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Compared with start-ups, established corporations have many resources and capabilities that ought to give them a head start: customers, products, operations, licenses, distribution, marketing, and capital. But corporations lack one critical capability: the entrepreneurial muscle to take an idea from small to big, from zero to one. The authors describe a new model—the hybrid start-up—which differs from typical internal corporate ventures. It combines the best of people, processes, and resources from both inside and outside the company. They show how many big companies are creating their own hybrid start-ups to unlock the value of their assets and defend their markets while becoming digital leaders. They draw on lessons from more than 190 such ventures launched over the past eight years with the help of BCG Digital Ventures, including those created by companies such as UPS (Ware2Go), Mercedes-Benz (RepairSmith), Volkswagen (Hey- car), First American (Endpoint), AIA (Snackbox), Airbus (UP42), and others. The data provides strong evidence both that the model works and that hybrid start-ups are two or three times as likely to succeed as independent start-ups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The House Science, Space and Technology Committee in the US is expanding its investigation into the relationship between Washington nonprofit Optica and Huawei Technologies. This comes after Bloomberg News revealed the long-standing partnership between Optica and the Chinese telecommunications company. Optica had previously returned funds committed by Huawei and removed the company's representation on the judges' panel. The committee is now requesting all communications between Optica and Huawei. The lawmakers also criticized Optica for deepening its partnership with Huawei despite the sanctions imposed on the company by multiple US agencies. [Extracted from the article]

In an increasingly digital and connected environment, leaders of established companies frequently find themselves facing opportunities that they—or even their industries—cannot seize alone. Instead of relying on start-ups to create innovations and then buying in to them, organizations are taking part in a process that the authors call ecosystem innovation, collaborating to develop and then commercialize new concepts. Cisco Hyperinnovation Living Labs (CHILL) differs from seemingly similar approaches, such as R&D alliances, because it focuses on the fast and agile commercialization of ideas without a complicated intellectual property agreement. It also differs from traditional partnership efforts, because it brings multiple partners together at a very early stage all at once. In this article the authors discuss how large companies can develop their own ecosystem innovation capabilities, using Cisco’s process as an example. They describe the basic principles and the process, identify the most common traps, and explain how leaders can capture valuable opportunities. The process allows companies to bring extremely diverse ideas, skills, and resources together to solve ecosystem-level problems at an astonishing speed. INSET: Learning from R&D Alliances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Huawei, a Chinese telecommunications giant, had a secret partnership with Optica, a prestigious US scientific society, that allowed Huawei to fund cutting-edge studies at US universities without their knowledge. This arrangement enabled Huawei to maintain access to top US scientists despite its pariah status in Washington. The partnership came to light through a whistleblower complaint, prompting a congressional investigation and Optica's decision to return the funds Huawei had committed to the program. The funding arrangement raised concerns about research security and transparency, potentially impacting national security and taxpayer dollars. [Extracted from the article]

The Optica Foundation has announced that it will no longer accept funding from Huawei Technologies Co. for its research competition at US universities. This decision comes after Bloomberg News reported that Huawei was secretly funding the program. The Optica Foundation will also return all the money donated by Huawei for the past three years. The move by Optica comes in response to concerns that Huawei's funding has diverted attention from the program's mission and compromised US research institutions. [Extracted from the article]

The Optica Foundation has decided to sever ties with Huawei Technologies Co. after it was revealed that the Chinese company was secretly funding the foundation's research program. The CEO of the foundation, Elizabeth Rogan, stated that Huawei's funding had diverted attention from the program's original mission. As a result, the foundation will return all the money donated by Huawei for the past three years and will no longer have any connection with the company. [Extracted from the article]

Two senior US lawmakers have criticized the Optica Foundation, a Washington-based organization, for accepting money from Huawei Technologies, a Chinese telecommunications company. The lawmakers argue that this action undermines efforts to protect US research from foreign interference. Bloomberg News previously reported that Huawei secretly funded a research competition through the Optica Foundation. The lawmakers have sent a letter to the CEO of Optica, asking for information about the foundation's funding sources and whether it has accepted money from other entities based in China or other countries of concern. Optica and Huawei have not yet responded to the lawmakers' requests for comment. [Extracted from the article]

Huawei Technologies, the Chinese telecommunications company that has been blacklisted by the US, has been secretly funding research at American universities, including Harvard, through an independent foundation. The research competition, administered by the Optica Foundation, has awarded millions of dollars since 2022 and has attracted proposals from scientists around the world. Huawei's involvement in the funding was not known to applicants and university officials until they were contacted by Bloomberg. The arrangement has raised concerns about national security and the potential for Huawei to influence research projects and acquire intellectual property. [Extracted from the article]

ABSTRACTThe capacity for intracellular survival within phagocytes is likely a critical factor facilitating the dissemination of Staphylococcus aureusin the host. To date, the majority of work on S. aureus-phagocyte interactions has focused on neutrophils and, to a lesser extent, macrophages, yet we understand little about the role played by dendritic cells (DCs) in the direct killing of this bacterium. Using bone marrow-derived DCs (BMDCs), we demonstrate for the first time that DCs can effectively kill S. aureusbut that certain strains of S. aureushave the capacity to evade DC (and macrophage) killing by manipulation of autophagic pathways. Strains with high levels of Agr activity were capable of causing autophagosome accumulation, were not killed by BMDCs, and subsequently escaped from the phagocyte, exerting significant cytotoxic effects. Conversely, strains that exhibited low levels of Agr activity failed to accumulate autophagosomes and were killed by BMDCs. Inhibition of the autophagic pathway by treatment with 3-methyladenine restored the bactericidal effects of BMDCs. Using an in vivomodel of systemic infection, we demonstrated that the ability of S. aureusstrains to evade phagocytic cell killing and to survive temporarily within phagocytes correlated with persistence in the periphery and that this effect is critically Agr dependent. Taken together, our data suggest that strains of S. aureusexhibiting high levels of Agr activity are capable of blocking autophagic flux, leading to the accumulation of autophagosomes. Within these autophagosomes, the bacteria are protected from phagocytic killing, thus providing an intracellular survival niche within professional phagocytes, which ultimately facilitates dissemination.

The article discusses Stephen Hung. He is a wealthy, flamboyant business mogul based in Hong Kong, China who made his money from investment banking and real estate. Hung plans to build a luxury casino resort in Macau, China that will cater to affluent consumers and include a hotel, boutiques where shopping will require an invitation, and a casino whose gambling tables will have a minimum bet size of about $650.