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 the credit crunch in the form of lost sales, higher [...]

The National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) has released its annual predictions for the venture capital industry in 2009, and the findings should not come as a big surprise. Venture capitalists (VCs) expect 2009 to be a difficult year. A large majority predicts a slowdown in investments across almost all markets and sectors, and a continued [...]

The latest edition of Booz Allen Hamilton’s Global Innovation 1000 was released earlier this month. The list ranks and assesses the world’s 1000 biggest corporate research and development (R&D) investors. The globalization of R&D is the big trend found among this year’s top R&D investors. In fact, the top eighty US R&D spenders invested $80.1 [...]

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 platform for open innovation, where designers, users, and other interested [...]

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 2008’s growth rate of 4.8 percent, but it’s still an [...]

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 on a few potential winners. The top reason for the [...]

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, within this group, twenty-six percent agreeing that the downturn threatens [...]

A new online resource offers a number teaching to support the development of curriculum on employee ownership. The Curriculum Library on Employee Ownership (CLEO) is a repository of university teaching materials – including case studies, books, papers, and teaching. It was formed via a collaborative effort of the Foundation for Enterprise Development, the Aspen Institute [...]

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 drive recession recovery efforts. When it comes to tackling the [...]

While it has been a tough year for state economies across the US, that hasn’t changed the positive views of corporate site selectors when it comes to doing business in North Carolina. The state took the top slot for the fourth straight year in Site Selection magazine’s 2008 Top State Business Climate rankings. North Carolina’s [...]