My latest column appeared here on the Harvard Business Review site.

Business model innovation is the new strategic imperative-by now, this is becoming more generally acknowledged. But companies routinely fail at self-reinvention because they are so busy pedaling the bicycle of their current business models they leave no time, attention, or resources to design, prototype, and test new ones. Even where investments are made in innovation, those efforts are focused on new products and services delivered through today’s business models and on making the current models operate more efficiently. These are important to do, without doubt. But they are hardly sufficient in the highly networked 21st century, when business models don’t last as long as they used to and incumbents increasingly face the risk of disruption.

Having watched many companies over the years as they recognize the imperative to change, yet somehow stay stuck in their old grooves, I’ve noted some patterns in their experience. Here, I think, are five important reasons that companies fail at business model innovation:

This week, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development John Fernandez delivered the keynote address during the National Association of Seed and Venture Funds (NASVF) Conference in Arlington, Texas.

Fernandez discussed steps that the Obama administration has taken to advance public-private partnerships and support bottom-up economic development strategies. He highlighted the smart investments that the U.S. Economic Development Administration makes, saying, “We approach our investments in some of the same ways a venture capitalist would. We're looking for a good risk-return balance and a significant return on our investment; which is why for every dollar EDA puts in, taxpayers get almost seven dollars back in the form of increased economic growth and job creation.”

Click here to read speech.

Click here to read blog post - Working with the Private Sector to Create Jobs.

As a young mathematician in the 1950s, Don Newman taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology alongside rising star and Nobel-laureate-to-be John Nash. Newman had been struggling to solve a particular math problem: “I was ... trying to get somewhere with it, and I couldn’t and I couldn’t and I couldn’t,” he recalled.

One night Newman dreamed that he was reflecting on the problem when Nash appeared. The sleeping Newman related the details of the conundrum to Nash and asked if he knew the solution. Nash explained how to solve it. Newman awoke realizing he had the answer! He spent the next several weeks turning the insight into a formal paper, which was then published in a mathematics journal.

According to the latest Dow Jones VentureSource report, venture funding in U.S. companies was on the rise in Q3 2011. Investors put $8.4 billion into 765 deals for U.S.-based venture companies during the third quarter of 2011, a 29% increase in investment and 8% increase in deals from the same period last year. The median amount raised for a round of financing during the third quarter was $6 million, up from the $5 million median a year earlier.

Dow Jones says these levels of investment put the industry on pace to near pre-recession investment levels by the end of the year. The report shows that investments in ‘Consumer Information Services’, which includes online search, entertainment and social media companies, totaled $1.3 billion for 104 deals during the third quarter, more than double the financing collected for 94 deals during the same period last year. Thus far, the consumer information services sector has raised $3.8 billion total in 2011, and is o pace to exceed the $4.2 billion companies raised in 2010.

Gilbert Wong, the mayor of Cupertino, California, calls his city council to order. "As you know, Cupertino is very famous for Apple Computer, and we're very honored to have Mr. Steve Jobs come here tonight to give a special presentation," the mayor says. "Mr. Jobs?" And there he is, in his black turtleneck and jeans, shuffling to the podium to the kind of uproarious applause absent from most city council meetings. It is a shock to see him here on ground level, a thin man amid other citizens, rather than on stage at San Francisco's Moscone Center with a larger-than-life projection screen behind him. He seems out of place, like a lion ambling through the mall.

Fast Company is tracking developments in The Great Tech War of 2012 for 30 days after this story's original publication to show just how quickly competition between Apple, Google, Facebook, and Amazon is heating up. Follow the updates here. "Apple is growing like a weed," Jobs begins, his voice quiet and sometimes shaky. But there's nothing timorous about his plan: Apple, he says, would like to build a gargantuan new campus on a 150-acre parcel of land that it acquired from Hewlett-Packard in 2010. The company has commissioned architects--"some of the best in the world"--to design something extraordinary, a single building that will house 12,000 Apple employees. "It's a pretty amazing building," Jobs says, as he unveils images of the futuristic edifice on the screen. The stunning glass-and-concrete circle looks "a little like a spaceship landed," he opines.

According to figures released this morning by Dow Jones VentureSource, 21 NYC-area biotech startups have been funded so far this year, down from 28 by the end of the third quarter of 2010. The dollar amounts have dropped, too: VCs have invested just $200 million in New York biotechs so far this year, compared to $294 million invested through Q3 last year.

If we’re to have any hope of matching last year’s haul—37 New York biotechs raised a total of $384.4 million in 2010—we’ll need to see some big deals, and fast.

Stay true to yourself Cities such as Cleveland that are trying to build a more vibrant entrepreneurial culture do best when they come up with partnerships that augment their business heritage rather than trying to emulate Silicon Valley or other thriving tech markets, according to this analysis from Reuters.

“Trying to predict which cities have a shot at becoming entrepreneurial hotbeds is often anybody's guess, attributable partly to planning and blind luck, according to experts, who claim there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to development,” Reuters notes.

Dear Fellow Nebraskans, We are fortunate in Nebraska to have one of the strongest economies in the country. Our unemployment rate is 4.2% while the national average is 9.1%; we are recognized nationally as a top state in which to do business; and we continue to grow and create jobs in our state. In order to continue our success, we must look at areas of our economy that we want to continue strengthening. One important key to the future of Nebraska's economy will rely on fostering an innovation economy. This is why we have an exciting new initiative for economic development in Nebraska -- The Talent and Innovation Initiative.

The Talent and Innovation Initiative is designed to advance business innovation and workforce recruitment efforts in Nebraska and to attract new, advanced companies to Nebraska. With this initiative, we will continue to foster job growth and create new job opportunities, particularly in high-tech, research-driven fields. It puts a laser-like focus on growing Nebraska's innovation economy and gives Nebraska one of the strongest public policy strategies in the nation to advance business recruitment and development.

During the past 25 years I've seen a lot of innovation task forces (aka "innovation councils") come and go. Some of them looked good at the beginning and died a slow death. Some of them looked bad at the beginning and died a quick death. And some of them actually succeeded.

And so, at the risk of giving your task force one more task to do, please take a few minutes to review the following guidelines.

They will save you time. They will save you headaches. And they may even save your company...

Venture capital investment in New England dropped 45 percent in the most recent quarter, largely due to fewer deals in biotechnology and medical devices. The national trend is down, too, though not as much, according to a new report from the National Venture Capital Association and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

It’s definitely a challenge for the Boston area, where biotech startups in particular have been a good source of new, high-skill jobs and the infrastructure spending that accompanies business formation and growth. Quarterly figures bounce around, and the overall year still looks ok. But the trend is clearly something to worry about here.

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. And if you can’t join ‘em, well, then start your own. That seems to be the attitude of women who for years wanted to join exclusive investment groups that made millions funding startup companies, but found it hard to break into this male-dominated world.

Not so anymore. The number of all-female angel investment groups – groups of wealthy individuals who invest in start-up companies – has grown over the last decade. In 2005, women represented approximately 8.7 percent of the angel market, according to the Center for Venture Research. In 2010 that figure had risen to 13 percent. There are currently seven or eight women-focused angel groups in the U.S., up from three in 2005, some of which have hundreds of members, says Marianne Hudson, executive director of the Angel Capital Association, an industry trade organization with 340 member groups.

Howard Schultz for one. Yes, the founder and CEO of Starbucks Howard Schultz has taken this challenge up himself with an idea incubated at Starbucks to provide loans to small businesses using Starbucks stores as the store front for micro-lending to small business.

Oh, no. Starbucks would not become a bank. No, they are in the business of selling coffee . But they do have 7,000 locations throughout the US and tens of millions of customers who just might be up to the task of donating to the effort to free up capital for small business. If our banks won't do it, maybe the people will.

Digital Derry has announced a number of initiatives which aim to help create 100 new tech companies in the northwest of Ireland by 2015.

The projects announced include a privately-funded business accelerator to launch in 2012 and two competitions for new digital projects and start-ups with funds totalling to stg£40,000.

The organisation proposes a creative industries hub for Derry and a major digital cultural festival for 2012 and 2013 as part of the UK City of Culture programme.

To be successful as an entrepreneur, you don’t have to be a fabulous person, but it helps. Some people, and some entrepreneurs, have that something extra, like Simon Cowell is searching for on the X-Factor, that you can’t quite put your finger on. But the entrepreneurs that have “it” seem to be able to effortlessly get team members, investors, and customers to follow them anywhere.

I just finished a book on this subject, “The Essentials of Fabulous,” by Ellen Lubin-Sherman, who has been tracking fabulous people most of her life, as a writer and journalist.

Brussels, 18 October 2011 – The European Commission's 2011 "EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard" shows that R&D investment by top EU companies recovered strongly in 2010, with a 6.1% rise following a 2.6% decrease in 2009. However, data for the world's top 1400 companies show EU companies as a whole lagging behind major competitors from the US and some Asian economies on R&D growth. There was a general positive trend in 2010, as global R&D investment increased by 4%, a robust up-turn after the 1.9% drop observed in 2009. The global top 50 in terms of total R&D investment includes 15 EU companies, 18 US firms and 13 from Japan. Two pharmaceutical companies occupied the top spots: Roche from Switzerland (€7.2bn) followed by Pfizer from the US (€7bn). Volkswagen (€6.3bn), in sixth place, is the biggest EU investor in R&D, followed by Nokia (11th with €4.9bn), Daimler (13th with €4.8bn) and Sanofi-Aventis (14th with €4.4bn).

Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science said: "The upturn in R&D investment by EU companies is a positive signal as we seek to boost growth and jobs through innovation in Europe. However, the fact that we are still lagging behind some global competitors shows we have to improve conditions for business further, in line with our Innovation Union goals. We need quick adoption and implementation of recent and up-coming European Commission proposals on the unitary patent, on standards, public procurement and risk capital."

Schoolchildren are often asked what they want to be when they grow up. For many students today, the answer is entrepreneur.

A recent released Gallup poll shows that 77% want to be their own boss. Forty-five percent plan to start their own business and 42% said they will invent something that changes the world.

Everette Collection The findings hail from a national poll of 1,721 students in grades five through 12. The poll was conducted with Operation Hope, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit dedicated to expanding economic opportunities to underserved communities.

How close is Europe to the Inno­va­tion Union and how the pri­vate sec­tor take the lead in inno­va­tion were just some of the top­ics of live­ly debate dur­ing the third edi­tion of the Euro­pe­an Inno­va­tion Sum­mit in Brus­sels, mot­toed "Towards a Euro­pe­an Inno­va­tion Eco­sys­tem." It was orga­nized by the think-tank Knowl­edge4Inno­va­tion and wide­ly sup­port­ed by the EP and per­son­al­ly by its Pres­i­dent Jer­zy Buz­ek. Among the pan­el­ists in the dif­fer­ent ses­sions were the MEPs Lam­bert van Nist­el­roo­ij, Anto­nio Cor­re­ia de Cam­pos, Edith Herc­zog, and also Die­go Can­ga Fano, Dep­u­ty Head of Cab­i­net of the EC Vice-Pres­i­dent Anto­nio Tajani, Thom­as J. White, Dep­u­ty Chief of the US Mis­sion to the EU, Mikael Hag­strom, Chair­man of the Exec­u­tive Coun­cil of AmCham EU, Jos Leij­ten and Ronald Strauss, respec­tive­ly Pres­i­dent and Man­a­ging Direct­or of Knowl­edge4Inno­va­tion, and prom­i­nent busi­ness rep­re­sent­a­tives. Par­al­lel meet­ing on inno­va­tion at min­is­te­ri­al lev­el took place in War­saw and was one of the key events of the Pol­ish Pres­i­den­cy. Its focus was on adapt­ing EU research and inno­va­tion pol­i­cies to nation­al and region­al con­texts.

In Brus­sels, where the busi­ness peo­ple met the pol­i­cy mak­ers, appeared a new dimen­sion in inno­va­tion - across regions and sec­tors. Still more clear­ly emerged a bold new atti­tude towards risk tak­ing and fail­ure, which often holds back the entre­pre­neurs from the imple­men­ta­tion of new brave ideas.

A kayaker off of Los Angeles's Redondo Beach came prow to rostrum with nature's gentle giant, the blue whale. Kayaking is a sport, and my first grade teacher Mr. Moy gave me an unhealthy love of whales, so here it is.

Dads look to be struggling more with work-life balance than they let on, suggests a new study about the importance of fatherhood to men. “There is an image for men that if they’re into their career, then they’re not into being fathers,” says Julia McQuillan, professor of sociology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a co-author of the research. “These results, however, show something quite different.”

The study surveyed about 1,000 men across the United States. All of them were either married to a woman or co-habitating with a woman. Unlike other surveys that ask men to rank the importance of different roles against each other, this survey just asked them to rate the relative importance of various parts of their lives. Which men valued fatherhood the most?