It used to be so easy. The “lone wolf” researcher observed natural phenomena and collected data using homemade equipment. Or perhaps those with a theoretical bent puzzled over data and speculated on a new theory using only pencil, paper and their native intellect. Einstein became the poster child for the iconoclastic scientist with his unkempt appearance and penetrating, but friendly, eyes. Rarely did a polymath appear able to leap over discipline boundaries ala Superman. Such nimble gymnastics mostly weren’t needed.

But then the Twentieth Century arrived with an exponential explosion of science, engineering, and technology. Disciplinary research boundaries collapsed as interdisciplinary became the buzzword of the middle part of the century followed by multidisciplinary and now transdisciplinary in the first decade of the Twenty-First Century. The “lone wolf” or individual researcher was overrun by teams, research centers and institutes, national laboratories, industrial R&D laboratories, and now “lablets,” innovation hubs, and innovation centers. The century of the physical sciences was replaced by a spurt in the life sciences.

West Virginia University leadership, partnered with the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, helped plant the seeds of a statewide innovation jobs initiative that recently attracted a $250,000 grant.

U.S. Sens. Jay Rockefeller and Joe Manchin and U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall, all D-W.Va., announced that TechConnect WV would receive a $250,000 grant from the Economic Development Administration to continue its efforts to diversify the Mountain State economy and create high-wage jobs.

The program started as an idea generated and developed jointly by the WVU Research Office and the Benedum Foundation, which provided initial funding, said Russ Lorince, director of economic development at WVU.

A companion to the Center for Digital Government’s “State of the Portal” compendium, this interactive map represents a snapshot of some of the most important online features and service capabilities offered by all 50 states. A valuable resource whether you are a state CIO, a local government employee or an interested constituent, this data-rich tool allows for quick comparisons between and among states, ideas for enhancing a state portal program and the potential funding and governance models for delivering services in the age of e-government.

A new fellowship will award $100,000 a year for up to three years for innovators trying to address problems in Rhode Island and improve life throughout the state. The Rhode Island Foundation is launching the Rhode Island Innovation Fellowships, which will provide seed money to six fellows over the next three years to test ground-breaking ideas in any sector. The first two fellows will be chosen by a seven-member selection committee in early spring 2012.

The City of Akron has launched a $1.5 million investment fund that’s intended to attract biomedical companies to the city.

The new Akron BioInvestments Funds will target domestic and international companies that focus on orthopedics, wound healing, cardiovascular science, biomaterials, health information technology and medical devices, according to a statement from the city.

Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic announced new details about the fund Tuesday at the annual meeting of Clevleand-based, state-backed venture development group JumpStart. However, Plusquellic first discussed the fund in March during his state of the city address.

It seems like more and more, we are seeing interesting companies emerge that are operating in the same or directly adjacent market spaces to our portfolio companies. In this situation, we exercise great care to make sure we aren't backing two companies who will eventually find themselves in direct competition. That process isn't simple. Many entrepreneurs who have already secured venture capital view every company within a hundred miles of their business as competitive. Many entrepreneurs who haven't secured funding don't think anything is directly competitive. We often end up being the arbiter of what is safe and what is not safe. And we tend to err on the side of sitting out of deals rather than risk finding ourselves in a difficult and potentially reputation impacting situation.

Imagine going to work on a Monday, only to find that everything in your work environment changed overnight. The corporate reception area is gone, along with the receptionist, who could barely be bothered to acknowledge the likes of you, anyway. The corporate vision and "Have A Great Day" signs are down, and the surly security guard is nowhere in sight.

As you make your way upstairs, you are greeted by the directors of the company--people you know only by their appearance in corporate videos and their profile pictures in the company's annual report. Miraculously, they greet you by name and warmly invite you to attend a brainstorming session, explaining, "We need to get things back on track." This is completely from left-field, considering they've never so much as nodded to you before.

We've been using a really nifty service to hire our next analyst. It's called TakeTheInterview. This product/company came out of this summer's DreamIt Ventures program in NYC.

We wrote a blog post outlining the position and then linked to TakeTheInterview (note - the application process ended twelve days ago and is closed). Candidates click on that link, fill out a few key data points (name, contact info, blog url, linked in profile, etc) and then they take two short video interviews (90 seconds and 120 seconds). The minute our post went live, I put myself through the candidate flow and I found it drop dead simple. Obviously looking into a webcam and speaking articulately and well about two topics for almost three minutes is not drop dead simple but that's the point of TakeTheInterview.

The nation’s unemployment rate has been hovering at nearly nine percent since 2009. But not every state is suffering an employment crisis. In the remote, windswept state of North Dakota, job fairs often bustle with more recruiters than potential workers. The North Dakota unemployment rate hasn’t risen above five percent since 1987.  In the state's oil country, unemployment hovers at around two percent, and pretty much everyone who wants a job—as long as they are old enough and not incarcerated—is employed.  North Dakota has either tied for or had the lowest unemployment in the country since 2008.

The job base of the state (population 672,500) has grown five percent in the past two years. Even more astonishing, there are over 16,000 unfilled jobs, and projections indicate that 45,000 more workers will be needed in the next two years.  Of those jobs, one out of three will be in oil and gas.

If you are an entrepreneur one of the premier tools for personal branding and networking we have available to us is Twitter.  One of the best ways to utilize this tool is through online discussions with other people on Twitter surrounding certain topics or hashtags. These interactive Twitter chats are usually question and answer style, where the host asks a question and the attendees answer/discuss.  It’s also common for the host to bring in an industry leader to interview and field questions for attendees as well.

While many of these chats seem similar each have a different feel to them once you participate.  Just like there are many great places to start a business or great events for entrepreneurs that seem similar, there are lots of different Twitter chats.  Go out and figure out where you fit in, learn something and make some new friends to collaborate with.

MADISON – About 40 early stage companies will present to potential investors at the 2011 Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium, to be held Nov. 2-3 at Madison’s Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center.

The annual conference, which has existed under different names for more than 20 years, will feature the seventh annual “Elevator Pitch Olympics” for companies in a seed financing stage and the fifth annual Wisconsin Angel Network Early Stage presentation track for companies seeking angel investments and beyond.

Twenty-three companies were selected for the WAN track (Wednesday, Nov. 2) and at least 15 more will take part in the Elevator Pitch Olympics (Thursday, Nov. 3).  Companies in the WAN track feature technologies in information technology and Internet services, biotechnology, medical devices, advanced manufacturing and “cleantech.” Ten of the 23 are Qualified New Business Ventures in Wisconsin, which can make investors eligible for state tax credits.

“The presenting companies at the Early Stage Symposium reflect the diversity of Wisconsin’s tech-based economy,” said Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council. “From drug development to Internet solutions, and from production of medical isotopes to new applications in construction, mobile gaming, nanotechnology and water treatment, these companies represent potential opportunities for investors.”

Governor Nixon, who hailed the bill as a landmark economic development tool, said MOSIRA will provide a funding source for a wide range of programs designed to create jobs, nurture start-ups and attract technology companies to the state.

Jim Greenwood, president and CEO of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), issued the following statement in response to the signing of Senate Bill 7:

"BIO is very supportive of Missouri's continued commitment to expanding science and technology industries that create high-paying, high-skill jobs while advancing our nation’s global leadership in innovation. By providing emphasis on biotechnology and life science funding, this legislation benefits the local economy while nurturing companies that seek to develop cures and breakthrough medicines, improve crop yields, discover newer and cleaner forms of energy that will reduce our reliance on foreign sources of energy, and provide protection from pandemic and bio-terror threats.

DES MOINES – The state of Iowa was honored Wednesday for its efforts to promote clean energy innovation and job creation. The U.S. Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) recognized the Iowa Innovation Council’s Ames-based i6 Green Project for being one of six $1 million award winners in a federal, multi-agency competition to drive technology commercialization and entrepreneurship in support of a green innovation economy and increased U.S. competitiveness. Gov. Terry Branstad marked the occasion to announce the formation of the Iowa Innovation Corp. to help grow an innovation economy in Iowa.

State officials said the project is using the federal award money to expand a “proof of concept” development model by adding a next stage Proof of Commercial Relevance Center. The project seeks to improve connections between Iowa businesses, entrepreneurs and universities to expand the pool of relevant green technologies, facilitate company creation and expansion, accelerate technology transfer and the commercialization of research and create sustainable, high paying, private-sector jobs, according to a news release from the governor’s office.

Staffing company ManpowerGroup reports that 52% of U.S. employers say they're having trouble filling positions — which is a huge increase from last year, when only 14% of companies said they had difficulty filling positions (via Wall Street Journal).

This can be attributed to a few different things, according to the survey of employers, who responded to the question, "Why are you having difficulty filling this specific job?" The most interesting takeaway is that 1/3 of employers say there simply aren't enough qualified candidates out there. Here are the results:

People can be innovative, companies can be innovative and it turns out cities can be innovative too.

Australian consulting firm 2thinknow has released its annual list of the most innovative cities in the world. The ratings consider cultural assets, human infrastructure and networked markets.

If you're looking to innovate — in any of its many forms — you might want to move to these cutues,

The collective wisdom of your co-workers is a huge asset in the fuzzy front end. But which challenges do you need to address and solve in order to create a structured and effective employee driven innovation process? Read more about a method using idea markets as a powerful incentive. And it has already proven its worth in a number of large Scandinavian companies.

Think of it. You’ve just turned a great idea into reality! A new product, service, process or even business model demonstrates new efficiencies, effectiveness, revenues or profitability, and new marketing and sales opportunities! Surely so much value could not be entirely rejected you think. Think again.

Have you, or individuals or teams around you, developed great ideas or achieved breakthrough innovations only to have them rejected by negativity, complacency or a perceived threat of political competition? Does this happen in the real world?

Most people think innovation is all about ideas, when in fact it is more about delivery, people, and process. Entrepreneurs looking to innovate need to understand the execution challenge if they expect their startup to carve out a profitable niche in the marketplace, and keep innovating to build and maintain a sustainable competitive advantage.

Everyone thinks they know how to make innovation happen, but I can’t find much real research on the subject. At the same time, myths about innovation are commonplace in business. Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble, in their book “The Other Side of Innovation: Solving the Execution Challenge” have done the best recent research I have seen on this subject.

Recent advances in information technologies may be driving people out of work and enriching the already rich, a new book argues. The book challenges the long-held view that new technology displaces workers in the short term but always creates more jobs in the long term.

Erik Brynjolfsson, director of the Center for Digital Business at MIT's Sloan School of Management, and Andrew McAfee, a principal research scientist at the center, cowrote the new e-book, Race Against the Machine: How the Digital Revolution Is Accelerating Innovation, Driving Productivity, and Irreversibly Transforming Employment and the Economy, which is released today.