Entrepreneur.com: Exactly what scares the living daylights out of entrepreneurs?  Well, actually, many of the same things that give the Average Joe or Jane the heeby-jeebies. Lindsay Holloway recently brought some experts together for a closer look at the phobias that strike fear into the entrepreneurially inclined. From What Are You Afraid Of? Holloway provides more thoughts from Jim Koch, founder and brewer, The Boston Beer Company, and Colleen Long, founder and creative director of FreudTV:

"Without a doubt, an entrepreneur’s biggest fear is failing--understandably, because 95 percent of all businesses fail within the first five years, Long says. When you’re starting with those kinds of odds, it’s OK to be a little freaked out." But don't let that one fear get you down, there are at least 4 more bugaboos to consider each one more chilling than the last. If you can manage to overcome your fear of clicking onwards, a new-found respect for the moxie it takes to strike out on one's own will be your silent reward.

ZDNet.com: Open-source and innovation are a pair of buzzwords frequently lumped together in hopes of spawning some kind of mashed-up magic by hopeful entrepreneurs with small cash reserves and grand(iose) ideas. The myth of the lone innovator just that: a myth. More often than not it's a team effort that arrives at the truly novel and useful idea. Dana Blankenhorn, business journalist and blogger extraordinaire, offers one way to herd the nerds into a manageable bunch: "Innovation, in a group setting, demands an innovative gatekeeper" and that gatekeeper is the binding force that brings together an otherwise cluster-shaped gaggle of geeks who would hopelessly spawn idea after great idea with not a clue of how to market or monetize their intellectual property. Read more of Blankenhorn's thoughts on focusing talent towards innovation in Gatekeepers of open source innovation.

Irish Times: Clean, green startups/businesses are not only the apple of Americans' eyes but also keep Irish eyes a smiling if a timely article by Elaine Edwards is correct. Here's a snippet of Eco-innovation 'offers opportunity': "New 'eco-innovation' technologies being developed in Ireland and elsewhere offer a major opportunity for the EU economy, the Environmental Protection Agency has said." The EPA's report lauds efforts by EU businesses to capitalize on green practices and products, especially those on the Emerald Isle that are poised to take advantage of a huge pool of Euros looking for clean investments. "Researchers and businesses are developing technologies that will deliver environmental benefits while improving competitiveness. We are confident that progress in this area can position Ireland at the forefront in one of the most rapidly growing international markets." With ~2.3 trillion Euros at stake, Irish companies are ramping up their efforts to put their famous luck to work with hopes of netting a pot o' gold at the end of the eco-innovation rainbow.

The 271 Patent Blog: In other innovation research news, Peter Zura highlights a recent report by Thomson Reuters on Innovation Hotspots. From his topical post, Thomson Reuters Publishes "Innovation Hot Spots", Zura writes:

The study identified three general areas as "hotbeds of inventive activity over the last 5 years: biofuels, telecom and bio-related nanotechnology.

Not surprisingly patenting activity in biofuels has exploded. In 2003, global patents on biofuels numbered only 341, and the patents were predominantly filed by Japanese companies (70% patented by Japanese companies in top 13 patenting companies; 31% of patents were filed in Japan). By 2008, patenting activity had risen by 550% to 1,878 patents. In the latest period (January 2008 to April 2009) the number of biofuel patents was 2,466. China has moved in significantly (31% of patents were filed in China); China shared top position with Japan (three companies) in the Top 10 patenting companies. 

Great news for bio, telecomm and bio-nano startups and those invested in them. The clue train hasn't quite pulled all the way out of the station yet, so be sure to click through and read the rest of Zura's piece on Thomson Reuters revealing report. All aboard!

TechDirt.com: Think computers don't already run things behind the thin, fleshy veneer of the wetware interface? Think again. Mike Masnick's Automated Copyright Settlement Letters Apparently A Lucrative Business unearths the terribly shady practice of sending out automatically generated cease-and-desist letters to people who may not even be infringing based on computer-generated investigations. Sadly, some people are even paying out of the fear of having to hire a lawyer to fight the 100 percent bogus claima. Masnick writes, "ACS:Law, which is one of the organizations that's been involved in a similar settle-or-we'll-sue letter sending campaign has been outed as sending bogus letters to people who had nothing to do with the content they're alleged to have infringed upon. The most amazing thing? The companies involved seem to admit it. In a letter used by multiple firms, they note that 'We do not claim that your computer was used to commit the infringing act (although we do not exclude this possibility), nor do we claim that you downloaded our client's work. Our claim is that your Internet connection was used to make our client's work available via one or more P2P networks. The file may not, therefore, be on your computer.' But they still want you to pay up, of course. It's guilty until proven innocent, because that's a lot more lucrative." Whoops! Not sure if you might be hosting an infringing file? ACS:Law isn't sure either, but that won't stop them from sending you a letter like the ones above in hopes that you'll just pay up just to avoid lawyerly assistance and related fees. Fie on you, ACR:Law and your cabal of larcenous bandits.

Bonus piece o' the day: Tim Berry's Venture Capital: Innovation, or Big Business in Disguise? at The Huffington Post.