TII Innovation Journal

TII Innovation Journal

Welcome to TII's Innovation Journal.
TII is Europe's premier association of and for innovation and technology transfer professionals.TII's web site . This weblog has a focus on topics such:
- BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) as innovation source
- Value Innovation (Blue Ocean Strategy)
- Commercializaton of Inventions
- Innovation & Technology Management (Techniques)
- Financing models for R&D and Innovation
- Specialized search engines for the profession (such as JBEngine)
- Also TII's 2006 Annual Conference was supported by the site.

We collect articles from different sources and make them available to our readers/members.

We have invited a series of guest-editors to comment upon articles and to write their own articles.

You can allso become a guest editor. Just send an email to tii@tii.org and ask for a password (with a short justification of your request).

NEW: Innovation in Farming. Wouldn't it be nice if European farmers became the prime innovators, not slaves of a stupid "Common Agricultural Policy".

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

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 » Press Releases » Release  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   Press Releases Printable version For further information, please contact: Please register to view contact details 10 December 2007 Innovative business models key to research commercialisation success under embargo until 11 Dec 2007 09:00 GMT Universities should consider more innovative business models to support research commercialisation if they want to maximise their financial returns, says Philip Sharpe of QinetiQ. Speaking at the World Universities Network (WUN) workshop in Leeds today "

(Via .)

Carbon nanotube: now clearly stronger than the rest

It works in the lab, it is often said of new technologies. Now some individual strands of the carbon nano tube fiber material have clearly outperformed in strength the strongest currently commercially available fibers, according to the MIT Technology Review Monday Nov. 19 web update.

Alan Windle, a professor of materials science at the University of Cambridge, in England, made and tested the new nanotube fibers along with researchers at the Natick Soldier Research Development Center, in Massachusetts. In his methodology there is still a clear manufacturing variation; the weakest of the fibers only about averaged the strength of steel, while it seems the average strength of the fibers made with this method was about similar to "materials used in bullet-proof vests, such as Kevlar. These nanotube fibers matched the highest reported strengths for a couple of the strongest commercially available fibers, Zylon and Dyneema, also used in bullet-proof vests". The lone really strong fiber  endured about 150 % of the strength of these, nine gigapascals of stress -far beyond any other reported material - before breaking.

In a video caption that follows the information from TR, the manufacturing method indeed looks as if the fiber would be very uneven in thickness and eventually also quality; thus also the usable pieces of the fiber are relatively short. If the manufacturing variation can be brought down and close to the upper end of the spectrum, this promises for an extremely lightweight (fiber wall thickness is that of just one layer of atoms!) and durable material with possible applications ranging "from body armor to oil drilling". I'd personally like to have a motorbiking helmet that would be lighter on my aging neck in highway speeds.

Greenhouse gas plastics

Carbon dioxide is mostly talked about in the context of global warming. Carbon dioxide can however also be used as a raw material for biodegradeable plastics called aliphatic polycarbonates.The idea itself is not new, having first been developed in 1969, but it has taken nearly four decades to make the product viable for commercial use. Now, according to the MIT Technology Review, the product is reaching the levels of maturity required for making something good of it.

According to the latest web issue of TR, "The Cornell University spinoff's technology centers on a catalyst that converts carbon dioxide into a polymer that could be used to make everyday items such as packaging, cups, and forks. The plastic, which was originally created by Cornell chemist Geoffrey Coates, is also safe and strong enough to be used in medical implants and devices."

A company called Novomer has just received  a relatively big (USD 6.6 million) venture capital injection to scale up its manufacturing capacity utilizing epoxites, carbon dioxide, and a new type of metallic catalyst developed by Coates that allows the process to run in room temperatures and low pressure, conditions that are required for economic manufacturing. The new zinc-based catalyst is said to be efficient enough to make production of this new type of plastics an economically viable business.

Earlier this year (April) TR also reported that the chemists at University of California San Diego and Queen's University in Ontario have shown that it is, with the right catalyst, also at least theoretically possible to turn carbon dioxide into gasoline. The environmental benefits of either innovation would probably emerge only from very large-scale operations, but are worth studying further.

Merck Serono and EPFL announce Research Partnership in Neuroscience, Oncology and Drug Delivery

First Allergan. EPFL does it again!!

Merck Serono and EPFL announce Research Partnership in Neuroscience, Oncology and Drug Delivery: "

Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, and EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), one of the two Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology, announced today the signing of a research collaboration agreement in the areas of Neuroscience, Oncology and Drug Delivery. Under this agreement, three Merck Serono-endowed Chairs will be created at EPFL: in neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson’s; in cancer, in the framework of the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research (ISREC); and in innovative drug delivery technologies, for instance nanoparticle vaccines.

Category: Press
Date: 31 Oct 2007

"

(Via AlphaGalileo Technology Channel.)

Newswire / Press Release: China Holding Nanotechnology to Dominate the Scientific World - Nanotechnology | NewswireToday

Newswire / Press Release: China Holding Nanotechnology to Dominate the Scientific World - Nanotechnology | NewswireToday: " MOST TRUSTED NEWSWIRE DISTRIBUTION NETWORK Home | About NewswireToday | Top Articles | Tell A Friend | Contact | PREMIUM | Sign Up Free! | Submit Release More news about: Nanotechnology French via Google-TR|printer-friendly  |  e-mail Article This article was published at no charge for their issuers. Only PREMIUM Articles are 3rd party Ad-Free! China Holding Nanotechnology to Dominate the Scientific World   NewswireToday - /newswire/ - Delhi, New Delhi, India, 02/13/2007 - China is gearing itself to becoming a scientific superpower, owing to the immense increase in its expenditure on research fields like nanotechnology and the return of its scientists from abroad.       Nanotechnology is gaining huge interest and investments in China. In the next twenty years, nanoscience is anticipated to bring about radical changes in nerve and tissue repair, pharmaceuticals, IT, catalysts, surface coatings, pollution control and sensors. A study by a principal British analyst reports th"

(Via .)

Telepathy does exist

The search for suitable brain-computer interfaces for artificial limbs and prostheses has brought some interesting prototypes that seem to be able to do some telepathy too. In human-to-human communication, speech and other conscious communicative actions are central, but in brain-computer interfaces the communication is based on recognition of electronic currencies in the brain. The electronic currencies are similar in conscious and unconscious brain action, so actually the new methods read thoughts that humans themselves do not know do exist.

Two examples are reported in recent IEEE Computer journal (Vol. 40 No. 1). Firstly, researchers at Stanford university are basing their limb prosthesis improvement on the unconscious "plans" that the brain makes before actually directing the body to move in a certain way. This neural planning activity will utilized for calculating mathematical estimations of how e.g. a prosthetic arm should move and actually base the movement of the arm on the "plan", not on the actual command from the brain to the arm. This way the arm should land on the correct spot with more accuracy, but could in future be used for guiding industrial or other robotics on brain activity alone, or to let machines take over from pilots and drivers when the situation overloads their capacities.

Secondly, the LIINC lab at Columbia University is studying how brain can recognize pictures before the human consciousness really notices actively what has happened. Their Cortically Coupled Computer Vision system is connected to the brain and utilizes its ability to recognize novel, unusual, interesting or rare elements in images more quickly than humans can identify them. In plain words, the devise connects to the human brain through a EEG cap to measure the electrrical signals of neuron groups of the brain. This locational information from within the brain is then used to recognize images in which the viewer has seen something novel or rare, and ranks them in order of importance based on electrical current strength. This innovation is planned for improvements of computer vision systems, but could be used in analysing marketing, closed-cirquit camera pictures, or whatever - to my opinion, even including analysing somebody's thoughts and dreams.

The bad news (or good news, depending on the viewpoint) for this research is the current high cost and clumsiness of BC interface systems. The machinery involved is currently big, and there must be technicians present to make them work.  Thus the technologies are mostly used in tests and it will take a long time before a widespread medical or other commercial use is envisioned.

Creating Ethanol from Trash

Creating Ethanol from Trash: "Researchers find a way to make liquid fuels from waste cheaply and without the pollution produced by earlier methods."

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

Why Large Companies Should Out-Innovate Small Ones

AN MIT Opinion

Why Large Companies Should Out-Innovate Small Ones: "Dan Hesse

Given the choice, Dan Hesse would opt for working in a big company rather than a small one, especially when it comes to innovating. He backs up this preference with years of experience, from his days running a start up (‘It was really hard work’) to leading some of AT&T’s pioneer telecom ventures.

Hesse first describes some of his formative projects for AT&T, including the ‘all you can eat’ long distance WATTS line and AT&T’s first internet and wireless divisions. What he learned was how to ‘sit down with the guys in the labs,’ and also with customers, applying market research to generate new inventions. He came to appreciate AT&T’s very deep pockets for R&D, which made it possible for ‘the large guy to completely change the game’ and ‘make it almost impossible for smaller guys to compete.’

His new enterprise, Embarq, (an offshoot of Sprint Nextel) is the nation’s 4th largest local telephone company, present in 18 states with $6.5 billion in revenues. Hesse is determined to fight the slow but relentless loss of market share to wireless and cable companies. His plan involves changing the image of the firm ‘to get customers to embrace innovation’ and try Embarq’s new products, which include: One Voicemail, a service that provides a single voicemail messaging system for home and wireless phones; Smart Connect, which enables an Embarq phone user to switch transparently from mobile frequencies to Wi-Fi as the phone moves from outside to inside; Media Safe, 25gb of internet storage for Embarq’s DSL subscribers to stow their videos and tunes; and the Offer, a company promise not to raise the DSL subscription price - ever.

He offers general advice on innovating, especially aimed at large firms that ‘typically don’t innovate because they’re too comfortable.’ He suggests integrating across platforms to make life simpler for customers; cultivating a competitive corporate culture, in which delegation, teamwork and employee recognition play important roles; studying the market; incubating new projects while maintaining steady revenues in the old business; figuring out a business model that ‘gets things down to single-user economics;’ and ‘shamelessly stealing good ideas.’ Most important, when it comes to creating the next new thing, nothing beats leveraging the assets of a large company. When customers trust the company and the brand, marketing new ideas is easier, concludes Hesse. -- [November 2, 2006 12:00 PM]"

(Via MIT World » Recent Updates.)

Happy New Year: what are the next new technologies ?

The last minutes of 2006 we always wonder what the new year will bring. The number of the year will change to secrecy- and action-promising 007, and Romania and Bulgaria will be with us in EU, but what else will happen in 2007 ? What technologies will come and make a commercial or social impact ? Can we ever tell in advance ?

The futures research uses methods such as Delphi and technology roadmap study to try and determine what will work in the future and when. One recent Delphi-type study was reported in IEEE Spectrum in September, when 700 IEEE fellow engineers and scientists were surveyed by the Institute for the Future (www.iftf.org). The IEEE fellows were asked to forecast in the area of their own expertise whether they believed that a special technology development seemed probable, and if yes, whether the commercial breakthrough would come in the next 10 years or 10-20 years from now.

While the complete data is available at www.spectrum.ieee.org/sep06/fellowsdata, let us say that according to these recognized specialists the following technologies have a reasonable probability to really work before or around 2015:

• handwriting recognition approaches 99 % accuracy
• parallel programming will be used inm mainstream applications
• interactive computer graphics will be lifelike
• terabit optical networks for telecommunication
• Gigabit internet access will even reach the developing countries
• software-defined radio will be integrated in consumer electronics
• global videoconferencing will become routine
• desktop printable electronics will become routine
• nonvolatile data storage will eclipse magnetic media storage
• RFID will be commonly integrated to comnsumer electronics
• ...and replace EAN printed bar code technologies
• sensor networks that scavenge power will be widely used
• robust design tools for fabrication at the nanoscale will be available
• LEDs will replace incandescent light for home lighting
• fuel cells will be widely used in mobile devices
• and rapid DNA sequencing becomes affordable.

For 2020-25 or so, expect also the following:

• universal language translator will be commercially available
• computer speech recognition of unstructured human speech will approach 99 % accuracy
• 5-nanometer processors will be commercially viable
• semiconductor industry will hit the "moore's Law Wall"
• "smart dust" monitors will be widely deployed in sensor networks
• household robotics will be widely adopted
• microelectromechanic systems will be widely applied in medicine
• nanoelectromechanical systems will go commercial
• microscale robotics will become viable
• manufacturing of nanostructured materials to exact specs without machining will be commercially viable
• fuel cells will be widely used to power cars
• ..and also might just be about to reach wide use for household electricity (a bit more probable in developing countries than globally, surprisingly; shows what the "powers that be" are capable of ?)

While I wish You all a Happy New Year and Success for 2007, I also warn You - in the light of the above report - to hold Your breath waiting for..

• quantum computing
• humanoid robots to care for elderly in homes
• self-driving cars
• "Theory of Everything"
• cold fusion
• living organisms on other planets
• practically usable (for evacuation purposes) prediction of earthquakes
• room-temperature superconductors
• molecular self-assembly of integrated circuits
• commercially viable fusion reactors
• photovoltaics with 50 % efficiency
• telemedicine taking over for majority of medical diagnosis

Happy new year !!!!

The Helsinki Manifesto

The conference "Networked Business and Government", attended by over 300 research, technology and innovation policy specialists from the EU countries, worried about the status of the implementation Lisbon Strategy, gave out a "Helsinki Manifesto". They say that "in order to improve its global competitive position, Europe needs immediate and strong measures to boost its economic growth through productivity and innovation for job creation in 2007-2013. There is also a nurgent need for institutional, structural and financial changes at Eu, national and regional level to facilitate focused and  innovation-based growth for Europe's global competitiveness". For the implementation of this Manifesto, the actors gathered in Helsinki for the two-day conference have recognized the following priorities:

1. Opening EU-wide procurement of R&D innovation within public services

In Europe the public sector is relativelt bigger than in the U.S. or in Asia. Thus, "the public sector should use its procurement power to leverage innovation and drive the take-up of research into innovative products and services". According to the group, this would require a reallocation of about 2.5 % of the public procurement spending to R&D for innovation.

2. Creation of EU-wide standardized and harmonized banking services

While workable technologies and business models already exist, and despite the statements of the European Commission and the European central Bank of May 2006, there's still big productivity gains to be had from enhanced EU-wide standardization and harmonization in the areas of new better business processes, electronic banking, and financial market operations within the Europe.

3. European network of Living Labs

Living Labs are thought to act as test beds for emerging knowledge intensive services, businesses, markets, technologies or even industries for jobs and growth can be developed, tested and validated. The first phase - already under planning - will consist of 20 such "labs" in 15 member countries.

4. Increasing interoperability and creating EU-wide standards for eServices

The conference also noted that it is "vital to implement existing best practices for public services and SMEs." As an example, the conference noted the authentication services used in banking in Finland and Estonia, and also promoted the possibilities the open standards would offer for innovation.

5. Setting up a strategic task force for the presidencies 2007-2008

The German, Portuguese and Slovenian presidencies would have to promote the innovativeness of Europe even further during their time in the lead. In the Helsinki meeting, a strong-attendance Slovenian team at least gave full support to this idea.

6. A horizontal programme within the 7th framework programme for knowledge-intensive service society development

While the conference agreed that the 7th framework in general was "a move to the right direction", they also felt that a horizontal research programme for knowledge intensive society development would be in order. This programme should cover "the required services, business, and related open technological architecture development, and consequent institutional and structural changes" and be ready for implementation from early 2008.

7. Enabling working environment

The Conference finally stated that the "member states should accelerate their efforts to remove the still-remaining barriers and obstacles" for the ICT uptake across Europe, whether of legal, administrative, economic, or technical nature.

Even if all these objectives in general feel and sound like I couldn't agree more, they also leave a lot of practical value unsaid. I, for one, still do not really see what new value for competitiveness of Europe the Living Labs would provide, nor how (see www.tietoyhteiskuntaohjelma.fi/ajankohtaista/events/en_GB/1147340579176/   for details), and also most of the other points in the Manifesto feel like I would have heard them before. Thus, personally, I agree that the major point here must be point number five: if Europe can get four or five consecutive presidencies to keep the innovativeness item on top of all possible issues they want to be forwarded, then there's still hope. And, as a final point of lighter nature (but, to my opinion, also somewhat telling about the situation of innovation in Europe), a joke I overheard: "What's the definition of 'innovation'? Why, it's 'lnvention' after administration has taken over". Too many organizations and policies, and not enough ideas.

(Press conference in Espoo, 20.11.2006)