Here we highlight selected innovation related articles from around the world on a daily basis. These articles related to innovation and funding for innovative companies, and best practices for innovation based economic development.
Launchpad LA today announces it will accept applications for its third class of Los Angeles-based tech startups. We have significant VC commitments (listed below) – every entering company will get $50,000 in funding, mentorship from top VCs and successful entrepreneurs plus free office space. For any company interested in applying please visit the website.
History For the past 2.5 years there has been an initiative in Los Angeles called Launchpad LA.
We’ve all heard the story of David and Goliath. If you’re a sports fan, you’ll hear it referenced any time the Red Sox or Yankees play a small market team. Or when Ohio State plays Middle Tennessee State. It’s a classic metaphor for big versus small. Smarts and strategy versus power and resources.
It’s an allegory that promotes hope for the little guy. When bigger competitors appear too large to attack, it’s a reminder that there’s vulnerability somewhere – you just have to identify it and attack it.
Of course, that’s easier said than done. David never had to go up against the likes of IBM, Computer Associates, BMC or Microsoft.
Very few startups have the potential to become big businesses. There are also very few with innovative ideas.
We compiled a list of our favorite tech startups and asked investors and entrepreneurs to do the same.
Some of the companies we selected are more established than others. We sided with younger, more obscure startups with big-time potential. Some were too stealth to be included.
It’s already too late when:
A woman brought her asthmatic son into pediatrician Sam Pejham’s Pleasanton, California, office last July because he was always tired, wasn’t sleeping, and was gaining weight. Though it was the first time that Pejham had seen the patient, he knew the boy’s asthma wasn’t under control the moment he saw the display on the mother’s smartphone.
Pejham, a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, was looking at a line graph of a week’s worth of peak-flow data, a simple measure of lung function, using an iPhone app he had developed called AsthmaMD. Patients measure their peak flow by blowing into a separate device, then enter that data manually on the screen of their iPhone, where the data are stored and displayed graphically. Though the boy hadn’t complained of breathing problems, the graph clearly showed that his lung capacity was impaired. So Pejham prescribed a twice-daily dose of an anti-inflammatory drug in addition to the inhaler he was already using.
“Vivek, do you notice something strange”, asked my wife, Tavinder, during a start-up awards event hosted by TechCrunch in San Francisco two years ago. The only thing that surprised me, I told her, was that technology celebrities were dressed in ragged jeans and t-shirts.
“No, Vivek, tell me,” she said, clearly wishing to be taken seriously, “Where are the women?”
You may remember when credit card machines weren't so reliable, so stores sometimes used that little aluminum contraption with a roller over your card, and you had to sign the printed copy hard enough to ink onto the carbon paper. This is one of the reasons some cards still have those raised silver numbers on the front alongside your name and expiration date.
Even in spite of innovations like the magnetic strip, embedded data chips and early NFC offerings, the tech behind credit payments in stores hasn't actually moved far beyond those raised plastic numbers. Until now. It looks like your old plastic might spend more time in your desk drawer than than your bag or back pocket.
Following a preliminary round of selections across eight Brazilian cities, IBM IBM +1.09% today announced the finalists for its SmartCamp in Brazil. IBM's SmartCamp, scheduled for November 10th and 11th, brings startups together with senior government and business leaders from Latin America's most progressive cities to mentor them and examine how we can spur economic development, modernize infrastructures and transform our cities to create a new urban model.
Skolkovo is organized around five clusters – biomedical/pharmaceuticals, green energy, nuclear technology, aerospace and IT – and the roadshow presentations emphasized a selection of these areas in different regions.
The first presentation, held in Vienna on Sept. 14, focused on biomedical, energy saving technology, and IT projects. The Skolkovo delegation also discussed possible cooperation in the field of nuclear technology with the International Atomic Energy Agency, whose headquarters are located in the Austrian capital. The Skolkovo delegation visit to Vienna followed an agreement signed in July with the Austrian Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technologies, the first ever signed by the Skolkovo Foundation with a foreign state.
WHAT: The Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) and other leading business development organizations will host a full-day conference on Monday, Nov. 14 to promote Maryland's innovation economy and entrepreneurs. The Entrepreneur Expo: Harnessing the Power of Innovation in Maryland will take place at the BWI Airport Marriot and will provide a rare platform for entrepreneurs to share ideas and cultivate important relationships and connections. Throughout the day's targeted informational and educational tracks, attendees will also discuss business best practices. Speaking at the expo will be digital lifestyle expert Mario Armstrong, tech entrepreneur David Troy, and Maryland Chief Innovation Officer Bryan Sivak. Also speaking will be standout Maryland entrepreneur, Tom Loveland, founder of the Maryland Computer Services Association and founder and CEO of Mind Over Machines, and Greg well-known investor and entrepreneur, Greg Cangialosi. The Entrepreneur Expo has been selected as one of 10 featured events in the country duringGlobal Entrepreneurship Week (Nov. 14 - 20).
Innovation-based economic development is key to driving job creation and economic growth in communities around the world. Recent economic impact studies show that university research parks are making significant impacts on their communities.
“University research parks and technology incubators are poised to create high-wage jobs by attracting companies to their region and growing new startups,” said AURP President Harold Strong.
High-wage jobs are just one of the many impacts that the Purdue Research Park Network is making on Indiana. According to a recent economic impact study, the Purdue Research Park Network is responsible for a $1.3 billion annual impact for the State of Indiana and “more than 4,000 high-tech, high-quality jobs paying an average annual salary of $63,000 – 65 percent higher than the Indiana average.”
OFF THE BAHAMAS — In a remote patch of turquoise sea, Denise L. Herzing splashes into the water with a pod of 15 Atlantic spotted dolphins. For the next 45 minutes, she engages the curious creatures in a game of keep-away, using a piece of Sargassum seaweed like a dog’s chew toy. RSS Feed
Dr. Herzing is no tourist cavorting with marine mammals. As the world’s leading authority on the species, she has been studying the dolphins for 25 years as part of the Wild Dolphin Project, the longest-running underwater study of its kind.
“I’m kind of an old-school naturalist,” she said. “I really believe in immersing yourself in the environment of the animal.”
Now that everyone loves them, early adopters and forward thinkers want to know what is next for the infographic. Is this just the beginning of a visual revolution, or have they already jumped the shark? This is an important question, especially for those who are making large investments in the medium, such as publishers and marketers.
Is the Infographic Dead?
My cofounder, Jason Lankow, says it well when people ask about the fate of infographics in the face of increasing web saturation. As he describes it, we are seeing the death of the novelty of infographics, not a decline in their value. Just as the popularity of a new musical genre does not affect its legitimacy (right, hipsters?), the prevalence of infographics does not limit the opportunity to use the medium to create something of incredible quality and utility. The data boom and growing need to display complex concepts simply ensure that these opportunities for graphic visualizations will be plentiful in the years to come.
Actors want to direct. Directors want to produce. And consultants want to be kick ass speakers. And why not? The pay is good. It doesn't take much time. And it's a lot less heavy lifting than most consulting gigs.
Easier said that done, however. Delivering a kick ass keynote is not as easy as it looks. If you want to get into the game, begin by reviewing the following guidelines to see if you have what it takes.
1. Be in tune with your purpose: If you're going to hold an audience's attention for more than 10 minutes, you've got to begin by holding firm to your purpose... your calling... what gets you out of bed in the morning. If it's missing, all you could ever hope to deliver is a speech -- which is NOT what people want to hear. If your purpose is clear, you're home free and won't need a single note card.
If your company isn’t innovating, it’s slipping behind the competition.
With the Internet and the increasing flow of ideas and information, internal R&D departments alone aren’t always the answer. More than ever, business owners are embracing open innovation to stay ahead.
Rebuild your corporate culture around open innovation Open innovation is more than a toolkit, it’s a mindset. You need to make it a core company value instead of limiting it to your R&D department. When you start the transition to an open innovation culture, you want to keep in mind how it will affect management decisions as well as overall company strategy.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says that he is in no rush to take his company public, or to brave the murky waters of the online Chinese market.
Zuckerberg, questioned during an interview on the US PBS network, said that China posed, “issues” and “hard questions” for Facebook. “But since, for right now, we’re not available, and we don’t have an immediate path to become available, these are not policy decisions we have to make.” Zuckerberg added that Facebook would test the waters with a public offering, but there was no immediacy to these plans.
The Reinvestment Fund (TRF), in collaboration with the Social Impact of the Arts Project at the University of Pennsylvania and the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy, continues to examine the ways creative activity and cultural engagement play a role in neighborhood economic development and what we call the Architecture of Community.
“Given their interrelated webs of universities, cultural institutions, design firms and culturally diverse population, all of which help attract creative workers and spur creative content, cities – like Philadelphia – are naturally positioned to take advantage of this sector. Yet, if we develop a more comprehensive view of how creative activity, particularly community-based arts and culture, interacts within cities, we can stimulate even more integrated and effective action in the development of distressed urban places.”
Over the past several months, much has been written about the America Invents Act, the sweeping patent-reform legislation signed into law by President Obama in September. It has been dissected, analyzed, praised, and criticized. But one aspect that has received little attention is its impact on universities.
Universities are unusual among entities that file for patents in that they have a core mission that includes the dissemination of research through publication and participation in academic conferences and seminars. These "disclosures," to use the language of the patent world, have implications with respect to patentability. And the implications are significantly altered by the most notable provision of the AIA, which replaces the longstanding first-to-invent system with what is often described as a first-to-file approach.
How much of a risk is it to start a small business? What are the things that you feel you have to overcome in order to dive into this arena? It’s the digital age– you can start a business while sitting at the dining room table in one evening before your favorite nighttime reality show comes on. So is small business today truly risky?
In a recent “20/20″ episode, Robert Frank, Wealth Reporter for The Wall Street Journal, said:
“Part of the risk-taking personality is the ability to overcome failure….One of the things that makes billionaires successful is their reaction to failure.”
