By Emily Catalano

In an age where social media trumps face to face conversations and where innovation is too-often associated with technology only, establishing a community of like-minded individuals was paramount to Future Boston Alliance’s success. As if starting a new nonprofit did not present its own set of barriers, launching one that prodded at hot button issues such as Boston’s post-collegiate brain drain, extending the MBTA’s service, archaic laws and affordable housing naturally established some early road blocks.

By Ellen Keiley

I wanted to learn more about our entrepreneurial ecosystem here in Massachusetts, so I sat down with Edward Melia, a Boston-based serial entrepreneur and investor to get his insight. Melia works closely with investment groups, family offices, strategic buyers, and sovereign wealth funds to identify and vet early stage high potential innovation and discovery in technology and life sciences.

By Art Papas

A recent study from the Economic Policy Institute has generated much debate among recruiters, labor analysts, and even jobseekers themselves regarding the perceived STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) skills shortage that I wrote about several months ago. This article by Jordan Weissmann in The Atlantic summarizes the findings, mainly that there is no shortage of skilled U.S. STEM workers and that claims of a talent shortage are greatly exaggerated.

The City of Boston's Department of New Urban Mechanics through the Office of Business Development is looking for a software solution to showcase purchases made at neighborhood stores in real-time, as well as display this information in public platforms in order to impact local businesses in a measurable/data driven way.

The City is seeking startups willing to form a long-term partnership to develop a solution in large scale.

By Navah Fuchs

Student debt is a hot topic on many lips, and the center of attention at Angel Ed’s Student Debt Forum. We brought together thought leaders in innovation, academia, and youth enrichment to discuss the issues, as well as begin coming to a consensus on the action steps needed to make headway on “the elephant in the room.”

By Debi Kleiman

In order to support our innovation ecosystem, Massachusetts based companies should buy local when they can.

There are enormous benefits to having your best partners in your backyard: you can dig in with them, face to face, to truly understand and continuously learn, creating successful solutions; and you are fostering relationships that will help our innovation economy grow. It can help your own organization by bringing in new insight, fresh thinking and a fast infusion of innovative ideas.

By Jeff Gross

The numbers tell their own story. Immigrant entrepreneurs now make up nearly 1 out of 5 of all business owners in the Commonwealth, from shopkeepers that root and revive urban main streets to biotech startups chasing the next cancer cure. Some have called the risky gesture of hope and self-reinvention that is immigration an entrepreneurial act in itself! No wonder then that immigrants in the U.S. start businesses at twice the rate of natives, or that 60 percent of new business owners in Massachusetts in 2012 were foreign born. In the Boston area alone more than 8,800 immigrant small businesses employ 18,500 people and generate $3.6 billion in regional GDP. These entrepreneurs are in fact twice global—first by virtue of their origins, second by the heightened role they play in our international trade balance, exporting goods at a 40 percent higher rate than native born business owners.

By Lauren Navarro

With graduation upon us, college seniors like me are nervous about the job market and their chances of landing a position. I was fortunate to attend a day-long program and networking event hosted by Lasell College’s Department of Communications which featured top communications professionals from Boston and New York. Headliners, including Teresa Hanafin, Director of Community Engagement and Social Media, Boston.com; Jenny Dervin, VP Corporate Communications, JetBlue; Alex Jones, Director Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy, Harvard University; and J.D. Hale Jr., Yankee Publishing Inc., talked with students about the road to a successful and meaningful career.

By Marc Osofsky

Gartner Group famously dropped a bomb by predicting CMOs would outspend CIOs on IT by 2017. For most companies this is unlikely to be true, but it does draw attention to a major change that is underway.

Large company marketing departments are finally making a significant shift away from broadcast media and into digital channels. The intensity with which marketing is focused on digital channels, the uncertainty around best practices, the speed of change in the underlying capabilities (mobile, social, SEO) and the plethora of software providers makes it nearly impossible for a CIO to keep up and fully support marketing, particularly given everything else on the CIO’s plate.

[The We are the Creative Industries series: The Creative Industries - video game companies, design, marketing and architecture firms, and talented people who write books, design houses, shoot movies, make art and record music, just to name a few examples - are an important part of Massachusetts' economy, with $1 billion statewide impact and over 100,000 workers. Click here to learn more.]

By Michael Luciano Abbate

Entrepreneurs are serious about good ideas; but most will tell you that coming up with the idea is the easy part. It’s the little things like patience, impeccable timing, and both the ability to execute or make the connections with those who can, that determine one’s success. Of course there is that minor detail of gaining a following, finding the people that believe in you and your idea, and motivating them to get the word out.

By Ellen Keiley

The Boston Club, a premier organization of women executives and professionals promoting the advancement of women to significant and visible leadership roles, has taken notice of the major role nonprofits play in the economy and conducted the first ever Census of Women Directors and Chief Executives of Massachuetts’ Largest Nonprofit Organizations to see how nonprofits stack up. Nonprofits generate $234 billion in revenues and nonprofit jobs represented 16.7% of the total employment in Massachusetts in 2010.

[The We are the Creative Industries series: The Creative Industries - video game companies, design, marketing and architecture firms, and talented people who write books, design houses, shoot movies, make art and record music, just to name a few examples - are an important part of Massachusetts' economy, with $1 billion statewide impact and over 100,000 workers. Click here to learn more.]

By David Day

For the last nine months, I've been working with a tremendous team of volunteers to plan the Together Boston festival and event, and it's coming up to the launch. This Sunday we begin a week-long celebration of music, art and technology which will take place at venues like the Museum of Science, the Museum of Fine Arts and at multiple music venues throughout the city of Boston, including the Paradise, the House of Blues and Great Scott, but keying in on the Middle East Downstairs for "Together Central Stage." Together Central will feature an explosion of music, art and technology unlike anything the city has seen, featuring artists who have the attention of the world: Four Tet, Zomby, Hooray for Earth, UZ, and owner of the #1 pop song in the UK, Duke Dumont.

[Editor's Note: Join former Global Business Hub editors Devin Cole and Meg Reilly at Lir on Boylston Street on May 9th for the "Toast the Press" event to show some #journolove]

[Editor's Note: In case you missed Global Business Hub Contributor Ellen Keiley's segment on RadioBDC earlier this week, you can listen to it here.]

By Emily Dyess

How can entrepreneurs best harness the wisdom from academics, and the energy from students, in order to advance small businesses? Startups are successfully solving big problems, which is why people are moving here, taking risks, starting companies and creating jobs. There is an obvious yet under-recognized advantage to being an entrepreneur in Boston: the potential for partnership with top academic institutions and young minds. It is time for startups to fully take advantage of one of Boston’s greatest benefits, and work with academics to form new businesses based on innovative research.

[Editor's Note: Join former Global Business Hub editors Devin Cole and Meg Reilly at Lir on Boylston Street on May 9th for the "Toast the Press" event to show some #journolove]

By Dennis Tupper

You wouldn't think the musings of ancient Chinese military general Sun Tzu as found in his book, The Art of War, could be used as an aid in your hunt for a position in IT, Agile Services, Life Sciences Consulting, Workforce Management, Healthcare IT Staffing, and Government Services, etc. But read between the lines, reflect on what Sun Tzu was saying then, to what you are trying to accomplish in the midst of a job search, and you can see that the general could have moonlighted as a pretty fair recruiter in his spare time.

Consider General Tzu's observations and their real world applicability for the modern-day job seeker:

[Editor's Note: Join former Global Business Hub editors Devin Cole and Meg Reilly at Lir on Boylston Street on May 9th for the "Toast the Press" event to show some #journolove]

By Aron Schwarzkopf

New England is a hub for innovation and residents are notably proud of the important technological developments born in our backyard. We’ve dominated the biotech and enterprise software markets, so what’s the next industry to create big waves in New England’s innovation pool? Financial technology.

There is an evident uptick in the number of mobile commerce companies that have evolved in Boston and the surrounding areas in the past few years, and for good reason. Boston is often overshadowed by Silicon Valley as a hotbed for tech startups because of some amazing companies that flourished out West and are now pillars of entrepreneurship. The difference is that Boston is earning a much stronger reputation for developing technology that bridges the on and offline worlds. Local innovations in the robotics and medical device industries are two good examples of that.

[Editor's Note: Join former Global Business Hub editors Devin Cole and Meg Reilly at Lir on Boylston Street on May 9th for the "Toast the Press" event to show some #journolove]

By Raul Medina

Let’s actually forget about the historical context of Cinco de Mayo. Let’s forget about any Mexican nationalism and sense of identity. We, the Mexicans who have migrated to the US, for whatever the reason, have done it in order to pursue the American Dream. So while Cinco de Mayo back home celebrates the defeat of the most important army in the 19th century by a bunch of insurgents in the Eastern Mexico state of Puebla, and while it might not be such a big deal of a holiday in Mexico, this holiday is still benefiting Mexico in an indirect way. We should celebrate the extra beer sales that have led to the creation of a successful Mexican global brand.

[Editor's Note: Join former Global Business Hub editors Devin Cole and Meg Reilly at Lir on Boylston Street on May 9th for the "Toast the Press" event to show some #journolove]

By Navah Fuchs

All across the country tassels are being flipped and caps thrown as families snap pictures of beaming graduates. Three out of five of those graduates will be in debt.

Student debt is a national epidemic causing major problems for students, families, and the cities vying for human capital. This problem is most acutely felt in Boston and Cambridge, the mecca for higher education. In Greater Boston there are over 70 learning institutions (formal and innovative), over 50 rental agencies that specifically focus on the student market, cultural activities specifically targeted to people 18-25, and over 200 businesses that form payment partnerships with universities. Seems like the ideal infrastructure to foster innovation and retention among the best and the brightest - until one factors in student loans.

[Editor's Note: Join former Global Business Hub editors Devin Cole and Meg Reilly at Lir on Boylston Street on May 9th for the "Toast the Press" event to show some #journolove]

By Charley Polachi

Finally the economy is in job creation mode.

My line of work is all about jobs- albeit placing top candidates in C-level positions globally. Having been at this for 30 plus years, I have seen many spikes, cycles, and trends. Even in lean times, finding the best technical minds to fill positions is a challenge for many promising firms. An obvious solution is to stop the brain drain from our best higher education institutions and keep the talent in the US. Don’t let the previous week’s events color your view of the issue: Immigration made our country great-don’t kill the American dream by preventing talented leaders from contributing to our businesses and society.

[Editor's Note: In case you missed Global Business Hub Contributor Ellen Keiley's segment on RadioBDC yesterday, you can listen to it here.]

Rita’s Career Corner …With Rita B. Allen

Writing a resume is a ritualistic process that everyone has to engage in throughout their career. Learning how to do so effectively makes all the difference in opening doors for us. Keeping your resume current, updating it on a regular basis is a critical career management practice.

Stay sharp and on top of your recent achievements by tracking them on an on-going basis and building your portfolio. Most organizations ask for a current resume when considering internal applicants for opportunities in addition to scanning external resumes. The best time to write about an accomplishment is immediately as it occurs and the experience is fresh in your mind rather than doing so at a later date when you need to create your resume. Be proactive and diligent about keeping it current and updated.

By Mary Thompson-Jones

If he’s smart, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim will not only speak to the 111th Northeastern University graduating class – he’ll actively recruit them.

Boston area graduates from Northeastern and elsewhere are exactly what the World Bank and other international financial institutions need. Today’s graduates are more multicultural and more multidisciplinary than their colleagues from even a decade earlier. They come from more countries, speak more languages, and thanks to programs such as Northeastern’s Dialogues of Civilization and an ever-growing menu of co-ops, internships, and service learning projects, they are more likely to have studied and/or worked abroad.

By Debi Kleiman

39% of smartphone owners use it while going to the bathroom. Yes that's correct.

According to eMarketer, in 2013 the number of mobile shoppers in the US will increase to 118 million consumers and represent 62% of digital shoppers. 82% of marketers in the US expect to expand their mobile media spending in 2013. It took 16 years for traditional web-media spending to reach $1billion. Mobile reached that in 5 years. In 2013, Temkin Group reports that in the US 57% go online using their mobile phone, and 16% do so for at least 3 hours daily.

By Craig LaRosa

The price wars are on. It’s a vicious battlefield out there. With sites like Amazon and Overstock and the proliferation of showrooming — where consumers browse a physical store before buying an item online, presumably because it’s cheaper — consumers can find the lowest price for anything on their shopping list easily and quickly.

Retailers are scrambling — in panic mode — fixating on the dollars and sense calculation, so much so in fact, that they neglect other factors that are just as important.

[Editor's Note: In case you missed Global Business Hub Contributor Ellen Keiley's segment on RadioBDC earlier this week, you can listen to it here.]

By Shannon O'Brien

This is the fifth and final article in a monthly, five-part series that advocates for living a balanced life in the areas of: Global Citizenship, Local Volunteering, Meaningful Careers, Strong Networks, and an Empowered Self.

“Boston Strong” is the slogan that has emerged in the aftermath of April 2013’s terrorist activity at the Boston Marathon, at MIT, and in Watertown. Each of us had different reactions to the events… Some people were on the scene, and others tuned in from down the street, or overseas. I myself was at the Finish Line one minute before the bombs went off, and was very grateful to already be out of harm’s way when I heard the two explosions. Tragically, many others were not so lucky.

Another installment in our ongoing series to help innovative MassChallenge companies get the word out about what they offer and get connected with what they need to thrive.

[The We are the Creative Industries series: The Creative Industries - video game companies, design, marketing and architecture firms, and talented people who write books, design houses, shoot movies, make art and record music, just to name a few examples - are an important part of Massachusetts' economy, with $1 billion statewide impact and over 100,000 workers. Click here to learn more.]

By Sam Aquillano

Back in 2009 I was running an organization focused on professional development for product designers. As we collaborated with other design industry groups more and more, it became abundantly clear that there is an incredible amount of creative work happening in Boston, but that there was no one talking directly to the public about design.

By Ellen Keiley

Busy schedules, mismanaged time, and days filled with distractions lead to stress, anxiety and reduced productivity in our personal and professional lives. It is incredibly beneficial to take the time to reflect on current practices, find ways to manage our time effectively, and develop clear direction and priorities in life. Below are some ways to accomplish that.