Microsoft on Thursday is spinning out a wholly owned subsidiary to bridge the gap between proprietary Microsoft technologies and non-Microsoft technologies in mixed IT environments by engaging with open source and standards communities.

Called Microsoft Open Technologies Inc., the subsidiary is intended to advance Microsoft's investment in interoperability, open standards, and open source. "The subsidiary provides a new way of engaging in a more clearly defined manner. This new structure will help facilitate the interaction between Microsoft's proprietary development processes and the company's open innovation efforts and relationships with open source and open standards communities," said Jean Paoli, who becomes president of the subsidiary after serving as Microsoft's general manager of interoperability strategy.

Iceland's main exports are aluminum and fish. Now the isolated nation is hoping to offer the world a new commodity: a cheap, guiltless way to store its data.

In February, a startup called Verne Global opened a large server farm on an old NATO base near Iceland's main airport and began offering "100% renewable" computing services to the rest of the world. It's one of three data centers in Iceland and part of what Iceland's government hopes will be a new local industry.

Canada’s goals for an innovation system face the same challenges as their counterparts in all other areas of government who are facing a rapidly changing world that is becoming increasingly techno-centric at a rate of accelerating change.

Policies and programs that were conceived in the 70′s and 80′s during the hey day of the Baby Boomers, are more or less due for the same retirement that this demographic is now shifting into, and with this transfer happening in my humble opinion it presents one of the greatest challenge the nation has faced.

Medical innovations discovered and developed by American scientists have had a dramatic impact on the length and quality of human life. Who among us doesn’t know someone who has recently benefited from modern medicine?

Today, the U.S. is the undisputed leader in medical innovation, and our biopharmaceutical sector is the envy of the world.

U.S. inventors and companies account for more than 80 percent of the world’s biotech R&D. Each year, we test more potential new medicines than the rest of the world combined. In 2011 alone, the FDA approved two novel personalized medicines for lung cancer and melanoma, two breakthrough medicines for Hepatitis C, 11 new medicines for rare diseases, and the first new medicine for treating lupus in more than 50 years.

A recent study from the University of Illinois at Chicago has showed that drinking beer may make people smarter—especially when it comes to creative problem solving.

Now, we at Clusterstock don't support getting completely wasted on the job, especially when we've heard of the catastrophic events that happen when finance and too much alcohol mix. But the fact that alcohol may help with the creative aspects of your brain is still a fun little fact you and colleagues can revel in during happy hour drinks. So maybe one or two wouldn't hurt...

A $1 billion acquisition is rare, but there are a few startups that could share the same fate as Instagram.

Many of them have raised so much venture capital, their valuations are already in the billion-dollar range.

Nomura's Jin Yoon is out with a big report on the state of China's internet and new media industries.

These two slides offer a great overview of the numbers we're talking about these days.

Technology innovators in the federal government will soon have a broader interagency forum to share ideas, promote best practices and tackle common challenges, such as developing new software applications, embracing open source software and consolidating data centers.

Federal Chief Technology Officer Todd Park will lead the new forum, which will operate similarly to interagency groups like the Chief Information Officers Council, according to Peter Levin, CTO at the Veterans Affairs Department.

Context: Recent technological and methodological advances greatly increase capacities to collect and analyze large volumes of data; widely disseminate these data; and display the results in informative, engaging ways. The data efforts emerging from these advances have the potential to transform understanding of regional economic dynamics and the design and implementation of policies that support competitiveness.

Purpose: The conference’s primary aim is to raise the awareness of economic policymakers, practitioners, and researchers about innovative private and public data sources and tools useful for regional economic development analysis and policy. Its second aim is to offer data-providing organizations the opportunity to interact with and get feedback from users.

Venture capital investment activity, which has long been dominated by the US and Europe, is taking on a more global profile, according to a new Ernst & Young report.

Cross-border investment is increasingly focused on emerging economies such as China and India, and more funds are being raised in those countries, according to the report, “Globalizing Venture Capital”.

“Although the U.S. will maintain its leading position as the (top) VC nation for a long time to come, the emerging growth markets will play an increasing role, with less risky, later-stage deals generally favored at first,” Maria Pinelli, Ernst & Young’s global vice chair for strategic growth markets, said in a statement. “…These trends are part of the unprecedented paradigm shift under way in the global venture industry.”

The internationally recognized University Research Park at the University of Wisconsin-Madison will host the AURP 2012 International Conference: Accelerating Job Creation. In Madison, you'll see one of the world's leading research parks and learn how the park has become an economic engine for Wisconsin -- creating high-wage jobs, starting new companies and improving the quality of life. Don't miss this opportunity to meet with leading park executives and see the University Research Park at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

All it takes to become an entrepreneur is a big idea and a million dollars – right? Len Schlesinger, president of Babson College and co-author of Just Start: Take Action, Embrace Uncertainty, Create the Future, argues that’s a pernicious myth – and it may be harming your career. With lifetime employment long gone, every employee needs to take responsibility for their own career and develop an entrepreneurial mindset: “Entrepreneurship is a skill that enables people to effectively cope with the uncertainty and unknowability that exists in the modern workplace, and effectively take action.”

A pilot project from the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation will funnel extra cash to primary care practices from both the federal government and private insurers.

The federal government has selected seven regions across the nation to participate in the pilot program, including the Cincinnati and Dayton area in Southern Ohio. Officials with Cincinnati’s The Health Collaborative — a group of hospitals, physicians, insurers and other healthcare stakeholders — said the pilot program could bring an additional $15 million to 75 participating primary care practices in the region.

Making good on its promise to invest in start-ups to expand the use of its new HANA database, SAP launched a $155 million venture fund to invest both in early-stage start-ups and in incubators that are breeding start-ups of interest to SAP. It’s a strategic departure for SAP, which has traditionally invested $7 million to $12 million in mid- to late-stage companies. “We were missing out on early-stage opportunities,” said Jai Das, managing director of SAP Ventures.

A £180 million Government scheme that will provide grant funding for innovative small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and academics to develop solutions to healthcare challenges will open for applications at the end of April. The Biomedical Catalyst is a key element of the Strategy for Life Sciences launched by the Prime Minister in December last year. It will see the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the Technology Strategy Board working together to take the best British medical breakthroughs through to commercial success.

DOE has $43 million available for research and development of next-generation transportation and stationary energy storage technologies. Administered through the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E), the money is intended for projects that could help improve U.S. energy security and efficiency.

ARPA-E hopes to lure the country's best scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs and small businesses to partner in breakthrough storage technologies

I am currently talking with a potential investor who is asking for a 90% equity stake in my start-up for a $1 million investment.

We have both agreed that the EBIT in year three will be $5 million and we would be looking to sell the business at this time for $30 million.

In my opinion a 30% equity stake would be more realistic for this potential investor. What do you think?

You are in a difficult situation and it raises a range of important issues about valuation, motivation, and capital strategy. All fast growing and early stage companies require capital, whether it is the founders own funds, or seed funds from “friends and family”, or angel capital from professional investors.

Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg came to the job through his role as an advertising creative director. Here, he discusses how his background informed his approach to the job and lays out some lessons for creative leaders.

Eric Hirshberg is a CEO. But he didn’t arrive at that role via a typical route. "I went to art school, not business school. I came up through my career and through the business world as a creative, managing other creative people and creative deadlines," said Hirshberg.

The stairs to our company’s fourth-floor loft posed a challenge for the dominatrixes. Many were wearing vertiginous Jimmy Choos and Christian Louboutins, and there was a bit of grumbling by the time they got to the top. I suppose they’re more used to dishing out suffering than enduring it themselves. As they made the trek through our building, they raised hardly an eyebrow from our staffers.

At Sense Worldwide, a branding consultancy specializing in working with extreme consumers, we’re accustomed to individuals who are a million miles away from that “regular customer.” You know, the ones who sit in focus groups and fill out online surveys. For us, one day, it’s dominatrixes; the next, it’s obsessive compulsives, teddy-bear enthusiasts, prescription-drug addicts, or Nigerian hackers.

We’ve all spent a lot of time lately watching the recent conversations and changes going on in the legislation impacting small business. Obama has an agenda: to create a “Startup America”. However, all this can get confusing. Where does the “JOBS act” fit in? What’s all the fuss with small business reactions to “Obamacare”? What’s this talk of tax cuts and raising lending limits? To help visualize what’s going on with Obama’s Startup America, the team over at Intuit prepared a wonderful infographic. Take a peak below to get a better understanding of what congress is talking about when it comes to small business.