For an emerging generation of Japanese innovators, the dream isn’t a job for life at a big company. They have new ambitions, and they’re determined to go places. Especially Silicon Valley. Small but growing numbers of Japanese entrepreneurs are jumping into the startup scene in northern California, particularly since the earthquake and tsunami last March.

California entrepreneur Mark Comiso has started nine businesses in Silicon Valley, but he's coming to St. Louis to get his tenth off the ground. Two of his co-founders live here and, just as importantly, Comiso has found a supportive environment here. In fact, he says, his venture -- Click With Me Now -- might be just an idea if not for Capital Innovators, an accelerator fund in downtown St. Louis.

Environmentalists are torn over the high cost of breaking reliance on fossil fuels. Public comment has been sought, but insiders are calling the shots

A corporate tax break for buyers of computers, engines and other equipment is proving surprisingly popular, depriving the federal government of tens of billions of dollars in expected revenue and increasing the amount it will need to borrow this year. But there may be a silver lining. The tax break aims to stimulate investment, and it seems to be working.

A judge has rejected efforts by lawmakers to help balance the budget by forcing more than 200,000 state, university and school employees to pay larger pension contributions. Last year, lawmakers unilaterally altered the system to have workers contribute 53 percent of the cost, reducing the state's burden to 47 percent in an effort to save the state more than $41 million this year.

As Facebook’s IPO approaches, one venture capital firm—Accel Partners—is poised to land what’s likely the biggest payoff in history. Gary Rivlin on their record-setting bonanza.

One is a local crafter who specializes in hand made baby clothes. Another is a state department employee by day and talent agent on the side. A third is the director of a local non-profit All are part of an emerging collective of entrepreneurs that meets monthly for a session known as Side Hustle Saturdays. It's a chance for entrepreneurs to network and share ideas with other who are hustling to make it.

Gov. Sam Brownback roared up to the Statehouse last week on his Big Dog motorcycle. It was a grand entrance for the Republican governor attempting to make a grand impact on Kansas. With just a year under his belt, Brownback has proposed a 2012 legislative agenda that’s already been labeled the nation’s most ambitious for any state.

Something sounded familiar last week when I heard U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan and FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski make a huge pitch for infusing digital technology into America's classrooms. Where had I heard that before? So I did a bit of research, and found it. The quote: "Books will soon be obsolete in the schools.... Our school system will be completely changed in 10 years." The year was 1913

Before the Stamford Innovation Center even opens, it has already lured one entrepreneur from out of state whose fledgling business might soon contribute to Connecticut's economy. As the center prepares to open in a few weeks, Gov.Dannel P. Malloyon Thursday joined Stamford's mayor, a Sikorsky executive, and the innovation center's staff to celebrate its launch.

Now that Facebook is fast on its way to becoming a public company, and its financials have been laid bare, there’s just one question that remains unanswered: What is Facebook actually worth?

Not everyone on Wall Street is giddy over Facebook’s initial public offering of stock. A group of private exchanges has popped up in recent years to accommodate a fast-growing trading market in the private shares of the Internet companies like Twitter and LinkedIn. Facebook has driven much of this growth, emerging as the most actively traded private company by a wide margin.

The financial system may not be in great shape, but why dwell on it? Stocks are rising and I.P.O. euphoria is in the air. “It’s like we’re finally emerging from nuclear winter for I.P.O.’s but we’ve forgotten our history,” said Harold Bradley, chief investment officer for the Kauffman Foundation and a former executive with the American Century mutual funds.

We met an entrepreneur named Svea Meyer at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Svea was a coffee-shop owner who is passionate about making coffee. On the back of her business card, she wrote: "Good coffee is not a coincidence. It has to be brewed with passion and mindfulness. No one involved in the coffee business should ever do less than that. Would you do less if you love something?"

The director of the Missouri Department of Economic Development,Jason Hall, has resigned after failing to win confirmation from the state Senate.

You may have a better chance of losing your job working for a big company. Maybe the most important point about entrepreneurship is that people who start or join new companies tend to actually like what they are doing.

Every venture capital firm comes at startup seed investing in its own way (if it does seed at all). Last night in Cambridge, four VC firms opened up about their different seed approaches.

The flow of venture capital into the K-12 education market has exploded over the past year, reaching its highest transaction values in a decade in 2011, industry observers say.