What qualities must a creative entrepreneur possess?

It starts with the ability to see problems as opportunities to make things better. We need to develop the skills and instincts for selecting the best ideas and making them better through effective and graceful execution.

Why are these qualities so important to small business owners?

Small business owners don’t face small problems. Their marketplace and organizational environments are highly complex.

The 2012 Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI) cohort was announced on Wednesday, April 18. These 20 social entrepreneurs comprise the 10th annual class of our unique capacity-development program. The Center for Science, Technology, and Society at Santa Clara University provides each entrepreneur fully subsidized Silicon Valley mentoring, MBA-caliber classes, and a rare opportunity to network and collaborate on our campus in the heart of Silicon Valley, culminating in the Business Plan Presentations on Aug. 23.

This year's class is impressive, and represents a microcosm of some of the biggest trends in social entrepreneurship today.

Have you noticed those strange new people lurking in the halls of academe, garbed in the modern version of geek-wear, and conversing in a language putatively unknown to the older savants? Some appear to be driven by the prospect of money and wealth. Some by an intense focused activity anticipating the outcome. Some by the adrenalin highs and lows of their work as they tirelessly attempt to convince others of their version of reality. And some by simple addiction to the process, whatever the specific reason. Who are these strangers? They’re called entrepreneurs!

The popular press would have us believe that entrepreneurs are the salvation for a declining American economy – the “job and wealth creators” for the next generation, notwithstanding the peculiar view by some conservatives that wealthy Americans create jobs. Others see them as the “new new” thing that we as a society have somehow failed to nourish in our educational system or to incentivize by our rules and regulations.

Just five years ago, when I was looking to build a tech company with venture capital in New York, finding early stage or seed capital was a daunting prospect.  NY just wasn’t an easy place to start a tech company.  But last night,  hundreds of developers, entrepreneurs,  and funders stood side by side as Mayor Michael Bloomberg handed out awards to this years BigApps3.0 winners.  Wow, have times changes.

Today the New York Tech scene is exploding. It’s alive with talent, innovation, passion, and capital.

There is more than one way to make money in the tech field. AOL’s attempts to shift from a dialup Internet service provider to content king has had mixed success. But it has a trove of valuable patents – and just sold more than $1 billion worth to Microsoft.

AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL)  entered into a definitive agreement to sell over 800 of its patents and their related patent applications to Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) and to grant Microsoft a non-exclusive license to its retained patent portfolio for aggregate proceeds of $1.056 billion in cash.

Gov. Martin O’Malley celebrated passage of Innovate Maryland on Friday, touting the program as a critical piece in the funding pipeline that funnels discoveries from the laboratory to the marketplace.

The goal of Innovate Maryland is to commercialize 40 discoveries every year through a partnership between the state and its research universities.

Maryland will kick in $5 million and Johns Hopkins University; Morgan State University; University of Maryland, Baltimore; University of Maryland, Baltimore County and University of Maryland, College Park have agreed to contribute up to $200,000 each to help researchers take their ideas to market.

Kansas Bioscience Authority staff members opened a conversation about the potential of developing bioscience initiatives in western Kansas during a Monday afternoon meeting with Fort Hays State University officials, western Kansas residents and economic development professionals.

Tony Simpson, KBA's director of commercialization, outlined the mission and history of his organization, from its creation in 2004 to its role in helping drive $816.5 million into the Kansas economy.

Erik Lumer decided to launch his new social network, CircleMe, from Italy — a country better known for artisanal furniture and eyewear makers than technology startups — in part because initial costs were cheaper and it was his home.

A French-American entrepreneur with startup experience, Lumer secured Italian venture capital and found a core group of tech experts at wages lower than he could expect to pay in technology centers.

But as the number of users grows and the business seeks to expand, Lumer needs more capital than Italian investors may be willing to bet. In the end, he says, that could mean emigrating to the bigger stage of Silicon Valley.

New York has surpassed Massachusetts for the second time in six months in attracting venture-capital deals — and at least one expert thinks the Empire State’s lead is here to stay.

“This isn’t a one-time data point,” said Bob Greene of Contour Venture Partners, a venture-capital firm with investments in both states.

Market tracker CB Insights plans to release a report today showing that New York beat out Massachusetts in the number of venture-capital deals closed during 2012’s first quarter.

Now that the so-called JOBS Act has passed, Congress is searching for the next big idea to give entrepreneurs a boost. The Jumpstart Our Businesses Act aimed to simplify the fundraising process for small companies and reduced the requirements for them to go public. Entrepreneurs and investors were largely pleased with the outcome, but some say further policies are necessary to enhance small-business growth .

To that end, Senate Small Business Committee Chair Sen. Mary L. Landrieu (D-La.) is holding the third in a series of roundtables Wednesday morning on growing jobs through entrepreneurship. The hearing will feature policy pitches from academics, local officials, accelerators and successful start-ups, such as the handmade goods e-commerce site Etsy and the Arlington-based energy information company Opower.

The Ice House Entrepreneurship Program is redefining entrepreneurship education in classrooms and communities across America.  From young adults to higher education and workforce training, this highly interactive project-based learning program has been embraced by educators and economic development organizations throughout the US and beyond.

The only way to bring the world out of the recession and onto a better track is for everyone to tap into a collective sense of responsibility toward each other.

Last month, I spent a fascinating couple of days at the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship in Oxford, England. It was exhilarating--and deeply moving--to hear example after example of social entrepreneurs making quantifiable improvements in lives all around the world. As Stephan Chambers, chairman of the Skoll Centre, put it: "I have cried every day this week. Remember as I tell you this, that I’m male. And British. And from Oxford." I actually cried every hour. But, remember, I’m female. And Greek. And from Cambridge.

If Steve Jobs's life were staged as an opera, it would be a tragedy in three acts. And the titles would go something like this: Act I--The Founding of Apple Computer and the Invention of the PC Industry; Act II--The Wilderness Years; and Act III--A Triumphant Return and Tragic Demise.

The first act would be a piquant comedy about the brashness of genius and the audacity of youth, abruptly turning ominous when our young hero is cast out of his own kingdom. The closing act would plumb the profound irony of a balding and domesticated high-tech rock star coming back to transform Apple far beyond even his own lofty expectations, only to fall mortally ill and then slowly, excruciatingly wither away, even as his original creation miraculously bulks up into the biggest digital dynamo of them all. Both acts are picaresque tales that end with a surge of deep pathos worthy of Shakespeare.

The Business Accelerator Fund is a two-year, $3 million fund established through a grant agreement between the Michigan Strategic Fund and the Small Business and Technology Development Center (MI-SBTDC) at Grand Valley State University. The fund can be accessed by 13 business accelerators across the state, including Automation Alley and Kettering University TechWorks, to provide specialized business acceleration services to companies commercializing advanced technology.

“Business accelerators around the state can access funding through the Business Accelerator Fund to hire consultants, researchers, and engineering or manufacturing companies to provide specialized services to technology businesses they’ve identified as having potential to create significant impact in their region,” said  Phil Tepley, the SBTDC’s director of technology commercialization services. “We expect these business accelerator engagements to initiate what will become long-term collaborative relationships between emerging technology companies and Michigan’s existing businesses and universities.”

$30 Million HYPERDRIVE Program Announced April 10th to Seed the Best in Tech

As Communitech launches its HYPERDRIVE program to jump-start commercialization of high-potential tech startup companies, high-profile funders and service providers are lining up to support the innovative program. Investors Canrock Ventures, Canadian Youth Business Foundation (CYBF), BDC Venture Capital, Research In Motion (RIM), OMERS Ventures, iNovia Capital, and Rho Canada Ventures have confirmed their participation in the HYPERDRIVE program, with the intent of seeding and cultivating the best in tech and ultimately resulting in more successful Canadian-grown tech companies.

Are you female, of African-Canadian or South Asian background and looking to build a tech business?

Chances are you're likely to think there are not many like you around town. Neither are you likely to find many role models in the local tech startup community that reflects your gender or cultural reality.

The Driven Accelerator Group, a recently launched Toronto-based startup accelerator aims to change all that.The organization's facilities are located at The Foundery in Toronto. Driven has gathered a diverse group of mentors from different industries and backgrounds and partnered with various companies to provide helped to a very narrowly defined, but least-served segment of the startup community: black and South Asian women.

Last year, we wrote about Blueseed, an incubator-on-a-ship that is anchored near Silicon Valley.

We think we’ve found something cooler. Check out Unreasonable at Sea, an accelerator program geared towards tech entrepreneurs who want to take their products to different shores.

They are doing it quite literally too: Ten teams from around the globe will participate in a 100-day program aboard a ship

I have the good fortune of living in Boulder, Colorado – home of TechStars.

For those not familiar with it, TechStars is the largest US accelerator focusing on technology companies. They fund an average of 50 companies per year. Each selected company receives $100K of seed money in exchange of common stock. I like the fact that they actually take common and not preferred stock. The TechStars model has been replicated in several other cities in the U.S. In addition, they just launched a Global Accelerator Network.

How easy is it to get in with TechStars? Well, 1% of the applicants are funded. The accelerator receives an average of 4,000 applications per year. The good news is that TechStars co-founder David Cohen has recently set up a $28M fund. 50% of this capital will be devoted to fund companies that go through the TechStars program.

On average, it will cost $55,600 to attend Princeton, Penn, Michigan or Stanford next year. But now you can enroll in online courses at all four universities online for free.

The universities won’t just be posting lectures online like MIT’s OpenCourseWare project, Yale’s Open Yale Courses and the University of California at Berkeley’s Webcast. Rather, courses will require deadlines, evaluations, discussions and, in some cases, a statement of achievement.

The emergence of social networking and the Internet has caused a new focus and value on “openness,” which leads to a new element of leadership, called “Open Leadership.” The mantra of open leadership is “Be Open, Be Transparent, and Be Authentic.” This is counter to the traditional business premise of “control,” so many companies are still pushing back.

Charlene Li, in her recent book “Open Leadership,” attempts to show leaders how to tap into the power of the social technology revolution and use social media to be “open” while still maintaining control. She outlines her ten elements of the basic framework and vocabulary of open information sharing and open decision making: