Sensitive information about President Obama’s helicopter (Marine 1) was found on a hard drive in Tehran. Evidently, someone at “a defense contractor in Bethesda, Maryland” installed a file sharing program that comprised their hard drive.

Oh, the games we play. Some poor smuck wanted a Britney Spears song and ends up getting himself fired, maybe bringing his company down and possibly endangered the President.

Before we rush to judgement, a few more details would be nice.  For instance, what company was breached and what else was on that hard drive?  And how about the owner of the hard drive in Tehran? Did it belong to Khameni or some sixteen year old kid in that Internet savvy country?

Answers to those questions will help us decide on the level of this like particular breach, but it reminds us all how easily - and seriously - our systems can be corrupted.

There’s a lot of talk about how entrepreneurs can save the day.

Who will get us out of this economic mess? Entrepreneurs.

Who is going to lead us towards clean energy? Entrepreneurs.

Who is going to save the New York Times from Rupert Murdoch? Entrepreneurs?

There is an enormous amount of truth to this idea, but its a bit incomplete. Sramana Mitra recently posted an article for Forbes as part of a running series that is exploring a variety of topics related to the economy and entrepreneurs. One article in particular, Barriers to Innovation, reminded me something that I think a lot of people need to bear in mind: We cannot rely on entrepreneurs alone. We need to value the solid research and technical skills that come from academia, science and engineering. Its when they intersect that real value is generated. Read the rest of this entry »