Smart Economy

3D printing for the masses by Shapeways; Consumers & hobbyists flip into designers

Just as easy-to-post blog technology turned consumers into amateur journalists and Pagemaker and Adobe helped people to become DIY  graphic designers, we now see the next stage of this evolution or what I call "return to the cottage industry" trend ....enter the consumer-turned-designer (from your mind, to the screen and into your hands). This could become one of the most disruptive technologies of the decade, leading to greater open source innovation and "crowd sourcing' for new product ideas and concepts.

According to Technology Review today:

"A new online service aims to bring customized manufacturing to the masses by allowing consumers to submit digital designs of products that are then printed, using 3-D printers, and shipped back.

Currently, such 3-D printers--in which successive layers of different polymers are sprayed gradually, building up a 3-D object--are very expensive, says Peter Weijmarshausen, CEO of Shapeways a spinout from Philips Research, in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

But the new service, launched last week, makes this technology accessible to anyone: budding artists, architects, product designers, and general hobbyists. A small design company might want to make samples to show a client, or an artist might want to make copies of the same sculpture created digitally, for example.

"From a technology viewpoint, Shapeways is not that new," says Weijmarshausen. "Rapid prototyping has been used by the aircraft and automotive industries for years, but now we're making it accessible to consumers."

[Now, all that's missing is for schools (from public to university) to start directly teaching lateral and critical thinking skills and thinking in 3D, as a seperate course to optimize for the best use of this technology--Walter Derzko]

http://www.shapeways.com/login and Technology Review writeup and YouTube video

© 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

China Paradox, unexplained anomalies weak signals of change?

From the intelligence analysts at Stratfor this morning:

"There's something strange underway in China.  It's still at the "dog that didn't bark" stage.  But here's the critical point: forecasting is art as much as science, and the trick-knees and queasy bellies in our Intel department are working overtime right now.  Join Stratfor now to see what's keeping our team up nights.

The Olympics are kicking off in a week.  It's supposed to be China's big party, their emergence onto the global stage demonstrating they're open for business.  So why this incongruous behavior?

- Why have they stopped issuing business visas for travel to Shanghai?

- Why are regional banks defying the central government on international investment decisions?

- Why are a whole host of contradictory policies on foreign direct investment being imposed, "refined," and pulled?

"Security Reasons" - the catch-all explanation for every unexplained decision in the post-9/11 world simply doesn't cut it."

There's something else going on, and candidly, we're still at the stage of asking questions rather than providing answers.  But what I can tell you is that after the mainstream media have come home from the Olympics and gone back to their incisive exposés of what the McCain family had for breakfast and the revelatory interview with Obama's gradeschool teacher, Stratfor will be providing real intelligence on what's going on in China, what's driving their decisions, and what you need to know to exploit opportunities and mitigate risks."

see Smog (or Fog) may be the least of China's worries during the Olympics; Terrorist attacks from Human Rights abuses a possibility

© 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

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

A pictures is worth a 1000 words…how about a few dozen opportunity or business concepts.

I’m  testing an Opportunity Recognition /Sense-making  & Pattern Recognition exercise that I’m designing for business students at George Brown College and possibly for Ryerson University and  University of Toronto SCS in 2009.

I took each of the 30 plus cartoons from the latest two issues of the New Yorker magazine  and asked myself: What’s this an example of ? What’s the lesson here? What’s the  Opportunity concept here? What’s the opportunity window or scenario here?

Now, I’m looking for your feedback

What’s your take on each cartoon?

1)       Feel free to add your examples or interpretations to each Opportunity Window in the comments section below.

2)       Cartoon #16 was rather dark….the most ominous one that I’ve seen all year re recession or even depression

• Opportunity Window #1: Reversal from the expected

• Opportunity Window #2: Don’t forget your roots (pun intended)

• Opportunity Window #3 Situation Asset, Wouldn’t it be nice if…..?

• Opportunity Window #4: Change Context? Extreme context? Force out of Context? Random Context?

• Opportunity Window #5: Intrinsic Assets ? Getting under the customer’s skin? empathy?

• Opportunity Window #6  Downsizing? Rightsizing?

• Opportunity Window #7: Error Correction

• Opportunity Window #8 Intrinsic Assets ? Inexperience?

• Opportunity Window #9: Under what circumstances can you create conditions that are favorable to you?

• Opportunity Window #10:  Customer Doubt? Fulfillment?  Goal setting?

• Opportunity Window #11: Next generation?

• Opportunity Window #12: Overcrowding? Scaling ? Sustainability?

• Opportunity Window  #13: Focused vs Diversify  (juxtapose with #16)

• Opportunity Window #14: Requisite Variety? Changing tools or Right tools for Changing Conditions, Circumstances? Ink Trap Metaphor?

• Opportunity Window #15:  Here today, passé tomorrow, Hero of the week, “Can’t stay on top forever ; going back to your roots” or regressing to childhood; Living your childhood dream or fantasy in adulthood?  Brand extension over time-from children to adults

• Opportunity Window #16: Wild Card? Worst-Case Scenario? Recession/Depression Opportunities? Asset liquidation? Point of No Return? Sudden Market shift /loss? Survival? Fall of the Empire?  Negative to Positive (....A Crisis is a terrible thing to waste-Paul Rommer)

Want to learn how to be more opportunity savvy? see here for more information or contact us

© 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

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

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

I stayed up late -it's 3 AM Toronto time, to listen to Richard Florida from the Martin Prosperity Institute in Toronto. He's on the US radio talk show called coast to coast.

Both Richard and the radio host -George Noory agree that Americans are in denial about the severity of current credit crisis and the long term impacts on US society and the rest of the world.

From the Coast to Coast web site:

Cities Jobs and the Economy

"Author Richard Florida discussed his work analyzing and predicting trends in cities, housing, economy, work, and lifestyle. Choosing the right city to live in plays an important role in a person's happiness and success, he said, noting that job markets are becoming more concentrated in specific areas. He also pointed out that we are seeing the development of "mega-regions" such as Southern California, Northern California, Bos-Wash (Boston-Washington) and Char-lanta (Charlotte-Atlanta), which are creating a new kind of geographical order.

Different personality types tend to be clustered in specific cities-- extroverts are more prevalent in Chicago and the South, conscientious types in the Midwest, and agreeable people in the Sunbelt, he detailed. The open-to-experience personality type (introverts, outcasts, whiz kids) are congregated in a dozen American cities including Boston, DC, Atlanta, Denver, Seattle, Miami, Austin, and San Francisco. Interestingly, he has found that people in service industry jobs (such as hair salons) tend to be happier than white collar workers who are typically paid better.

Florida also spoke about his notion of the "creative class," a new kind of social system. Instead of wealth based on natural resources, it's premised on the human mind-- knowledge, information, technology and creativity. America has been the world's "innovative engine," but to be more effective, he suggested we shift power out of Washington and back to local communities."

If you follow the press in Canada, it appears that Canadian business people and economists seem to be in denial too, that the Canadian economy is suddenly decoupled and unaffected by the US crisis and that we will somehow muddle through...and that we don't need to think about recession-proofing your business and life. The high-paying manufacturing jobs are gone and are not coming back. The new smart economy or high tech economy (nano, bio tech) hasn't picked up the slack yet (and it may not) and the service jobs just don't pay as much. (see Globalization and Open Source Smart Nano Economy)

The current New Yorker magazine has a cartoon that captures the potential severity.

Thats the bad news...& now the good news

..."a crisis is a terrible thing to waste...according to US economist Paul Rommer

The bad times will be great times for new business opportunities, due to all the changes that are endemic in the current economy. Every change offers an opportunity for somebody. Many entrepreneurs intuitively recognize that turbulent times bring unprecedented opportunities but only if you are astute enough and savvy enough to see the opportunity patterns or scenarios.

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

Where does Richard Florida think are good host cities/regional clusters  for creative types (which he calls "open to experience") to settle ? .....New York, Chicago, Washington, DC, San Fransisco, LA, Toronto , Amsterdam, London, Sydney.

© 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

Call for Chapters: Neuroeconomics and the Firm

Call for Chapters: Neuroeconomics and the Firm 

Editors
Mellani Day
Angela Stanton
Isabell Welpe

How can we take advantage of neuroeconomics to inform organizations?  Neuroscience can provide us with ways to understand causal relationships; it enables us to identify the biological drivers of beliefs, opportunity perception, opportunity analysis, risk-aversion or risk-seeking, motivation, incentives and reward mechanisms; in other words, we can map the pre-decisional dynamics of the human brain. Neuroeconomics has yielded important new insights and may provide powerful new ways of looking at the firm.

Organizations often rely on economic models that assume human rational decision-making to establish organizational goals and the means by which to achieve them. These models suggest that humans consistently aim to maximize their utility in a self-regarding way. Recent neuroeconomic experiments have shown that the economic model suggested by the classical economic theories is incomplete. Complex organizational decision-making requires the understanding of human cognition and incentive-evaluation using modern economic tools and rigorous experimental methodologies. Neuroscience gives economics new ways to conceptualise and measure important facets of decision making. 

These modern tools of neuroeconomics now help us understand motivation and judgment, not just by looking at the outcome of human decisions but by looking at the neural substrates of the processes that formulate those outcomes.

This interdisciplinary volume focuses on the contributions that neuroeconomics can offer to investigating and improving organizational theories.

We plan to publish 10 to 12 chapters in an edited volume on Neuroeconomics and the Firm. We are seeking manuscripts with sound theoretical or empirical contributions.  The literature on how neuroeconomics can facilitate the understanding of organizational processes is the core of this volume. In particular, we would like to encourage authors to explore brain scanning and hormonal evaluative techniques to analyze the neural substrates of organizational behaviour.

Thus, this edited volume encompasses many ideas that have been discussed previously in the neuroeconomics, neuroentrepreneurship, and neuroscience literature but collates them into specific theme on how neuroscience can inform organizational theory. We are looking for new theoretical insights and empirical studies that link these important areas together. Possible topics that could be addressed in this special issue are:

Neuroeconomics – what it is, how it has been used to date, and how it may be used for organizational theory
How does the field of neuroscience, economics, and organizational study interlink?
How can neuroscience inform organizational management?
How can neuroscientific tools help to identify the drivers of opportunity perception of the entrepreneur?
Can neuroscientific tools help us visualize the opportunity analysis of the entrepreneur?
Can we map the entrepreneur’s pre-decisional dynamics?
Can we use neuroscientific methods to forecast decision outcomes under varying business environmental conditions?
What are the shortcomings and potential conflicts of the use of neuroscientific tools for the understanding of organizational theory?
 

An introduction to your proposed chapter (2-3 pages of double spaced type) must be received by October 31, 2008. Upon evaluating the proposal, selected authors will receive invitation from the editors to submit their manuscripts. Final manuscripts should be received by January 31st, 2009. Authors should prepare manuscripts in accordance with Edward Elgars guidelines http://www.e-elgar.co.uk/guidelines.lasso and have an English-proficient reader/writer assist them to ensure that the manuscript is of publishable quality. Please submit manuscripts in a word-compatible format (any version) electronically by email to [email protected].

Questions may be addressed to any of the special issue editors  [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

© 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

Workshop: Building from the Ground Up: The Questions We Ask About Sustainable Enterprise

[cross-posted from a Business Policy and Strategy List that I belong to--Walter Derzko]

Join us for a Dialogue on Sustainable Enterprise

Building from the Ground Up: The Questions We Ask About Sustainable

Enterprise

Date:  Saturday, August 9, 2008          Time: 9:00 – 11:00 a.m.        Place:

Anaheim

Marriot, Grand Ballroom, Salon J

If you are interested in sustainability this is a PDW you will not want to miss. This workshop offers an opportunity to collectively explore issues and challenges encompassing the natural, the social and the economic environments that confront enterprises operating in developed or developing countries of the world.

Ten scholars deeply committed to advancing research on organizations for sustainability will introduce questions pertaining to the following issues:

·         Organizational skills, capabilities, and processes needed to facilitate sustainable entrepreneurial ventures. (Dr. Mark Milstein, Mr. Erik Simanis, and Mr. Duncan Duke,

Cornell

University

)

·         Individual level motivations and changes required to advance sustainability goals of institutions. (Dr. Gordon Rands,

Western

Illinois

University

and Dr. Mark Starik,

George

Washington

University

)

·         Full range of impacts and unique poverty alleviation implications of Base-of-the-Pyramid ventures. (Dr. Ted London,

University

of

Michigan

)

·         Research design of a study on Global Sustainable Enterprise. (Dr. Aarti Sharma and Dr. Paul Lee,

University of South

Florida

)

·         Corporate social responsibility, stakeholder salience and CEO moral reasoning. (Dr. Jim Weber,

Duquesne

University

)

·         Micro-enterprise as a catalyst for sustainability in Base-of-the-Pyramid communities. (Dr. David Saiia,

Duquesne

University

)

We look forward to sharing some answers, insights and more questions about sustainable enterprise with you! See you there.

Co-Organizers:

Dr. David Saiia & Dr. James Weber [

Duquesne

University

]

Dr. Aarti Sharma [

University of South

Florida

]

Aarti Sharma

Department of Management & Organization

College

of

Business Administration

University of South

Florida

4202 E. Fowler Ave.

, BSN-3524

Tampa, FL-33620-5500

Tel: 813-974-4354

Fax: 813- 974-1734

Email: [email protected]

Web: http://www.coba.usf.edu/sharma

© 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

Osama bin Laden & Middle East Oil 1 USA 0, first period (Part 1 of 2)

Who is winning the terrorist war? You'll be surprised. Just because we haven't seen a repeat of Sept 11, doesn't mean that the US is in the lead.

Here's a convincing argument  by Gal Luft in a story called Breaking Oil's Monopoly in the Transportation Sector

"Ten years ago, Osama bin Laden set a target price for oil at $144 a barrel.  At the time, crude oil prices stood at $12 a barrel and his figure, aimed to compensate the Muslims for what he called “the biggest theft in the history of the world,” sounded delusional.

Four years ago, just prior to the U.S. elections, when oil prices stood at $38, bin Laden explained his economic warfare strategy: “We bled Russia for ten years until it went bankrupt and forced to withdraw in defeat.  We are continuing the same policy to make America bleed profusely to the point of bankruptcy.”

....[.'..]....

Figure on the left: The World According to Oil, scales each country according to the size of its oil reserves...from US Congressman Roscoe Bartlett’s presentation Peak Oil Special Order to the U.S. House of Representatives  Washingon D.C.April 10, 2008

"Today, with oil prices above bin Laden’s stated goal, his economic warfare strategy seems like a resounding success.  At a time al-Qaeda is on the run, $144 oil is a major morale booster and the best birthday present for its 20th anniversary next month.  There is no need to elaborate on the implications of such a victory in terms of loss of U.S. prestige and our ability to prevail in the Long War of the 21-Century.  Furthermore, at current price level, the U.S. will spend over $600 billion on imported oil this year, more than our defense budget, and much of that money will flow into the coffers of those who wish us ill.  It has long been clear that our oil dependence forces us to pay for both sides of the war on terrorism.  In light of this year’s figures, we are paying the other side more than we invest in our own defense."

In order to chart the road to energy security, we must first understand why we are where we are.  There are many reasons for the current oil crisis. Strong demand in developing Asia, speculation, geological decline, and malevolent disruptions have all contributed their share.  But by far, the main culprit is OPEC’s reluctance to ramp up production.  The cartel owns 78 percent of the world’s proven reserves and produces about 40 percent of its oil production.  In 1973, OPEC produced 30mbd, while non-OPEC produced 25mbd.  Today, OPEC produces 32mbd while non-OPEC production is close to 45mbd.  In other words, OPEC today produces almost as much oil as it did 35 years ago while the world global demand for oil has nearly doubled.

Clearly it is not in OPEC’s interest to provide relief to the struggling global economy.  The cartel enjoys a vertical monopoly of the world vehicle fuel supply, and it is currently at the receiving end of the biggest transfer of wealth in human history. To understand the magnitude of the forces in play it is instructive to visualize the scale of OPEC’s wealth in comparison to that of consuming countries: imagine that OPEC members are corporations and a barrel of oil is a share. At $125 oil, OPEC’s market capitalization based on its proven reserves stands today at roughly $137 trillion. This is roughly equivalent to the value of the world’s total financial assets--stocks, bonds, other equities, government and corporate debt and bank deposits--or roughly three times the market capitalization of all the companies traded in the world’s top 27 stock markets.  Such monumental wealth potential will translate into unprecedented buying power for the oil countries.  For demonstration sake, at $200 oil OPEC could potentially buy Bank of America in one month worth of production, Apple Computers in a week and General Motors in just 3 days. It would take less than two years of production for OPEC to own a 20 percent stake (which essentially ensures a voting block in most corporations) in every S&P 500 company."

....more tomorrow...Part 2

© 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

FBI issues Intelligence Bulletin: Cyber Threats to US Business and Tourist Overseas Travelers

FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION  INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN  Directorate of Intelligence  Cyber Intelligence Section

(U) Cyber Threats to US Business and Tourist Overseas Travelers

(U//FOUO) This intelligence bulletin addresses the cyber (CYBR) threat aspects of the National Intelligence Priorities Framework (NIPF) and satisfies intelligence requirements contained in QFBI-2700-001-05, CYBR I.A.2.

(U) Foreign government and non-state actors (e.g., criminals & corporate competitors) regularly target sensitive US corporate and personal information by remotely accessing and/or physically compromising US business and tourist travelers?  Personal electronic devices (PEDs).a While the ease of traveling with PEDs results in greater access to information and enhanced productivity, their small size and storage capacity raise significant cyber security concerns.  Attackers can use the features and functionality offered by PEDs to acquire valuable and exploitable information.  Risks inherent in traveling with PEDs may be mitigated by taking the precautionary measures described below.

(U) National Counterintelligence Executive Joel Brenner said in a speech in December 2007 that American business personnel traveling overseas need to be aware ?that in many cases you are in danger of having your pockets picked of your intellectual property.?1 Dr. Brenner told of an acquaintance working in communications security for large financial firms who counted five beacon and placed remotely into his PDAc between the time he deplaned in a foreign country and the time he arrived in his hotel room.

(U) Malicious actors may physically access US travelers?  Electronic devices to exfiltrate sensitive and proprietary data or to install malware (malicious software) by entering hotel rooms in search of PEDs.  US travelers abroad should often have no expectation of privacy.  For example, the State Department?s Bureau of Consular Affairs warns Americans attending the upcoming 2008 Olympic Summer Games that ?hotel rooms, residences and offices may be accessed at any time without the occupant?s consent or knowledge.?2 The US Embassy in Beijing states that ?foreign government officials, journalists, and business people with access to advanced proprietary technology are particularly likely to be under surveillance.?3 US business and non-commercial travelers may find the same situation in many countries around the world.

(U) Below are precautionary measuresd that US travelers to any destination are encouraged to follow to help safeguard sensitive, proprietary, and personal information.

(U) Remove sensitive informatione from PEDs before traveling, or leave your regular equipment at home and carry sanitized surrogate PEDs when traveling overseas.

(U) Make backups of important data before leaving home, and store the backups on removable media that is kept in a separate location.

(U) Install, maintain, and use firewall and anti-virus software; encrypt your files; use strong passwords to protect your electronic devices (although even password protection does not always prevent intruders from stealing data); and install vendor software updates.

(U) Disable remote connectivity by turning off Bluetooth and related wireless functions that can be used to surreptitiously access your PEDs.

(U) Check your PEDs for viruses and malware if you have to surrender them temporarily during a security screening, and when they are out of sight for any length of time.

(U) Maintain physical possession of your electronic devices, and use anti-tampering or automatic disabling features if available.  Do not leave your devices unattended in hotel rooms or hotel safes (which may be compromised).  Safeguard your device access codes.

(U) Note your surroundings and remember that you have no reasonable expectation of privacy in many public or private locations overseas, including when using wireless access, Internet cafés, and cellular telephones.

(U) Decline requests from unknown individuals to use your PEDs.  If attending a business conference, do not download a speaker?s presentations to your PEDs; or if you are the speaker, do not allow others to connect to your laptop or thumb drive.

(U) Do not use gifts (e.g., thumb drives, compact diskettes, demonstration software, or other electronics or media items), until they have been technically examined for hidden malicious codes and/or hardware.

(U) Inspect your PEDs for bugs, viruses, spyware, and other malware upon returning home and before reconnecting to US business or personal computer networks.

(U) US business travelers who suspect data theft or malware should report it to their company?s information technology security personnel.  Travelers should also contact their local FBI Field Office and the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at www.ic3.gov.

Smog (or Fog) may be the least of China's worries during the Olympics; Terrorist attacks from Human Rights abuses a possibility

I've long had a sense that terrorist threats may be a bigger problem for China, for both tourists, locals, athletes and government officials then the smog that's getting front page, top-of-the-fold newspaper attention.

An Agence France-Presse (AFP) report below confirms my suspisions

[One of the buses hit by an explosion in Kunming-Walter Derzko]

The Chinese government for months has been warning about the risk terrorism poses to the Olympic Games, but when an Islamist group -Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) claimed responsibility for recent blasts and threatened to target the games this past weekend, officials played it down. The Turkistan Islamic Party, which some anaysts say is another name for the better-known East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM). ETIM is an al-Qaeda-affiliated group designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. government.  Other experts say the Turkistan Islamic Party is separate from but linked to ETIM. Last week, Beijing Olympics organizing committee security chief Ma Zhenchuan said ETIM was targeting Olympic venues, and that the threat was "not imaginary."

(AFP) reports: Terror Group Hints at Biological Attack at Olympics:

"A Chinese separatist group recently threatened to attack the Beijing Olympics and also warned of using biological weapons, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday.

A Virginia-based terrorism analysis group has suggested that the threats from the Turkestan Islamic Party should not be entirely dismissed.

"We believe that, based on the TIP's demonstrated ability to conduct bombings and the apparent opportunity TIP believes the Olympic Games presents in terms of targeting and striking a blow to China, that the threat is credible and should be taken seriously," said Ben Venzke, head of IntelCenter.

The separatist group has released a video taking responsibility for recent bus bombings in China, although Chinese officials have suggested the group was wrongly seeking credit for the attacks, AFP reported.

In one video released last week, the group warned of new types of attacks against the Olympics, which are scheduled to begin Aug.8.

"Our aim is to target the most critical points related to the Olympics." We will try to attack Chinese central cities severely using the tactics that have never been employed," said TIP leader Commander Seyfullah in the video.

A further video threat warned of using biological weapons, but Venzke said the group did not have a "demonstrated capability" for such an attack (Paul Handley, Agence France-Presse/Google News, July 27).

In another report we get more background on this Turkestan group and their grievances:

The Uighurs (Uyghurs) are Turkic-speaking Muslims who briefly ran an independent republic called East Turkistan in 1933 and again in 1944.  In 1949 the area fell under communist Chinese rule.

Beijing calls the region, which is bigger than Alaska, Xinjiang ("new frontier").  It comprises one-sixth of modern China's territory, and is its richest region in strategic minerals.  Several hundred thousand Uighurs also live in neighboring Central Asian republics, with the largest community in Kazakhstan.

Critics of Chinese policies say the government encourages the resettling of Han Chinese in Xinjiang - as it does in Tibet (`Tibet Roulette' )- turning what were ethnic majorities into minorities whose cultural, religious and political freedoms are restricted. Han accounted for less than 10 percent of the Xinjiang population in 1950 but now make up more than 40 percent. (just like the resettlement strategy followed by Russia in Ukraine during Stalin's time),

Last week the Uyghur American Association (UAA), a Washington-based advocacy group, accused Beijing of using anti-terror efforts as justification for "an extremely harsh campaign of repression on all forms of Uyghur dissent in East Turkistan."

"The organization said in a statement five Uighurs had been shot dead on July 9 in Urumchi, the capital of China’s Xinjiang region, and that two Uighurs had been executed in another city, Kashgar, “after their sentences were read in front of an audience of 10,000 Uyghurs forced to attend a mass rally.” It said authorities provided no evidence to support claims of involvement in terrorism activities."

(Official Chinese media reports on the incidents said the five people shot dead were among a group who confessed to having received jihad training.  Xinhua said the two Uighurs who were executed had been sentenced to death for separatist activities, training at a terrorist camp, and illegally manufacturing explosives.)

UAA president Rebiya Kadeer voiced support for a peaceful Olympics and opposition to “all forms of violence and terrorism.”

Bahukutumbi Raman, director of an India-based policy institute, said anger over “the perceived silence of the international community because the victims were Muslims (as opposed to human rights abuses in Tibet) might increase the dangers of an act of jihadi terrorism before or during the Olympics either by the Uighurs or by their co-religionists” in neighboring regions like Central Asia and Pakistan."

The US State Department says only a small minority of Uighurs support the TIP or  ETIM.  Its annual reports on global human rights accuses China of using counterterrorism as a pretext for repression in Xinjiang.

© 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

Philips first to light a full office building entirely with LEDs

Royal Philips Electronics announced in Paris France last month that it will light the world’s first office building entirely with LED’s (Light emitting diode) solutions. The office, owned by Generali and located at 100 Champs-Elysées Avenue,Paris, marks a milestone in lighting history. For the first time, functional office lighting, powered entirely by LEDs, goes hand in hand with scene and atmosphere effects that are also LED based.

Philips and LEDs
In the past few years, Philips has acquired a number of companies to strengthen its position in solid state lighting. It acquired Lumileds, then TIR and Color Kinetics as well as Partners and Lighting and Genlyte. Together with these acquisitions, Philips is covering the entire solid state lighting value chain and is at the forefront of this new technology, setting the pace in the industry.

Philips expects the world market for LED Luminaires to grow rapidly by more than 30% per year driven by the entrance of LEDs in general lighting, from about EUR 700 mln last year to EUR 1.5 bn in 2010.

The technical stuff…

Throughout the office spaces, the functional office lighting is realized through 422 luminaires integrated in a false ceiling with 600 x 600 grids. Each luminaire is powered by 16 or 12 high power LEDs of 2.6 W depending on their location in the office space. This provides an average of 300 lux everywhere and 500 lux on the working planes. Philips has given special care to the development of optics. In addition, recessed SpotLed 3 K2 luminaires each with 3 LUXEON high-power LEDs are applied in the corridors. The solution complies with lighting norms and standards on energy consumption, illumination levels and visual comfort.

See Philips Press Release

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