Where's the Beef

BeefCAMPus: 2008 Calendar fully subscribed

BeefCAMPus: real CASES, real ACTION, real LEARNING
Combines professional learning with real-life practice and consulting.
Three-step learning process: careful screening and preparation of participants; 3 days of workshop in Mallorca -AND IN OTHER, EASY-TO-REACH, NICE PLACES (SUGGEST ONE); follow-up.

IN 2007, WE TRAINED MORE THAN 200 PARTICIPANTS TO BECOME "questioneers". NEW 2008: on this site, we have started to build a series of FUTURE NOW articles, mainly RSS feeds from other sources, which have been carefully selected for the Beef Thinker.

This is a special offer for researchers technology transfer and innovation professionals from companies, universities and contract research organisations.

Jacob and Max have packed all their many years of experience into a compact format.

BeefCAMPus, 3 days of building your own clear-cut action plans about how to commercialise a portfolio of concrete cases. How to build the business case of your own Technology Opportunities, and, as usual, a lot of learning.

Beef CAMPus will be offered on the island of Mallorca, which, apart from its natural beauty and friendliness, is easy and cheap to reach from almost anywhere in Europe. Together with local partners we offer the best training facilities.

Beef CAMPus will be for 8-16 participants at a time. Led by Jacob Bar ("questioneer") and Ernst Max Nielsen ("Where's the Beef").

Objectives
The objective of the Beef CAMPus is to develop skills in regard to commercialising inventions and innovative business ideas. Secondly, to enhance the business case for presented inventions/ideas brought by the participants. Thirdly, to actually assist in the commercialisation business process, i.e. to achieve real results.

Participants will learn to make the proper decisions and to evaluate business plans and feedback from real action in regard to real life cases.

These objectives will be reached through lectures, exercises, case-based training and consulting as well as group-based presentations and discussions.

Benefits
The participants will learn to make better, faster decisions, and to prioritize a given portfolio of technology opportunities with a view to determining the cases offering most business potential. Another benefit will be learning how to prepare and conduct negotiations with potential stakeholders for a given case. Participants will learn to use and implement results of advanced searches using state-of-the-art engines. Participants will learn how to use multi-criteria decision making support tools to rank and weight a portfolio.

Participants are surveyed for pre-existing skills and needs and wishes.
Participants' cases are screened before workshop.
Participants get follow-up mentoring online and by phone in regard to own cases (all included). Subject to limitations.
Participants get a free 30-day trial period (access) to JBEngine and discounts on follow-on subscriptions.

Test of maturity for stem cells

Test of maturity for stem cells: " Home Databases News Resources Nanowerk Nanotechnology Introduction Career Center   Printer-friendly E-mail this article Daily News Email Digest Get News Widget News > Nanowerk Research and General News > Posted: May 7, 2008 Test of maturity for stem cells (Nanowerk News) Stem cells can differentiate into 220 different types of body cell. The development of these cells can now be systematically observed and investigated with the aid of two new machines that imitate the conditions in the human body with unprecedented accuracy. Stem cells are extremely versatile: They can develop in 220 different ways, transforming themselves into a correspondingly diverse range of specialized body cells. Biologists and medical scientists plan to make use of this differentiation ability to selectively harvest cardiac, skin or nerve cells for the treatment of different diseases. However, the stem cell culture techniques practiced today are not very efficient. What proportion of a mass of s"

(Via .)

Technology Review: Focusing on Solar's Cost

Technology Review: Focusing on Solar's Cost: " Log in to My.TechnologyReview.com | Register HOMEINFOTECHBIOTECHNANOTECHENERGYBIZTECHBLOGSVIDEOSMAGAZINENEWSLETTERSEVENTS [1] 2 Next » Wednesday, May 07, 2008 Focusing on Solar's Cost Sunrgi claims that its concentrated photovoltaic system outshines the competition. By Tyler Hamilton Audio » Share » Favorite Print E-mail Focus, focus: Sunrgi’s concentrated photovoltaic module consists of lenses that focus sunlight on a high-efficiency solar cell, and a special heat sink designed to dissipate the extreme heat produced by such an intense concentration of the sun’s rays. Credit: Sunrgi A Hollywood-based solar startup says that it will soon be able to produce electricity from the sun at costs that are competitive with fossil-fuel generation. The key is the company's dramatic improvement in the performance of concentrated photovoltaic technology. Sunrgi, which emerged out of stealth mode last week, has created a concentrated photovoltaic system that uses a lens to focus s"

(Via .)

Why Bad Things Happen to Good Technologies

Why Bad Things Happen to Good Technologies: "John Sterman

John Sterman pokes holes through some popular proposals for addressing climate change, with sobering case studies that demonstrate why “technological solutions are not enough to address the problem of creating a sustainable world.”

We are staking too much hope for a climate change fix on “the better mousetrap theory of innovation,” says Sterman. It goes like this: New technology from places like MIT will drive down the cost of renewable energy, increase demand for carbon-free renewables and displace fossil fuels. New energy markets emerge, after a regulatory nudge or two from the government, or some incentives and emissions fees.

To demonstrate how completely wrong this theory is, Sterman first discusses great products never adopted by consumers, such as the Sony Betamax video recorder. More to the point, he notes current opportunities that would significantly reduce our carbon footprint yet have been ignored by society at large, such as improving fuel efficiency, and insulating buildings. Our rejection of these opportunities suggests we can’t comprehend “the complexity of systems in which we are embedded and into which we deploy technologies,” particularly the concept of feedback.

Sterman runs through a ‘thought experiment’ involving the introduction of a hydrogen-based, zero tailpipe emission alternative fuel vehicle (AFV) into California – a conceivable leap toward creating an ecologically and economically sustainable transportation system. The government kick-starts the AFV market, rolling out fuel stations in urban centers, and essentially subsidizing the transition for a decade. You’d expect this AFV eventually to command at least 50% of the market share. But when Sterman runs his simulations, the AFV stagnates at around 25%.

It turns out that if fuel stations are not distributed through even the remotest parts of the state, people worry about where they’ll find fuel, leading to weak demand for AFVs. This is “only one of the many reinforcing feedbacks which create strong barriers to the entry of technologies which are as good or better than incumbent technologies,” says Sterman. Even an AFV with higher fuel efficiency can’t win market share, Sterman’s California simulations show.

The models offer some faint promise. When Sterman puts more fuel stations in rural areas, the AFV market succeeds -- after an extraordinarily long time. Sterman believes there’s a tipping point in the adoption of new technologies. Dethroning gasoline will be difficult, he says, so we need to create multiple reinforcing feedbacks to change the behaviors of all the players. “We must push that ball, which represents where the market is, up a steep mountain, and only after crossing the peak will the market become self-sustaining.” -- [January 30, 2008
9:00 AM]"

(Via MIT World » Recent Updates.)

Cell Based Sensors Detect Dangers Like Explosives and Biohazards

Cell Based Sensors Detect Dangers Like Explosives and Biohazards: "   Cell Based Sensors Detect Dangers Like Explosives and Biohazards A small, unmanned vehicle makes its way down the road ahead of a military convoy. Suddenly it stops and relays a warning to the convoy commander. The presence of a deadly improvised explosive device, or IED, has been detected by sophisticated new sensor technology incorporating living olfactory cells on microchips mounted on the unmanned vehicle. The IED is safely dismantled and lives are saved. Precise manipulation of cells on chip. Three yeast cells are being steered to an accuracy of 1 mm (1/1000th of a millimeter) each by feedback flow control This scenario may become a reality, thanks to the work of three faculty rese"

(Via .)

ThirdWave Obtains FDA Clearance for Proprietary Molecular Test

ThirdWave Obtains FDA Clearance for Proprietary Molecular Test: "This is the second time the NASDAQ-traded company Third Wave Technologies has received FDA clearance for its molecular testing products. The company’s InPlex™ CF Molecular Test can both detect and identify cystic fibrosis mutations in a patient’s DNA samples. The microfluidic card used for this test was co-developed with the 3M Company. According to the company’s research of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, cystic fibrosis affects more than 30,000 Americans every year, and is the most commonly-inherited disease in the US."

(Via NSTI Nano World News™.)

Future Now: Next-Generation Sports Doping

This is Michael Rasmusne's save. Coming from a Dane...

Next-Generation Sports Doping: "New drugs in clinical trials for muscle-wasting diseases could become the next big thing for athletes."

(Via Technology Review Feed - Tech Review Top Stories.)

FUTURE NOW: Starpharma and Durex Sign Co-Development Agreement for VivaGel-Coated Condoms

JUST ANOTHER PROOF OF FUTURE NOW. NANO IS HOMING IN ON DAILY LIFE....

Starpharma and Durex Sign Co-Development Agreement for VivaGel-Coated Condoms: "Starpharma Holdings Ltd today announced the signing of an agreement with SSL International plc, owner of Durex, the world’s leading condom brand."

(Via Nanotechnology News from Nanowerk.)

AlphaGalileo.Org - the Internet-based news centre for European science, engineering and technology.

Finland is the world's most innovative economy. So here's the secret! To patent or not to patent? An innovation-level investigation of the propensity to patent This study seeks to shed new light on the complex relationship between patents and innovations that has remained extremely elusive thus far. This study seeks to shed new light on the complex relationship between patents and innovations that has remained extremely elusive thus far. The objective of the present study is to contribute to our understanding of which innovations are patented - and which are not - by analyzing the patenting decision for circa 800 Finnish innovations. The data sample of 791 Finnish innovations used in the study is drawn from the Sfinno database compiled at VTT Innovation Studies (formerly VTT Group for Technology Studies). In an effort to compile the Sfinno database, a systematic review of 18 carefully selected trade and technical journals from the period 1985-1998 has been complemented with a review of annual reports of large firms from the same period as well as with expert opinion-based identification of innovations. Since the Sfinno approach heavily relies on public sources in the identification of innovations, it is clearly more conducive to studying product than process innovations. Hence innovations only developed for the firm's internal use are not included in the Sfinno database. The results show....first,...that larger, i.e. more novel and significant, innovations are patented more frequently than smaller ones. Second, technologically very complex innovations appear to be patented less often than others, while the fragmentation of intellectual property rights to cumulatively developing technology seems to entail high propensities to patent (Very iNTERESTING) . Third, the results indicate that the propensity to patent varies across technology classes and declines with product market competition. Fourth, collaboration with scientific institutions appears to have a positive impact on the propensity to patent, while the estimations fail to produce evidence that public R&D support or collaboration with other types of partners would affect the propensity to patent. Finally, there appears to be a U-shaped relationship between firm size and the propensity to patent, which can be attributed to a relatively large extent to economies of scale in the patenting activity as well as to the relatively important role of patenting in start-up ventures. The "

(Via .)

Future Now

AlphaGalileo.Org - the Internet-based news centre for European science, engineering and technology.: "About Us Site Help Contact Us Log-on      The world's leading resource for European research news    View All    Science    Arts    Technology    Health    Society    Humanities       You are in: View all » Books » Announcement  Register as a journalist for full access Register as a contributor to post your news AlphaGalileo Home About Us Register Press Releases Calendar Books Library Links Broadcast media Expert service Address book Search Advanced search   Books Printable version For further information, please contact: Please register to view contact details Posted on behalf of: Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) 12 October 2007 Nordic ICT Foresight. Futures of the ICT environment and applications on the Nordic level Title Author: Publication type Other Number of pages 0 Price 0.00 The Nordic ICT Foresight project was launched in May 2005 with research partners VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, FOI (Sweden), SINTEF ("

(Via .)

Future now

Several years ago I worked on a project where we implemented the solution, BUT we did not know the science behind it. Maybe they do in Spain?? 16 October 2007 New Wastewater Treatment System For Removing Heavy Metals. The presence in the environment of large quantities of toxic metals such as mercury, lead, cadmium, zinc or others, poses serious health risks to humans, and this threat puts the scientific community under pressure to develop new methods to detect and eliminate toxic contaminants from wastewaters in e"

(Via .)