CHAPEL HILL, N.C., July 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Expensive drug development processes, rising competition and evolving market needs are leading biopharmaceutical companies into implementing commercialization strategies earlier and earlier into the new product development process. In fact, Best Practices, LLC, study, Pharmaceutical New Product Commercialization: Preparing for Market Success (click link to download complimentary research excerpt), reveals that 61% of benchmarked companies begin early stage commercialization activities in at least one functional area during the pre-clinical phase.

The report also shares the insights on why the work done through early stage commercialization group is invaluable and how other biopharmaceutical companies' Early Stage Commercialization functions are structured, how leaders of these groups manage their functions, and for what activities and role Early-Stage Commercialization leaders have responsibility.

Poland received the largest amount of private equity and venture capital investment in Central and Eastern Europe last year, absorbing €657 million in total. That's according to a report by the European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (EVCA), as quoted by daily Parkiet.

The Czech Republic came second, with €193 million invested there, followed by Romania (€119 million) and Ukraine (€96 million).

"Poland is interesting for investors because it is perceived as a strong and safe country, a leader in its region and a developing market with an important number of private business initiatives growing beyond Poland's borders," Robert Manz, managing partner at private equity fund manager Enterprise Investors, told Parkiet.

Picture a camera that has no lens, no moving parts, costs fractions of a penny to make, and sees as dimly as a short-sighted worm. Doesn't exactly sound like a game changer--but it is.

Cornell scientists have achieved the breakthrough by producing what's called a Planar Fourier Capture Array camera from a super-cheap material, doped silicon, that's currently used in all sorts of chip technology. It's just one-hundredth of a millimeter deep and a half a millimeter on each side, which means several of them could fit on the head of a pin. The magical aspect of the cam is that it doesn't need a lens because it makes use of the wave-like properties of light to work out what it's looking at, and all the image construction is done by algorithms in a computer later.

West Des Moines leaders celebrated the graduation of one tech company from the city's business incubator last week and welcomed another startup into the fold.

Appcore, a cloud computing firm which had joined the center six months ago, shifted its operations to downtown Des Moines on Friday. Ironclad Systems, a computer and network company, became the incubator's newest tenant.

MANILA, Philippines - June 2011: I was sent on an official international spy mission to infiltrate another country’s design headquarters. Well, at least that’s what I’m going to say in my future autobiography.

But if you promise to keep this off the record, here’s the real deal: I was asked by Senator TG Guingona to interrupt my supposedly work-free Bangkok trip to visit Thailand’s world-class creative hub as an official representative of the Philippines. My marching orders were to see what we could learn from their country about how they support their local creative industry. That’s how I found myself on a special tour of the Thailand Creative and Design Center (TCDC).

Want to build a device that takes video in 360 degrees? That can communicate with a car's onboard computer, or connect to sensors that can measure your heart rate or blood pressure? It used to be that to build a self-designed gadget, you had to know how to make it entirely from scratch. And if, after testing it, you wanted to sell a few, you had to build each one by hand—large manufacturing companies generally wouldn't pick up the phone to take orders that numbered fewer than hundreds of thousands.

A process called mass customization is changing that, offering a way to use the technology of mass production to manufacture devices in small quantities. Taking off in sectors ranging from electronics to fashion, it lets design-savvy consumers get exactly the products they need. It also offers a heavy assist to small businesses that want to get started without huge capital investments, or to give their customers some input into design.

The GII is compiled by French business school INSEAD and uses an average score from a country's innovation-fostering environment – assessed through institutions, infrastructure and general business climate – and a measurement of actual scientific and creative results.

Apart from Switzerland, five EU member states took top-ten positions: Sweden followed Switzerland in second place, Finland and Denmark came fifth and sixth respectively, whilst the Netherlands and United Kingdom came ninth and tenth.

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND – Peter Thiel is the first outside investor in Facebook, the guy who sold PayPal to eBay for billions, and a Founders Fund partner.

He told today's Ice Ideas conference audience that there is one question he asks entrepreneur looking to begin a startup.

He asks: Why will employee number 20 join your company?

Thiel says it's easy to figure out why someone wants to be a CEO or another very early employee in a startup; they'd like to run a company and get rich doing it.

It’s great to be a green business. But even better is being a green business with customers who are highly passionate about your sustainability initiatives.

Many of today’s popular “green” brands – think Seventh Generation or Whole Foods – have found ways to get their customers involved with their environmental good work, whether it’s offering free parking spots to hybrid drivers or giving tips on how to be eco-friendlier at home. This is certainly not a quick process, but rather an evolution that involves thoughtful and ongoing communications.

Over the last few years, it’s become routine to note that Silicon Valley is more a state of mind than a geographic location. That is, the means, motive, and opportunity for tech innovation that converged around the Bay Area have now diffused to the edges of the globe, where ambitious young entrepreneurs are carrying the ball forward in ingenious and interesting ways.

It’s one thing to propound the theory. It’s another to come face to face with the entrepreneurial brainpower that’s rapidly scaling up world-class tech businesses in locations as diverse as Chile, South Africa, Egypt, Brazil, and Lebanon.

The state's biotech tax credits drew more than 180 applications within three minutes of the window opening for the $8 million available this fiscal year, the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development said Thursday.

The credits go to investors pumping money into fledgling Maryland biotechnology firms in need of capital. The credits will be handed out on a first-come, first-served basis to those that qualify — thus the rush.

Initial credit certifications will be issued within 30 calendar days, DBED said.

The Summer Venture Program is a 10-week intensive experience designed to accelerate the development of student entrepreneurial ventures. This program is offered to both Babson undergraduates and graduate students, and students of Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering. Up to 20 teams are chosen to participate in the program each summer.

Teams receive housing, work space, mentors, a speaker series, and other resources to help their businesses develop throughout the 10 weeks. The program concludes with a Demo Day where each team presents in front of professional investors and the Babson community.

This year Demo Day will take place afternoon of Thursday, July 28, 2011.

There’s an old saying in business: “Profit is queen, but cash is king.”

Do you understand the difference? If you’re a business owner, it’s critical that you do -- especially now, with the economy still sputtering and banks reluctant to make loans. It could determine whether your business survives or dies.

If all sales were cash on delivery, cash flow wouldn’t be an issue. You’d sell your product or service, collect your payment, and put your money in the bank. But that’s not how most businesses operate these days. The vast majority depend on a healthy cash flow cycle.

This one was obvious.

After that miserable jobs report, the pace of the recovery looks as horrible as ever.

This chart measures the percentage of jobs lost during various recessions, and the pace of recovery. As you can see, this recession saw WAY more aggressive job cutting than in the past, and the recovery has been anemic.

There is a troubling disconnect in Washington. While most Americans are worrying about paying their rent, mortgage and their children’s future, our political leaders debate the institution of Sharia law in America, gay marriage and other social distractions like abortion. We let these so-called leaders hijack our political agenda to serve their special interests groups, while regular Americans care most about jobs and the state of the economy.

Why do we as voters tolerate Washington’s politics of diversion, especially at a moment when unemployment is at 9 percent and our fiscal disaster threatens our very economic future?

Every day I am asked why I am so passionate that innovation must be our national strategy.

Through my writings, media interviews and my recent book, "The Comeback: How Innovation Will Restore the American Dream," I have been relentless in pushing a pro-innovation agenda while urging Americans to join our Innovation Movement and sign the "Declaration of Innovation," which is an online pledge, open to all Americans, of support for policies that ensure innovation remains the strategic advantage of the United States of America.

Still, reporters, audiences and colleagues ask me why I care so much.

Singapore (PRWEB) July 08, 2011

Singapore government, while nurturing the competency of the local talent by investing in building a world class education system and by institutionalizing continuous upgrading of skills, has also ensured a diverse workforce by attracting foreign talent of highest caliber. Singapore, deprived of all natural resources, long before had realized that building a strong human resource base is fundamental to developing a knowledge based economy to distinguish itself from the regional economies.

Notably, in a recent World Bank report on Malaysian economy, it was observed that Malaysia could receive 5 times the current rate of FDI if it has Singapore's talent base. Another interesting testament to the Asian bellwether's talent supremacy is the latest Global Innovation Index (GII) by INSEAD. Singapore has jumped up four places to third position in this year's GII. Singapore has the strongest overall performance and leads the region in specific areas, particularly human capital and research. Innovation and creativity can be nurtured only when the best of talents converge.

THE rooftop party was in full swing when midnight approached on a warm Friday evening. Kerry Doman, 29, founder of an event planning business; Justin Jacobs, 28, head of a citywide recreational sports league, and Ara Howrani, 29, a photographer who runs a commercial studio, knocked back beers, while a group of office friends from a nearby dot-com chatted about the scratch-and-sniff wallpaper in their colorful new headquarters.

In another circle, a group of real estate brokers excitedly discussed the renovation of a 1920s office tower called the Broderick into a 127-unit apartment building with a restaurant, lounge and retail stores.

FREE lunch — heck, free breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus all the M&Ms and Red Bull you can stand — is a delicious perk of working in Silicon Valley.

Free or even subsidized food in corporate cafeterias makes eminent sense in such a suburban setting. Corporate campuses, built where fruit and nut trees once stood, are cut off by busy thoroughfares. To go out for lunch, you have to drive a mile or so, park, eat and then high-tail it back to work.

Nothing much, food-wise, has sprouted around those campuses. There is not a bite to eat within a half-mile of Hewlett-Packard’s midcentury modern lab building in Palo Alto, the model of tech campuses in the valley.

I don’t want to become an FDA basher. It just seems like every year it is getting harder to push the medical device rock up the FDA hill. Speaking with peers, their perception has been similar, but last week the speculation was confirmed.

I have never spent the time to actually look up FDA approval data. Last week, however, the Minnesota Congressional delegation published a letter to FDA commissioner Margaret Hamburg asking why Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) approval rates are so poor and quoted data.

In 2000, according to the delegation, 76% of IDE’s were approved on their first review cycle. In 2010, that number had dropped to 32%. Less than half!