, says Upstart founder David Girouard, an ex-Google exec.

Seed fund and incubator 500 Startups is bullish on international investing – especially Latin America and India, the overseas markets it will concentrate on in its second fund, said Paul Singh, an investing partner who manages the accelerator and focuses on investments in Asia.

The firm, founded in 2010 by angel investor and former PayPal executive Dave McClure, announced in June that it is raising a $50 million second fund, a much larger slice of which will be set aside for overseas investments (around 25%) than in their first, said Singh. In addition to partnering with Mexican startup accelerator Mexican.VC, they’ve expanded the investing team with their first overseas hires. Venture partners in Japan and Brazil were added earlier this year, and Singh says they’re currently interviewing candidates for a similar post in India.

Last December, President Obama signed into law the 2012 Defense Authorization Act, which included reauthorization of the Small Business Innovation Research funding program. The 30-year-old program had become a political football despite being an effective tool for overcoming the failure of the private sector to adequately fund early-stage technology commercialization.

The law directed the Small Business Administration to set eligibility requirements for SBIR grant recipients. Rather than limiting eligibility to majority American-owned small businesses as it had done in the past, the SBA in its proposed rules expanded eligibility to include “domestic business concerns,” which it defines as businesses that make a “significant contribution to the U.S. economy through payment of taxes or use of American products, materials, or labor.” Unlike the SBA’s earlier definition, “domestic business concerns” could include majority foreign-owned concerns that operate primarily in the U.S.

For just a second, let’s stop thinking about the future of medicine in terms of post-healthcare reform and post-2012 election.

Let’s think like emerging technology strategist Michell Zappa did when he put together a graphic based on what major technologies he sees — by “looking at emerging trends and research” — becoming mainstream in the next 25 to 30 years.

Without attempting to deep dive on any of these, let’s take a surface look at where we are and where we may or may not be in the near future with some of his predictions.