Innovation Watch Newsletter - Issue 10.

23 - November 5, 2011

ISSN: 1712-9834

Selected news items from postings to Innovation Watch in the last two weeks... Google hosts the world's largest DNA database... US researchers eliminate signs of aging in mice... Toyota unveils health care robots... electric cars could charge automatically using wireless... Berlin becomes a center for high-tech start-ups... companies find radical new ways to get financing... California aims to raise the retirement age for public workers from 55 to 67... robots will replace humans in mid-level jobs... the United States, the EU and Israel contemplate military action against Iran... the Euro currency was a disaster-in-waiting... greenhouse gas levels are higher than the worst-case scenario... Amory Lovins proposes a new energy system to power 21st century civilization... future patterns, rhythms, signs and pointers can be seen in the present... the world's population could reach 15 billion in 2100... More great resources ... a new book by Peter Coleman: The Five Percent: Finding Solutions to Seemingly Impossible Conflicts... a link to the Future Takes website on culture-based assumptions that shape the way we live, work, and think... audio from a Kojo Nnamdi show on a new generation of businesses that help people leverage what they already have as part of a shared economy... a blog post on the role of science, technology, engineering and mathematics in creating American jobs... David Forrest Innovation Watch

David Forrest advises organizations on emerging trends, and helps to develop strategies for a radically different future

SCIENCE

Top Stories: Google Strikes Deal to Preserve DNA Data Online (PhysOrg) Concerned that the federal government might not keep funding the world's largest free database of genetic data, Google Inc. has forged a deal with a Mountain View, Calif., startup to keep the information online -- and free for researchers. The Internet giant began talks with DNAnexus last spring, when the National Institutes of Health announced it might have to drop support of the Sequence Read Archive due to funding cuts. Signs of Ageing Halted in the Lab (BBC) - The onset of wrinkles, muscle wasting and cataracts has been delayed and even eliminated in mice, say researchers in the US. It was done by "flushing out" retired cells that had stopped dividing. They accumulate naturally with age. The scientists believe their findings could eventually "really have an impact" in the care of the elderly.

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TECHNOLOGY
Top Stories: Toyota Unveils Health-Care Robots (CBC) - Toyota unveiled its ambitions for high-tech health care, displaying experimental robots that the auto giant says can lift disabled patients from their hospital beds or help them walk. The company aims to commercialize products such as its "independent walk assist" device sometime after 2013 -seeking to position itself in an industry with great potential in Japan, one of the world's most rapidly aging nations. Eiichi Saitoh, a professor in rehabilitation medicine, demonstrated the "walk assist" device, strapping the computerized metallic brace onto his right leg, which was paralyzed by polio. Recharge and Roll: Electric Car-Makers Plan to Cut the Cord (Scientific American) - "Almost universally, all the carmakers have learned... that consumers find plugging in a vehicle is inconvenient, and the carmakers have concluded they need to offer some type of wireless, hands-free charging," says David Schatz, director of business development and marketing for WiTricity Corp. in Watertown, Mass., which makes wireless chargers for phones and cars. With WiTricity's system, a user would not have to park his or her car directly on a charging mat, let alone deal with wires. As long as the car is within range of the charging station, energy begins to flow into the battery.

BUSINESS
Top Stories:

The Growth of Berlin into Europes Start-Up Hub (Der Spiegel) With cafes serving up lattes for breakfast on nearly every corner and after-hours clubs with DJs spinning well into the next afternoon, drawing people from around the world, Berlin is buzzing. That's been true for some years now. What is novel, though, is the onslaught of entrepreneurs and programmers from around the world who are descending on the hyped capital city to establish their own tech start-ups. Attracted by the city's creative class, its world-class culture, a rich alternative scene and its affordability, more and more tech entrepreneurs are setting up shop here. The Way Companies Are Getting Financed Is Completely Changing (Business Insider) - There are lots of trends people have been talking about in tech financing -- "superangels"; delayed IPOs; secondary market sales; and more. But so far, few people have been putting the dots together: the entire financing landscape for companies is changing. And, excitingly, it's increasingly not just technology companies. There are many new financing options for growing companies that weren't available a decade ago. Here's how we break them down: crowdfunding, accelerators, super-angels, latestage private equity, and the long-delayed IPO.

SOCIETY
Top Stories: California's Retirement-Age Increase Puts State in Rare Company (Businessweek) - Governor Jerry Brown's proposal to raise the age when most public workers can retire with full benefits to 67, from 55, would put California in the company of just three other states. The change, which still must win Legislative or voter approval, reflects Americansincreased longevity and the strain that adds to government pension plans, Brown said, when the Democrat released proposed changes. Extending the retirement age boosts fund contributions and curbs benefit payments. Robots Are Taking Mid-Level Jobs, Changing the Economy (PC World) - Computers and robots will replace humans in enough jobs that they will dramatically change the economy, said industry watchers and MIT economists at a robotics symposium. And, they said, the transition has already started. "What we're finally seeing is that our digital helpers aren't just catching up to us, but, in some cases, are passing us," said Andrew McAfee, an MIT economist and co-author of the book Race Against the Machine. "In some head-to-head contests, machines have raced past us."

GLOBAL POLITICS
Top Stories:

US and France Point to Upcoming Action on Iran (EU Observer) - US President Barack Obama and French leader Nicolas Sarkozy have indicated that an upcoming UN report on Iran's alleged nuclear weapons programme could trigger new international action. One option under consideration is to impose sanctions on Iran's cental bank. But Obama's signal that the IAEA report on 8 November could have serious consequences comes amid signals that the US, EU countries and Israel are considering military options. Europe's Last Two Options (National Post) - What if they had a revolution, and called it a debt crisis? This is the real story of what is going on in Europe right now. It's not about Greece. It's not about budget deficits. When the European Union created the euro currency, they created a disaster-inwaiting. Unlike the United States, which can never run out of dollars because it can always print more, the various governments of the eurozone could potentially run out of euros. The European Central Bank does not work for one eurozone government. It works for all the eurozone governments -- and that's a very different thing. If any one country suddenly needs more cash, it can only get that cash with the consent of all the other countries. Unsurprisingly, that kind of unanimity is hard to obtain.

ENVIRONMENT
Top Stories: CO2 Levels Soared in 2010 (CBC) - The global output of heat-trapping carbon dioxide jumped by the biggest amount on record, the U.S. Department of Energy calculated, a sign of how feeble the world's efforts are at slowing man-made global warming. The new figures for 2010 mean that levels of greenhouse gases are higher than the worst case scenario outlined by climate experts just four years ago. Amory Lovins on Creating a Prosperous Economy Without Oil, Coal, or Nuclear (Fast Company) - In his new book, Reinventing Fire, Amory Lovins creates a system for powering a 21st century civilization without using 20th century methods. The book is the most ambitious thing ever attempted by the Rocky Mountain Institute, according to Lovins. "It felt like the right time to try to construct a coherent vision of how to solve the energy problem by enlarging it," he says. "Most people try to make the problems smaller and carve it into bite-sized chunks. Then you don't have a big enough design space to have enough options, degrees of freedom, and synergies."

THE FUTURE

Top Stories: How to Predict the Future (BBC) - Imagining the future, we naturally think of it as a different place to the one we live in now. It is populated with new technologies, advanced science and perhaps even a more evolved version of humanity. But who are the architects of this future, whose ideas will shape the coming reality? It is tempting to characterize them as explorers who, through inspiration or serendipity, uncover that which is currently hidden. However, there is an entire profession that takes a different view. For futurologists, or futurists as they often like to abbreviate themselves, there are patterns, rhythms, signs and pointers to the future that can be discerned and measured in the here and now. World Population to Hit 10 Billion, But 15 Billion Possible: UN (PhysOrg) -The world's population of seven billion is set to rise to at least 10 billion by 2100, the United Nations said. But, it added, "with only a small variation in fertility, particularly in the most populous countries, the total could be higher: 10.6 billion people could be living on Earth by 2050 and more than 15 billion in 2100."

Just in from the publisher...

The Five Percent: Finding Solutions to Seemingly Impossible Conflicts

By Peter T. Coleman
Read more...

A Web Resource... Future Takes - Future Takes -- a publication of the Center for Transcultural Foresight, Inc., Washington, DC -- is an independent educational resource serving the intellectually curious, future-minded public at large. It assembles leading foresight thinkers and others from a diversity of nations, cultures, and professions to examine the future, with special emphasis on identifying hidden culture-based assumptions that shape how people live, work, and think.

Multimedia... The New Sharing Economy (Kojo Nnamdi) - Looking for a place to stay on your next vacation? Need to rent a pickup truck to haul away old furniture? Web-based and web-enabled services like Airbnb, RentCycle and Zipcar are making it possible to bypass hotels, rental agencies and other traditional businesses. They connect like-minded people who share resources for a small fee. We explore a new generation of businesses that help people leverage what they already have as part of a "shared economy." (52m 54s)

The Blogosphere... Engineering is the Way to Bring Jobs Back to America (Huffington Post) - Penny Herscher "In Silicon Valley we have one engineering job open for every two engineers that are employed -- this means it is hard to find enough qualified workers and so companies move jobs offshore to India and China where they graduate many more engineers than we do. Today we simply do not have enough people trained in the 'STEM' areas to staff the technology build up that is happening globally (STEM --

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics)."

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