Where's the Beef

Future Now: A Better Way to Deliver Cancer Drugs

This is a perfect example of Beef Thinking: Look at the Value Chain and then see if you can sell your stuff one step down the stream!!

A Better Way to Deliver Cancer Drugs: "Piquette-Miller"

(Via .)

Future now: Technology Review: Healing Bone with Stem Cells

Technology Review: Healing Bone with Stem Cells: " [1] Wednesday, March 07, 2007 Healing Bone with Stem Cells New techniques to boost survival of adult stem cells could improve surgeries for severe fractures. By Emily Singer Broken bones: New methods to boost cell survival after transplant could help heal severe fractures. Implantable materials that grab stem cells and spur their growth and survival could improve bone-healing surgeries. Linda Griffith and her colleagues at MIT have created a new tissue-engineering material that could help cells survive the harsh transplant environment--a key step in cell-transplant therapies. Scienti"

(Via .)

Future Now: Portable, Palm-Size Radiation Detectors

A good example of the world of business stated by Ian Pearson and his Future Studies at British telecom.

Portable, Palm-Size Radiation Detectors: "A new device, with sensors the size of human cells, can measure, record, and assess the risk of radiation emissions in real time."

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

Future Now: New Bedside-Diagnostics Tool

This is a perfect example of Beef Thinking: Look at the Value Chain and then see if you can sell your stuff one step down the stream!!

New Bedside-Diagnostics Tool: "Can microfluidics turn out cheap and powerful alternatives to microarrays?"

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

No Nano Chill from Canon’s IP Loss - NSTI Finds Legal, Partnership Lessons

I have earlier reported on how and why I think that Nanotechnology is going to be the big issue for litigation on IP Matters

No Nano Chill from Canon’s IP Loss - NSTI Finds Legal, Partnership Lessons: "Last week, the biggest nanotechnology licensing battle ever came to an end when a U.S. District Judge ruled that Canon Inc., one of the world’s largest electronics manufacturers, violated a licensing agreement with nanotechnology component maker Nano-Proprietary, Inc. of Austin, Texas."

(Via NSTI Nano World News™.)

From thinking and debating, to shaping the future

Thanks to a Cordis News email I have become aware of Action FORERA of the Joint Research Center of the European Commission, where future-oriented technology analyses (FTA) and studies, including strategic foresight, forecasting and technology assessment, are discussed to better enable policy makers to look into the future and choose among policy options. Now let's hope politicians will be listening ;)

In their web page there is a lot of information I had no time yet to read, and a forum has just been opened. In the publications section I have seen already reports about (nano/bio) manufacturing challenges and technology time horizons, policy recommendations, and a 'guide to regional foresight'.

The Ideas Factory-The Matter Compiler

I have often written about the need to know about what is coming , what we can expect from technology, see for instance my discussion of the articles about Ian Pearson's Business 2010 and Siemens' Pictures of the Future. Now British scientists have created a framework called the Ideas Factory and a weblog about it. So what comes out of the scientists' sandpit(That's what THEY call it ;-)? Read the blog and comment upon it. Software-controlled matter!! .

The Matter Compiler: "

The final project to go forward from the Ideas Factory on the Software Control of Matter is based on theoretical chemistry/materials science and computer science, and we anticipate this linking strongly to the experimental activities funded from the Ideas Factory. As with the two experimental projects, a few administrative hurdles need to be jumped before EPSRC funding can be confirmed.

An ambition to assemble molecules and materials under atomically precise control demands a big leap forward in control engineering and computer science. Is it possible to anticipate the properties and needs of a ‘nano-assembler’? If so, there is a need for a high level instruction language and a computer compiler that translates commands in this language into instructions for the ‘nano-assembler’. This development will require a breakthrough in understanding of chemical synthesis that must embrace the radically new ‘pick and place’ assembly method which is now possible in scanning probe microscopy (SPM). The Matter Compiler project is thus both an exercise in foresight, to anticipate developments in this area, and a prototype implementation for the engineering control and computer science aspects of directed molecular assembly. It has as inputs data from SPM experiments of collaborators, energy landscapes for ‘pick and place’ reactions and the vast knowledge base of classical synthetic chemistry, including methodologies such as retrosynthesis. This will be supplemented by reaction schemes for ‘pick and place’ reactions deduced from first principles quantum chemistry calculations and the technology of object oriented databases and inference engines.

The team is led by Dr Harris Makatsoris (Engineering, Brunel University) and comprises Professor Malcolm Heggie (Chemistry, University of Sussex), Dr Nick Holliman (Computer Science, University of Durham), Dr Helen Wright (Computer Science, University of Hull) and Professor Jeremy Ramsden (Advanced Materials, Cranfield University).

"

(Via Software Control of Matter.)

Where's the Beef CAMPus?

Well, in Mallorca, of course!
This weblog covers most of the topics of my "Where's the Beef" course - mainly a one-day course. More than 200 professionals have participated in one of these courses over the last 18 months. Here's the announcement of a new version: a week-long training camp:Click here to read more

Commercialisation CAMPus Workshops: 5 days of practical work in Mallorca in March and April 2006

“Where's the Beef” – the course and methodology on Evaluation of Commercial Potential in Inventions and Innovation projects - has been offered to many groups over the latest five-six years. The format is a one-day course covering cases, background theory and methodology, but little time for real exercises and discussion.

Based on feedback, I have developed the concept of Beef CAMPus, a whole week concerned with 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.

The course is developed and managed together with Jacob Bar, the creator of the JBEngine.

NEW: Since Spring 2007 we have re-designed the format - have a look at our new BeefCAMPus website

(XiX) Siemens' Future Study

Some time ago, I reported on British Telecom's Future Studies Group and their Technology Timeline. Now Siemens Corporate Technology Department has made a road map of the Future in six areas of interest.

Siemens' Future Study

    With its "Pictures of the Future" approach,  Siemens takes a long look into the future: 10, 20 or even 30 years, depending upon the area of activity. The goal is to identify promising technologies and future consumer wishes and to discover new business possibilities. The result is a coherent vision of tomorrow's world.

(XiX) Technology Timeline

Technology Timeline
British Telecom futurology guru Ian Pearson has convinced me that we need to think not only of concepts and methods.

In a time of rapid technology change and other technology-related development trends, we need to have a view on(an understanding of)  what is coming and how it may change the way we know business. Pearson has co-authored an excellent book called “Business 2010” – read it and start wondering.

At BT he and his colleagues have built a wonderful graphical interface to show you what they mean!
The Technology Timeline supports my point that we may not get much guidance about the future of a certain market by looking backwards, not even into the immediate past. It teaches us to keep a critical distance to the sources about and from the past (which is all sources, by definition!).

Important Technology Change: the next Industrial Revolution
For ther near future, I recommend that you get acquainted with nanotechnology, which represents the next industrial revolution: it will greatly affect and change the scientific and technological base of almost any industry or sector. I have made my own Nano-blog, as have many other good bloggers. Use your RSS feed reader to find them. Or use my Nano-Rollyo to search good nano-sites.