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The Resource Center has all the info you'll need From content to user feedback, the resource center has the information you need for every level of the entrepreneurial process.
The creation of new ideas being essential to a growing economy, the U.S. government has continuously reformed rights of Intellectual property (IP) to maintain the most entrepreneurial climate possible. Recognized in the Constitution itself, patents for new inventions and copyrights for new artistic creations provide an incentive for people to both create and publicize their intellectual property. However, rules, protections, and the adjudication process surrounding IP requires constant reforms to keep up with challenges of the digital revolution. Piracy has become much easier, while at the same time patent laws in the U.S. are increasingly cumbersome. In many cases, innovation is being hindered by overly broad and specious court and agency decrees. This brief is on U.S. patents; copyrights will be treated elsewhere.
Presidential transitions are tricky things, even more so when the country is in the midst of a war and the worst economic downturn in decades. So, the incoming Obama Administration definitely has its hands full as it prepares to take over the White House in...
Britain’s National Endowment for Science, Technology, and the Arts (NESTA) continue to produce excellent studies that provide a 360° wide-angle view on the role of innovation in modern society. Their latest report, plus an accompanying blog, tackles the tough issue of how innovation can help...
A new poll from the National Federation of Independent Business Research Foundation takes a look at how small businesses are responding to the current credit crisis. Not surprisingly, surveyed business owners are glum, with thirty-four percent agreeing that their business has been “significantly” affected, and,...
The development of virtual world technology, in programs like Second Life and Habbo Hotel, has reached a point where these tools and concepts are beginning to change the way that businesses operate. A new Athena Alliance study contends that virtual worlds can become a critical...
Given the seemingly unceasing tide of bad economic news, Forrester’s recent projections for the information technology (IT) market have to count as good tidings. Forrester is projecting business and government IT spending to grow by 1.9 percent in 2009. This is a big drop from...
The crown jewel of the U.S. university system – the finest in the world – is the research university, where knowledge creation is the ultimate goal. Recognition of the centrality of knowledge creation to economic growth makes the efficiency of university innovation a top concern to policymakers, especially since the federal government funds two-thirds of the $48 billion of R&D performed in academic institutions. In too many universities, commercialization of research discoveries is not as rapid or as successful as it could be. The solution provided by Technology Transfer Offices (TTO) has been mixed, as too many have been directed to focus on maximizing revenue through patent licensing, leading to a sub-optimal level of technology diffusion. In the face of declining funding of basic science research, venture capital migration to downstream opportunities, and heightened competition from abroad, the optimal commercialization of U.S. university innovations could not be more important.
Cost-effective “infrastructures” – both physical and legal – provide the essential platforms for the activities of all economies. In the physical realm, for example, it is hard to imagine life without roads, communications networks, airports, ports, sewer systems and electricity grids. Because of their “public good” nature, government plays a central role in financing, if not operating, such infrastructure facilities. In turn, because so much infrastructure is local, the planning and construction of many projects historically has been delegated to the states (although aided by federal financing).
While full data for 2008 investments are not yet in, the picture from the Angel Group Confidence Report is that total angel group investments in North America are estimated to decrease by at least ten percent from 2007. Angel groups appear to be focusing more...
Endeavor, a leading non-profit that support high-impact entrepreneurs in emerging economies, has recently asked its partner companies for their views on where the global economy is heading. Like angels, venture capitalists and many others, they are feeling fairly pessimistic. The surveyed entrepreneurs are already feeling...
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