More and more workers in the next few years will be shortening their morning commute as they make the move from an office building to their home office.  According to a new report by global market intelligence and advisory service firm International Data Corp., the mobile work force will surpass 1.3 billion people by 2015 – representing 37.2 percent of the world's overall work force.

Stacy Crook, senior research analyst for IDC's Mobile Enterprise Research program, said the worldwide mobile worker population was just over 1 billion in 2010.

Today, the Commerce Department and the White House sent to Congress the Administration’s plan on The Competitiveness and Innovative Capacity of the United States, fulfilling an important requirement under the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 which President Obama signed into law one year ago this month.

As the report emphasizes, innovation has been a key driver of U.S. prosperity and competitiveness throughout our history. Government investments in the building blocks of innovation – basic research, education, and infrastructure – have helped fuel and sustain the ingenuity of the inventors and innovators.  Innovation-based economic growth has brought us higher paying, higher quality jobs as well as improved health and quality of life. Federally-supported research has led to world-changing advancements in a variety of fields, including laying the groundwork for the integrated circuit and computer industry; the Internet; advances in chemicals, agriculture, and medical science; and GPS. Millions of workers can trace their industries and companies back to technological breakthroughs funded by the Federal government.

A common way for startups to get going is by taking technology invented at a university (or federal laboratory or similar public institution) and “transferring” it to the commercial sector by creating a startup company whose main mission is to develop the technology and turn it into a viable business. Frequently the university inventors of the technology are also founders of the startup company.

I’ve met many people pursing this path of forming companies, especially those people who were with me in the National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps program. There were 21 teams in our class at Stanford University, and those that will now be starting companies, which is most of them, will need to license technology from their associated universities.

Dropping your expensive smartphone in the toilet is one of the leading causes of death for such devices. Fortunately, you can resuscitate your drowned electronics using a simple product from Bheestie.

The Bheestie Bag (pictured) can dry out small electronic devices after you drop them into water or spill something on them. It’s a low-tech but innovative way to solve a modern curse: cool electronics that aren’t waterproof.

To rescue a device, make sure you remove the battery and then drop it into the Bheestie Bag. Zip it and seal it. (Don’t open the plastic bag of beads that comes with it). You can keep it in the bag for a day, but longer will work better to ensure the device dries out. If it’s a flip device, make sure it’s open all the way.

The biopharma IPO market is showing some signs of life heading into 2012, but conditions in and outside the markets continue to worry several observers. Most remain pessimistic about the prospects for a rebound by first-time public biotech and pharmaceutical companies.

“My expectation is that the IPO market will not dramatically improve next year, and the reality is, the IPO market has been abysmal for the last 10 years,” Mike Carusi, general partner with Advanced Technology Ventures, told GEN. “This isn’t a one-year issue. We have not seen a robust IPO market across the board since 1999–2000. That’s what has made venture financing so very challenging. We live and die by a healthy IPO market. And without that, it just limits the number of opportunities we have to exit our companies.”

Those views are gloomier than the one being offered by G. Steven Burrill who projects a total 25 biotechs worldwide will complete IPOs in 2012, compared with 16 counted by Burrill for 2011. “Biotech companies will continue to go public in choppy markets where they will grab opportunities as they arise.”

Welcome to 2012 and a new list of New Year’s resolutions — a list that likely includes some variation on adopting a healthier lifestyle. Thanks to the acceleration of technology, fulfilling your resolutions this time around may be easier than it was in 2011.

The combination of diet, exercise and sleep, according to my Singularity University colleague Daniel Kraft, are keys to good health. Kraft, a physician-scientist who chairs the medicine track and runs the FutureMed program at Singularity, believes that we can end the obesity epidemic and reduce the incidence of “non-communicable” diseases (such as heart disease) through technology. Kraft helped me put together an assessment of the technologies available today that can help you fulfill your New Year’s resolutions for good health.

New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today delivered his 2012 State of the State address in which he outlined a comprehensive agenda that builds on the success of last year.

The governor launched a new economic development blueprint that invests billions of dollars in key public-private sector partnerships and rebuilding infrastructure to create thousands of new jobs across the state, proposed a reinvention of how government operates in order to get results for the people while protecting taxpayer dollars, and detailed a series of actions to strengthen New York’s legacy as the progressive capital of the nation.

“New York state is on the way to coming back stronger than ever before. By working together in a bipartisan manner and putting the people first, we have established the credibility to govern and to lead. Now we must build on what we have already accomplished to begin to undo decades of decline. We have big problems, but we are confronting them with big solutions. Now is the time to get to work, building a new New York together,” Cuomo said.

Some of the state’s best-known business leaders talked about tax credits, supply chains and agribusiness in the former Soviet Union with Gov. Terry Branstad on Thursday.

It was the first meeting of the Iowa Partnership for Economic Progress, a group created as part of Branstad’s plan to revamp the way the state carries out its economic development function.

The revamp created a nonprofit board to work with the more traditional state agency board and the IPEP board to guide policy objectives overall.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - An innovative Maryland technology transfer program - the first of its kind in the United States to partner federal labs and public universities - has received an award honoring its success.

The Maryland Proof of Concept Alliance, which teams the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and the University System of Maryland, was recognized as a national model by a group representing federal labs.

The Mid-Atlantic Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) - has made the Alliance the first recipient of its Partnership Award honoring successful collaborations between educational institutions and federal labs.

Most entrepreneurs want to grow up to be the next Mark Zuckerberg. Kevin Ryan wanted to grow up to be a CEO.

The former CEO of DoubleClick says he had aspirations of senior management, rather than a dream of Ramen noodles and basement coding.

“I knew I wanted to run a company, I wasn’t necessarily thinking I would start from scratch,” he says. “If you’re in the car industry its almost impossible to start up a car company. You’re better off joining a car company and moving your way up.”

In 1995 he was working for a media company and launched a website as part of what they were doing.

Every year we look forward to reviewing the submissions we receive in our annual video Challenge – and they never disappoint.  They come from all over the world and are created using everything from sophisticated camera equipment and editing software to mobile phones and title cards.  Some of the best videos we’ve ever seen have been made by Solvers or groups of Solvers with nothing but a Flip camera to capture the passion they feel about solving important problems, in humorous or dramatic ways.

This year’s theme, “Unlikely Innovation”, is particularly interesting for us.  We know what you can do when given a difficult problem to solve.  Now we’re asking you to name the problem you’d like to see solved.  It can be serious or silly, world changing or relevant only to you.  Capture it on film and you could join the ranks of others who have won this Challenge – and have seen their videos published and promoted to their peers.

"The only real valuable thing is intuition." - Albert Einstein

"Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do." - Benjamin Spock

"Systems die; instincts remain." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

"It is through science that we prove, but through intuition that we discover." - Henri Poincare

"Intuition becomes increasingly valuable in the new information society precisely because there is so much data." - John Naisbitt

"A hunch is creativity trying to tell you something." - Frank Capra

"It is always with excitement that I wake up in the morning wondering what my intuition will toss up to me, like gifts from the sea. I work with it and rely on it. It's my partner." - Jonas Salk

Welcome to 2012. As we return from the "Holidaze," we have to pinch ourselves to see if SBIR reauthorization was last year's dream or reality. I can assure you it is reality.

This will not be "business as usual." There is still much to do, as the legislation has made many changes to the program that will affect everyone, including small businesses, primes, universities, federal agencies, federal labs, state & local governments. Clarification, education and guidance are important components in participating in the soon-to-be-updated SBIR and STTR programs.

You will be hearing from many sources (including us) about the changes to SBIR and STTR as described in the new law. The problem is that law is complicated and often interpreted differently by various sources and interests (including the agencies).

At the world's largest consumer electronics tradeshow in Las Vegas, Nevada this year, 2012 CES®, a new TechZone--an assemblage of technology markets grouped together--will be unveiled. Called Eureka Park, the TechZone will feature start-up companies and technologies that are only now emerging from research and development supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and various start-up companies.

In recognition of the role that small research laboratories play in innovation, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA®)--the trade association responsible for CES--partnered with NSF to create Eureka Park, now supported through collaborations with the Startup America Partnership, CNET and UK Trade & Investment.

According to the SBA, 90% of our nations small businesses are family owned.  Of course, “family owned” does not always mean it’s a husband & wife team but many of them are as referenced here.  We all know that small business owners need capital today as bad or worse than ever.  We’re not here to complain about the way small business lending statistics are deceiving but it has a lot to do with the recent changes made by the SBA.

The bottom line is that it’s hard enough if you’re a small business owner in need of capital (or might be in need of capital in the future) so if you’re a husband-wife team, a family-owned business, or a partnership of any kind then these are the 3 key tips you’ll need to plan for (or respond to) if you want to have the best possible chance of getting your funding.

Spending on research is rising almost everywhere – but is that because it costs more to do research, or because there’s more research being done? A new study commissioned by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation offers an answer: A bit of both, but especially more research.

The study, “Analysis of the evolution of the costs of research – trends, drivers and impacts”, finds that “research costs have grown in the past five years, on average by 47% across all industries”. The survey asked companies to assess whether that is primarily due to rising input prices or volume of research done. The results show that “total research costs have grown mainly due to a volume effect”.

The report is based on surveys carried out by a consortium of European organisations within the European Techno-Economic Policy Support Network (ETEPS network). The researchers surveyed 64 organisations from among the top 500 main European non-university PROs. On the company side, the survey collected information from 103 firms from the top 2,000 on the European Industrial R&D Scoreboard.

In 2012, start-ups will find the second €100,000 harder to access, successful tech entrepreneur turned cloud investor Ian Lucey predicts. However, he points out that the angel investor community is maturing in Ireland.

In August, Irish cloud software company Lucey Technology created a €750,000 investment fund to support new or existing software companies that are looking to bring cloud-based projects to market. The fund has already invested more than €400,000 in a range of Irish tech start-ups.

Lucey believes Ireland is one of the best countries in Europe in which to start a business.

Biotechnology startups across the country are using novel sources of funding. “Private investment is waning for early stage investment,” says Rick Silva, director of the University of Colorado Technology Transfer Office (UCTTO). “Universities have been pulled into the realm of technology maturation to fill a void in early stage investing.”

Private foundations are also filling this void. For example, a five-year $12.5 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to Amyris Biotechnologies (Emeryville, California) is funding development of biotechnology methods to produce the anti-malaria drug artemisinin. Artemisinin is currently in short supply and improved production methods are needed.

In the past, all celebrities needed was a single talent to make them famous. Singers sang, actors acted, football players played football. How times have changed! To become a globally dominant celeb these days, you've got to step up your game. You've got to know when to Tweet (you forgot to thank your husband in your Grammy acceptance speech!) and when not to Tweet (you're really angry at Cher and you want her to know it!). To maintain your status as a trendsetter, you've got to have your ear to the ground on all the latest trends — and these days that means tech trends, which are no longer just for nerds. And, if you don't believe tech-savvy is cool, just check out why the following five celebs made our list.

1. Ashton Kutcher: Love him or hate him, you can't deny that among tech-savvy celebrities Kutcher reigns supreme. He was the first celebrity to court a million Twitter followers (he now has over 8.5 million). While on the set of Two and a Half Men, he lives in a 007-esque mega-trailer that requires a handprint signature to enter his boudoir, which is decked out with flat-screen television monitors and 24/7 video surveillance. A famous entrepreneur and supporter of tech-related startups, Kutcher ran into some trouble earlier this year when he guest-edited an issue of Details and it was revealed that he owned stock in many of the companies he was hawking — a rather egregious conflict of interest that he should have been more upfront about. Still, when you consider the number of tech brand names that Kutcher is (or has been) in some way affiliated — Twitter, Foursquare, Quik, GroupMe, Hipmunk, Chegg, Flipboard, Milk, TinyChat, Fab.com, Path, Airbnb, Optimizely, Blekko — you can see how he ran into trouble. That's why he's hands-down the most tech-savvy celeb out there.

Gov. Bob McDonnell on Wednesday outlined several initiatives totaling nearly $37 million in additional funding in his proposed two-year state budget aimed at spurring economic development and creating jobs in Virginia.

McDonnell’s legislative agenda for the upcoming General Assembly session includes tax credits for small businesses and increased coordination between state departments that work in economic development in hopes of attracting new businesses and growing existing ones.

Jobs is still job one for our administration,” McDonnell said during a news conference in Richmond. “We believe the more people we have working, and contributing and innovating and taking care of their families through the private sector, the less cost and expense and burden there is on the taxpayer. ... The more that we can do at the state level to advocate the support of free enterprise and economic development, the better off Virginia is going to be.”