By Lex Schroeder, Writer and Research Fellow, The Lean Enterprise Institute

Most of us think we know what the word collaboration means, but we don’t. I usually oversimplify it and think of two or more people joining efforts to get something done.

Let’s collaborate on this deeply interesting thing over here! Or let’s join forces on this other thing that demands our attention!

Sure, people bring their own skills and talents into the mix, but the emphasis is on productivity, not the interplay and synergy that happens or doesn’t happen—or has no chance of happening—in the group.

I’m working on two different projects dedicated to exploring what effective collaboration looks like in practice and how to create the conditions for it to occur more often. The idea is that if we can work together better, maybe we can focus more energy on the creative potential of the work at hand, advancing the real possibilities that exist there rather than the interpersonal or process dynamics that so often get in the way.

I still have plenty of questions, but this is clear: collaboration is much more than two or more people working together; it’s about communicating and learning with others in order to create something you couldn’t possibly have created alone. It’s about finding a shared groove, yes, but a purposeful, synergistic, fantastically unique one.

How often do we set out with this goal in mind rather than simply think: "Let’s go work together to complete this very important task?"

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By Laurisa Neuwirth

Innovation is alive and well in New England and it has been fueling uncommon economic growth within what I lovingly refer to as our "Massachusetts bubble" through this recession. With a national unemployment rate near 8.2%, our unemployment rate in Massachusetts is about 22% lower than the rest of the country.

This good fortune is not due simply to the brilliant ideas flowing forth from our local pool of massive brainiac power. As my friend Steve Snyder points out in his recent blog "There's more than 'I' in Innovation", the true value is only realized when the innovative idea is developed and commercialized and becomes a contributor to our economy.

The Smaller Business Association of New England (SBANE) celebrated game-changing companies who are making just that type of impact at their 27th Innovation Awards on Thursday. Nominees came from a stunning array of fields including mobile tech, medical device, software testing, eco-friendly product retail, technology for learning, mobile payments and painted a rich and colorful picture of New England’s innovation.

Another sign of economic health is that nominations were up 43% over last year, to a record number of 268 companies competing for ten top awards. “Usually we see a 10% increase year-over-year, so this is by far the biggest increase we’ve ever seen. It tells us that folks in New England are excited about the innovation in their own companies and in their client companies,” says Todd Faber, who has been Chairman of the Innovation awards for the last four years.

The “Agnostic Awards”

In the excitement that filled that room, one thing rang loud and clear: like any complex ecosystem, our survival depends on diversity. Nicknamed the “Agnostic Innovation Awards” by Chairman Todd Faber, unlike every other award in New England this one has never been limited to any particular industry like biotech or geared only towards the "sexy tech" niche. There are even separate categories for non-profit and early stage companies.

Scott Goodwin of Wolf and Company, an Innovation Award judge for the last 3 years, described a few of this year’s powerful group of nominees: “When you look at a company like Parcell Labs, that company can actually change people’s lives. UTEST has taken a completely different approach of ‘crowd-testing’ to software testing; Xtalic and the materials they are creating can have a significant impact across a whole range of industries.”

Sometimes the innovation lies in simply looking at the way we all do business and finding a new angle. Corporate Reimbursement Services, Inc. maximizes tax incentives and reimbursements for vehicle expenses for mobile employees through an automated platform. "Where have you been for the last 20 years?" is what CEO Gregg Darish most often hears from his new clients - and voila! - there's the market reaction to this particular innovation.

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By Ellen Keiley

Is it possible to significantly decrease the number of homeless individuals and families?

According to Heading Home, a Greater Boston non-profit organization, it is.

Heading Home has taken an innovative approach to decreasing the number of homeless people through its shelter and transitional housing programs, which create a supported bridge toward the end goal of providing permanent housing. Its model begins with a home and offers critical services such as life skills, education, financial literacy, and job training. The model has proven to be very effective. In fact, 91 percent of the people housed through its program have remained housed.

According to Heading Home’s Executive Director, Tom Lorello, on any given night in Greater Boston more than 7,000 people are homeless, including 3,000 children. On the family side, Heading Home sees that most situations involve a young single mother at the average age of 26 years old with 1 to 3 children. Almost half of the kids are under 6 years old and about the other half are under 10 years old. On the individual side, it is generally the disabled population with problems such as mental illness or drug use.

Board member, David Weinberg, said “Many people don’t realize that homeless individuals and families are just like everyone else and are not all street people. In many cases, the cause of homelessness is a run of bad luck or bad choices, and those that end up homeless just need assistance to get back on their feet and stay there.”

In 2001, Heading Home decided to look at an old problem differently. The organization changed its focus from emergency shelters to housing first and became a model for Greater Boston. At the forefront of this new idea was to give the homeless the opportunity to get housing first, provide support, and then let them prove to be good citizens. It became very clear to Heading Home that housing is the foundation for people to turn their lives around.

Former board member, Phill Gross, Managing Director of Adage Capital Management, said “housing first gives people mindshare, and that enables them to focus on fixing the problems they have.” If people are on the street, they are in survival mode, making it very difficult to focus on getting treatment and turn one’s life around. Believe it or not, it costs society a lot less to put homeless people in housing with support than for them to be homeless, because homeless people frequently end up in Emergency Rooms or hospitalized when on the streets.

The current public welfare system presents part of the challenge because of the loss of services for those who make above a certain amount of money. If someone makes $15 per hour, certain services such as childcare will be taken away, and it is difficult to afford childcare at that amount of pay. To provide an incentive for people to get off the public welfare system while housed, Heading Home designed a program to reward families that work toward self sufficiency with cash and housing. Its participants are given a monetary account that can be used for necessities such as purchasing a reliable car to get to work, a computer, or a down payment on a home.

Instead of lifetime public housing, program participants receive an 8-year voucher. During years 3 through 8, the financial assistance decreases. At year 5, participants receive education on home ownership. After 8 years, the payout from the escrow on their account can be used for a down payment on a home. Currently 36 out of 40 parents working 6 months or more have assets and an account open.

To assist with the transition into housing, Heading Home’s Up and Out Council furnishes and decorates the housing and provides children with items such as toys. That added touch is often an overwhelming relief for the families that are housed, as they don’t have to worry about things like not being able to afford curtains to put in the windows.

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Diane Hessan is a Boston superstar. She knows how to run a company, Communispace. She knows how to develop and retain talent. She tells good stories.

She is an innovator in the truest sense.

Meet her!

A few weeks ago, Reel Innovators talked to HubSpot's Brian Halligan. To get to know him, looky here!

The REEL Innovators Series is a collaboration between REEL Entrepreneurs and Boston World Partnerships. Using the medium of video, we introduce you to Boston's most innovative personalities and the businesses they've built.

By Michael Lake and Daniel Spiess, World Class Cities Partnership

Boston’s high ranking as a global innovation city and, according to one recent report, reputation as the 10th most competitive city in the world would be the pride of mayors everywhere, but Boston continues to experience its “brain drain.” Northeastern University’s World Class Cities Partnership, whose global research has focused on talent attraction and retention issues, recently hosted the pre-launch of Boston’s foremost advocate for hipness – the Future Boston Alliance (FBA). Founded by Greg Selkoe, a locally-based streetwear retailer, Selkoe and FBA director Malia Lazu described the Alliance as an opportunity for Boston and Massachusetts to seek input and guidance from an untapped core of new leaders and entrepreneurs in order for our region to compete in the 21st century. Selkoe and Lazu noted that not only does Boston need to compete in education and technology, in which it already performs quite well, but it also needs to compete in the ‘hip’ factor as featured by Michael Farrell in his recent Boston Globe article “E-retailer Hopes to Boost Hub’s Hip Factor.”

Though this hip factor may seem irrelevant to the focus of modern city policy, research shows that a city’s success rate for talent attraction and retention, the bedrock of a stable economy and the lifeblood of an entrepreneurship ecosystem, can be greatly influenced by the population’s desire to want to live and work in a creative, welcoming and fun urban environment.

Selkoe draws his knowledge from personal entrepreneurial experiences, but is also a Harvard-trained city planner and knows of what he speaks. His tenure at the Boston Redevelopment Authority shows in his awareness of the power and potential of zoning, tax incentives, citizen participation, and regulation to truly influence how the city literally shapes itself and its image, both to residents and those who are considering a move to the so-called Hub of the Universe. As a business owner who chose to start and keep his business here within the city limits, Selkoe knows that keeping and attracting workers to grow his company is not based on salary alone.

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By Laurisa Neuwirth and Ashley Ryall, John Leonard Employment Services

Read Part I Here

Big Fish Helping Little Fish

Kendall Square is home to the strongest life sciences cluster in the world, an audacious claim that is supported by the fact that the four main industry groups chose Boston for their signature events this year:

• PhRMA Annual Meeting April 12- 13
• BIO International Convention June 18-21
• BioPharm America 2012 September 19 - 21
• Advamed 2012 October 1-3

The Massachusetts Biotechnology Council (MassBio) is an essential institutional underpinning of support for the biotech space, with offerings in many different forms. Their newest offering, MassCONNECT, is already a wildly successful mentoring program. Both the demand for mentoring and the experts capable of providing it demonstrate the deep pool of local talent and passion for the industry that is present. This depth of talent can’t be bought, transplanted or otherwise grown quickly, although other locales both within the US and internationally have poured resources into such efforts.

Hear about the exciting specifics of MassCONNECT from Sarah MacDonald, MassBio’s VP of Development & Communications:

Repurposing with Purpose

In the uber-serious world of entrepreneurial bioscience development, SEMPRUS BioSciences is an emerging medical device company. Located in a building that was once an old tire factory, Co-Founder and CEO David Lucchino recognizes the value of repurposing Kendall’s unique resources. This includes not only the buildings but also the talent pool of seasoned specialists coming out the newly acquired companies who are looking to move back to a small company culture.

Born out of the MIT 100K Entrepreneurial Competition in 2007, SEMPRUS now has over $30M in funding and made a conscious choice to remain in Kendall. “ I couldn’t get the bang for my buck anywhere else. Even though my rents were a little higher here, the aggregation of the benefits outweighed the dollar premium to be here.”

“So let’s think about it, if you tried to do what we are doing in another locale, in Pittsburgh or Cleveland or other locales you can do it, but it’s going to be a lot more difficult.” David Lucchino continues, “Getting the access to the talent, access to the ideas, access to the venture capital… you can do that in other markets but it’s going to be a lot harder to do because you don’t have the structure in place to allow that to happen so readily.”

How Topography Dictates Flow

Xconomy, the go-to news platform and event-driven engagement organization for the "exponential economy" has become an anchor here in Boston. Founded by Bob Buderi and Rebecca Zacks, the team of Xconomists connects people and ideas through localized blogs, events, conferences, and other initiatives in six cities. Boston's own Xconomy guru and Senior Vice President of Business Development, Bill Ghormley, is based in Kendall Square and provides insight into the development of the clean tech, health IT, life sciences, mobile and the diverse start up community.

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By Laurisa Neuwirth and Ashley Ryall, John Leonard Employment Services

Intrigued by Mark O’Toole’s recent post,”An Innovation Snapshot: Three Engaging Hours in Boston’s Innovation District,” we traveled across the river to the original innovation district, Kendall Square. What was once a busy manufacturing hub filled with distilleries, soap and hosiery factories and home to 19th century entrepreneur and namesake Edward Kendall, is now the nucleus of greater Boston’s development of information technology, life sciences and energy technology.

It only took us a few seconds to feel what British Consul General Phil Budden calls “the change in the air” as we entered Kendall Square.” We made it our mission to capture the new pace of business here– the modern version of the long-lamented “daily grind” which has morphed into what we call the “Kendall bump n’ grind.” And we share it with you right here. Watch this space for Part II next week!

“Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends…”

According to Travis McCready, Executive Director of the Kendall Square Association, 2007 marked a turning point for America, with more of us residing in urban districts than in suburban or rural areas. What comes with the alluring potential of urban offerings –vibrant night life, lively cultural institutions, fun restaurants, cafes and clubs, reliable public transportation, and civic space – is a density of talent, companies and institutions. As one of these growing urban areas, Kendall Square has achieved the critical mass that fuels unparalleled technological innovation.

Travis likens this density and diversity to “a box of chocolates… you open it up and you don’t really know what you’re going to get, but you know it’s going to be something good.” The best business representation of the box of chocolates metaphor is in the dense and crowded environment of the Cambridge Innovation Center, (CIC) where smart people serendipitously “bump and connect.” That collaboration creates waves of innovation, and it’s happening at an unprecedented rate right here.

Both Pixability and CoachUp.com are fast tracking start-ups, two of the 500+ companies who have called the CIC home since it opened its doors in 1999. Leaders of these two companies credit the entrepreneurial environment here for a great deal of their companies’ transformations. Pixability found a key vendor they needed while VP of Marketing Rob Ciampa was riding the CIC elevator up to his office one day. Their engaged and ever-curious compadres in the community inspired Pixability as they expanded their initial core business from customized video into an end-to-end video marketing platform.

“People in Kendall, yes, they want to know about your product but they also want to know your story, so you’re constantly pitching and getting your message honed, and the community here ends up giving you leads as well. It’s helping your product, your message, and your sales.” Rob describes his experience here.

Similarly, Jordan Fliegel, CEO of CoachUp.com, found all of this team and his initial funding partners either directly in the CIC or through the avid referral network of his fellow entrepreneurs. Jordan and his business were both born in Cambridge and he’s so doggone proud of Cambridge and what it means for his company.

Life in the Kendall Coral Reef

So what shape does this entrepreneurial community take? See it through Geoff Mamlet’s eyes here:

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By Arne Hessenbruch, Founder, Boston Denmark Partnerships

Dougan Sherwood started his own company and burned through $20K of friends and family's investment. He got burnt. He now works at Cambridge Innovation Center, located at Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA.

He sees many startups in different stages and he ponders the impact that location has. His advice for startup companies is a mixture of the conventional and the more existential.

Go where you can:

1. Recruit the talent you need
2. Minimize hassle and free up head space
3. Figure out who you are!

Everyone in the startup world knows that recruiting people is of prime importance and also excruciatingly hard. A startup needs a team of people whose skills complement each other. We tend to know people like us, not people with complementary skills. A startup needs people with drive and enthusiasm, an understanding of product development and the many iterations it has to go through with feedback from potential consumers, people skills, market savvy, fundraising, legal and accounting, technology and so on.

The list is very long, which is why only a very few places on the planet have produced successful startup companies. Putting it starkly, only Silicon Valley and Boston have the critical mass of people with different skills to routinely put together successful teams. But even within those cities, you want to be where you can meet people, preferably on a daily basis. In Boston, for example, you may want to be on the Red Line, because many of the young people you want to recruit do not want to drive cars and sit in traffic.

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By Donna Dodson, Artist

While collaboration in the music world and performing arts is the status quo, visual artists have been lone wolves, for the most part. Famous artist teams like Christo and Jeanne Claude or Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van Bruggen are the products of collaboration and marriage where one partner’s solo works became shared works through a lifetime of team work. In the business world, collaboration is a natural result of web 2.0 tools and social media technologies that are utilized to achieve the bottom line. In lean economic times, when competition is fierce and financial resources are scarce, artists will oftentimes look for ways to work together to share resources and contacts, conserve energy and maximize teamwork to achieve more than is possible by oneself. But how can artists, who are so wedded to their own personal vision, branded by the making of individual products, let go of control and cooperatively work with each other? And what is the outcome of this type of collaboration?

119 Gallery in Lowell fosters innovative cooperation between artists, musicians, dancers, performers, video artists and creative thinkers. As part of my current show, "Two Artists in Two Dimensions: Donna Dodson and Andy Moerlein," the gallery recently hosted several notable artists' teams on a panel discussion on their experiences as collaborators. The panelists were Margot Stage and David Crane, Rick Breault and Elaine Wood, Tim Winn and Zehra Kahn, and Andy Moerlein and me. The moderator was Walter Wright, co-founder of 119 Gallery. The event host was Mary Ann Kearns, also a co-founder of the gallery.

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By Mark Vasu, perCent Inc.

Boston is preparing for the first Boston Cleanweb Hackathon on May 4 through 6. Students, entrepreneurs, companies, developers, and innovative business people will roll up their sleeves and create new applications in one weekend for prize money and bragging rights.

A year ago, the term ‘cleanweb’ was coined by two cleantech entrepreneurs and investors in Silicon Valley. It is based on the simple idea that the next wave of innovation in a cleaner energy economy is happening, and it’s coming from information technology applications that address resource constraints, whether those limits are related to energy, water or even food.

Cleanweb is about creating low cost, capital efficient web-enabled business models capitalizing on the easy access to huge amounts of data - Big Data as some like to call it - that is available and open source. It’s about leveraging those data points from millions of things that now capture them, from shipping crates to smartphones - known as the “internet of things.”

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By Donna Dodson, Artist

Veronique Le Melle, Executive Director at Boston Center for the Arts welcomed guests to the First Annual Arts Professionals' Breakfast featuring presentations on new technologies and cutting edge practices in the administrative side of the art world. This year's juried presenters were ArtsBoston, Boston Dance Alliance and Cambridge Community Foundation.

The keynote presenter Kara Miller, who hosts the Innovation Hub on WGBH Radio Boston, focused on where ideas come from and addressed three trends shaping our future in the era of the crowd. Through crowd sourcing, crowd funding and mobile technologies, tapping the wisdom of the crowd, telling your story and getting the word out will be an integral part of these democratizing technologies.

John Beck, Deputy Director of ArtsBoston, discussed market knowledge programs. Arts Boston launched an audience initiative which takes the data of an organization’s membership, overlays it with demographic information and outputs it back to the organization to turn research into action. It works within a city or regional community to build capacity and assist audience development by defining patron behavior. By working with cultural nonprofits in a region to share this information with each other, they create a culture of collaboration and advocacy for the arts.

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By Chad O'Connor, contributing co-editor

Boston World Partnerships and Reel Entrepreneurs have joined forces to feature Boston's most innovative people in The Reel Innovators Series.

Over the next several months, The Real Innovators Series will follow Boston's best into their companies and into their lives to give you an inside view into how talent translates to execution and startup success.

Our first profile focuses on HubSpot co-founder Brian Halligan, as interesting a gentleman as you'll find anywhere.

Here is Part 2 (Part 1 can be found here):

REEL Innovators Series featuring Brian Halligan, CEO, HubSpot, Part 2 from REEL Entrepreneurs on Vimeo.

[Editor's Note: Part 2 was originally intended to run on Monday but was delayed by a small technical problem. Our apologies for keeping our loyal fans waiting.]

By Devin Cole, Boston World Partnerships

Boston World Partnerships and Reel Entrepreneurs have joined forces to feature Boston's most innovative people in The Reel Innovators Series.

Over the next several months, The Real Innovators Series will follow Boston's best into their companies and into their lives to give you an inside view into how talent translates to execution and startup success.

Our first profile focuses on HubSpot co-founder Brian Halligan, as interesting a gentleman as you'll find anywhere.

Here is Part 1 (Part 2 to come on Monday!):

REEL Innovators Series featuring Brian Halligan, CEO, Hubspot, Part 1 from REEL Entrepreneurs on Vimeo.

UPDATE: Part 2 is here.

By Debi Kleiman, President, MITX

Last Tuesday night about 70 local marketing professionals got together for a “marketing hackathon” to think through how we could better promote and communicate what’s special about our region’s Innovation Economy.

Our Innovation Economy is diverse – our tech, life sciences, education, clean energy, gaming, financial services, robotics, and design sectors are thriving and innovating on some really hard problems. And, as Massachusetts Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Greg Bialecki reminded us during the hack, they’re not just building innovative products but they’re also creating new-to-the-world business models that are disrupting traditional approaches.

The challenge was to find a way to communicate our unique culture and make it meaningful to students, entrepreneurs and businesses who want to move/grow here and future employees who want to stay here. Not an easy task to be sure, especially when we are prone to comparing ourselves or trying to emulate Silicon Valley, Austin or New York City.

As we shared some of the best ideas from the hack, a theme started to gel for me – Boston, we need to embrace our inner nerd.

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By Arne Hessenbruch, Founder, Boston Denmark Partnerships

How does one make a successful product such as an iPad, an app, a drug, or a widget?

You might think that companies start with an idea about a product, something that seems cool or somehow promising. They then build a prototype to prove the concept – that the product can indeed be built or made. And then they make more products and sell them.

If only it were that easy!

Unfortunately, products need a lot of work before they actually sell. The expected demand may turn out to not be there; the price might be too high; the product might be clunky; or there might be regulatory hurdles Much of that work is done in product development. Because product development is underestimated, most people think that the most important part of innovation is invention – the glamorous moment where a genius thinks of something new in a flash. But in reality ideas are a dime a dozen whereas product development is the hard slog that really makes a difference.

Regina Au is a consultant helping life science companies with product development. She has spent many years with pharmaceutical and biotech companies such as Genzyme Biosurgery, so she has seen product development up close for many years. She details the following 5 main issues to pay attention to. FULL ENTRY

By Donna Dodson, Artist

This week, everyone in the art world is talking about Morley Safer’s recent report on 60 Minutes about art: the hot commodity. In the wake of his search for art seems valuable enough to spend thousands and millions of dollars on, we learn of the early passing of Thomas Kinkade. Often compared to Disney or Norman Rockwell, Mr. Kinkade sold more canvases in his lifetime that any other, and he redefined high art as a mass produced object for everyone.

Art fairs, auctions and galleries have produced a veritable marketplace for hot commodities and much of the art world has become the playground of the rich, status seeking new millionaires and billionaires.

At the other end of the spectrum are those who believe art is neither a product to be sold nor a commodity to be gambled on. The artists, arts administrators and activists who define art as an experience by which one is transformed for the benefit of a community believe the only product of this type of engagement is human capital and spirit.

Thomas Kinkade produced an estimated 1000 canvases. Through the production and distribution of editioned prints and merchandise, he has placed his art work in the homes of nearly 10 million people to the tune of an estimated $100 million worth of art sales annually. The price range of editioned prints and mass produced items is from $25 to $250,000, which buys you the privilege to own machine made and sometimes hand touched work.

If he were competing with Walt Disney or Norman Rockwell, he might have been wise to realize he was competing against not one but many generations of creative output and accumulated wealth or, in other words, trying to attain something that is simply unattainable in one life.

In spite of his best intentions, he is probably more of a case study for the business world than the art world, which could not see or appreciate any new aesthetic territory, or cutting edge techniques in his work. The art world also dismissed his taste in art and his output as 'art that people could understand.’

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By Cheryl Meyerson, Founder, new city Inc.

Startups in the Innovation District (ID) have received their fair share of coverage recently, but they're not alone as innovators. Non-profits have taken the innovation mantle and produced remarkable results.

Recently, I had the pleasure of attending an executive briefing for Citizen Schools at Fidelity Investments in the ID. Speakers included representatives from Fidelity and Google, middle school principals from Boston, the CEO, alumni and staff of Citizen Schools. I was impressed with what this organization is doing to develop the potential in middle school students to nurture a love of learning that will inspire them to succeed in high school, college, work, and civic life.

Citizen Schools partners with middle schools to extend the learning day for children in low-income communities. Its staff and volunteers partner with public schools to boost student achievement, help schools reach their full potential, and to re-imagine education in America. Their model is proving itself and they have expanded to 6 other states. Heavyweights such as Google, Bank of America, and Fidelity fund the organization and Citizen Schools has gained tremendous momentum through this support.

Whether you are a newcomer or from the area, there are numerous ways to volunteer and help grow these programs, including volunteer teaching in the afternoon hours, sponsoring a team, promoting leadership opportunities and more.

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By Debi Kleiman, President, MITX

Innovation. We’re good at it. Like, really good. Boston’s Innovation Economy is forever expanding with incredible, creative companies, and the vibrant start-up community rivals anything that Silicon Valley might boast.

But we Bostonians have a problem: we’re too modest about our achievements. Sometimes it’s okay to shout loud and proud about our accomplishments!

Boston is home to a handful of industry-specific awards programs that give innovative companies the chance to demonstrate their accomplishments – and it’s important for our community that the people who work hard all year make themselves known at these events. Besides being fun and terrific community-builders, big awards shows (like the upcoming MITX Innovation Awards)are a great way to shine a light on the people and organizations that are creating what’s next in digital innovation. Awards programs serve to inspire others to innovate even further. And that benefits our whole community.

Awards shows exist so that companies have a chance to shout louder and prouder (and in front of an audience!) but that’s certainly not the only reason. Companies that enter get seen by some of the leading thinkers and doers in our community; they get to pitch, demo, and delight those that can help accelerate their success. Awards shows give a company’s product validation from a community of people who collectively represent hundreds of years of innovation and creativity.

Many of these folks have experienced the process of new product development in very deep ways. This kind of input can be hugely helpful to young companies and new solutions. So, they get much more than just recognition; they get new connections to potential capital sources, business partners, employees, or sales opportunities that they might not have had access to otherwise.

Do you feel like a winner? Enter a Boston awards show! Now is your time to shine.

Debi Kleiman currently serves as the President of the Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange, the nation's largest nonprofit trade association for digital marketing, media and internet business. Previously, she was VP of Product Marketing & Sales Operations at Communispace and spent close to 15 years as a B2C marketer for major packaged goods companies. She is a Boston World Partnerships Connector.

By Dave McLaughlin, CEO & Co-Founder, Vsnap

Two weeks ago, I went to a conference in San Francisco. In planning the trip, my business partner and I used a few well-known web/mobile services to arrange various details. Although these tools are not new to us, and all of these services are available right here in Boston, what struck me is that you really get a glimpse into their value when you use several of them together within the space of a short trip.

I run a startup, so the pressure to save money and maximize value is extra intense. These services are truly changing how we take care of the basic needs for business travel, saving us money and increasing our ability to navigate unfamiliar cities and get the most return on our spend.

For starters, we used AirBNB to book an apartment. The place we got was huge and clean and sunny, and the woman who owned it left us a bag of bagels & cream cheese on the kitchen table as a welcome. The last night we were there, the apartment wasn’t available so I booked a night at the Westin. It was 50% more expensive than the massive, sunny apartment.

For transportation, we used Uber. For a pretty small cost markup, we had immaculate Towncars picking us up within minutes of us notifying them, anywhere in San Francisco. I think the cost of taking an Uber car to the airport was actually the same as taking a taxi.

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By Mark O'Toole, Managing Director, Public Relations and Content Marketing,HB Agency

Several weeks ago, I decided to stay in Boston between a morning meeting and evening event rather than return to my office on the 128-corridor. Armed with a laptop, iPad and phone, I hunted out space where I could be productive.

I spent the afternoon immersed in Boston’s Innovation District and discovered the geographic convergence of groups that care about, report on and participate in Greater Boston’s innovation community. Typically, these groups now sit in the same building or even the same room and create synergies that can’t happen at the occasional event, over the phone or through social channels. Additionally, I discovered that Boston’s international business community wants to learn what Boston is building, with other countries’ representatives participating in our new scene and often contributing to it as robustly as homegrown businesses.

The Financial Company

First, I met an acquaintance who agreed to give me a tour of the Fidelity Center for Applied Technology (FCAT). This amazing space serves as museum, test lab, meeting space and showcase highlighting Fidelity’s global innovations in financial services. A wall-sized interactive map shows Fidelity’s global presence, including domestic and international offices, data center locations, call centers and more. The History Wall, a long length of hallway, showcases Fidelity milestones in a timeline from end to end. Even more impressive, a sliding digital panel brings the timeline to life through videos, images and words from Fidelity’s history and legacy of industry firsts. FCAT even offers an online Fidelity Labs with beta versions of Fidelity technology and apps for the outside world to test. Like me, you might end up most impressed with FCAT’s list of partners: organizations creating, supporting and reporting on innovation. These include Boston Interactive Media Association, Boston World Partnerships, MITX, TEDx Boston, Xconomy, Mass Technology Leadership Council and other important players.

With greater awareness of Fidelity’s history, global footprint and legacy of innovation, I made my way a few blocks east to the MassChallenge office for new adventures – and there were plenty.

MassChallenge has become more than a home to start-ups. A true center of innovation, the organization creates the ideal intersection between innovators and infrastructure to support Boston’s start-ups and innovation business culture.

The Association

First in line at MassChallenge: MITX (Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange), the business association for New England’s digital and marketing community. MITX relocated to MassChallenge last fall, its team now centrally located in the middle of the action. It’s clear the new space infuses the MITX team with energy and opportunity.

I spoke with MITX president, Debi Kleiman, about the value of the move to the Innovation District. “Being co-located with MassChallenge and the startups here has been fantastic for MITX. We are all about helping people make connections to grow their business and get inspired to innovate. This happens just because we run into each other walking around the floor or as we catch up with someone here visiting someone else. It’s the random run-ins and in-person serendipity that really powers the good stuff happening in our community. Proximity matters when it comes to supporting each other’s work.

“We’ve proven that more events where the goal is networking and information-sharing are really potent. We develop this friendliness, an ease with which we work together as a community, for example finding time to spend together over a beer. We’ve also seen an increase in smart, experienced people offering to be mentors. Most of the startup incubators/accelerators offer this, but we also have people willing to share their time with a startup in an informal way. With our MITX Up marketing mentorship program, our mentors tell us they get a ton from mentoring the startups on their marketing challenges. And the startups love it too. Any city that wants to grow its innovation ecosystem needs to consider how to build this effort in multiple avenues and offer various kinds of mentorship for young companies and entrepreneurs.”

The Entrepreneur

Seeking an empty desk to pay attention to my day job, I ran into Vsnap founder and former Boston World Partnerships (BWP) director Dave McLaughlin. His company allows people to send short, personalized video messages and attachments using nothing more than an Internet connection and camera.

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By Chad O'Connor, Adjunct Professor, Northeastern University

As someone who teaches college students, I am reminded daily of the importance of helping them find meaningful work with internships, co-ops and jobs. I gather whatever info I can and pass the opportunities along to my current and former students. Thankfully, there are some other people in Boston who have been focusing on this critical problem too...

The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts are hosting a gathering of business and academic leaders on Monday March 19th to discuss the benefits and best practices of student internships. Remarks will be made by Governor Deval Patrick; Kenneth Montgomery, First VP/COO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston; and Paul Guzzi, President/CEO of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce.

The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce also is offering Chamber Intern Connect to connect area employers with college students throughout the region. No matter the specific internship, industry, or paid vs. unpaid opportunity, Chamber members post summer internships to a high-traffic database as well as the Commonwealth’s statewide Mass Stay Here internship site.

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By Donna Dodson, Artist

Although not born in Boston, Cathryn Griffith has become knowledgeable about the city and appreciative of its distinct nature. With an intellectual curiosity for art, a passion for photography and a business mind for real estate, she has crafted a platform for herself as an artist and entrepreneur. Her recent book, Havana Revisited: an Architectural Heritage brings together her experiences as a lifelong traveler, her artistic eye and her careful study of architecture. In it, she ties together her own personal story with that of architecture around the world.

Historic Preservation

Unlike the plastic arts, architecture is functional and organic. Buildings are actively a part of, not merely passive observers to, the passage of time. The Boston Landmarks Commission deals with local history of the built environment. As noted on their website, Boston is one of the oldest American cities, and it ‘has long played an important role in the development of the nation.’ The buildings they seek to preserve are informed with the stories and events of the City’s residents from its founding days to the present one. Historic preservation is defined by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as ‘the process of identifying, protecting, and enhancing buildings, places, and objects of historical and cultural significance.’ Increasingly, this process is a dynamic one, not a static entombment or enshrinement of buildings and places.

The business of old buildings

Boston’s Old City Hall is one of the earliest examples in which municipal architects applied the principles of historic preservation to the re-evaluation of its buildings. Herein was born the concept of adaptive reuse. In the 1960's the idea that the city’s constructs from a previous era could be put to new use was without precedent. ‘The successful conversion (1969-1971) of Boston's City Hall into a restaurant and first class office building heralded the beginning of this new concept.’ The American Institute of Architects (AIA) publicly supported the process of its conversion and promoted Old City Hall as a notable example of urban renewal that could have future implications. In fact, many cities across the nation have used the rehabilitation of Old City Hall as a template for the reuse of landmark buildings in their own communities and this pioneer model of redevelopment continues to win recognition as a precedent setting approach to adaptive reuse.

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By Patrick Bench, President, Boston Irish Business Association

This weekend, I was walking through Boston as the city began its annual preparation for St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. The signs that this city takes its famous Irish heritage seriously were everywhere: Store windows were filled with large green top hats, Leprechauns, pots of gold(I don’t think it was real gold), and other costume apparel to mark one of the most storied holidays in Boston.

As we prepare to celebrate the cultural bonds that link Massachusetts and Ireland, there is also a great opportunity to illustrate the vibrant economic ties that connect these two regions on St. Patrick’s Day and the other 364 days of the year. The strong Massachusetts-Ireland relationship drives bilateral trade and investment. And even during these challenging economic times both economies benefit.

Boston has long been a gateway to the American dream for Irish immigrants. These strong cultural traditions developed over centuries of immigration have led to a business community that welcomes Irish companies and encourages Massachusetts organizations to use Ireland as their gateway to the European market. There was no better display of this welcome then the support that Prime Minister (Taoiseach) Kenny received in his recent visit to Boston.

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Ted Chan, Founder & CEO, Noyo and Upward Mobility

Recently, I caught up with a fellow MIT Sloan entrepreneur who chose to build his company in Boston with a local VC, Point Judith Capital, providing the funding. Bennett Fisher is the Founder and CEO of Retroficiency, a data analytics software company focused on the cleantech sector.

TC: So Bennett - what is Retroficiency focused on?

BF: We are focused on scaling commercial energy efficiency. Commercial buildings account for more than 40% of the country’s energy consumption, and there’s $40 billion dollars of annual potential savings opportunities by upgrading existing energy systems. Unfortunately, much of these savings aren’t realized due to the current costly and time-intensive manual process of evaluating efficiency measures. Energy efficiency in existing buildings is the best way to reduce consumption, but right now it’s a huge opportunity that’s not being fully realized.

To address this, we’ve developed software that combines sophisticated energy analytics with rapid building modeling that helps utilities, energy service providers and building owners prioritize portfolios and identify energy conservations in minutes.

TC: What do you mean by energy analytics and building modeling?

BF: We have two core products today. One analyzes 15 minute or hourly energy consumption data (called interval data) to determine what the savings opportunities are in a building without ever visiting it. We can answer questions such as are the building’s operating systems aligned with actual occupancy hours? Is simultaneous heating and cooling occurring? Are lights being left on at all hours of the night?

To do this, we look at how a building is responding to changes in weather, humidity and other external factors and compare those results to similar buildings to determine areas of suboptimal performance and deliver very actionable recommendations.

Our second product streamlines the traditional energy auditing process. We can take a limited amount of information about a building and its energy systems, use statistical inferences to fill in the gaps, and then evaluate thousands of potential improvements in minutes to see how they will impact energy usage.

TC: It’s been about a year since you publicly launched the company. How much progress have you made?

BF: We’ve been able to build some significant momentum since launching last March and are on a great trajectory. I think the most important milestone for us has been the large enterprises that have adopted our solutions, like Jones Lang LaSalle, Schneider Electric and SAIC. That was a really important validator for our approach.

We’ve evaluated 80 million square feet of commercial space thus far, which is great, but that said there’s 80 billion square feet of space out there, so there’s a lot of work to do. We need to focus on delivering innovative products and driving adoption.

TC: Why did you choose Boston as the place to start the Retroficiency?

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By Melissa Massello, GM of Events, Swap.com

If you've never been to the famed SXSW Interactive conference before, here's what to expect: Spring Fling weekend for the startup set. It's an experiment in wholeheartedly embracing both sides of the "work hard, play hard" equation by innovators from all around the world, all of whom have converged in Austin, Texas for a 5-day marathon of meetings, intellectually stimulating sessions, comfort food, drinks, parties, more drinks, more food, and generally getting their geek on (at more parties). As you can imagine, there’s not a whole lot of sleep that happens at SXSW.

Does that get you psyched up? Good. Now here's how to survive and thrive, showing the rest of the country why they should pay attention to Boston as serious players:

Have a plan & set goals for your SXSW experience

Before heading to Austin, figure out the top three sessions you need to make during the week and the top three people (or brands) you want to connect with while you're there. (It makes the whole experience SO much more manageable, translating to roughly one mission each day.) Then, while heading between those sessions and looking out for those people, make the most of each random encounter. If you're not adding anything to a given conversation, or taking anything from it, politely move on. Most importantly, repeat after me: it's about quality, not quantity.

Local angle: Watch SteveGarfield.tv's "Road to SXSW" featuring Boston-based social media superstars (like Jeff Cutler and CC Chapman) dish on their top tips for n00bs. (Also, check out this amazing, inspiring post by Dallas fashion blogger Elissa Stern for the Texas Style Council blog.)

Don't sweat the parties

Everyone obsesses over the parties at SXSW. Did I get invited to enough parties, or the right ones? Should I party hop? How do I get invited to invite-only events? Can I still get tickets to sold-out events? Relax. It’s not high school. SXSW is about connection kismet, and you will no doubt have no shortage of awesome things to do with no shortage of awesome new people, and in a surprisingly short amount of time. As the locals say, "Wherever you are, that's where you're supposed to be." Don’t party- or session-hop just for the sake of trying to do it all, or for fear of missing out. Pick one place, stay there (at least until the group you're with decides to move on), or go have a break/coffee/nightcap/snack/longer conversation with one or two cool people you've just met. Make your own party!

Local angle: You can still RSVP for the Bostinno “SxStreetwise” party, and if you need to employ the buddy system before kicking off the training wheels, check out this directory of Bay Staters headed to SXSW.

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By Manya Chylinski, Principal, Alley424 Communications

Innovation—you hear about it all the time these days. It is the buzzword in the IT world. But is it really possible for so many companies to be innovative? Well, yes. A lot of people in the field think the pace of innovation is increasing. Blame it on the digital world we live in.

"It costs so little to innovate now,” says David Verrill, Executive Director of the Center for Digital Business at MIT's Sloan School of Management and Co-Chair of the Innovation Showcase, part of the annual MIT Sloan CIO Symposium. “It used to be that you needed to raise tens of millions of dollars and spend a couple of years building a company. Now you can outsource development, host it in the cloud, and be up and running in a few months for a few hundred thousand dollars.”

From the innovator’s side of the coin, it’s all about passion. “You have to believe that you will change the world, that you are going to help improve society in some way,” says Jim Curtin, a veteran entrepreneur who has started several IT companies. “Believing that you can make a difference is what drives innovation.”

Curtin knows what he is talking about. He is CEO of Virtual Bridges, a desktop virtualization company based in Austin, Texas and one of ten companies selected as a finalist in the 2011 Innovation Showcase. That was an opportunity to interact with hundreds of CIOs and other potential customers who were primed to be interested in what he and the other finalists had to say.

Getting in front of the customer is a big part of the job of any innovative IT company. You’ve got to talk to customers and find out what they need, what they are thinking, and exchange ideas. The innovation comes from actually listening to what customers need, finding a solution, then delivering on that promise.

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By Allison Shapira, Harvard Kennedy School

A few months ago, I interviewed a number of venture capitalists about public speaking as it relates to the hundreds of startup pitches they hear.

I asked, “What’s important to you in a pitch?”

There was one answer I’ll never forget. It came from David Wells of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Buyers.

He replied, “Within the first 8 words, I’ve decided whether or not to keep listening.”

8 words.

I frowned for a second, unsure if I had heard right. Then I asked, “What are you looking for in those first 8 words?”

He replied (and I’m paraphrasing), “The core innovation. If it’s not in the first 8 words, it’s probably not there. That’s when I either stop listening or interrupt the speaker to ask.”

8 words.

In a nutshell, it’s about having a strong opening line. It’s about grabbing your audience’s attention so that they put down their iPhones and listen. Entrepreneurs need to get to the point and distinguish themselves from dozens of others promising the next game-changing idea. But the rest of us can use it every time we speak in public.

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By Ellen Keiley, K&L Gates

Just a few years ago, the South Boston Waterfront didn’t have much to it. Fast forward to 2012 and the area is exploding with activity in what’s now known as Boston’s Innovation District – one of Boston’s hottest neighborhoods.

It’s never been a better time for the development, as there’s a new generation of workers, and Boston wants to keep them. They walk and ride bikes to work, and they can do it all without leaving the city. Much of the development started after a 2010 mandate from Boston Mayor Tom Menino to develop 1000 acres of waterfront property as a platform of entrepreneurship focused on 3 initiatives – jobs, housing, and infrastructure.

The district was created to attract innovative people and companies and fuel economic engines for Boston. It’s a way to win the war to obtain and retain talent. The Innovation District has created 3000 new jobs and 100 companies.

MassChallenge moved to the area in 2010 and has brought a lot of excitement and innovation to the area with its mission to “Catalyze a startup renaissance.” MassChallenge is the largest start-up accelerator and competition in the world and offers 125 finalist start-up companies access to world-class mentorship and training, free office space, access to funding and media, and other perks, such as free business flights provided by American Airlines. The winners of the challenge receive $1M in cash awards and over $4 Million worth of in-kind support collectively.

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By Arne Hessenbruch, Boston Denmark Partnerships

Many university scientists and start-up companies develop new drugs. But getting a drug through the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approval process and to market is a long, expensive and risky process. Many companies seek to share this risk by partnering or out-licensing to a larger biotechnology or pharmaceutical company.

Antony Newton worked for Genzyme from 1992 to 2011, eventually becoming Vice President of Portfolio Management in the Oncology Division, He facilitated the in-licensing process there and describes here what you have to think about in order to successfully out-license your drug to a pharmaceutical company:

1. Have a clear value proposition
2. Understand the culture of the company
3. Understand the structure of decision making
4. Develop relationships on the inside
5. Plan for follow through

While the example of Genzyme helps us flesh out these five points, the lessons are general and apply to any pharmaceutical company.

1. What is the value proposition?

Pharmaceutical companies are increasingly using in-licensing and partnering to build and de-risk their development pipelines. For the out-licensing group it is important to understand the needs of the pharmaceutical company. Are they interested in particular technologies or approaches, are they looking for products at a certain stage of development? By asking these questions up front, you avoid fruitless discussions. And by knowing more, you can tailor the information presented to meet their needs.

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By Jos Scheffelaar, Founder, Launch in US Alliance

Most American small and medium companies know India as a country for off-shoring software development or call center services, and largely ignore other opportunities to do business in India or partner with Indian companies.

I am a Boston-based entrepreneur who co-founded a company that helps overseas companies expand their business into the United States. Some of the companies we help are from India.

Last year I had the opportunity to visit India and meet with their local entrepreneurs. I attended the IndiaSoft software conference in the city of Pune in the state of Maharashtra, an urban agglomeration with 5.5 million people that most Americans have never heard of (I admit that I had to look it up too …). Being in the neighborhood, I also took the opportunity to set up several meetings with entrepreneurs in Mumbai.

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By Chad O'Connor, Adjunct Professor of Communication Studies at Northeastern University

As the Chatham Forum continued, the second panel of the day (See last week's intro post) – Greg Selkoe, Vicky Wu Davis, Travis McCready, Helena Fruscio and Frederick Kramer – convened later that morning to discuss strengthening Greater Boston’s global presence. A key theme the panel kept coming back to was changing the way we think about barriers geographically. One dysfunctional example that gained many nodding heads of support was discussion of taxi pickup regulations that prevent Boston cabs from picking up in Cambridge and vice versa. Not only is it frustrating to people who live in the Boston area, but it is frustrating and bewildering to out-of–towners who will remember such anecdotal encounters.

The taxi example seemed to represent the desire of the panel to see more cooperation between the region’s cities, minimizing regulation and bureaucracy that stifles business and detracts from a positive experience in Greater Boston. Heather Fruscio neatly summarized the problem by noting that “A brand is only as good as it functions” – harkening back to the earlier panel’s praise of Barcelonactiva for integrating processes that help business permitting go smoothly. Healthy competition between cities, emphasizing real differences, is okay; unhealthy competition with a winner take all mentality will not help Greater Boston as a whole. One panelist even noted that districts within a city, sometimes blocks apart, can get into unhealthy competition that loses sight of the bigger benefit.

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By Chad O'Connor, Adjunct Professor, Northeastern University

Super Bowl weekend kicked off with a star-studded retreat focusing on Boston’s future. World Class Cities Partnership (WCCP), in collaboration with City to City Boston and Boston World Partnerships, planned the 2012 Chatham Forum for engaged Greater Boston citizens to learn, discuss, renew friendships and expand networks. To quote from WCCP Executive Director Mike Lake’s invitation, the Forum sought to update everyone about “opportunities for the Boston region in relation to innovation, entrepreneurship and adapting best practices from around the world to strengthen economic development in our region.” In addition, attendees participated in Massachusetts’ first Urban Excellence unConference with “Solution Sessions” to share ideas and projects on economic development, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Insightful content and action opportunities were in abundance. A Friday night cocktail reception and dinner with opening keynote from Boston City Councilor Tito Jackson set the tone for an ambitious agenda. Jackson stressed the importance of getting the youth of Greater Boston civically engaged, something that starts with a strong public education system.

On Saturday morning everyone reconvened with a heart-felt montage tribute to the recently deceased former Boston Mayor Kevin White. [As a sad epilogue, Lowell Richards of Massport, a former deputy mayor to White, who was at the Chatham Forum unexpectedly died on Sunday. Condolences go out to his family and friends. He spent the better portion of his last weekend with us doing what he did best: working behind the scenes on making Greater Boston better.]

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By Ted Chan, Founder, Upward Mobility and Noyo

Over the past couple years, I have successfully launched two companies and there’s another one coming in a few months. One of our key partners is WorkBar, a Boston co-working space. In general, I feel very bullish about the co-working models and the value they bring to a young firm like ours. WorkBar saves us money on office space while providing everything we could ask for in terms of a productive environment.

Different co-working spaces in Boston have a different feel and tailor to different types of companies. Given we are young and have a fairly informal culture, WorkBar’s laid back environment works really well for us. Many of my friends from MIT have had success working out of the Cambridge Innovation Center. Having spent much time hanging out there as well, it has a great tech/start-up vibe.

Why has co-working been the right move for us?

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By Cheryl Meyerson, Founder, new city, INC.

Greater Boston is on the global map as a vibrant start up ecosystem with over 1400 companies. For this post, I framed a few questions for three leaders in the local startup scene and asked them to respond in vsnaps -- 60-second video messages, with attachments that offer additional information.

I like this format a lot because it gives you a sense of the people, in addition to what they have to say. After all, Boston's startup scene is very much a community of people, one that's welcoming to newcomers who have big ideas and the work ethic to put them into action. I've embedded their vsnaps below. But first here's some background on each of my subjects -- and the question I asked.

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By Lex Schroeder, Writer, Editor and Program Associate, The Berkana Institute

In my last blog, I argued that the world needs more systems thinkers given the scope of problems/opportunities we face. I believe our major systems have a long way to go, and I write from that angle and set of assumptions. But having an awareness of how our systems, and therefore work habits, are changing is a critical skill for anyone in this economy, not just social change enthusiasts.

There are two ways to look toward the future of work:

• What might the world need from us in terms of the companies we build or work we do?
• To what degree are we prepared to navigate industries and work environments that are changing fast whether we like it or not?

Many folks have written about the shift we’re undergoing now from an Industrial age/manufacturing economy to a post-Industrial, creative economy, cross-sector collaboration, and the kind of work environments required for Gen Y-ers/Millennials to thrive. Fast Company (and Fast CoExist), Forbes, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and Boston's own Root Cause are all over it. Everyone seems to be talking about how work is becoming more networked, flexible, and adaptive. But what does this larger shift to a creative economy mean for the individual? For the 20 something early in the process of building his/her career? or the mid-career professional considering a change?

Winston Churchill wisely said, “If you’re going through hell, keep going.” A related ethic might be something like, “If everything is changing around you, ride the wave.” There’s no use fighting it, and besides change is energizing and empowering. Here are a few ideas as to how to ride the wave into a new creative economy:

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By Arne Hessenbruch, Founder, Boston Denmark Partnerships

What are the 5 top factors to weigh before getting a PhD?

1. What doors does a PhD open for you?
The fact of the matter is, it opens mostly doors within academia. In order to get a job as a professor, you need a PhD. For most others, you don't. There are a few exceptions, such as chemistry and fields related to drug development. So if you know for certain that you want to work in academia or in, say, pharmaceuticals, then a targeted PhD is the right thing.

Also, if you are interested in an expanding field, which at the moment could be something like big data analysis or brain and cognitive sciences, then you can be reasonably certain that there will be enough openings in academia by the time you have your PhD. Of course, if you want to be in the humanities or atrophying science fields, such as space research or nuclear science, then you will end up looking at lots of closed doors.

The problem is that universities do not give you any guidance in this. They are not geared to open doors for you, except if you want to become a professor, and they do not get measured by enabling you.

2. Which skill sets will you learn?
Obviously, you will learn a lot about something esoteric. For example, if you do a PhD in the history of accounting techniques among public house owners in Boston in the 1830s, you will end up knowing more than any other person on the planet about your narrow field. But because this knowledge is unlikely to help you with anything, the question really is, what else will you learn in the process? You might for example learn how to find information that is hard to find. You might also learn how to combine different kinds of information to arrive at insights that no one had seen before.

You might further learn to summarize complex issues and to present the issues to academics, both orally and in texts. It has to be said that you are unlikely to learn how to present to the general public, and so while the training is specifically to learn how to behave within the ivory tower, it may just be useful outside too.

You will definitely learn how to juggle complex issues and how to synthesize them for a particular audience. And you will learn a form of self-discipline where the motivation has to come from within. There is no instant gratification: it can take years before you reap the fruits of your labor.

The universities can also give you no guidance on these issues before you start your degree. Neither professors nor university administrators think much about the value the students get, because they are measured by other standards, such as the number of publications they produce. They are geared towards producing knowledge that matters to professors who talk mostly to each other. Of course, even though the system is not set up to assist you in building up a skill set, you can focus on this yourself and use university resources for that purpose.

3. How will it make you feel about yourself?
Getting a PhD will likely give you a sense of achievement and make you feel proud. This is no small matter. You can put your title next to your name and most likely it will earn you respect.

In general, you will be considered smart, and that is mostly an advantage.

Feeling good about yourself and confident has many benefits, in addition to being an end in itself. You will go into future challenges with confidence and for that reason you will also be more likely to succeed. But there is an attendant danger also: you may feel a sense of entitlement over people without PhDs, and so you might be unpleasantly surprised when others get chosen over you and you learn to use the word overqualified in order to soothe the pain. So here is something you should be prepared to juggle: be proud of a PhD while at the same time acknowledging that it may not open doors.

4. Will you have fun?
This was certainly the first thing that came to my mind when I weighed the option of a PhD. And it is of course of major importance.

You absolutely have to find the object of your studies interesting, because the gratification is very delayed. Life in the lab can be tedious and boring, unless you endow your activities with meaning. You have to feel that it matters, that you play with cool tools, that you contribute to the betterment of humanity in some way, or that you discover some measure of Truth, however small. If you want to become a professor you have to enjoy the kind of life that professors lead. And if you end up needing a job outside academia that your PhD doesn't necessarily prepare you well for, then you will at least want to have had fun!

5. What is the cost?
Ultimately, you will want to try some kind of cost-benefit analysis. A PhD takes a long time, and it costs fees and living expenses.

Unless you get grants to assist with this, it will add up. In addition, you will spend many years not making a living and not learning other important skills. I think most people wing it: they go into an academic field because they are enamoured with it, and maybe also because it continues the life they led as an undergrad - it avoids having to go out and find a job. They think about the fun and maybe also about the status.

Of course, there is much to be said for simply following your passions. But since so many PhDs nowadays lead to a perceived dead end, it is a good idea to consider the above five issues before it is too late.

Arne Hessenbruch is a Danish expat and the founder of Boston Denmark Partnerships, where he connects Danish companies with an interest in doing business in Boston.

By Debi Kleiman, President, MITX

With the holidays behind us, economy watchers are waiting for the numbers to signal consumer confidence and spending is back. Early signs seem to indicate it is. According to ComScore, Cyber Monday lived up to its name in 2011 as the Monday after Thanksgiving racked up $1.25 billion in online retail sales, the biggest day in the history of US e-retailing. Nine other days topped $1 Billion during the 2011 holiday season. ComScore also reported e-commerce sales for the period from Nov 1 through Dec 25 increasing by 15 percent over the corresponding days the year earlier.

E-commerce and its super hip sister m-commerce is growing by leaps and bounds. Why? Because better technology is making the process and user experience easier, consumers trust and enjoy the internet more and it's become ridiculously convenient. Content strategy, video, analytics and social media are revolutionizing the way people shop. And the most exciting part is, we've only just begun.

During our weeklong festival last September, FutureM, all about the future of Marketing, it became clear that we are seeing a surge in local innovative and successful e-commerce plays. Everything from new business models, advancements in the mobile and cross channel markets and tech companies that build platforms to help companies to sell and promote their wares online. But I'd bet most Bostonians don't even realize how much is going on right in our backyard.

So here are five things to know about our Internet business community, listen up:

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By Lex Schroeder, Co-Founder & Managing Editor, The New Prosperity Initiative

In my last blog "Forays into the Future of Work," I ask, "What skills and qualities will serve us in the future?" and offer the idea that the world needs connectors. It’s a simple enough idea to grasp, but it’s worth exploring because it can easily get lost in our day-to-day routines.

I say the world needs connectors because indeed systems and systems thinking are key to meaningful, lasting change. Whether we’re talking about what the future of work holds for us and our organizations, or the ever-so-tricky social and economic challenges so many of us are facing currently, becoming aware of the systems we find ourselves in is crucial. And if we’re going to adapt to a fast-changing world and build new kinds of companies designed to thrive in a new kind of sustainable economy, then systems thinking is a skill all of us need to wrap our heads around, embrace, and let change us.

We must bring systems thinking out of the university, tech world, and think tanks, and into our workplaces and communities.

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By Monica Michaan, Marketing and Communications Associate, Environmental Defense Fund

Every new generation leaves its mark on the world, reshaping not just culture and politics, but also business and the economy. Nowhere is this more evident than with today’s so-called Generation Y, who is having a profound effect on the way American companies think about energy and the environment as we begin to ascend the corporate ladder.

Also called Millennials, the cohort was born between the late 1970s and the late 1990s (the exact age bracket is often debated). As a group, Millennials tend to be liberal, confident, tolerant, non-conformist and prone to activism. We are famous for changing the rules to fit our needs. We innately believe that our opinion is important, and are enthusiastically vocal about it.

This does not mean we are slackers. To the contrary, Generation Y wants to work for causes in which we believe, and we like to achieve results. As Gen Y career paths begin to unfold, these passions are having a growing impact on what we expect from our workplace and professional culture.

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By Philip Guarino, Elementi Consulting

The fast-evolving world of digital marketing has undergone profound changes over the past year. 2012 will offer us some even more interesting developments.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Content will trump craftiness

Google’s recent (and arguably overdue) change to its search algorithm, or how it ranks sites, was the game-changer of 2011. Google’s older algorithm gave less weight to how frequently a company was being discussed on social platforms like Twitter and more to relevance. On the one hand, expect to see more results to be linked to timely and social relevance and less to esoteric tinkering. On the other, as its product offering becomes arguably more robust, expect a bit of backlash over Google’s keyword and site promotion offerings (have you noticed how those sponsored sites are slowly taking over the results page?). The burden of authentic, timely and relevant content on the part of companies will become ever more important.

Influencer Management: A new kind of celebrity is born

Marketing 101 teaches business students the virtues of segmentation. Today, when we think of celebrity endorsement it is the Kardashian call to Sears that comes to mind. Increasingly, however, it is specific community experts that are becoming the true celebrities that influence consumer decisions. Companies like Klout now assign “influence” scores to web users, allowing marketers insight into who might be most likely to talk about their brand. With a few Las Vegas casinos already offering upgrades to guests with high Klout scores, expect to see more companies giving special perks (pricing, gifts or unique information) to those they consider most likely to influence others. Powerful platforms by firms like Youcast are emerging to allow marketers to identify the top influencers specific to a company’s audience. Expect companies in 2012 to focus marketing on those customers most likely to be influencers or brand ambassadors.

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By Arne Hessenbruch, Founder, Boston Denmark Partnerships,

There are some big predictions out there. The Economist is expecting the mechanisms of cancer to be understood in 2012, for example. But my crystal ball reveals only piecemeal changes. Nonetheless, these changes are part of longer term trends that will make the world look different in 10 years time.

Ever since radiotherapy was invented a century ago, the history of cancer has been replete with predictions of its imminent demise, and one joins the chorus at one's peril. But the immense increase in biological information that we are now gathering will lead somewhere. For example, metabolomics allows us to match biomarkers to particular goings-on in the body. Companies such as InfanDx are leading into the fray. This German company has the technology to diagnose brain damage caused to some babies at birth due to a lack of oxygen. They use an ordinary blood sample to find a particular set of bio-markers, the presence of which correlate well with encephalopathy caused by neonatal asphyxia. Such diagnostic use of bio-markers will increase drastically in 2012.

The Boston startup world is all agog with mobile opportunities. Something will come of this, but what?

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By Lex Schroeder, Co-Founder & Managing Editor, New Prosperity Initiative

Over on the New Prosperity blog in December, I had the privilege of posting a piece by fellow Bostonian Nathan Rothstein on what he hopes for the future of education. Nathan reflects on the importance of financial literacy, civics education, and service for recent grads. Too many young people come out of high school and college knowing next to nothing about finance or how elections work, he says, and too many could care less about politics. This at a time when the promises of an expensive college education no longer hold true, and when the world needs young people more than ever.

With so many of our major cultural institutions changing at what feels like the speed of light, Nathan thinks our educational institutions could change quicker. I couldn’t agree more, but of course change takes time. We have to talk about things first and gather collective support around new possibilities. We have to admit when things aren’t working and take some risks.

While many of my friends and colleagues are spending time in organizations/startups working toward creating new futures in education (The 100K ArtScience Prize, Boxxout Enterprises, University of Venus)—or challenging/re-imagining the entire concept of education (Kaos Pilots, Swaraj University), I find myself wondering about the future of work. Erica Dhawan and I are thinking a lot about the attitude and skills Gen Y-ers and millennials (especially young women) need to create meaningful, rewarding careers in a changing world of work and money, as people seek to live as much as in the real world as they do behind their computer screens, and as social responsibility becomes more of a given rather than a side consideration.

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By Mark O’Toole, Managing Director, Public Relations and Content Marketing, HB

After the holidays, the intrepid among us look at the remains of our respective feasts and see opportunity. That turkey bone can flavor a soup. Those leftover veggies would taste great in a stew. That untouched pie should be sent to a shelter.

Making the most of the feast, during and after the meal, is smart, sensible and doable.
Companies and organizations can similarly extend the life of their feast. Companies are realizing the power of creating and sharing "unedited" messages through channels that more directly reach their consumers. Content marketing is having a renaissance, in large part due to Boston-area companies and thought leaders who have revived it as a vibrant part of building a brand and communicating corporate stories.

Those who eat from the content marketing plate should pay attention to the following trends in 2012:

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Arne Hessenbruch, Founder, Boston Denmark Partnerships

The recently released film "Iron Lady" features Margaret Thatcher's acceptance speech upon first becoming prime minister, quoting Francis of Assisi: "Where there is discord, may we bring harmony. Where there is error, may we bring truth. Where there is doubt, may we bring faith. And where there is despair, may we bring hope."

In the 1980s and 1990s, Thatcher's political opponents used this speech as a voiceover with footage showing the violence her politics wrought, such as clashes between British police and coal miners. The point was of course to argue that she brought discord, doubt and despair to the many mining communities whose livelihood was wiped out. But from her perspective, British coal mining simply was not viable without subsidies, and the subsidies were wasting tax payers' money.

Change is always resisted, the more so of course when livelihoods are at stake. US coal fired power plants are being retired to understandable howls of protest in coal rich West Virginia. US energy politics is understandably not only partisan but also a patchwork of regions. Sustainability makes sense in New England but is almost a dirty word in West Virginia or Texas. Representatives of the carbon based energy industry disapprove of government subsidies for renewables and supporters of renewables point to the much higher and systemic subsidies for coal, oil and gas.

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Ted Chan, Founder and CEO, Upward Mobility

It’s been an exciting year in the Boston mobile ecosystem. Between M&A, continued growth of significant Boston industry players, and a bevy of new venture-backed startups, we’ve seen progress at a head-spinning pace. These are one man’s thoughts, but I’ll certainly be curious to hear what others think in the comments section.

Without further ado, here are six key developments in the Boston mobile industry:

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By Yoon Lee, Executive Director, Boston World Partnerships

Last week, Boston World Partnerships invited John Della Volpe, Co-founder and Managing Director of SocialSphere, an insight-based strategy company, to present to a group of Greater Boston’s civic and business leaders about how the world perceives Boston.

This project was a direct result of feeling frustrated in countless conversations with other business and civic leaders about how we can promote Boston’s assets better to the world and generate economic growth. In order to better promote the city, we needed hard data on the global perception of Boston’s talent and resources.

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Interview by Manya Chylinski, President, Alley 424 Communications

For those who love the startup life, one of the best parts about working in that environment is the fact that there are no silos. All the business groups interact and collaborate. Everyone wears a lot of hats. With customers to serve and limited resources, that’s the only way to make sure the company is nimble and can respond as needed to market conditions.

David Hood is Director of Marketing at Kyruus Inc., a Boston-based big data company offering analytics driven solutions for health care delivery and life sciences companies. Over the past several years, he has worked at a number of startups in Boston and San Francisco. He made the move to Kyruus earlier this year because of the exceptional team at the company and the opportunity to significantly disrupt the healthcare industry. David shares his thoughts with Manya Chylinski about marketing, working at a startup, and Boston’s healthcare landscape.

What is the competition like in your space?

There are a lot of consulting and legal companies offering solutions, particularly in the space we’re in right now, looking at interactions between healthcare providers and the industry but not a lot of software solutions. I think that speaks to the fact that data has traditionally been hard to access and that these firms typically take a whole bunch of smart people, have them do their own research and come back with a report. What we’re seeing is that with the data we’ve brought together on our platform, it’s possible to do that in a far more systematic way than what has traditionally been done.

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By Arne Hessenbruch, Boston Denmark Partnerships

Patent law matters for innovation. Abraham Lincoln famously said that "the Patent System adds the fuel of interest to the fire of genius." The US Constitution states that "Congress shall have power ... to promote the progress of science and useful arts by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries." But what is the best way to promote such progress?

Photo: Professor Michael Meurer, Professor of Law, Boston University

Michael Meurer, a law professor at Boston University, thinks that intellectual property law ought to provide proper boundaries the way that real estate does.

If you don't know where your property ends and where your neighbor's begins, you might plant flowers and get sued for it. Good fences make good neighbors.

Patent law provides no such clarity.

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By Lennox Chase, Founder, MyBar Prep

Due to Boston's employment and educational machines, Boston appears to have reserved a spot in the upper tier of the nation's real estate market. The high tech companies, the universities, hospitals, and bio med corporations are magnets for the nation's best and brightest minds. Considering the future peaks and valleys that residential and commercial real estate will face, Boston is situated well to attract talented workers during the next few years.

There appears to be a voracious need for apartments in Boston. A 50,000-square-foot property located at Downtown Crossing is being converted into apartments by The Hamilton Co., an Allston real estate company. "New hires need a place to stay. So the rental market price is up 19% from the last twelve-month period in a recent report I did for one customer..." states Stephen Marcus of Stephen Marcus Realty in Quincy.

City planners have created an evolving economic environment that supports businesses, which hire workers attracted to the Greater Boston area's many resources. In addition, Boston has over 20 diverse neighborhoods that provide a multitude of choices for recreation and professional development. The result has been a relatively healthy housing market compared to other cities in the U.S. Real estate is micro-local and the new construction that is occurring in South Boston, Dudley Square, the Fenway, and Downtown Crossing are emblematic of an exciting new era in the City of Boston.

Lennox Chase is an attorney that sits on the board of directors for Needham Bank. Attorney Chase is also the founder of MyBarPrep, a tutoring company for lawyers and law school students.

By Pierre Dorsaz of Swissnex, and Hadi Berkat and Lisa Jaeggli of Red Cut

Excerpted from Citizen 2.0, a paper by Swissnex and Red Cut.

The internet has changed the way information is relayed and how people use it. We
have gone from an era of broadcast dominated by passive reception to an era of
digital natives, where communication is interactive and instantaneous. This new
generation has grown up with the Internet and expects continuous participation.

This evolution towards new communication patterns provided governments with an opportunity to function in a more innovative, engaging and cost-effective manner. In recent years, many businesses have integrated tools such as Facebook and Twitter in their marketing efforts to reach customers more directly. In a government context, such tools can be similarly used to engage with citizens with the goals of collecting their feedback and ideas, making them aware of public services at their disposal and reaching out to broader audiences through non-traditional channels.

Social media have also returned power to citizens. By providing inexpensive and widely-available tools that make it easier to organize and voice challenge, new technologies have contributed to empower citizens while improving governments’ responsiveness and accountability. A new citizen is emerging.

The City of Boston, for instance, recently launched a series of initiatives to engage with its citizens, such as the Citizens Connect App.

The convergence of these trends has generated a number of innovations, from ideation to agenda setting, from branding to crowdsourcing. There are any number of examples.

One example from Massachusetts is called Localocracy.

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By Arne Hessenbruch, Boston Denmark Partnerships

A Boston start-up company, Jana, has access to 2.1 billion consumers, via their cell phones. That is probably more than any other company in the world, including the large global retail companies such as Coca-Cola or P&G. And Jana is growing and hiring in order to build a solid business on this remarkable fact.

Jana has the technical capability to give minutes to these 2.1 billion owners of cell phones. In many parts of the world cell phone minutes are as good as cash, in some ways even better, because minutes can be transferred with greater ease.

Nathan Eagle, CEO of Jana

Let us just pause for a minute, and consider this fact. A Boston start-up company has the business model and the technical wherewithal to send money to a significant fraction of the world's population, mostly in the developing world. For 60 years or so, money has flowed, in the form of aid, to the developing world, where it has failed to achieve much, largely because it ended up in the pockets of a few and never helped the population as a whole. Gatekeepers kept it to themselves, and aid organizations had no way of bypassing them.

So how can you have money flow to a large fraction of this planet's population without it being pocketed on the way? And where could this money come from?

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By David Cutler Founder, Creative Business Development

Summary: A Mobile Sales and Marketing plan is inevitable because your prospects are as addicted to their phones as you are.

Here is some inspiration and direction to take advantage of the unique opportunities of making Mobile an extension of your existing programs and a new way to attract more customers and provide ongoing, automated value. Also find a free and easy mobile project you can do today.

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Jed Willard, Public Diplomacy Collaborative, Harvard University and Pierre Dorsaz, swissnex Boston

Nations have long relied on scientific achievement as a powerful tool with which to build prestige. From France’s unveiling of the Eiffel Tower at the 1889 World Expo to the USSR’s launch of Sputnik in 1957, from the German autobahn to the Japanese bullet train, nations have signaled their dynamism to foreign publics with symbols of scientific prowess.

Along with cultural riches, educational and athletic achievements, and strong values, advancements in science are one of the most widely accepted signifiers of “soft power.” In today’s globalized world, smaller yet highly developed nations are turning to “science diplomacy” as a tactic of choice.

The case of Switzerland

Switzerland is currently among the most aggressive nations in leveraging science, education, and “entrepreneurial spirit” as instruments of public diplomacy. And it is not coincidental that the country chose the Boston area to establish the world’s first dedicated science consulate in 2000, known today as “swissnex Boston.”

Since then, Switzerland’s network of Science and Technology outposts has rapidly grown, with swissnex offices added in San Francisco, Singapore, Shanghai, and Bangalore; adding to the traditional science attachés in major Swiss Embassies around the World.

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By Arne Hessenbruch, Boston Denmark Partnerships

The Crown Prince of Denmark was in town on October 20th, giving a keynote speech at the Connect Health Symposium at Park Plaza Hotel. He mentioned that Denmark spends about half of what the US does on health care, while the living standard there is slightly higher than here. He hinted that a part of this was due to excellent IT in the Danish health system, and, by the way, representatives of these companies are at the conference today.

Royalty brings pixie dust. The audience quieted down in expectation of the Prince's arrival, and the room was full. Could as much bang have been gotten from Danish tax payers bucks, had he been an elected official? The Prince and his entourage swooshed in quietly looking sleek and modern, with tailored suits, white shirts and black shoes – rather like a Danish wind turbine. No frills, no ties, no color.

Yesterday, a different Danish delegation was in town. The Danish government is worried about economic growth. Small Danish startup companies fail to grow big. Looking to the US, they notice that only Silicon Valley and Boston produce startup companies that grow. Even the Research Triangle has a poor track record. What are the Valley and Boston doing right?

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By Cheryl Meyerson, Principal, New City Inc

The Innovation District in Boston is new and growing. Mayor Menino has supported its development to add to the world class medical and technology culture already prevalent in the Boston area. The arts, non-profits, green technology, restaurants, residential and start-ups are also calling the waterfront their home.

It is exciting to know that companies in Boston are thriving, retaining talent, tapping into our diverse college and university pool and expanding to budding neighborhoods like the Innovation District.

Lisa Anderson, Senior Director of Strategy Staffing for Vertex Pharmaceuticals and I recently talked about the changes in expansion and relocation the corporate headquarters is going through.

How many new candidates will you be hiring and where are you looking?

We have this past year, hired our first sales force and launched our first drug approved this past May. It’s been an exciting time here at Vertex. We have over 100 openings currently on our website and we have over 1300 employees in MA alone. Boston is a diverse, exciting place to live and work, with lots of different neighborhoods and cultures. With a large number of colleges and universities in a small area, we are able to find local talent with Bachelors and Master degrees on up to PhD and MD degrees. Although we are a scientifically based company we also hire folks with accounting, finance, IS/IT, marketing and market research, legal and HR backgrounds. Over the last 18 months, we have relocated 110 people to Vertex from all around the US and overseas. The majority of these relocating employees (62%) came from NJ, PA, CA, NY and CT.

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By Arne Hessenbruch, Boston Denmark Partnerships

In 2003, Biogen Idec were faced with a difficult decision for their Kendall Square campus in Cambridge – lying between Broadway, Galileo Galilei Way, Binney Street, and the pedestrian walkway in extension of Sixth Street. They needed a reliable supply of steam for their batch production, and their supplier, Cambridge Steam System, was using boilers in excess of 40 years old at the Kendall Plant, is visible from the Red Line crossing the Bridge, next to Broad Canal. What's more, they didn't have the capital to modernize - . Having lost a batch due to unreliable steam supply, and having negotiated unsatisfactorily for 18 months, Biogen Idec decided to look into other avenues, including running their own supply.

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By Chad O'Connor, Adjunct Faculty in Communication Studies at Northeastern University

Since Building A Better Commonwealth most recently has been dealing with the pressing issue of talent retention in Massachusetts, I have found myself asking what more can those of us in academia do to encourage the young engines of the economy to stay here beyond their college years? While those of us in the know can tout the merits of Massachusetts's, and especially Greater Boston's, economic diversity and relative health compared to other parts of the nation, the message does not seem to resonate as we think it should.

My good friend and colleague at Northeastern University's World Class Cities Partnership, Mike Lake, did a great job of highlighting some of this problem in a previous piece for this blog, but I want to focus more squarely on academia's role.

As a communication professional I diagnose the lack of resonance as a failure to bring emotion into the argument; to rely solely on logic in making the case to stay in Massachusetts will not achieve the same success as more emotional tactics can. But how can the universities and colleges help in this case?

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Candice Cabe tells us how she came to make her famous shoes and here come the lads from Pure Pest Management, Brian and Trevor!

Please excuse the tough cuts between 8 and 9. Sometimes the product isn't perfect and, as all entrepreneurs know, you can't let perfect be the enemy of good!

Episode One, Cut 8 from REEL College Ventures on Vimeo.

Episode One, Cut 9 from REEL College Ventures on Vimeo.

Episode One, Cut 10 from REEL College Ventures on Vimeo.

By Mike Lake, World Class Cities Partnership

Massachusetts, with more than one hundred colleges and universities, has the privilege and responsibility of welcoming students from all over the country and the world to our community. As the intellectual hub of America, the Commonwealth excels in attracting incredible talent.

The question remains, though, of how can we integrate students into our community more effectively so that, upon graduation, they are equipped with the network and skills to secure high-quality jobs right here in Massachusetts.

In order for Massachusetts to remain a powerful talent-based economy, it is essential that we be more creative in how we engage our students during their college years. Students now entering college are part of the most socially conscious generation that America has seen in decades. They measure their success by the impact they have in their community now and will ultimately have throughout their careers. Tapping into this widespread social consciousness is the key to bettering our Commonwealth by providing these graduates with job opportunities that acknowledge and cultivate their drive for social impact.

Each of the speakers at the Building a Better Commonwealth: New Rules for Leading Talent forum on September 29th offered solutions as to how those tasked with managing young, capable workers could best leverage the skills they possess.

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Reel College Ventures followed three startups through all of their trials and tribulations and made a show out of it. You've seen the first 4 clips. Now we bring you Candice's story.

Candice Cabe is an innovator in the fashion world. Here she is showing it!

Episode One, Cut 5 from REEL College Ventures on Vimeo.

Episode One, Cut 6 from REEL College Ventures on Vimeo.

Episode One, Cut 7 from REEL College Ventures on Vimeo.

By Yoon J. Lee, Executive Director, Boston World Partnerships

In today’s global economy, businesses in knowledge and innovation sectors must provide more than efficient transportation for people and products. Their infrastructure must also support the flow of transformative ideas. Economies with rich human capital thrive when fostered by a robust and cooperative social framework.

Sociologists call this social capital, or the intrinsic worth of social networks and their potential to bring about action.

Social capital places high value on the collaboration between entities working towards a common goal. It stands for solidarity among like-minded groups and underpins the sense of mutual trust that is critical to any healthy business relationship. The hallmark of effective social capital in business is when the open and equal exchange of ideas yields significant value for companies.

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By David Friedman, President & Founder, Boston Logic

I play on a summer Ultimate Frisbee team. Mostly, it’s made up of Tufts Alumni who played Ultimate as undergrads. Each year, we get some young blood joining the team from the graduating class. This year, I noticed that we had no new recruits. When I asked our team captain why, he told me that the seniors this year had such a hard time finding jobs in Boston, that they either moved wherever they could find work or, mostly, they moved back home to live for free, due to a lack of employment.

Little known secret: There are lots of great jobs in Boston that need filling.

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By Arne Hessenbruch, Boston Denmark Partnerships

Malcolm Brown is a retired classics professor who, as a member of the Municipal Light Board, was instrumental in bringing the first wind turbine to US eastern seaboard: in Hull, Massachusetts. The 0.66MW Vestas turbine was installed in December of 2001, and Brown regularly updates the total number of kWh produced since then on the Hull Wind website.

The most recent number is 15,173,260 kWhs. It is tempting to do a back of the envelope cost-benefit calculation for the 10 year old turbine. Hull is one of 40 Massachusetts towns that have a municipally owned electrical utility, and the yield from the turbine replaces the need to buy electricity from the grid, which in 2005 was 8cents per kWh. In other words, Hull's first wind turbine has saved the town in the order of 15 million times 8 cents: $1.2m.

How does this compare against the cost of the turbine?

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Interview by Manya Chylinski, President, Alley 424 Communications

The field of business-to-business (B2B) marketing has evolved over the past several years to really embrace new media. Customers consume information in so many different ways now that marketing must be much more strategic than it was in the past. For a long time in the B2B space, marketing meant outbound messaging—marketers created toolkits and messages to push out to customers and prospects. That is still part of the process, of course, but the field is much broader today. The impact of marketing on the business is increasingly measurable and marketers are tasked with delivering value every step of the way.

Jamie Watt is Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Exoprise Systems, Inc., a Waltham-based company that helps businesses determine what applications they can migrate to cloud-based alternatives, then helps them manage the process. He has been in the technology and B2B space for over 15 years and recently joined this start-up company. Jamie appreciates both the creative and strategic sides of marketing and can be found on Twitter @jamie_watt. He shares his thoughts with Manya Chylinski about B2B marketing, marketing for a start-up, and the future of the field.

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By Arne Hessenbruch, Partner, Boston Denmark Partnerships

Palle Pedersen is a Danish serial IT entrepreneur who has lived in Boston for 20 years, where he has been part of starting on average one company per year. He has a good sense of what can go right and wrong, and he has seen some of Boston's strengths up close.

Palle has been involved in failures as well as sucesses, which is of course very instructive. Failures have many causes but here is one spectacular cause.

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By Heather Sears, President of Mobile Synergies

An older man, near the end of his life, once shared with me that, if given the chance, the only thing he would have done differently would be to have “had more sex and more bacon.”

Hmmm. His wisdom struck a deep chord. And guess, what? My friends strongly agree.

Let us have a brief moment of silence for all the times we have passed up the “bacon” for various reasons (fat/calories/headache) and realized later that we would have been happier if we had chosen differently.

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