Smart Economy

Live recordings of cell to cell communication

Look at any science discovery/ breakthrough and behind it you will usually find a previous breakthrough in instrumentation or visualization.

 

A new advanced method developed at the

University

of

Copenhagen

for nano-scale imaging of vesicle-fusion – vesicles that are biological nano-sized containers inside cells - could add to our understanding of diseases of the nervous system and viral infections. In the long term, this could be useful in developing a cure for neurological diseases and mental disorders (e.g. schizophrenia, depression, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease).

 

Neurons communicate with each other with the help of nano-sized vesicles. Disruption of this communication process is responsible for many diseases and mental disorders like e.g. depression. Nerve signals travel from one neuron to another through vesicles - a nano-sized container loaded with neurotransmitter molecules. A vesicle fuses with the membrane surrounding a neuron, releases neurotransmitters into the surroundings that are detected by the next neuron in line. However, we still lack a more detailed understanding of how the fusion of vesicles occurs on the nano-scale. We just don't know what happens in the exact pathway(s)...which this method could unravel

 

see story here Live recordings of cell communication

 

Walter Derzko

Smart Economy

Toronto

When will the recession end? Part 27 The Sun could create a double dip depression

New Solar Cycle 24 Prediction: Fewer Sunspots, But Severe Mass Coronal Ejection (MCE) Activity possible.

 

In the past, human populations have survived 7 climate change-related mass extinction events...James Lovelock reminds us...but are we more vulnerable now and less resilient as a society?

 

Now privately, some scientists are quietly predicting two imminant wild card possibilities-a mini ice age, that could punctuate global warming,  if sun spots do not pick up in the next solar spot cycle and the distinct possibility of severe solar storms. At the extreme, both events could cause billions of deaths in a worst case scenario that we looked at last month.

 

Publically, an  international panel of experts has released a new prediction for the next solar cycle, stating that Solar Cycle 24 will peak in May 2013with a below-average number of sunspots. Led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and sponsored by NASA, the panel includes a dozen members from nine different government and academic institutions. Their forecast sets the stage for at least another year of mostly quiet conditions before solar activity resumes in earnest [..they hope].

 

 

This plot of sunspot numbers shows the measured peak of the last solar cycle (Solar Cycle 23) in blue and the predicted peak of the next solar cycle (24) in red. Credit: NOAA/Space Weather Prediction Center.

 

"If our prediction is correct, Solar Cycle24 will have a peak sunspot number of 90, the lowest of any cycle since 1928 when Solar Cycle 16 peaked at 78," says panel chairman Doug Biesecker of the NOAA Space Prediction Center, Boulder, Colo.

 It is tempting to describe such a cycle as "weak" or "mild," but that could give the wrong impression. "Even a below-average cycle is capable of producing severe space weather,"says Biesecker. "The great geomagnetic storm of 1859, for instance, occurred during a solar cycle of about the same size we’re predicting for 2013."

The 1859 storm -- named the "Carrington Event" after astronomer Richard Carrington who witnessed the instigating solar flare -- electrified transmission cables, set fires in telegraph offices, and produced Northern Lights so bright that people could read newspapers by their red and green glow. A recent report by the National Academy of Sciences found that if a similar storm occurred today, it could cause $1 to 2 trillion in damages to society’s high-tech infrastructure and require four to ten years for complete recovery. For comparison, Hurricane Katrina caused $80 to 125 billion in damage.

 

 

The latest forecast revises a prediction issued in 2007, when a sharply divided panel believed solar minimum would come in March 2008 and would be followed by either a strong solar maximum in 2011 or a weak solar maximum in 2012. Competing models of the solar cycle produced different forecasts, and researchers were eager for the sun to reveal which was correct.

"It turns out that none of the models were really correct,"says Dean Pesnell of the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. NASA’s lead representative on the panel. "The sun is behaving in an unexpected and very interesting way."

Yearly-averaged sunspot numbers from 1610 to 2000. Researchers believe upcoming Solar Cycle 24 will be similar to the cycle that peaked in 1928, marked in red. Credit: NASA/MSFC

Astronomers first noted the solar cycle in the mid-1800s. Graphs of sunspot numbers resemble a roller coaster, going up and down with an approximately 11-year period. Predicting the peaks and valleys has proven troublesome because cycles vary in length from 9 to 14 years. Some peaks are high, others low. The valleys are usually brief, lasting only a couple of years, but sometimes they stretch much longer. In the 17th century, the sun plunged into a 70-year period of spotless quiet known as the Maunder Minimum (mini ice age) that still baffles scientists.

At a recent climate change symposium at Monash University in Australia, David Archibald, an expert in solar cycles stated:

“You haven’t seen any sign of the end of Solar Cycle 23 yet and the cooling over Solar
Cycle 24 as a consequence may be as much as 2.8 degrees centigrade. We are due for a de Vries cycle cooling event every two hundred and ten years, and actually even a Bond event because the last one of those was in the Dark Ages. And severe cooling over the next twenty years is now a certainty.” 

Right now, the solar cycle is in a valley--the deepest of the past century. In 2008 and 2009, the sun set Space Age records for low sunspotcounts, weak solar wind, and low solar irradiance. The sun has gone more than two years without a significant solar flare.

"In our professional careers, we’ve never seen anything quite like it," says Pesnell. "Solar minimum has lasted far beyond what we predicted in 2007."

 

 

In recent months, however, the sun has begun to show signs of life. Small sunspots and "proto-sunspots" are popping up with increasing frequency. Enormous currents of plasma on the sun’s surface ("zonal flows") are gaining strength and slowly drifting toward the sun’s equator. Radio astronomers have detected a tiny but significant uptick in solar radio emissions. All these things are precursors of an awakening Solar Cycle 24 and form the basis for the panel’s new, almost unanimous forecast.

 

 

According to the forecast, the sun should remain generally calm for at least another year. From a research point of view, that’s good news because solar minimum has proven to be more interesting than anyone imagined. Low solar activity has a profound effect on Earth’s atmosphere, allowing it to cool and contract. Space junk accumulates in Earth orbit because there is less aerodynamic drag. The becalmed solar wind whips up fewer magnetic storms around Earth’s poles. Cosmic rays that are normally pushed back by solar wind instead intrude on the near-Earth environment. There are other side-effects, too, that can be studied only so long as the sun remains quiet.

 

Meanwhile, the sun pays little heed to human committees. There could be more surprises, panelists acknowledge, and more revisions to the forecast.

"Go ahead and mark your calendar for May 2013," says Pesnell. "But use a pencil."

Source: Marshall Space Flight Center

Walter Derzko

The Opportunity Clinic; 28 Tactics for Managing your Business in a Recession Part 5 of 28 Category Killer Innovation-India's $10 laptop

The recession is a perfect time to  launch a new business or new product, especially what I call Category Killer Innovation, or what Clayton Christenson calls a "Disruptive Technology." The Category Killer Opportunity window is not a single opportunity space or event but a cluster of smaller fortuitous opportunities that bundle together (such as the design enhancement opportunity, a production challenge opportunity, the value chain opportunity, the supply chain challenge opportunity window and many others) to form a "super opportunity space" or in this case a Category Killer Innovation Opportunity Window. If history is any indication, we will see a flood of distruptive technology hitting the market between now and 2014.

A good example is the Starbury sneaker, who went up against the big boys-NIKE, Adidas, Puma and New Balance to produce a $14.95 runner that is as good as the $149-$300 equivalent basketball shoe, but at an order of magnitude price drop. It will be interesting to see how low cost Starbury Sneakers fare against NIKE in a recession

According to Wikipedia:

"Starbury, Inc. is an American brand of sneakers and clothing endorsed by NBA players Stephon Marbury and Ben Wallace, and marketed by Steve and Barry's. The line was launched in September 2006, as a pair of $14.99 basketball shoes to compete with higher priced products endorsed by celebrity athletes. Stephon Marbury and retail clothing chain Steve & Barry's claim that the products are of the same level of quality as more expensive alternatives."

Now India is about to unveil tomorrow a prototype of a $10 laptop (which actually costs $20 to produce.) It will be subsidized by the Indian Education Ministry, so that eventually every school child in India will be able to afford a laptop and access to the Internet. This is a counter-offer to the MIT Negroponte project which was proposing a $100 laptop per child for India, but the Indian government thought that they could do one better. The $10 laptop will come with WiFi, 2GB of memory, Ethernet and expandable memory capability and consumer just 2 watts of power. There are still many unanswered questions, such as can they find the supply chain to manufacture the laptop at that low cost and many others. How will they protect themselves from reverse engineering and IP theft and the grey market?

But it proves the point that every incumbent CEO, Manager and entrepreneur should be always looking behind their back for the next Category Killer Innovation to sneak up on them

Walter Derzko, Smart Economy, Toronto

Author of the soon-to-be-released book: Hard Times Golden Opportunities.. about opportunity recognition in a recession/ depression featuring 45 opportunity scenarios.

Other Opportunity Clinic posts in this series:

The Opportunity Clinic; 28 Tactics for managing your Business in a recession Part 6 of 28 What's in your Recession Playbook?

The Opportunity Clinic; 28 Tactics for Managing your Business in a Recession Part 5 of 28 Category Killer Innovation-India's $10 laptop

The Opportunity Clinic - 28 Tactics for Managing Your Business in a Recession Part 4 of 28 “Left Behind “Opportunities- Go Green & Go Slow

The Opportunity Clinic - 28 Tactics for Managing Your Business in a Recession Part 3 of 28 Design Opportunities- Hope or Nostalgia

The Opportunity Clinic - 28 Tactics for Managing Your Business in a Recession Part 2 of 28 Innovation or Efficiency?

The Opportunity Clinic - 28 Tactics for Managing Your Business (& surviving and thriving) in a Recession Part 1of 28

Realted posts over that past year:

·         Opportunity Recognition in Difficult Times

·         Recession - Proofing your Business - Spotting & Designing Opportunities in a Downturn

·         Recession - Proofing your Business - Spotting & Designing Opportunities in a Downturn – June 25, 2008, Ontario College of Art Design, Toronto, ON

·         Recession-Proofing your Business-Strategies and Tactics for smoother sailing in turbulent seas

·         Master Class in Opportunity Recognition for entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs> May 30th 2008> University of Toronto

·         Turning Misery into Opportunity

·         Vacuum leaves pullout opportunities;

·         How will baby boomers handle the recession? Zoomers, Doomers, Gloomers, Opportuneurs

·         Recession, Depression and Shortages as Opportunities

·         Restructuring of American Business-A New Business Model?

·         Using New Yorker Cartoons for Opportunity Recognition /Sense-making & Pattern Recognition

·         Text Mining for S&T Scouting, Foresight and Opportunity Recognition

·         The Opportunity Clinic-swapping opportunity scenarios 08-002

Walter Derzko

 

When will the recession end? Part 8 Lessons Learned from the last Post 9/11 recession; designing brilliant winning business models

  There’s an old saying…”the best time to start a new business is the day after the recession ends.” The $64K  question is not when will the recession end but what will the recovery look like? Will it be V-shaped, U-shaped, W-shaped, v-W-shaped,  J-shaped, L-shaped or extended L-shaped? Which of these seven scenarios will play out?  UPDATE: see cartoon on the right from March 2009

To anticipate this, we have to look at what tools do managers and entrepreneurs have to help them predict, track and measure where they and the economy are heading?

 

I dusted off some old notes, slides  and workshop handout materials from just after post 9/11 as the economy topped out and in hindsight, was headed into a recession, triggered by the terrorist attacks on New York city and Washington. The materials were from a set of  experimental workshops that I designed for Andrew Maxwell, who at the time was at the incubator / accelerator at  the Innovations Foundation at the University of Toronto, when they were still located on 243 College Street, before moving into the new MaRS facility.

One workshop was on Designing Winning Business Models and the second was called 12 Tools and Techniques for Surviving Thriving and Managing in a Volatile and Turbulent Business Climate.

Could some of these same  principles and lessons learned from these workshops apply to today’s recessionary / depressionary climate? Most certainly!!

 

Designing a robust and adaptive business model could determine if you dive, merely survive or thrive in a recession.

Some of the key points and questions from the Designing Winning Business Models workshop include the following points:

• What were/are  the traditional business models/ revenue models in my industry and what can I learn from them?

• What are the prevailing business models/ revenue models in my industry today?

• What can I learn from mapping my current business landscape?

• What’s my current business model look like and what are all the components?

• What are the assumptions (tacit and explicit) behind my current business model and are they still valid? robust under changing conditions? various recovery scenarios ?  (V-shaped, U-shaped, W-shaped, v-W-shaped,  J-shaped, L-shaped or extended L-shaped? )

• What are the changing consumer or business values, attitudes and behaviors and are they reflected or aligned with my current business model

• What changes, trends, driving factors and issues are forcing me to rethink my current business model?

• How do I surface assumptions about the current and near-future business climate?

• What’s broken in my existing business model and how do I mitigate the faults and defects?

• How do I design a new viable system using scenario planning, systems dynamics and viable systems modeling?

• How do I model potential major discontinuities, wild cards, disruptions into my revenue model and business model?

• What were the lessons learned from the dot.com bubble, e-commerce failures and the collapse of the “green tech” and alternative energy markets? How do I mitigate that in the future from new emerging technologies.

• What cognitive thinking skills do I need to deploy to come up with novel and difficult to copy concepts for a brilliant new business model?

Tomorrow we’ll look at the 12 predictive  tools that should be in your managerial or entrepreneurial toolkit to help you predict and design opportunity windows for both the downward leg of the recession and the upward leg of the recovery.

 

Walter Derzko

Smart Economy

Toronto

Author of the soon-to-be-released book: Hard Times Golden Opportunities.. about opportunity recognition in a recession/ depression featuring 45 opportunity scenarios.

 

Related posts:

 

82 Signposts to the current Recession Depression Summary from 2008

When will this recession end?

When will this recession end ? Part 2 Do you listen to the Optimists or the Pessimists in 2009?

When will the recession end? Part 3 The coming collapse of the American Middle Class into an Underclass

When will the recession end? Part 4 The double dip housing crash in the USA

When will the recession end? Part 5 Stop Auto Industry Bailouts, start buying Electric

 

When will this recession end? Part 6 The USA Paradox; Cheer vs Fear vs Transformation

 

When will the recession end? Part 7 False signals of recovery

 

When will the recession end? Part 8 Lessons Learned from the last Post 9/11 recession; designing brilliant winning business models

 

© 2005-2009

Walter Derzko -"Changing the world, one idea at a time"©

Expert, Consultant and Keynote Speaker on Emerging Smart Technologies, Innovation, Strategic Foresight, Business Development, Lateral Creative Thinking and author of an upcoming book on the Smart Economy "

The Smart Technology Blog: The Smart Economy -- Read, enjoy, explore, speculate, comment !!

To arrange for an in house presentation or briefing on smart technology see here

To explore the opportunities and threats of any new smart technology in your industry - Contact Me or explore how we can work together

• ".....Strategy without action is a day-dream; action without strategy is a nightmare"-old Japanese proverb
• ".......Ours is the age that is proud of machines that think and suspicious of men who try to." -- H. Mumford Jones
• ".......Without changing our patterns of thought, we will not be able to solve the problems we created with our current pattern of thought."  --A. Einstein
• ".......Change is difficult, but complacency and stagnation are surefire showstoppers..." --Walter Derzko

• ".......Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."  -- Margaret Mead

• ".......Small minds discuss people; Average minds discuss events; Great minds discuss ideas; --Anon

P. S. if this is your first visit to my blog, please go to our Welcome page

What can turn this recession into a depression? 10 triggers

Some people see good news and light at the end of the tunnel (see blog post) I'm still optimistic about entrepreneurship in 2009 and new-to-the-world startups. Some opportunity savvy entrepreneurs will manage to turn the change and  chaos into incredible opportunities.

However all in all, the overwhelming flood of bad news still outweighs the meager punctuations of good tidings.

What can turn this recession into a depression? In short: continued loss of confidence and trust in the US and global financial system. Any one or a combination of these events ( and prerequisite factors) could trigger the Depression Avalanche

:

1)       The recognition that Obama’s stimulus packages and trillion dollar bailouts are having no effect, More fiscal pump-priming and monetary-policy loosening over the next three to four months will just delay the inevitable  The mood in the country turns from Obama Euphoria to Obama Overhype and Obama Disenchantment

2)       One or more of the Big Three automakers files for chapter 11. Chinese or Indian carmakers pick off remains.

3)       Run on banks as financial institutions start to close their doors as the next financial bubble bursts-overextended commercial mortgages and retail store closings or any one of the other 14 bubbles that have yet to burst (,,,How bad is the house crisis? you can now buy a house in Detroit if you want to for $1,000. (see here )

4)       An unexpected geopolitical event  rocks financial markets and halts global trade (like the assassination of archduke Ferdinand did in 1914 that lead to WW1) ie

            a) Avian Flu outbreak (remember the 2007 scares) or 

            b) a global internet glitch paralizes communications or  

            c) Israel with the help of the USA, attacks Iran, which in turn retaliates,

            d) tensions betwen the USA and China over control of newly discovered oil & gas fields or

            e) arms sales into moldering geopolitical hot spots by USA, UK, Sweden, France, Israel, China and Russia

5)       Unemployment skyrockets in the US hitting one in five or one in four

6)       Civil demonstrations and riots break out against governments anywhere on the globe. US delares marshal law, orchistrates mass arrests and sets up  internment camps similar to the ones in 1914-1920 in Canada.and during World War 2 in the US and Canada

7)       Some US state governments and/or  Canadian provinces start to announce or hint at bankruptcy

8)       China, Japan and the petro-states loose trust in US treasury bills

9)       The US dollar takes a tumble

10)   Sudden & unexpected switch from deflation and stagflation to hyperinflation and rising interest rates

......11) ...more  how-2-books for Dummies !!!

 

 

Related posts:

Smart Economy-My10 Hot predictions for 2009 

and 82 Signposts to the current Recession Depression Summary from 2008 

and  Recession - Proofing your Business - Spotting & Designing Opportunities in a Downturn – June 25, 2008, Ontario College of Art Design, Toronto, ON

 

Consumers and business owners and managers need to keep a keen watch over all of these factors and milestones and what could trigger them.

 

Everyone needs to become their own economist. Ask a bunch of "what-if" questions and what could the consequences be? Trust your gut feel.

 

Walter Derzko- Wishing everyone a safe and happy New Year!!

 

© 2005-2008

Walter Derzko -"Changing the world, one idea at a time"©

Author of the soon-to-be-released book: Hard Times Golden Opportunities.. about opportunity recognition in a recession/ depression featuring 45 opportunity scenarios.

Expert, Consultant and Keynote Speaker on Emerging Smart Technologies, Innovation, Strategic Foresight, Business Development, Lateral Creative Thinking and author of an upcoming book on the Smart Economy "

The Smart Technology Blog: The Smart Economy -- Read, enjoy, explore, speculate, comment !!

To arrange for an in house presentation or briefing on smart technology see here

To explore the opportunities and threats of any new smart technology in your industry - Contact Me or explore how we can work together

• ".....Strategy without action is a day-dream; action without strategy is a nightmare"-old Japanese proverb
• ".......Ours is the age that is proud of machines that think and suspicious of men who try to." -- H. Mumford Jones
• ".......Without changing our patterns of thought, we will not be able to solve the problems we created with our current pattern of thought."  --A. Einstein
• ".......Change is difficult, but complacency and stagnation are surefire showstoppers..." --Walter Derzko

• ".......Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."  -- Margaret Mead

• ".......Small minds discuss people; Average minds discuss events; Great minds discuss ideas; --Anon

P. S. if this is your first visit to my blog, please go to our Welcome page

Smart Economy-My10 Hot predictions for 2009

Since many of my Smart Economy blog predictions throughout 2006-2008 have been fairly accurate, several people have emailed me asking for my opinions for 2009. So, falling back on my track record, and  stepping out on a limb, I offer my 10 Top Hot predictions for the coming year-2009. Here's what I see in my crystal ball. You don't have to pull an Amazing Kreskin to anticipate many of them.

 

Global Hot spots? . The world will have to learn new names and cope with unpronounceable places as we see both increased civil demonstrations and riots in Africa, Iceland, Latin America, the EU (UK, Spain,France and Germany), Russia and Asia ( Indonesia). Some places face food shortages, water shortages and energy brown-outs or black-outs. USA demonstrations and riots will get their fair share of media coverage in 2009-2010 as US state governments teeter on the verge of bankruptcy and services are drastically curtailed or eliminated. Socialism, Fascism and Communism make a resurgence. New extremist sects or religions pop up in troubled hot spots. Russia uses its new law on "extremism" at full throttle. A China crackdown follows. Several countries declare insolvency. Creeping global protectionism increases replacing globalization-Watch for new tariffs in India, China, USA  and Russia. 2009 Hot spots include a) regions where tensions increase between the USA and China over control of newly discovered oil fields or gas fields or b) regions that witness a jump in arms sales into new moldering geopolitical hot spots ( ie Tiawan, Pakistan, India) by USA, UK, Germany, Sweden, France, Israel, China and Russia.

 

If we use annual arms sales as a proxy forward indicator of pending global hot spots, where can we expect hotspots in 2009? ...top contenders?: Israel, Gaza, Pakistan, India, China-Tiawan, Saudi Arabia, UEA, Egypt, South Korea, Syria, Suddan, Somalia, Venezuala. (You can't fight, attack or defend if you don't have weapons.) 

 

Denizens in Denial: Commenting on a recent trip to Moscow, Richard Florida wonders:

"It will be interesting to see how the first post-superpower generation in the U.S.and  Russia handles the looming economic crisis. Judging from the ubiquitous Louis Vuitton purses and InStyle readers in the Moscow airport, populations in both countries appear to be in denial about the prospect of a full-fledged depression. Americans still pacing the malls fervently wish that some combination of government bailouts, Federal Reserve action and the incoming Obama administration will save them. Russians cannot bear to think back to the late 1990s, when they last faced an economic fallout, and have stockpiled savings and foreign reserves in the hopes of avoiding it, even in the event of a stock-market collapse."

The Stock Market? US stock markets (S&P 500) will show signs of one or two day life,  gyrating up in monthly  20 % upward swings, fooling some of the bottom-feeder crowd eager to purchase stocks at what they think is the bottom. But overall the S&P will be down a third to a half of what it was in 2008, the good old days. (Down to 400 to 600 vs 870 range in the last week of December 2008) We are likely to see more scandals, more pump and dump schemes.

The US Economy & the Global Economy?: Two options here; Bad or Really Bad. The question is how far will the US economy tank, despite continued government bailouts and stimulations? How many banks could close their doors or merge in the US? Over 100 banks including any one of the top 10 (Citigroup, Bank of America etc), who got TARP bailout funds are still insolvent now. Pubic trust and confidence (or lack of) could start on “run on banks” in 2009.

More than 10 million migrant workers lost their jobs in China during the first 11 months of 2008, Caijing Magazine reported on Dec. 17, citing a Labor Ministry official.  The total will likely grow in 2009. The World Bank forecasts that global trade, which grew 6.2 percent in 2008, will shrink by 2.1 percent next year, the first such contraction since 1982.

Next financial bubble to burst? Weak Christmas sales will precipitate the commercial mortgage market bubble to burst by spring or summer of 2009 and the housing crisis and lower property tax and sales tax revenues will force some US State governments to go broke. Resurgence of mom-and-pop corner stores will occur after main street malls start to fail.

 

Confidence in the US financial system?   That’s the big one. Will  China, Japan, and the Middle East money run to the perceived safety of the $US dollar and buy new issues of American T-bills when the next global financial crisis hits (pick your bubble) ? Or will everyone abandon ship? Could go either way  Milestone Points to Watch: Will the USA economy fare worse then the rest of the world or not? Which country will Obama visit first after he becomes President?  China or Canada is my bet. Will the China/US business symbiosis turn into rivalry and conflict, like we saw in 1914 with the UK and Germany?

Obama:Best job in the world ? or worst having Obama ducking for cover ( some are predicting an assassination attempt ) Miracle worker? or Mirage peddler? Jury is still out-It could go either way.

 

Technology?: Innovation is not just alive and well, but thriving. Opportunity-savvy entrepreneurs will launch brand-new-to-the-world, industry-defining businesses in 2009-2010, despite all the gloom and doom and general lack of credit. Science and technology breakthroughs from 2004-2007 will surface as commercial ventures. Ie 4^thgeneration biofuels that reach price parity with fossil fuels.

 

Business Landscape?: 2/3 of US GDP is driven by consumer spending. Many traditional brands and favorite retail stores and manufacturers will disappear, closing their doors for good in 2009. In the auto sector, the bailouts will only be a temporary stop gap. Will the Big Three merge into the Big Two? Or  maybe only a single Big One will be left standing? If global trade doesn’t pick up, even the Walmart’s of the world are vulnerable. (Watch: container traffic volumes into US ports such as Long Beach California and credit default swaps spreads on major brands and players)

Terrorism?:Terrorists, seeking to cease on the economic weakness of the USA launch another ingenious unexpected attack taking the country by surprise; ( Such as outsourced terrorism or what I have coined "surrogate terrorism" - where someone unwittingly does the nasty deed for you, via duel-use smart technology or  "biolaundering", where life-threatening pathogens, spores, bacteria or virus sources ( impregnated into online purchased agar media or in other commonly-used reagents)  are propagated into a growing community of biohackersin the USA -kitchen table or garage hobbyists, mostly curious college students  tinkering with biotechnology, who eventually spread them unknowingly throughout the entire country)  Other wild cards...new debates--"Islamo-Fascism", new scape goats.

Will 2009 finally be the year that Osama Bin Laden get apprehended ? If he is caught, I bet it won't be in  Afghanistan or Pakistan. But don't expect terrorism to subside.

 

Bright spots?:  New leaders around with globe will emerge offering people hope and comfort, lead by a charismatic Obama. People will turn back to religion or spirituality for comfort in difficult times. Innovation will thrive in niche pockets. Feel-good movies, TV shows  and books are winners. Hollywood -reeling from credit problems will be surpassed by largely unknown International film studios. Economic slowdowns and factory shutdowns around the globe will curtail CO2 emissions just like we saw in the years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. As traditional banks close,  new sources of financing (online intermediaries linking lenders and borrowers, pawn shops, Islamic banks, the mafia and loan sharks, petro-dollars and sovereign wealth funds and narco-dollars) become the new go to sources of money for startups and bleeding incumbent corporations. Barter on on international level increases. (oil for loans, wheat for rice or vegetable oil etc)This recession / depression will force may people to start thinking about how to live in a zero-growth, sustainable economy.

Check back in December 2009 to see how I did

Walter Derzko--Merry Christmas and a safe healthy and Happy New Year to all our readers !!

UPDATE; Here's a prediction from Niall Ferguson: Chronicle of a decline foretold By Niall Ferguson

Related Posts: 82 Signposts to the current Recession Depression Summary from 2008

© 2005-2008

Walter Derzko --"Changing the world, one idea at a time" ©

Expert, Consultant and Keynote Speaker on Emerging Smart Technologies, Innovation, Strategic Foresight, Business Development, Lateral Creative Thinking and author of an upcoming book on Smart Technologies in the Smart Economy "

The Smart Economy -- Read, enjoy, explore, speculate, comment !!

To arrange for an in house presentation or briefing on smart technology see here

To explore the opportunities and threats of any new smart technology in your industry - Contact Me or explore how we can work together

.....Strategy without action is a day-dream; action without strategy is a nightmare"- old Japanese proverb

".....Ours is the age that is proud of machines that think and suspicious of men who try to." -- H. Mumford Jones

"....Without changing our patterns of thought, we will not be able to solve the problems we created with our current pattern of thought."  --A. Einstein

 

"....Change is difficult, but complacency and stagnation are showstoppers..." --Walter Derzko

 

"...Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."  - Margaret Mead

P. S. if this is your first visit to my blog, please go to our Welcome page

82 Signposts to the current Recession Depression Summary from 2008

I was surprised by how many post I've penned over the last year, that signaled that we were at the top of the current business cycle and heading into the next recession or depression.

 

Here's a list/ summary of all 82 posts, as well as earlier predictions on the pending banking crisis and housing bubble.

 

Smart Economy- My 10 Hot predictions for 2009

When will this recession end?

Dealing with the US National Debt. How will business and consumers react to the crisis?

Wanted: calming voices of sanity amid the gloom and doom

Who will bailout Canadian & American small and medium-sized business in 2009 ?

Anatomy of a Financial Bubble or the Hype Cycle

Bailout Economy Part 2 Vice President-Elect Joe Biden: U.S. Economy in Danger of 'Absolutely Tanking'

How safe is your bank? How safe is your money in a depression?

Is Global Warming a good thing? Have 8,000 years of human-influenced global warming forestalled the onset of new Ice age?

The Psychology of Bad News, Fear, Over-reaction, Consumer Confidence and the Depression (or why it's patriotic to shop?)

Vacuum leaves pullout opportunities

What new economic conditions should business expect in this recession? The Big Squeeze-wage stagnation, price deflation, juxtaposed with new energy taxes?

US squandering its Economy of Trust, bottom fishers on the sidelines

Top 10 smart technologies for Obama and Harper to consider for their infrastructure / cyberstructure / cognistructure program

How will baby boomers handle the recession? Zoomers, Doomers, Gloomers, Opportuneurs

The next global crisis-Famine

Will a World War pull us out of a depression again?

Could Canada, the USA or the EU survive as a steady state, zero growth economy?

Recession, Depression and Shortages as Opportunities

Can Canada keep its head above water if the US economy continues to tank? Our BRIC future?

What a 2010's depression might look like (part 2) 20 more events to watch out for

What a 2010's depression might look like?

Will the consumer credit card debt bubble lead to a collapse of the shopping mall economy?

Next drop in equity markets will be due to panic in Credit Default Swaps (CDS) market

Roadmap to the financial crisis

US bailouts. A trillion here and a trillion there, in case someone is keeping score

Clueless and Irresponsible Americans-The Shopping Class?

The US recession, it's official ! Now start looking for the opportunities !!

The next debt crisis -commercial mortgage market set to collapse in North America in 2009-2010

This Time is Different: A Panoramic View of Eight Centuries of Financial Crises

The next technology boom? delayed by a decade or two?

What could this depression look like? Look back 135 years

Follow the money trail

The perfect depression causing storm-4 intersecting / reinforcing long term trends converging over next 10 years

Not your normal recession in the West -an ongoing Bailout Economy?

Why is Ford & GM booming in Brazil & bankrupt in the USA?

Time to be blunt with the American people Mr Treasury Secretary, Henry M. Paulson!

Who & What do you think will be recession -proof?

Prediction of economic collapse from the Club of Rome's 30 year old Limits to Growth book 'coming true'

Why this recession will be much longer then most people expect-20 more good sobering reasons.

North American Auto Industry Bailout? Should it go bankrupt? Yes?

Depression and the next crisis - Global Trade Collapse

In 25 years, Ukraine dominates over Russia's Rotting Empire according to Nina L. Khrushcheva, great grand-daughter of Nikita Khrushchev

The Recession and Elderly Crime (by and not against)

Soros says deep recession inevitable, depression possible

The no-strings-attached US bailouts

A triple dip, 2 decade long recession /depression? 15 sobering reasons

Obama , the election over-Hype and Energy Security-11 key challenges

Opportunity Recognition in Difficult Times

Could the USA go bankrupt?

Global Peak Oil in 3-5 years by 2011-2013-energy famine on the way?

What will the next economy look like, after this one crumbles?

Early warning signs of civil unrest?

Are Ukraine and 20 other countries at risk of bankruptcy?

What in the world is going on ? Global Financial Crisis Part 13

What's wrong with the USA bailout package?

Why do some people survive disasters better then others?

Restructuring of American Business-A New Business Model? What In The World Is Going On? Part 2 of 4

The Emergence of China-What In The World Is Going On? Part 1 of 4

Why oil prices are likely to fall more Part 3 (summer update)

China Paradox, unexplained anomalies weak signals of change?

Using New Yorker Cartoons for Opportunity Recognition /Sense-making & Pattern Recognition

Dark conversations with Richard Florida and potential hope for the USA and Canada

Why oil prices will drop in 2009 Part 2 Supply Up & Demand Dropping

Recessions and Car Races

Recession - Proofing your Business - Spotting & Designing Opportunities in a Downturn

Now I know we are in a recession !!-the Starbucks recession

Why oil prices are set to fall-weak signals of change

Is the Oil Price Bubble ready to burst?

Turning Misery into Opportunity

Recession - Proofing your Business - Spotting & Designing Opportunities in a Downturn – June 25, 2008, Ontario College of Art Design, Toronto, ON

Seizing Global Opportunities OCE Discovery 2008

Top 21 winners in the next Smart Economy?

Recession-Proofing your Business-Strategies and Tactics for smoother sailing in turbulent seas

Master Class in Opportunity Recognition for entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs> May 30th 2008> University of Toronto

Seizing Global Opportunities

Time to rethink priorities? Industry now spends three times as much on litigation in the United States as it does on research

Text Mining for S&T Scouting, Foresight and Opportunity Recognition

The Opportunity Clinic-swapping opportunity scenarios 08-002

 

Earlier Signals

US geophysicist predicted the current U.S. housing bubble - and when it would burst.

Wild Card? -Collapse of the US banking system in 2008?

© 2005-2008

Walter Derzko --"Changing the world, one idea at a time" ©

Expert, Consultant and Keynote Speaker on Emerging Smart Technologies, Innovation, Strategic Foresight, Business Development, Lateral Creative Thinking and author of an upcoming book on Smart Technologies in the Smart Economy "

The Smart Economy -- Read, enjoy, explore, speculate, comment !!

To arrange for an in house presentation or briefing on smart technology see here

To explore the opportunities and threats of any new smart technology in your industry - Contact Me or explore how we can work together

.....Strategy without action is a day-dream; action without strategy is a nightmare"- old Japanese proverb

".....Ours is the age that is proud of machines that think and suspicious of men who try to." - H. Mumford Jones

"....Without changing our patterns of thought, we will not be able to solve the problems we created with our current pattern of thought."  A. Einstein

 

 

"....Change is difficult, but complacency and stagnation are showstoppers..." --Walter Derzko

 

 

"...Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."  - Margaret Mead

P. S. if this is your first visit to my blog, please go to our Welcome page

Intel's view of smart technologies in the next Smart Economy: energy harvesting

A number of companies are working away at developing smart technologies, but releasing few details to the public.

So I was delighted to see several press releases and comments by Intel CTO Justin Ratner, who  gave us a glimpse of that Intel is developing in its back room labs.

When I do emerging technology briefings for clients, one of my predictions is that energy harvesting (used  in self-powered intelligent objects) would be a key new-to-the-world capability of smart enabling technologies and in intelligent objects, systems and environments. In fact,  it's  my trend #4 on my list of 15 new trends that show what the potential impacts of smart technologies might be. Working in that direction Intel reported on Friday that:

"...[...]... it is researching technology to harvest free energy from the environment, which could lead to devices such as mobile phones running for indefinite periods without recharging.

The company is working on tiny sensors that can capture energy from sources such as sunlight and body heat. In the future, such energy could be used to power personal electronic devices such as cell phones."

There are already watches available that are powered by body heat, as well as prototype smartphones with display screens that double as solar cells, said Justin Rattner, chief technology officer at Intel, during a press event. Intel is also looking at powering a mobile phone by harvesting the energy the user generates by moving the phone's trackball. The radiation of cell phone or TV signals might also be used to power devices.

"Wouldn't it be nice if, in fact, you were able to go almost indefinitely without charging the battery, if you were able to scavenge enough free energy from the environment?" Rattner said.

Intel's initial efforts revolve around the sensors, which could power themselves using free energy. Recharging themselves by scavenging free energy allows the sensors to continuously record and transmit readings over wireless networks, without any human involvement. "

...[...]....

Intel has also designed a self-charging neural implant that can monitor bodily functions and transmit its readings wirelessly, Rattner said. .."I never have to ... come along with some sort of external fixture and have to recharge this. These become ... install-and-forget systems, because they can scavenge energy from the environment and power themselves up," Rattner said.

Intel has not marketed such a sensor yet, as its research is still ongoing, Rattner said. Sensors use just a fraction of the power demanded by typical mobile devices, and it may take a while before the energy-harvesting technology can power larger items.

[...] "We haven't been driving it as an Intel product; it's not on anyone's road map at this point. It's part of our broader effort in both sensors and energy harvesting," Rattner said.

In an earlier summer time announcement Intel divulged:

"In the next 40 years, Intel is planning to develop a range of new technology that will allow chips to communicate through pulses of light and allow users to wirelessly project the Internet onto large screens from tiny mobile devices."

The benefits of these types of processors are chips that use less energy and give off less heat, while increasing the bandwidth and the speed at which data travels from one point to another. IBM is also working on similar technology.

Looking at novel embedded capabilities, Intel also announced a photonics breakthrough that will allow us to  transmit data using light faster, shifting our manufacturing paradigm from  electrons and copper to light and fiber optics. The research paper, which is being published in the Dec. 7 edition of the scientific journal Nature Photonics, describes efforts by Intel engineers to build a silicon-based APD (avalanche photodetector) at a lower cost and that gives better overall performance than conventional photodetectors made of different materials.

IBM endorses smart technology and a smarter planet

A while back when I was at the Idea Lab at the Design Exchange, I remember sitting over a coffee and exploring a thought exercise with some clients.

The question under debate was: What are  the generic elements or activities that would accelerate any new technology platform, (such as smart technologies) and overcome the initial market interia. Simply put, Is there a generic technology evolution matrix?

We came up with over 25 items. (see related Post-Do you know how to spot opportunities?)

One was having cartoonists make fun of your technology ( No, smart technologies aren't on Dilbert's radar screen yet, but any day now I hope)  Another key event would be to have some influential CEO highlight the benefits of your technology in a milestone keynote speech (act as a complimentor-in business strategy terms. )

Well for smart technologies, that breakthrough event may have happened this month on November 6^th, when IBM’s CEO, Sam Palmisano, outlined a new agenda for building a smarter planet - during a speech at the Council on Foreign Relation. (hat tip to Adam Christensen at IBM HQ)

 

 

From IBM's blog:

"In the speech, he outlines a number of the challenges faced today by people, governments, businesses and organizations. A lack of clean water for a fifth of the world’s population. Energy systems that waste more energy than they produce. Traffic in our cities that clogs roads and chokes economic growth. 

Clearly there are no simple solutions for these problems.

Technology can play a big role in helping find answers to these problems. While the Internet currently connects more than a billion people, in just a few years, it will connect more than a trillion objects. Everything from cell phones, cars, roads, buildings, and even objects in nature itself, will have embedded technology and be connected to one another, enabling tremendous advances in how we understand how the world works and make smarter decisions to make it work better. 

But technology is just part of the solution. Without the people, policies and culture to inspire and execute the change, nothing ultimately gets done."

From Sam’s speech:

[...]   These collective realizations have reminded us that we are all now connected—economically, technically and socially. But we're also learning that being connected is not sufficient. Yes, the world continues to get "flatter." And yes, it continues to get smaller and more interconnected. But something is happening that holds even greater potential. In a word, our planet is becoming smarter.

This isn't just a metaphor.I mean infusing intelligence into the way the world literally works—the systems and processes that enable physical goods to be developed, manufactured, bought and sold… services to be delivered… everything from people and money to oil, water and electrons to move… and billions of people to work and live.

 What's making this possible?

• First, our world is becoming instrumented: The transistor, invented 60 years ago, is the basic building block of the digital age. Now, consider a world in which there are a billion transistors per human, each one costing one ten-millionth of a cent. We'll have that by 2010. There will likely be 4 billion mobile phone subscribers by the end of this year… and 30 billion Radio Frequency Identification tags produced globally within two years. Sensors are being embedded across entire ecosystems—supply-chains, healthcare networks, cities… even natural systems like rivers.
• Second, our world is becoming interconnected: Very soon there will be 2 billion people on the Internet. But in an instrumented world, systems and objects can now "speak" to one another, too. Think about the prospect of a trillion connected and intelligent things—cars, appliances, cameras, roadways, pipelines… even pharmaceuticals and livestock. The amount of information produced by the interaction of all those things will be unprecedented.
• Third, all things are becoming intelligent: New computing models can handle the proliferation of end-user devices, sensors and actuators and connect them with back-end systems. Combined with advanced analytics, those supercomputers can turn mountains of data into intelligence that can be translated into action, making our systems, processes and infrastructures more efficient, more productive and responsive—in a word, smarter.

What this means is that the digital and physical infrastructures of the world are converging. Computational power is being put into things we wouldn't recognize as computers. Indeed, almost anything—any person, any object, any process or any service, for any organization, large or small—can become digitally aware and networked.

With so much technology and networking abundantly available at such low cost, what wouldn't you enhance? What service wouldn't you provide a customer, citizen, student or patient? What wouldn't you connect? What information wouldn't you mine for insight?

The answer is, you or your competitor—another company, or another city or nation—will do all of that. You will do it because you can—the technology is available and affordable.

But there is another reason we will make our companies, institutions and industries smarter. Because we must. Not just at moments of widespread shock, but integrated into our day-to-day operations. These mundane processes of business, government and life—which are ultimately the source of those "surprising" crises—are not smart enough to be sustainable.

[...]

Leaders will need to hone their collaboration skills, because we will need leadership that pulls across systems. We will need to bring together stakeholders and experts from across business, government and academia, and all of them will need to move outside their traditional comfort zones.

I’m struck by the questions this raises. What investments need to be made by both public and private institutions? What policy issues need to be debated and resolved? What role can individual citizens and employees play in helping bring about meaningful change?

I’m also struck by the potential opportunities inherent in finding solutions to these problems. 

see full text of Sam Palmisano's speech

Walter Derzko

 

From IBM's blog:

"In the speech, he outlines a number of the challenges faced today by people, governments, businesses and organizations. A lack of clean water for a fifth of the world’s population. Energy systems that waste more energy than they produce. Traffic in our cities that clogs roads and chokes economic growth. 

Clearly there are no simple solutions for these problems.

Technology can play a big role in helping find answers to these problems. While the Internet currently connects more than a billion people, in just a few years, it will connect more than a trillion objects. Everything from cell phones, cars, roads, buildings, and even objects in nature itself, will have embedded technology and be connected to one another, enabling tremendous advances in how we understand how the world works and make smarter decisions to make it work better. 

But technology is just part of the solution. Without the people, policies and culture to inspire and execute the change, nothing ultimately gets done."

From Sam’s speech:

[...]   These collective realizations have reminded us that we are all now connected—economically, technically and socially. But we're also learning that being connected is not sufficient. Yes, the world continues to get "flatter." And yes, it continues to get smaller and more interconnected. But something is happening that holds even greater potential. In a word, our planet is becoming smarter.

This isn't just a metaphor.I mean infusing intelligence into the way the world literally works—the systems and processes that enable physical goods to be developed, manufactured, bought and sold… services to be delivered… everything from people and money to oil, water and electrons to move… and billions of people to work and live.

 What's making this possible?

• First, our world is becoming instrumented: The transistor, invented 60 years ago, is the basic building block of the digital age. Now, consider a world in which there are a billion transistors per human, each one costing one ten-millionth of a cent. We'll have that by 2010. There will likely be 4 billion mobile phone subscribers by the end of this year… and 30 billion Radio Frequency Identification tags produced globally within two years. Sensors are being embedded across entire ecosystems—supply-chains, healthcare networks, cities… even natural systems like rivers.
• Second, our world is becoming interconnected: Very soon there will be 2 billion people on the Internet. But in an instrumented world, systems and objects can now "speak" to one another, too. Think about the prospect of a trillion connected and intelligent things—cars, appliances, cameras, roadways, pipelines… even pharmaceuticals and livestock. The amount of information produced by the interaction of all those things will be unprecedented.
• Third, all things are becoming intelligent: New computing models can handle the proliferation of end-user devices, sensors and actuators and connect them with back-end systems. Combined with advanced analytics, those supercomputers can turn mountains of data into intelligence that can be translated into action, making our systems, processes and infrastructures more efficient, more productive and responsive—in a word, smarter.

What this means is that the digital and physical infrastructures of the world are converging. Computational power is being put into things we wouldn't recognize as computers. Indeed, almost anything—any person, any object, any process or any service, for any organization, large or small—can become digitally aware and networked.

With so much technology and networking abundantly available at such low cost, what wouldn't you enhance? What service wouldn't you provide a customer, citizen, student or patient? What wouldn't you connect? What information wouldn't you mine for insight?

The answer is, you or your competitor—another company, or another city or nation—will do all of that. You will do it because you can—the technology is available and affordable.

But there is another reason we will make our companies, institutions and industries smarter. Because we must. Not just at moments of widespread shock, but integrated into our day-to-day operations. These mundane processes of business, government and life—which are ultimately the source of those "surprising" crises—are not smart enough to be sustainable.

[...]

Leaders will need to hone their collaboration skills, because we will need leadership that pulls across systems. We will need to bring together stakeholders and experts from across business, government and academia, and all of them will need to move outside their traditional comfort zones.

I’m struck by the questions this raises. What investments need to be made by both public and private institutions? What policy issues need to be debated and resolved? What role can individual citizens and employees play in helping bring about meaningful change?

I’m also struck by the potential opportunities inherent in finding solutions to these problems. 

see full text of Sam Palmisano's speech

Walter Derzko

Smart Sustainability Showcase for Toronto and Canada

From: Walter Derzko

Sent: Friday, July 11, 2008 12:19 AM

To: undisclosed list

Subject: re Smart Sustainability ShowCase for Toronto and Canada.

Importance: High

Dear Colleagues

I’d like to plant an idea with you – after speaking with a number of designers and vendors, I’m exploring the idea for a sustainability showcase that would feature theme based exhibits with smart technologies from Canadian and international sources-the best from Ontario, nationally and from around the world.

The launch would be 2010, The timing for this seems right.  The target audience would be Canadian business, consumers and school children

I’m writing a book on smart technologies and this would be a logical extension of the concept.

Two years ago I talked to Samantha Sannella and Poala Polletto at the Design Exchange (DX) in Toronto and with several people at the Ont Science Center.  Both groups expressed interest but said that we would need to find sponsors for the project

My business model for this would be three pronged -vendor based revenue, corporate based sponsor revenue and municipality based sponsorship ie city of Toronto or Mississauga and possibly the province of Ontario who may wish to promote sustainable manufacturing.

This concept would be a Canadian, in fact a North American first.

I have a list of 150 potential vendors, and designers from around the world who are working on smart technologies that we can start to approach.

The exhibits would be theme based, --the sustainable kitchen, the sustainable office, the sustainable retail shelf, the sustainable workspace, the sustainable community, the sustainable city etc and would be updated with new technologies every 3-5 years and have a 1-5 year forward focus. (what's commercially available now or in the very near future.

For other exhibits, there can be a regional or national focus ie smart sustainable technology from the UK, Finland, Germany (Fraunhofer Inst), China, Ukraine, Russia, or Singapore, Hong Kong etc

Corporate sponsors might include: Walmart, Rona, Home Deport, Canadian Tire, Loblaws, Sears, Imperial Oil, the banks (RBC, TD, RBC BMO) etc.

The Sustainability Showcase could be housed in a physical location, or it could tour from location to location around the city or province or be mobile ( on a bus the way the Japanese and Korean do- a display bus turned into a demo center that tours from school to school or to fairs and exhibitions.

OCAD students and staff and Beal senior fellows could play a hand in designing exhibit spaces and sourcing new vendors and sustainable technologies.

Several other revenue opportunities could spin off from this as well

Here’s just a few examples of what can be showcased

1) Environmentally sensible packaging such as Mercury-Absorbant NanoSponge packaging for broken compact fluorescent lamps (CFL's) http://smarteconomy.typepad.com/smart_economy/2008/06/mercury-absorba.html

2) Concrete Wood (from the example I mentioned June 2 at OCAD, when Bob Logan was bemoaning the lack of durability of pressboard shelving from Ikea.  See Concrete Wood from lodgepole pine trees destroyed by pine beetles (kills two birds with one stone) http://smarteconomy.typepad.com/smart_economy/2007/11/concrete-wood.html

3) End of Traditional Heating and Air conditioning Thin-film version of Active Building Envelope (ABE) systems could make conventional air conditioning and heating equipment obsolete http://smarteconomy.typepad.com/smart_economy/2006/07/thinfilm_versio.html

4) OLEDs New High efficiency flat light source OLEDs > Almost any surface in a home, whether flat or curved, could become a light source: walls, curtains, ceilings, cabinets, shelves or tables.  Http://smarteconomy.typepad.com/smart_economy/2006/04/new_high_effici.html

Lots more like these

For anyone who is interested in exploring the idea of a Smart Sustainability Showcase for Toronto, we are having a meeting on Tuesday July 22 at 11 am at the Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD), Beal Institute for Strategic Creativity, room 600, 6th floor , 100 McCaul St, Toronto just south of the Ont Art Gallery.

Please RSVP, so we know how many people are coming

I have had some positive feedback from several organizations, & I’d like to push the concept forward

I'm sending this nationally and internationally in  case you are aware of any designers, vendors, manufacturers or research centers who have interesting cutting edge smart sustainable technology to showcase.

Contact me by email

----Walter  Derzko; Senior Fellow Beal Institute for Strategic Creativity, OCAD 

© 2005-2008 Walter Derzko -"Changing the world, one idea at a time"©

Expert, Consultant, Keynote Speaker and Lecturer on Emerging Smart Technologies, Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Strategic Foresight, Business Development, Lateral Creative Thinking and author of an upcoming book on the Smart Economy

The Smart Technology Blog: The Smart Economy -- Read, enjoy, explore, speculate, comment !!

To arrange for an in house presentation or briefing on smart technology see here

To explore the opportunities and threats of any new smart technology in your industry - Contact Me or explore how we can work together