Time for a Restart?
Entrepreneurial guru Guy Kawasaki pointed last week to Bill Meade's list of the ten things companies can to do re-start their IP program if it hasn't been paid much attention lately. (Not paying attention to your IP?! I won't shake a finger at you and say, "Tsk tsk"... Even if I'm thinking it.) Meade's list--and the idea of re-starting an IP program--fits well with some of the things that our Entrepreneurs in Residence have written over at the Innovators Network [...]
Chance of Getting Real ICANN Accountability Could Evaporate in September
For the past two years, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has faced mounting pressure to make itself more accountable to Internet stakeholders. Now a key driver of that pressure is in jeopardy as ICANN seeks to walk away from a critical agreement with the U.S. Government. Accountability is the Holy Grail of the ICANN process. If there's one thing that the diverse and often disagreeable group of ICANN stakeholders agrees on, it's that the organization must [...]
WSJ: US Misses Target for Small-Business Contracts
We've done a lot of writing recently about the importance of giving small firms a level playing field to compete for government contracts, but according to the Wall Street Journal today, the US government has missed its target for giving contracts to small firms again, and by a larger margin than last year. Federal agencies awarded 21.5% of their contracts worth just over $93 billion to small businesses in fiscal 2008, which ran from Oct. 1, 2007 through Sept. 30, [...]
Sometimes It’s the Simple Things
Maybe because technology moves so quickly now—what some are calling the “ten year century”—we’ve come to anticipate the type of technology and innovations that once you have it, you can’t imagine how you lived life without it. But sometimes the game-changers aren’t wild, new, complicated, ground-breaking technologies like smart phones or the iPod. Sometimes the innovations with the most impact are just plain smart. Like this. A study from a few years back showed that just more than half (57%) [...]
Pachyderm Prosthetics
As they say... And now for something a little different.We talk a lot in these parts about innovation. We even talk a little bit about healthcare IT. And sometimes we just talk about technological things that we think are awesome.This story sort of fits all of those categories for me. Elephants are my almost-favorite animal, second only to dogs, and I have a special appreciation for organizations that work to help them and their dwindling population. Like the group that [...]
Great NY Times Article on Small Business and IP
The New York Times had a great article in last week's small business section, called "A Small Business Guide to Intellectual Property." The article explores five common fallacies about intellectual property: 1. For small-business owners, it’s not worth the time or effort to secure intellectual property rights. Wrong. 2. Once I get a trademark, my brand is safe. Nope. 3. Having a patent gives me the right to produce something. Nope. It gives you the right to exclude. 4. If [...]