Europe is slowly closing its innovation gap with the U.S. But national innovation rankings within Europe remain stable, according to the European Union (EU). Released today, the EU’s annual Innovation Union Scorecard for 2014 measures innovation in the EU and other European countries. The report also measures their innovation against efforts in Japan, South Korea…
When a colossus like IBM makes technology predictions, it has the feel of a self-fulfilling prophesy about it. With revenues of $99.75 billion in 2013, Big Blue has a lot of weight to throw behind its pet projects. Nevertheless, it is interesting to see what tech the company is betting on — especially if one…
How do you know if a country is doing enough to stimulate entrepreneurship? The question came after reading an academic paper called “Do serial entrepreneurs run successively better-performing businesses?” Written by Simon C. Parker, it has just been published in the Journal of Business Venturing. Tapping the US Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) database,…
Einstein would have made a lousy entrepreneur. Or maybe he just would have gotten one of the basics wrong. The scientist, whose name is now synonymous with intelligence, once said that “imagination is more important than knowledge.” But, as a fresh-faced, 14-year-old entrepreneur, Stuart McGoldrick found the opposite was the case. Flush from the success…
The Web Summit was a busy place. Over 10,000 tickets were sold and 500 press passes were given out. So getting the message out was a challenge. Before attendees had even reached the venue, the marketers were at work. One guy was handing out fliers for hair cuts at a local barber. Another guy in…
Starting a company is like making sausage, so don’t be fooled by the other guy’s press release. It’s probably as ugly behind the scenes there, according to Los Angeles-based venture capitalist, Mark Suster. Speaking at the 2013 Web Summit (@WebSummitHQ), Suster (@msuster) was introduced by conference organizer Paddy Cosgrave (@paddycosgrave) as “one of the most…
Be careful building that killer startup, said serial entrepreneur Michael Acton Smith. Its first victim could be you! Speaking at the Dublin Web Summit (@WebSummitHQ), the Moshi Monsters guy (@acton) outlined his tips for entrepreneurs and threw in a health warning: “Many of them almost killed me with their craziness and intensity,” he said. Once…
Keep it simple and get inside the customer’s head when it comes to eCommerce. But be prepared for an awful lot of work, said Colm Griffin, founder and CEO of Purchase.ie (@purchasedotie). His comments came at the monthly Entrepreneurs Anonymous event and it kicked off an extremely busy Web Summit (@WebSummitHQ) week in Dublin, Ireland.…
Most entrepreneurial success stories are based on someone successfully identifying a problem — then working like mad to take it to market. That happened Denise O’Grady. In her old job as a teacher, she constantly saw “the chain” break. These chains are arrangements where Parent 1 is notified of an event such as a canceled…
You are in a restaurant enjoying a meal with some good company. Then, looking uneasy, the waiter comes over and says there is a man called Zollo outside. He has a gun and a sword and a decision for you. If you chose the gun, you must play Russian roulette. If you chose the sword,…