Each year, around this time, we take a look at the most promising ‘on trend’ innovations, as spotted by our sister company Springwise. No surprise, that with the entire world now battling it out in the consumer arena, the amount of talent, of creativity, of innovations, is staggering. Welcome to INNOVATION INSANITY ; -)

We all agree that innovation is the only way to survive in an ever more global, competitive business arena. We’re talking basically anything that will get consumers spending, and preferably the kind of spending that involves sustainable goods, services and experiences.

And since everyone from Seth Godin to the Harvard Business Review is providing you with excellent, inspiring insights and theory on innovation as a mindset, a process, a way of life, we'd like to contribute to the conversation with examples of actual B2C innovations. Tons of 'em.

As we see it:

INNOVATION INSANITY | There will never be a shortage of smart new ventures, brands, goods and services that deliver on consumers’ wants and needs. In fact, with the entire world now engaged in creative destruction, INNOVATION INSANITY is upon us. So yes, the dozens of innovations we’ve rounded up for this briefing, courtesy of our sister-site Springwise, are just the tip of the iceberg. Invent, improve, copy… or perish.

The link between INNOVATION INSANITY and consumer trends? As focused as we are on emerging consumer trends, we never tire of pointing out that trends are only good for one thing: inspiring you to innovate, to come up with new goods, services and experiences for (or even better, with) your customers.

Innovation: not just labs, not always earnest, not necessarily expensive

Three more thoughts on innovation:

• Innovation is not necessarily about people in white coats puttering about in R&D labs. In our current experience economy, marketing innovation is equally important, and often trumps technical innovation.
• Furthermore, as consumers’ wants are sometimes frivolous, new products and services can be, too. Really, innovation doesn’t have to be so earnest all the time.
• Thirdly, doing or starting something new doesn't have to cost the world. Many of the innovations featured in this briefing thrive on nimbleness and creativity, not huge budgets.

Wesabe is closing its doors. In an announcement on its site today, Marc Hedlund, the company's CEO said the personal finance site can't take care of its obligations to assistance and security.

Almost two years ago, we wrote a survey of the 10 leading personal finance sites. In the intervening months, three have shut down, one has been folded into another and a fifth, Mint, has been acquired. That's quite a grisly faceplant for a sector in which we could find 10 companies to profile.

Visually document your evolving business hypotheses

Visual worksheet canvas for early stage startups

• Document and update your hypotheses
• Stay focused on key risks
• Communicate your business model

Every start-up entrepreneur has an overwhelming amount to get done — the "to dos" are constantly outrunning the "dones." It is easy to get caught up in the day-to-day and endless hours, and you often forget that running really hard does not necessarily equate with running in the right direction. To paraphrase one of my partners, the good news is that you're making good time, and the bad news is that you're lost.

To stay focused, early stage CEOs need to remember that there are just three important things that need to get done in a business — 1) planning, 2) selling, and 3) executing — and that these tasks require three different mindsets. Some entrepreneurs can excel in all three roles, but the best ones are aware of their strengths and weaknesses and build their teams accordingly.

The Yodlee-powered PFM concentrates on financial fitness with built-in coaching and a dashboard of ten financial-fitness measures, such as overall savings and credit limit utilization (see inset below).

Targeted to the younger, 18-to 35-year- old segment, the site includes social features and awards points based on taking positive financial steps and exhibiting fiscal responsibility. In the future, award points will be redeemable for various financial offers and merchandise discounts. A virtual game-like environment is also on the planning board.

It has been a wonderful and inspiring journey to bring MITER to life.  What started as an idea has developed into a vibrant team of outstanding MIT students and alumni.  For us, the journey has been well worth the obstacles, but we cannot stop here!  We must harness this momentum to push the boundaries of current accepted wisdom and challenge basic assumptions about entrepreneurship, science, and technology.

The MITER team is composed of students from all across MIT:

• School of Engineering
• Biomedical Enterprise Program
• Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology Division
• Leaders for Global Operations Program
• Department of Physics
• Department of Political Science
• Sloan School of Management
• Technology and Policy Program