| page 1 page 2 | Innovation | | Nature's 100 Best Initiative Publishes Preliminary Findings On How to Green
May 30, 2008, 3:57pm
Commercially-promising advances inventions, innovations and ideas inspired by the natural world and its close to 4-billion year-old history of 'research and development' are at the centre of a new collaborative initiative called Natures 100 Best unveiled at the Ninth Conference of Parties to Convention on Biological Diversity, 19-30 May. The projects and products presented are from an original list over 2,000.
A super-small pacemaker modeled on the wiring of the humpback whale�s heart and pigment-free color coatings from the light-splitting structures of a peacock's feather are among a range of extraordinary new eco-breakthroughs emerging from mimicking nature.
The initiative is the brainchild of the Biomimicry Guild and the Zero Emission Research and Initiatives (ZERI) in partnership with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The Nature's 100 Best List, a mixture of innovations at various stages of commercialization from the drawing board to imminent arrival in the marketplace, is set to be completed by October 2008 in time for the IUCN Congress in Barcelona, Spain. The Nature's 100 Best book will be published in May 2009. | Ashoka's mission is to shape a citizen sector that is entrepreneurial, productive and globally integrated, and to develop the profession of social entrepreneurship around the world. Ashoka identifies and invests in leading social entrepreneurs—extraordinary individuals with unprecedented ideas for change in their communities—supporting them, their ideas and institutions through all phases of their careers. Ashoka Fellows benefit from being part of the global Fellowship for life. Ashoka's vision is that of a global society that is able to respond quickly and effectively to social challenges everywhere. Ashoka does not accept government funding; business entrepreneurs and their foundations, corporations, individuals and volunteer chapters finance Ashoka's work. | | by Mark Borden, Bill Breen, Jeff Chu, Josh Dean, Rebecca Fannin, Amy Feldman, Charles Fishman, Paul Hochman, David Kushner, Mark Lacter, Robert Levine ,David Lidsky, Ellen McGirt, Danielle Sacks, Chuck Salter, Elizabeth Svoboda, Linda Tischler | Innovatieplatform ijsbreker voor eilandproject
Op de Kustconferentie van 4 februari van het Innovatieplatform hebben minister-president Balkenende en staatssecretaris Huizinga van Verkeer en Waterstaat een actieplan aangeboden gekregen om een ‘boeket tulpen’ langs de kust te ontwikkelen. Een van de gekozen tulpprojecten is een multifunctioneel energie-eiland in de Noordzee.
De projecten moeten versneld ontwikkeld en aangelegd worden. Verder is voorgesteld om het Innovatieplatform kwartiermaker te laten zijn tot aan 1 januari 2009. 80 topspelers uit de water- , bestuurlijke- , wetenschappelijke - , milieu -, en financiële sector, waren bijeen op de Kustconferentie van het Innovatieplatform in het Kurhaus in Den Haag Scheveningen.Meer informatie.. | | Talk of the Town
Een nieuw programma over stedelijke ontwikkeling en de rol van de creatieve industrie. Talk of the Town werpt in zes afleveringen licht op een aantal nieuwe stadsgebieden en buigt zich met betrokken politici, ontwerpers, bouwers en gebruikers over steden-bouwkundige ontwerpen, bestemmings- en bouwplannen.
Terugkerend thema: de rol van de creatieve industrie in verschillende fasen van stedelijke ontwikkeling. Hoe denkt de politiek daarover en wat vinden de ondernemers zelf? Aflevering 1: Zone Wibautstraat. Oftewel hoe de lelijkste toegangsweg van Nederland de hemelpoort van de hoofdstad moet worden, en de omgeving eromheen een woon- en werkgebied waarvan Floor Wibaut, de eerste Amsterdamse SDAP-wethouder van Volkshuisvesting, postuum blij zou worden.
Talk of the Town is een initiatief van Pakhuis de Zwijger en ORAM (Ondernemersvereniging Regio Amsterdam), Amsterdam Creative Crossings | Solaria is a privately held solar technology company based in Silicon Valley. Applying our extensive expertise in the optics and semiconductor industries, we develop breakthrough innovations that make solar cell and module production more efficient, thereby providing the cost savings that will ultimately allow solar energy to compete successfully on the world market.
Silicon is the immediate future of solar energy, but currently it is both costly and in limited supply. Rather than seeking unproven alternatives, we’ve taken a practical approach to the problem, integrating with the existing PV supply chain to optimize silicon utilization. Our technology thus delivers crucial capacity growth that is low risk, easily scalable and ready for rapid adoption. As the industry progresses, Solaria technology has the flexibility to extend to future applications and products. | THE PORTABLE LIGHT PROJECT
Portable Light is an interdisciplinary research, design and engineering project to create and implement new models for energy efficient electrical power and lighting. Portable Light applies creative processes and strategic integrative thinking to optimize existing semi-conductor technologies and create new applications to serve the large number of people—more than 2 billion—who do not have access to electric light or power. Portable Light is based upon the principle that global needs for technology development are inevitably interconnected. | INNOVATION - Something new under the sun
Oct 11th 2007 - From The Economist print edition
Innovation, long the preserve of technocratic elites, is becoming more open. This will be good for the world, argues Vijay Vaitheeswaran (interviewed here)
The Economist has a special report on innovation in this week's issue, and it's good to see the magazine recognizing "open innovation" as the perhaps most important current trend in this space: "Rapid and disruptive change is now happening across new and old businesses. Innovation ... is becoming both more accessible and more global. | trendwatcher/futurist - Marcel Bullinga over de toekomst & innovatie | 
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| Fellowforce.com was founded "To Connect Organizations and Talent, through Open Source, for limitless ideas, innovation & solutions". Fellowforce.com aims to open up organizations for outside-in participation from experts, consumers, and other interested parties to generate powerful new options through this collaboration. | Nieuwe Producten Bedenken over brainstormen voor produktinnovaties | Auris City - Car giant targeting the digital community
One of the most innovative digital marketing programmes ever within the South African motor industry, Auris City (undoubtedly the hippest place around) was conceived to target typical Auris customers: young, techno-savvy, successful individuals, who are members of the "now" generation. The campaign commenced on July 16 and runs for four weeks. | The European Association for Creativity and Innovation (E.A.C.I.) wants to contribute to a better understanding, practice and acceptance of creativity and innovation in Europe. The E.A.C.I. wants to achieve this by organizing conferences; building a network of interested persons in the subjects of creativity and innovation; stimulating research and distributing research publications. | 
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| FuelVapor Technologies has developed a new technology that has produced one of the highest mileage cars in North America. The “alé” features a unique 3-wheeled configuration: 2 in the front, and one in the rear. The front wheels drive and steer the vehicle. This design enables the car to perform at a superb level, particularly in cornering, with the car easily pulling 1.7 g’s in corners during track testing on street tires. The three-wheeled automotive platform also aid in improving fuel efficiency and aerodynamics.
Vapor system: The car’s key innovation's are the fuel vapor system and it's light weight aerodynamic body. This fuel vapor technology (which is in the patent pending process) allows the engine to run on “fuel vapors” rather than liquid fuel. The majority of gas engines today run 14.7:1 – (14.7 parts air to 1 part gasoline). This proprietary fuel vapor system allows the “alé” to run on a ratio of over 20:1 without compromising performance. According to the textbooks, this ratio is impossible, as a standard engine would not start or run on a air/fuel ratio this low. With a 10 gallon gas tank found on most vehicles, the “alé” can travel from Vancouver BC to San Francisco CA on one tank. Over 15 hours of driving without filling up. | The European TrendChart on Innovation is an initiative of the European Commission, Enterprise & Industry Directorate General, Innovation Policy Development unit. | See a city change in four dimensions - 27 June 2007 - NewScientist.com news service - Paul Marks. A new software tool called 4D Cities has been developed that gives people such as architects, historians and town planners a chance to see how a big city changes over time. The software creates a 3D animation of a city from historical photos and allows a viewer to travel backwards and forwards in time to see the how the skyline changes... The result is that the images appear in time order, allowing the researchers to construct and animate a 3D graphic of the city through which users can travel backwards or forwards in time (www.cc.gatech.edu/~phlosoft). | Ecobuild is the UK’s leading event for sustainable design, construction and the built environment. Unmatched, its format combines an extensive conference and seminar programme – the largest ‘green building’ information programme outside the US – with the biggest exhibition showcase of sustainable construction products anywhere in the UK | San Francisco Federal Building - California (USA)
Tall buildings such as the new San Francisco Federal building present new challenges to natural ventilation design and energy efficiency.
In this building, wind-driven cross ventilation will be used in most of the floor plan in floors 6-18. The building volume that is cross-ventilated measures approximately: 107x19x52 m, starting at an elevation of 20 m.
The success of the natural indoor climate control system in this building will affect the working environment of a large number of people and may lead to the increased use of natural ventilation in office buildings.
Innovative designs, such as this building, greatly benefit from engineering analysis using state of the art computer simulation. | Climatecars launched in London. The eco-friendly taxi service currently drives five Toyota Prius cars, with three more to follow this month. The company is targeting London's corporate market, offering first class service and extras like complimentary magazines, newspapers and Belu mineral water (the "first bottled water that doesn't contribute to climate change"). | Beta goes meta: From innovation to trend in a heartbeat
Posted by Tim Leberecht
David Armano from Critical Mass will moderate a panel on "Always in Beta: How Big Business Can Benefit from 'Little' Innovation" at the Forrester Consumer Forum (October 10 to 13). Here's a quick synopsis: "Innovation isn't limited to R & rooms anymore. The Web 2.0 movement--powered by start-ups such as Twitter, Malhalo and even YouTube, has proven that innovation often happens in iterations. Build, launch, tweak, measure, repeat. Digital experiences seem to be 'always in beta'--learning and evolving along the way."
The fact that the Forrester Consumer Forum dedicates a panel to this much-blogged about topic is a sign that being in beta has become a broad cultural phenomenon. | | | | | | | | |
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