Many people view Canada as a less populated, snowier version of the U.S. That’s just not true. For one, the average Canadian ice skates far better than the average American. Then, Canadians like their french fries dipped in a cheesy goo called poutine — no ketchup involved. But wait… here’s a big cultural difference: on average, despite claims that Canadian universities lack a commercial focus, as a percentage of total research funding, many top Canadian universities attract as much — if not proportionately “more” — research funding from companies than their counterparts in the U.S.

Why is this surprising? Because Canadian universities are frequently (and unfairly) accused of being a contributor to a national “innovation gap” that prevents university technologies from flowing freely to companies, therefore stifling the development of the Canadian economy. According to this line of reasoning, Canadian universities — unlike those in the U.S. — lack a commercial focus and a clear set of national-level rules governing university research commercialization.

Along with with “hipster” glasses, calling yourself an entrepreneur is 2012’s hottest trend.

Always Trendy: Baron Davis Keeping It Hip

But just as half of Williamsburg’s population don’t actually need the thick framed specs to see, are you really an entrepreneur?

Our startup, Languatica, is based out of an NYC co-working space – home to 70 odd startups and solo entrepreneurs. As such, through practically living in the office, I’ve had the chance to extensively observe the rapidly growing species we call entrepreneurs.

In 2011, 42 CEOs were forced out of their jobs due to breaches in ethics, according to research by Challenger Gray and Christmas. Even more will be removed in 2012. In fact, current pressure and scrutiny on performance has shortened the tenure of the average CEO from approximately 10 years to about 5 1/2 years since the 1990s, CEO John A. Challenger says.

The good news: Boards are getting tough. Shareholders and employers are demanding – or finding, due to social media and increasing media scrutiny—the information un-ethical executives have formerly been more easily able to hide. Increasingly strict disclosure rules and public scrutiny are forcing more executives to behave in a way that is ethical or to face the increasing reality of being removed from their jobs.

Last week I wrote a Harvard Business Review column with Mary Michelle Scott, the president of Fishbowl and the other member of my own paired leadership team (more about that concept here.) We talked about the cost of a bad hire and how we use our seven Non-Negotiables to identify and sustain winning players. You can read that article here.

In short, we noted that of nearly 2,700 employers surveyed, 41% estimate a single bad hire cost $25,000. A quarter of respondents estimate a bad choice has cost $50,000 or more, not to mention the demoralizing affect of the issue on other employees.

WELLESLEY, Mass., June 6, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Bloomberg Businessweek again has named Babson College the #1 undergraduate program in Entrepreneurship. This is the 2nd year the publication has ranked entrepreneurship programs and Babson has been #1 both years.

Other notable results for Babson from the specialty rankings include the following:

Specialty Rank

Entrepreneurship - #1

Microeconomics - #10

Sustainability - #10

Marketing Management - #10

Macroeconomics - #11

Financial Management - #11

Corporate Strategy - #14

International Business - #17

Accounting - #20

Over the last few years I have interviewed over 150 start-up CEOs for my forthcoming book, Hungry Start-up Strategy. There’s no one-size-fits-all way to think about what an entrepreneur is. I’ve concluded that there are six different types of entrepreneurs based on two categories:

Pre-start-up work experience. There are some people who start companies before or right after graduating from college; others rise near the top of the corporate world before launching their own ventures; and still others become start-up CEOs because investors bring them in to rescue start-ups with the skills that led to their earlier start-up success.

Dr. Cornwall offers up an assessment of the mind-set of the entrepreneurs and the other small business owners with whom he crosses paths. Just a warning: it's not overly optimistic.

Governor Mitch Daniels joins local inventor and entrepreneur, Scott Jones, right, to kickoff Lemonade Day at the east lawn of the State House in this May 2012 file photo. This recession is far from over, according to Dr. Cornwall, and neither Presidential candidate has a good track record on small business issues.

I’ve had the great fortune of growing up in an entrepreneurial household. My father has been an entrepreneur for over 50 years. My older brother and two sisters have blazed their own respective paths as well. Being the youngest of 4, I’ve been able to see, first-hand, the intricate inner-workings of how entrepreneurs think.

If you were to ask me about a common trait that all entrepreneurs share, I would have to say – without hesitation – all great entrepreneurs know how to recognize an opportunity and aggressively pursue it. They know how to attack a need in the marketplace with real, valuable solutions, even in the toughest markets.

School is a lot more fun when the entire building is covered in astroturf. Or when your playground is an abandoned oil rig. Architects and educators are finding new ways to engage kids in learning through the built environment, and the results are out of this world.

Gone are the days when schools and libraries were large, impersonal institutions of learning. Today, architects are pushing the boundaries of learning spaces, putting kids in environments that we may not recognize as a school. Instead of a drab classroom, students are now learning in bizarre environments, designed to stimulate their imaginations. When they go to the playground, it’s not to play on a simple jungle gym, but to interact with objects and materials that create new and exciting discoveries each time they’re outside.

AT&T Bell Labs has been working on a bioacoustic system that could allow your cell phone or other device to securely transfer data through your body – in particular, through your bones. The system has the additional benefit of being completely secure – that is, if someone else has got your phone, they won’t be able to get to that data.

“Our ultimate goal is to get data transferred securely through the bones of people allowed access to it,” Brian Amento, the head of the project told me. “We’ve gained enough interest that its worth pursuing.”

When Equinix (EQIX) Chief Information Officer Brian Lillie wants new business tools, he seeks advice from a venture capitalist, bypassing sources like IT consultants or the biggest names in enterprise software.

He takes that unusual route because many of the latest innovations in cloud computing and software-as-a-service are coming from startups, not enterprise mainstays like Oracle (ORCL) or International Business Machines (IBM). Venture backers who get early looks at emerging companies as they consider cash infusions can be the best guides to the most promising new technology.

Now that final exams and spring commencement celebrations have passed, thousands of college students and fresh graduates will head off for their first internships or full-time jobs. If you're one of them, you're lucky. Recent statistics indicate that one in two new college graduates are unemployed or underemployed. And while many of you will have had part-time jobs, this new position can be an incredible learning experience and a stepping stone for your long-term career.

But it's also a struggle. For some of you, it may be your first experience in a business environment. I remember feeling lost in my first few experiences after college (we all do). Surrounded by so much new information, I constantly felt like I was falling behind my more experienced colleagues. I didn't know who to look to for advice, and I never felt like I was doing my job well enough.

Before digital health entrepreneurs start a company, they have to decide two important things: who will use their product, device, or app and who will pay for it? To help weigh the merits and challenges of these business models, a report from Rock Health provides some common sense and some surprising realities about investment trends for each. So before you decide whether you want to build the next ZocDoc or Practice Fusion, have a look at some of the findings of Rock Health’s report on Business Models in Digital health.

B2B Seventy-seven percent of digital health venture funding went to business-to-business models. The average amount of venture funding B2B companies received was $11 million compared with $9 million business-to-consumer companies received. The downside of business-to-business models is there is usually a longer sales cycle and it requires “gatekeeper approval” or systems integration.

Since the start of 2009, the U.S. unemployment rate has remained above 8 percent. Policymakers have proposed addressing this persistent joblessness through measures such as tax reform, increased infrastructure spending, and the recently enacted JOBS Act. Proponents argue the JOBS Act will encourage entrepreneurship by reducing regulations for young firms and expanding their financing options, while others are wary of potential harm to investors.

Entrepreneurship is a primary contributor to job creation and sustainable economic growth, and policies affecting innovation and startup financing have wide ramifications. New firms are often responsible for disruptive products and services that launch entirely new markets and spur employment in high wage industries such as biotech and IT. High-tech startups benefit from innovation clusters such as Silicon Valley, which bring together leading firms, institutions, and venture capitalists, and accelerate job growth in these regions.

The Business Innovation Zone announced Sunday the formation of the Plains Angels, an independent, nonprofit consortium of angel investors that plans to make investments in the areas of technology, agriculture and manufacturing.

"We want to help (accredited) investors more efficiently access high-quality deal flow," said Mike Colwell (far left), director of the Business Innovation Zone, a community-sponsored, nonprofit business accelerator located within the Greater Des Moines Partnership. "But more importantly, we want to encourage young entrepreneurs to keep bringing innovative ideas to the table."

Back in the gold rush days, the smart people were not the ones heading for the hills to dig holes. The smart people were selling picks and shovels. Crowdfunding is like that. With everyone and his brother now founding a startup, the smartest entrepreneurial play could be to set up a crowdfunding site to provide those founders with their essential tool: money.

The JOBS Act changed the game for crowdfunding. It makes it legal for crowdfunding sites to give actual equity to investors - not just thank-you gifts such as T-shirts and coffee mugs - and it’s expected to draw a vast amount of capital to crowdfunding. Some are predicting an influx of as much as $300 billion, 10 times the amount now deployed in the venture sector.

In 2009, I was a student in the inaugural graduate studies program of Singularity University. There we were challenged to come up with an idea that could impact 1 billion people within 10 years. Other groups chose to use 3D printing to build homes in the developing world and mobile phones to create a better disaster response system. We chose to improve our transportation systems by empowering people everywhere to share their cars. This eventually became Getaround.

Some experts will tell you that being a meaner boss will only stand to benefit your company--and your employees. Others say too much power will poison you. We plunged into our trove of advice for bosses who want to improve, and brought you the 18 best tips.

Counter-intuitive as it may be, investing in areas that pharma is abandoning could yield great returns for investors. Just look at anti-bacterials in the ’90s and 2000s, says VC Bruce Booth in a Forbes column. So where should investors be looking today? Neuroscience, heart failure and obesity.

The shortage of cancer drugs that’s plagued hospitals for almost two years now has eased, although not completely, according to cancer doctors.

A recent study by Johns Hopkins researchers brings a reality check to the potential (and the limits) of genome sequencing in predicting disease.

In honor of Startup Month at Forbes.com, it’s time to make an important distinction about what, at bottom, a true entrepreneur is.

Why bother? Because it concerns the very engine of economic growth and the people we are counting on—desperately—to deliver it.

Consider the following two definitions of “entrepreneur”: one found in Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, the other from Dictionary.com.