Exploring Big Data Science and the Internet of Things

Data science is bringing together fields such as statistics, machine learning, analytics and visualisation to provide a rigorous foundation for this field. And it is doing this in the same way that computer science emerged in the 1950s to underpin computing.

via World Economic Forum

How Science and Tech-based Companies Fuel Job Growth

Young firms play a crucial role in job creation. Improving product, labor and capital markets and bankruptcy laws would help them foster employment growth and support the economic recovery, according to a new OECD report.

The Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard 2013 says that young firms (5 years old or less) accounted for only about 20% of non-financial business sector employment over the past decade, but generated nearly half of all new jobs.

via OECD

How Narrative Cuts Through Distraction Like Nothing Else

In the first of a three-part series, author Jonathan Gottschall discusses the science of storytelling — not just escapism, stories have real power to hold human attention and shape our thinking.

How do we override the natural tendency for a mind to skip away from whatever we are showing it? By telling stories.

via Co.Create

If Broadband has a Sputnik Moment, What Will it Look Like?

In these days when the United States and Europe rank lower than Scandinavia and South Korea on broadband penetration, I wonder whether broadband needs a similar awakening – an event that would trigger a second maniacal drive to connect citizens.

What do you think – is the broadband world too fragmented, or do you anticipate a Sputnik moment?

via Connected Life Exchange

Discover the Best American Cities for High-Tech Jobs

One in every five jobs in the U.S. required a high level of knowledge in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) as of 2011. Since the industrial revolution, the share of these kinds of jobs in the U.S. workforce has roughly doubled.

The Brookings Institution recently released “The Hidden STEM Economy,” a report that reviews the concentration of jobs that require technical knowledge.

via MarketWatch

How New Fiber Networks Could Operate at Optimal Speeds

Researchers at the University of Southampton in England have produced optical fibers that can transfer data at 99.7% of the universe’s speed limit: The speed of light.

The researchers have used these new optical fibers to transfer data at 73.7 terabits per second — roughly 10 terabytes per second.

That’s at speeds 1,000 times faster than today’s state-of-the-art 40-gigabit fiber optic links, and at much lower latency.

via ExtremeTech

Plans for Entrepreneur Haven in Downtown Brooklyn

“Over the next five years, 370 Jay Street will be transformed into a cutting-edge center for research and science that will give another huge boost to our city’s economy,” said Mayor Bloomberg.

“Our Administration has long seen the promise of Downtown Brooklyn, and we’ve made the investments needed to transform it into a thriving center for business. With the addition of this new campus, Brooklyn will be one of the most dynamic environments for entrepreneurs anywhere in the country.”

“For many years, 370 Jay Street served as the headquarters of the NYC Transit Authority,” said MTA Chairman Lhota.

via NYCEDC

Transmedia: Blending Art and Science at USC Annenberg

Scientists and artists often don’t talk to each other very much. Both solitary disciplines, with long periods of time spent in a lab or in a studio, don’t necessarily lend themselves to collaboration.

In contrast, at the USC Annenberg Innovation Lab they have built an intersection of these two pillars.

The Lab focuses on transmedia storytelling, collective intelligence, and participatory culture.

via Forbes