The smart grid industry’s focus is now shifting to the true purpose of the smart grid movement: applications that will improve the efficiency, reliability and versatility of the electric grid. This report analyzes six key smart grid application trends that will help shape the industry landscape in the years to come: distribution automation, data analytics, demand response, carbon management, home energy management and electric vehicles. The applications that prevail in this new arena will define the smart grid experience for industrial, commercial and residential customers. Along the way, new business opportunities that arise from these applications will become available for the providers of software, systems, devices and services, and enhance customer awareness and control of energy consumption. Companies mentioned in this report include Echelon, Google, EnerNOC, ZigBee and Microsoft. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial.

Whenever anyone releases a ranking of states that are best or worst for business, someone -- the states at the bottom of the list -- is bound to grumble.

CNBC has taken a more comprehensive look at 10 factors important to businesses in its annual Best States for Business. Each state gets 10 separate rankings in addition to the overall best. Different businesses may need different things, so their owners can better evaluate the states for those factors most important to their needs.

While California ranks 32nd overall, tied with Arkansas, the Golden State is first in technology/innovation and in access to capital (measured only by venture capital investment). However, it has the highest cost of living, tied with Hawaii, ranks 49th in business friendliness (a measure of regulations and legal system) and 48th in cost of business (taxes and commercial lease rates).

The Gillard Government will invest a record $3 billion in the nation’s premier scientific research agency, the CSIRO, through a new Quadrennial Funding Agreement to operate over the four years from 2011.

The Agreement will allow the CSIRO to continue to work with industry, government and the research community to build a stronger economy, a healthier society and a cleaner environment.

Finding room for this funding in a responsible Budget has been difficult, but it demonstrates the value the Government places on this important institution.

The CSIRO is a highly successful national asset, delivering returns by taking research discoveries to the market, increasing Australian industry competitiveness, and improving the evidence base for policy development and government investment.

America's passenger rail is the sad, neglected stepchild of passenger transportation in America. In recent years, there has been growing support to reinvest in trains, especially high-speed ones, as a cheaper and less polluting mode of intercity transportation than driving or flying. The constant argument against more investment is simple: no one takes the train, so why pour more money into it? But perhaps no one takes the train because there are no trains to take? Look at this little animation (from Greater Greater Washington, via Grist), that shows the creeping death that budget cuts have brought to Amtrak service:

“The Blood in this Town” focuses on Rutland, Vermont, a struggling blue-collar town that is now rallying to revitalize itself – creating a blueprint for revival that could save a recession-battered America.

The film is a portrait of a small town in America, and of an America at pivotal crossroads – where past glories and fading industrial might collide head-on with the urgent need to envision and forge a new way forward. Once a boomtown built on railroads, quarries and manufacturing, Rutland is like thousands of small towns and cities that have declined even in good times, left behind in the wake of globalization. Now hit by the nation’s economic downturn, Rutland grapples with the highest unemployment in the state, loss of manufacturing jobs, rising poverty and the flight of its young people. Here, the old America is broken, it’s gone and it’s not coming back. Yet Rutland has managed a profound response to uncertain times.

"The Blood in this Town" chronicles Rutland's drive to revitalize during America's deep economic crisis, using the town's remarkable Gift-of-Life blood drive to explore how an ailing rust-belt town can rebuild from the grassroots up. Rutland’s act of giving blood in record-breaking numbers becomes a powerful symbol of renewal and social change that radiates throughout the community - in initiatives to engage new ideas and create sustainable businesses, world-class natural recreation, farm-to-table networks, entrepreneurial start-ups, and the revival of a historic downtown.

Legendary Silicon Valley angel investor Ron Conway is raising a new fund for his investment firm SV Angel, according to an SEC filing.

So far, he's raised $12 million out of $40 million planned. He should have no problem raising the remaining $28 million. Conway is a legend in the Valley, deeply connected to every corner of the technology industry, thanks to his prolific funding of startups.

Conway was making "angel" investments long before angel investing was cool. He has been doing it for so long, and so prolifically, that he has revolutionized the angel business: A look at his investments since 2005 reveals his SV Angel fund alone has put money into at least 228 companies.

In 1989 a young man working for Pacific Bell collected a royalties check from United Media for $368.62 for his comic strip Dilbert.

This was the beginning of Scott Adams' career as a professional cartoonist.

Dilbert soon became an icon to white-collar workers around the world, and its success landed Adams book deals, a TV show, and public speaking engagements across the country.

Even after becoming a full-time cartoonist, Adams kept one foot in the corporate world. In 1997, he pretended to be a management consultant for Logitech (with cooperation from the company's vice-chairman) and convinced them to change their mission statement to a wordy, unintelligible sentence.

(VDO) in America's regions and accelerate economic development efforts that promote growth and job creation. The Regional Innovation Acceleration Network (RIAN) will bring VDOs together to share best practices and leverage resources that will strengthen regional economic ecosystems.

Developed in partnership with the State Science & Technology Institute, the new website — www.regionalinnovation.org — highlights how VDOs are helping entrepreneurs turn their innovations into businesses by providing direct funding and increasing access to capital.

"The Regional Innovation Acceleration Network builds on President Obama's national innovation agenda by bringing Venture Development Organizations within America's regions together to help increase business development and competitiveness," Fernandez said. "Across the nation, these organizations are helping to grow local economies and create jobs, and this new network will enhance their impact and efficiency."

TORONTO, May 11 /CNW/ - A report on emerging technology companies released today by PwC shows that for the second straight year, angel investors have taken over as the primary funding source for these companies, with venture capitalist fundraising at a 16-year low. Angels typically invest their own funds, unlike venture capitalists, who manage the pooled money of others in a professionally-managed fund.

Overall, 53% of respondents to its survey who raised money last year received their funding from angels, compared to 8% who received funding from venture capitalists. This presents a challenge that limits Canadian technology businesses from competing in the global market, the report says.

I often hear the qualms of business-smart but non-technical entrepreneurs, wondering if they really have a chance in this high-technology marketplace. I tell them that if their idea or solution is technology intensive, they clearly need technology strength on the team. Then the question becomes “How do I evaluate and attract the best technical talent?”

The simple answer is to find a business partner, not an “implementer,” who already has the technical experience you need, and is willing and able to run that side of the business. Finding that person is not a hiring challenge, since neither of you really get paid until you both succeed. Here the principles of finding any top executive apply, as I’ve covered in a previous article.

If you believed the reports that blogging was dead or that you didn’t need to find a place for it in your marketing strategy, well, think again. A newly released study from Hubspot shows just how wrong those reports were and why blogging absolutely belongs in your small business marketing plan.

Hubspot’s annual State of Inbound Marketing study was released recently and highlighted some growing trends when it comes to businesses, blogging and why the two may just go hand in hand. Impressively, Hubspot found that over the past two years, the percentage of respondents with a company blog has grown from 48 percent to 65 percent.

The push for electronic medical records and health information technology has arrived through the $19.2 billion Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act. Come hear how it looks for two companies as they craft solutions that work on the front end for doctors and connect on the back end to the many stakeholders of our healthcare system. If your doctor keeps your medical file on paper or you are interested in participating in this huge market, you need to be at this event!

City council heard Tuesday during a study session that it could choose to boldly go where no previous council has gone before, or it could do nothing. That was the word from panel members who studied the pros and cons of developing a bio-science incubator to bring high-paying jobs to the city.

Economic Development Director Scott Whyte served as facilitator for the presentation, which included Plaza Companies CEO Sharon Harper, BioAccel CEO MaryAnn Guerra, and Greater Phoenix Economic Council CEO Barry Broome.

Enablis South Africa reached the 1 000-member mark last month. Since its launch in 2004, Enablis SA has become the country’s leading network of entrepreneurs.

The announcement came in conjunction with the release of its annual Independent Member Survey results, which found that each Enablis entrepreneurs created 5.3 new jobs on average in 2010. Projected across its 1 000-member network, this equates to an estimated total of 5 300 new jobs.

Its rapidly growing membership, combined with the job creation abilities demonstrated by the annual survey, puts Enablis SA in a unique position to help create 5 percent of the government’s bold employment target of 5 million jobs by 2020.

In April, “stealth” social media startup Kohort announced its upcoming launch. Within a few days, the site received thousands of user signups, according to its founder Mark Davis. In the startup world, this itself perhaps isn’t uncommon, but what made Kohort’s story unique is the fact that those thousands of users had no idea what Kohort was when they signed up. To this day, the purpose of the site is still secret.

It may not matter to you what Kohort is or isn’t, nor whether stealth is good or bad. But the fact that it managed to get thousands of people to take blind action (before the site even launched) with so much competition for early adopters is quite powerful.

The Daily Crowdsource continues to create tools to unify the crowdsourcing industry, as today we launch the first non-commercial forum where people can discuss the issues and news related to crowdsourcing, crowdfunding, and open innovation, in three languages – English, German and Portuguese, with plans to roll out four more languages in the coming months.

Kauffman Foundation's Second-Quarter Survey Respondents Support Extending Debt Limit, Reducing Regulatory Fees on New Firm Formation

KANSAS CITY, MO - Pessimism about the U.S. economy is making a comeback among the country's top economics bloggers after a slightly sunnier outlook earlier this year. According to the second quarter Kauffman Economic Outlook survey released today, 85 percent of respondents view current economic conditions as "mixed" or "facing recession," an increase of 8 percent from first quarter. However, 70 percent see hope for one key factor during the next three years: employment growth.

"Recent economic data confirm what economics bloggers have been saying for months: These are uncertain times with stagnant growth and unyielding unemployment levels," said Tim Kane, the survey's director and a senior scholar at the Kauffman Foundation. "With the unemployment rate jumping to 9 percent and half a million new jobless claims, the verdict is in. If a double-dip recession is to be avoided, it might be time to listen to some of the policies the bloggers have been suggesting as well."

Oddball product names are one of the occupational hazards of biotech writing. Drugs in particular can be hard to spell, and often hard to pronounce. While I can practically type telaprevir, telaprevir, telaprevir in my sleep at this point, I can almost feel the reader reaction when that scientific name flows from my keyboard.

ZZZ….

Alas, there’s no Steve Jobs-style marketing whiz in this business, handing down tablets from the heavens, and bestowing upon them a magical name like “iPad.” But lately, the business of giving brand names to prescription drugs seems to have gone from boring to weird.

Innovation, in word and deed, has been a golden calf of the business world for decades. Companies like Apple and Google are prized and admired for their unending commitment to introducing new services, products, methods and strategies. Now the concept has taken on a second life in the social sector, where a tougher than tough economy has made "innovation" the theoretical one-size fits all answer for every challenge, with little discussion about the associated costs and challenges. Donors no longer supporting your work? Innovate! A harsh, unyielding, volatile political climate? Innovate! Shrinking staff? Innovate!

I myself, charged aggressively into this recession with all of my 22-year old energy and generational swagger, armed with Seth Godin books, ready to innovate and "change the game", despite never having played it before. Working for the nation's oldest and largest civil and human rights coalition, I ran head first into the reality that innovation, however sexy and necessary, is much easier said than done. Since then, I've founded a new project and brand within the country's largest progressive think tank and am now working with ambitious social entrepreneurs to develop, experiment with, and incubate new ideas. In other words, I've seen how hard innovation can be in every possible social sector setting.

For his profile of Apple in Fortune (excerpt here), Adam Lashinsky interviewed an unnamed executive who has worked at both Apple and Microsoft. Here's how he summed up the difference between the companies:

"Microsoft tries to find unrealized pockets of revenue and then decides what to make. Apple is just the opposite: it thinks of great products, then sells them. Prototypes and demos always come before spreadsheets."

It's a great quote -- it's quick, it's pithy, and it confirms the stereotypes most readers have of both companies.