Named Best New Start-up by TechCrunch last month, Pinterest went from cult hit to household name with 10 million users seemingly overnight. Thanks to this great Mashable article and Lemon.ly infographic I now also know that 97% of Pinterest’s Facebook fans are women. Is there another social networking site with such a strong female user base? Also worth noting, Pinterest has just 16 employees – compared to YouTube’s 700+ by some recent estimates and LinkedIn’s 1,700.

But what does this mean for the clients and industries we serve? The Wall Street Journal has a board as does Shape and Real Simple – how many media outlets will follow and when? Naturally consumer leaning brands like the GAP and Whole Foods and categories like weddings and home decorating are benefiting but will tech follow?

And will the site’s “flat” and non-linear design, which leverages the jQuery Masonry layout plugin launched by designer David DeSandro, influence website design as this Mashable article suggests?

It will be interesting to see how Pinterest evolves over the next several weeks and months and what impact it will have on the tech communities we serve. In the meantime, we’ll be watching – and pinning – with interest.

The conversation ranged from who and why are people having their genome profiles developed; what they are – or could be – doing with the information; how the medical community can and should have open access to genetic information in treating diseases such as cancer; where the field of genomics is headed; and the consideration of privacy and ethical issues.

There were more questions at the end than could be answered in the time allowed so everyone adjourned to the Stata Center R&D Pub to continue the conversation and make new connections.

The event was videotaped and should be available on the MITEF site next week.

CHEN PR and Scratch Marketing continue to be very involved in the MITEF to help drive interest and corporate involvement.

Have been remiss in banging out this post.

The combo of being in mourning from the Pats Superbowl loss and a crazy schedule tempts me to punt on it – but the Greater Good and giving props where props are due overrules…

The tech-focused financial community and related ecosystem have thrown a couple of great bashes recently.  Both events got folks out and about after the January doldrums.

They also reminded us that mixing business with pleasure – especially when that involves raising visibility and money for some incredibly innovative and important non-profits – is always a great idea.

And when I get to catch them with fellow CHENer Kev Kosh, it’s even better.

First up, on January 19, was the Sixth Annual New England Venture Charity Wine Party at Cyclorama to benefit TUGG.  The acronym stands for Technology Underwriting Great Good.  To borrow from the web site, since they say it better than I could: “TUGG is dedicated to catalyzing and spreading social entrepreneurship in New England. By harnessing the power of the region’s technology ecosystem to source, screen and fund social innovation, TUGG helps young people to realize their full potential through entrepreneurship, education and life experiences. TUGG empowers both the individual and the community to identify important issues and collaborate to solve them.”

So more than 300 of us subjected ourselves to the grueling task of sipping some great wines, cruising a range of silent auction items (heavily weighted to wines, as you’d expect) and catching up with investors, entrepreneurs, reporters, PR folks, search firms, legal firms and other friends and acquaintances.

Importantly, we tablehopped around the Cyclorama to learn more about multiple volunteer organizations (couldn’t put my fingers on the list of those groups and didn’t see listed on the TUGG Wine Soiree Event Invite) ranging from one that capitalizes on tech to provide music lessons to kids who otherwise wouldn’t get that access to another  group called Every Picture Tells a Story, or EPHAS.

Founded by G. Ryan Ansin, he started EPHAS in 2010 following seven years traveling the globe making promotional videos for non-profits. His idea was both powerful and simple (the best ones always are!):  teach locals around the globe to take photos for and of themselves and their images will rival – if not surpass – whatever professionals from the ‘outside looking in’ would capture.

Next, load those images up to a site where they can be purchased.

Then, put the money back into the program to teach more people how to participate – enabling them to enjoy the financial and skills benefits that come along with it.

Kev and I were so impressed with Ryan and EPHAS – not to mention his unbridled passion for the mission and ability to go ridiculously long stretches without sleeping – that we made plans to continue our discussions with him after the TUGG event.

That leads us to the second event, Dan Primack/Fortune The Term Sheet’s Liquidity party (my vote for first prize for cleverly-named events!)

Since we were meeting up with Ryan that eve anyhow, we invited him to join us there.  Kev and I figured not only could we learn more about his group and answer some of his questions about how best to strategize and implement certain media relations activities…Ryan would also have the chance to talk to 500 new friends about EPHAS and how they might be able to get involved. It proved a success on all fronts, with our friend, Kyle Alspach/Boston Business Journal including a much-appreciated mention of Ryan and EPHAS in the most recent edition: Nine Companies I Talked to This Week.

The Liquidity party was a big hit last year. There seemed to be twice the crowd at Ned Devine’s this time ‘round. Somewhere in the ballpark of 500 folks – from the same circles as those attending the TUGG bash and many of the exact same folks catching both – spent a few hours sipping, schmoozing and sending more than $5000 to the  Greater Boston Food Bank.  You can check out pics from the night here.

Harvesting genetic information has gone from being very expensive down to about $1,000. With enormous amounts of genome data available, new therapies are developing to apply drugs that show promise based on the patient’s genetic makeup. Cancer, ALS, Parkinsons and other life-threatening diseases are being targeted.

The speakers we have brought together are world renowned, including Dr. George Clark, Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical and founder of The Personal Genome Project; Colin Hill, President and CEO of GNS Healthcare; Jamie Heywood, co-founder and Chairman of PatientsLikeMe; Dr. Michael Pellini, President and CEO, Foundation Medicine; and the moderator is Dr. Kevin Davies, Editor-in-Chief of Bio-IT World and author of “The $1,000 Genome.”

Topics to be discussed will be as far ranging as new methods to access and interpret personal genome data, the impact of genome data in a clinical setting, and the benefits and risks of de-privatizing personal genome and health data in the Facebook era.

We hope you will join us! Just click here to register http://www.mitforumcambridge.org/events/innovation-series-event-the-future-of-the-personal-genome/#register

Among the many thoughtful responses, President and CEO of Sakti3, Ann Marie Sastry says, “The notion that there is a gold standard—a favored text or tome, a single subject-matter expert, or a single corporation with the single best practice, in any discipline—is really outdated,” while CEO of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, John Maraganore’s disagrees. His response begins with the simple answer, “Biology 101 and beyond.”

To me, this varied outlook on the education system—what should be taught, what must be learned, how students will be best served, and then go on to serve the world—is key to keeping our global economy thriving. Not every student can or should focus on Biology, or become an excellent computer programmer, or have a knack for analyzing complicated data. But, at the same time, not every student can have a solely liberal arts background. Learning how to learn is extremely helpful, and learning how to grow cells is extremely helpful as well. Perhaps what is most helpful to the progress of a nation, and the world, is when many individuals with individual skills come together and create a work force.

How would you have answered the question? Which responses did you find most poignant?

Xconomy will host a Tweetchat at 2:00 p.m. ET today to continue the conversation with report contributor John Seely Brown (@jseelybrown). JSB is the tech visionary behind Xerox PARC, the legendary computer research lab where much of modern personal computing was conceived and/or brought to life. Join the conversation at @bbuderi and @xconomy, hashtag is #XCed.

Post by CHEN PR’s Jen Krupski

And she’s participating in the Automotive News World Congress, joining a Who’s Who industry list of speakers from GM, Toyota, Renault-Nissan, Mazda, Ford, BorgWarner, Chrysler, Hyundai, Nexteer and others. Her panel – China: What’s the status of the China automotive industry and where are the opportunities for growth? – will address arguably one of the most important topics on the minds of the industry in the US and around the world.

With 2011 marking the first time in GM’s 102 year history that it sold more vehicles in China than in the US as just one of proof points too numerous to list here, all eyes remain steadfastly fixed on that market.

Christina has abundant real-world insights to share. Among the most heavily funded developers of next-generation lithium-ion batteries for EVs and PHEVs, Boston-Power in September announced $125 million in funding to substantially expand its focus and operations in China. The funding comprised private equity capital in a round led by fast-growing Beijing-based VC firm GSR Ventures and government support from China. The company added more funding just before the holidays – all going toward building one of the world’s most advanced battery manufacturing operations in the Shanghai Corridor and paired with a R&D center in Beijing.

These recent events are hardly Boston-Power’s first forays into China. Christina prototyped the early versions of her battery cells there – funding it out of her own pocket and trading her technical and manufacturing skills in return for access to a production line. Watch for Boston-Power to announce Chinese car companies as customers in the coming year…

And just have to close this post by saying how excited I am to hear that Dodge is resurrecting the Dodge Dart brand. Based on an Alfa Romeo frame and suspension system, the only thing it shares with the former model is the name. But it brings back great memories of the one I was tooling around in when living in Washington, DC in the late 80s. I’d bought it from a retired couple and it served proudly as the 1987 ‘junker car of the year’ for my friends and me until meeting its untimely demise at the hands of a broken torsion bar suffered while on the way to my Sunday morning soccer game with what proved to be too many teammates in tow! Mine was just as banana yellow as this one – but not nearly in as good shape. It was, however, indestructible until the unfortunate aforementioned death knell. Let’s hope the same holds true for the ‘rebirthed’ one when it comes to market next year!

That’s the message of Room to Read, a charity founded by John Wood, a former marketing director for Microsoft, more than a decade ago. With modest funds and 45 chapters around the world, Room to Read is making an enormous impact. To date they have helped six million children gain access to books, education and mentorship. They have built more than 12,000 libraries, opened 1,450 schools, published nearly 600 books in native languages and just recently handed out their 10 millionth book.

Girls who would be illiterate today are preparing for university to fulfill once unthinkable dreams of becoming teachers, doctors and lawyers. They will read to their children and break the cycle of illiteracy.

Thanks to our Partner Emeritus Barb Heffner, who now leads the group’s Boston Chapter, many of us at CHEN had the opportunity to support one of its fall events, held at Microsoft’s New England R&D Center earlier this week. It was inspiring and moving and thought-provoking. Our hats are off to the organization and its many volunteers.

To learn more, we encourage you to read Nick Kristof’s recent columns for the New York Times, including this one about an extraordinary young girl named Dao Ngoc Phung. You might just get the Room to Read bug and join us at an event sometime soon. We’d love that.

That’s especially true if you enjoy chilling with current and former college, Olympic and professional athletes – along with the Beantown Jumpers, some of the best Double Dutch jump-ropers in country if not the planet, and a group that knows first-hand what it’s like to benefit from support from Dream Big!

And there was plenty of fundraising commerce conducted via a treasure trove of silent and live auction items that ranged from autographed sports jerseys, equipment and photographs to week-long Cape vacations, African safaris and swanky hotel stays.

Dream Big! has three primary goals:

1. Ensure that all girls, regardless of socio-economic background, have the equipment, uniforms, program fees, training expenses and supplies that they need to participate in physical activities that contribute to their overall health, fitness, and well-being.

2. Combat the risk of obesity-related medical issues by promoting healthy, active lifestyles for young girls and teens.

3. Create opportunities for girls to develop social connections with peers and mentors; maintain healthy, active lives; assume leadership roles; and grow physically, emotionally, and socially through sports and physical activities.

So far the program has helped more than 1,000 girls…a pretty impressive accomplishment for such a young group.  And one that wouldn’t be possible without a lot of assistance from a lot of individuals and organizations.

Saturday evening’s festivities surely didn’t overshadow the incredibly important mission Dream Big! was founded upon.  Rather, it welcomed even more folks into the fold. Those included our newest board member Dr. Megan Leo, a resident at Boston Medical Center who spent time on the soccer pitch at the University of Virginia and elsewhere with our board chairman Angela Hucles, who I’ll introduce you to in a moment…Megan, please don’t smack me for linking to your college sports bio!

CHEN PR has had the honor of being closely involved with Dream Big! since its founding in 2010 based on our long-standing friendship with the organization’s founder and powerhouse Linda Driscoll.  We got to know Linda when we worked with her on behalf of the Red Cross. When she saw the opportunity to pursue her own life-long big dream of founding Dream Big!, we wanted in immediately. So did many other friends…including IDG Enterprise Chief Content Officer John Gallant, VP of Grants and Foundations Matt Henschel and Wellesley College Director of Physical Education, Recreation & Athletics Bridget Belgiovine.

And then, shortly thereafter,  Linda did an amazing recruiting job of inviting two-time soccer  Olympian Gold Medal winner Angela Hucles out for what Angela thought was just a cup of coffee to discuss what she might be able to donate to the group – and wound up being a sales pitch to have Angela lead the board. We’re all thankful that both the coffee and the sales pitch to Angela went as planned!

In addition to Saturday eve’s bash, another Dream Big! highlight of 2011 was our First Annual Dream Big! Leadership Conference in June. Presented by Dream Big! at Northeastern University’s Curry Student Center in partnership with NU’s Sport in Society program, more than 150 girls, coaches and teachers from a dozen Boston public schools and the Beyond Soccer Program in Lawrence heard true-life accounts from former Olympic, professional and collegiate female athletes about how their involvement in sports and physical activities – and the mentors and friends they found through those efforts – laid the foundation for phenomenal success later in life.

Dream Big! makes donations of new sports equipment and related throughout the year. These range from a single pair of basketball sneakers to uniforms and balls for whole teams. Both ends of that spectrum have the same result, though – bringing tremendous change to the lives of girls who when given some help, show us the great things they have to offer themselves, their families and their communities.

And it’s proving the gift that keeps giving, because so many of these girls participate in helping others as they have been helped.

So Dream Big! with us…or with whatever other program you feel passionate about.  The world’s certainly a better place when we help one another out along the way…

As it is often wont to do, the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge presented yet another interesting and informative discussion last night, graciously hosted in the offices of the British Consulate.

Driving Green Growth Through Strategic Partnerships, gathered an impressive panel that represented a diverse set of perspectives from both sides of the equation, but an enthusiastically unified view of the huge opportunity for green startups.

Panelists included:

• Terry Swack, Founder and CEO of Sustainable Minds
• John McCarthy, CEO, Qteros
• Domenic Armano, Director of Strategy and Innovation, Johnson Controls
• Heather Takle, Director, M&A and Corporate Development, Ameresco

With the panel moderator, Bic Stevens of Stevens Capital Advisors, providing stark data on the dearth of venture capital investment in green startups versus other technology categories, the discussion centered around the critical role of strategic partnerships. Strategics have the ability to not only provide capital, but infrastructure and expertise that can be found nowhere else.

The discussion ranged from the merits of alliances, to the partner evaluation process, to the key factors for mutual value as a result of partnership. The panelists underscored the benefits of partner scale and credibility, and the ability to actually build a market.

Reflecting the significant presence of entrepreneurs in audience, the Q&A portion seemed to dwell on fears of large partners draining value and ideas from startups. Speaking from a wealth of experience, the panelists gave their perspectives on how to structure a partnership for a win-win, including:

• Clear definition and understanding of the strategic needs of both sides
• Finding an enabling an internal advocate
• Creative structuring of investment terms to equalize risk
• Conviction in driving the right deal, even if it takes time and multiple potential partners

To the last point, an audience member’s question about the dangers of a potential strategic partner resolving to “do it themselves,” provided some humor via one the best panelist quips of the night:

“Elephants aren’t good entrepreneurs. They may try, but they are likely to fall short.”

• Andy Ory, Acme Packet as CEO of the Year, Publicly Traded Company (leader in providing session delivery networks to global enterprises and service providers – grew revenues 63% in 2010)
• Chris Randles, SpaceClaim as CEO of the Year, Privately Held Company (leader in direct modeling software that enables all engineers to work in 3D – tripled sales in 2010)
• Digital Lumens, product of the year (LED-based intelligent lighting system for industrial facilities that reduces energy costs and usage by 90%)
• SpaceClaim, product of the year (3D direct modeling software that shortens time-to-market, creates stronger innovation, and improves customer satisfaction)

The well attended evening afforded the opportunity to catch up colleagues and meet new contacts. We’ll be rooting for all of the CHEN PR client finalists at the Awards Gala on October 6.