Lower start-up costs and less strict worker protection make it easier for innovative entrepreneurs in America to experiment on a small scale (hence the smaller size of new firms), to test the markets and to expand.

ECONOMIST: Economics focus

In their quest to make small-scale satellites ever more accessible and capable, the company has invested its own time and money in an experiment combining engineering know-how with lateral thinking and an entrepreneurial wiliness to take a chance.

BBC: For economic inspiration, look to space

Before the experiment in the hanger could begin, researchers calculated the pressures the house would experience in a small-scale study conducted at the University's Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Laboratory -- which has over 40 years of expertise testing high-rise buildings and bridges.

CNN: Engineering a hurricane-proof roof