BizResearch

Applying a Gender Lens to Science, Technology, and Innovation

Source: UNCTAD

Extract from Press Release

This report was prepared as a contribution to the fifty-fifth session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.

Based on an examination of women´s roles in a number of sectors such as agriculture, water, energy, and transport, the report argues that science, technology, and innovation - known by the acronym STI - will not have the broadly positive effects sought in less-wealthy regions of the world if STI policies do not specifically take into account the needs and talents of half the global population. Further gains in development depend on fully appreciating women´s engagement in economic life and in society, the report contends; policy should be attentive not only to the differing impacts STI can have on men´s and women´s lives, but also to the significant part women play in economic growth. This approach should be followed throughout the process of STI policymaking: from policy analysis and design to implementation, monitoring and follow-up. Recognizing this is what the report calls applying a "gender lens".

The report identifies three areas for policy action:

• Science for women: developing science and technology that support women´s development and livelihood activities, especially in areas such as agriculture, water, energy and transport;
• Women in science: promoting gender equality in science, technology and engineering education, careers and leadership;
• Women in innovation: encouraging and supporting the role of women in innovation, enterprise and entrepreneurship at the national and grassroots levels.

Among the report´s recommendations for national governments:

• Conduct impact assessments of policies related to STI for development to ensure that they benefit men and women equally;
• Take into account when developing STI policies the extensive work done by women in areas such as agriculture, water and energy use;
• Expand the education of women in scientific and technological fields, and in entrepreneurship, so that this reservoir of talent can boost economic growth and raise living standards;
• Ensure that women have equal access to financing, land and markets so that businesses they found and the science and research they perform can have their full developmental impacts;
• Support the participation of women in STI decision-making at all levels.

Click here to read the full report

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Technology and the Innovation Economy

Source: Brookings Institution

Author:  Darrell M. West

Executive Summary

Innovation and entrepreneurship are crucial for long-term economic development. Over the years, America’s well-being has been furthered by science and technology. Fears set off by the Soviet Union’s 1957 launch of its Sputnik satellite initiated a wave of U.S. investment in science, engineering, aerospace, and technology. Both public and private sector investment created jobs, built industries, fuelled innovation, and propelled the U.S. to leadership in a number of different fields.

In this paper, I focus on ways technology enables innovation and creates economic prosperity. I review the range of new advances in education, health care, and communications, and make policy recommendations designed to encourage an innovation economy. By adopting policies such as a permanent research and development tax credit, more effective university knowledge commercialization, improving STEM worker training, reasonable immigration reform, and regional economic clusters, we can build an innovation economy and sustain our long-term prosperity.

Click here to read the full report

Photo from Creative Commons: Flickr: by MinimalistPhotography101.com

Supporting London’s innovators

Source: Greater London Authority (GLA)

Authros: Nick Ennis and Slawek Kozdras

Extract from Executive Summary

Innovation boosts efficiency and productivity and contributes to economic growth. Innovation is a tricky word to pin down, meaning many things to many people. For the purpose of this paper, innovation is defined relatively broadly as the exploitation of new ideas, but to give the word more meaning, we focus primarily on radical innovations that transform the user experience, as Apple’s iTunes and iPod revolutionised the way people consume music.

Research shows that innovations, especially service innovations, are often invisible, highly customised and contextual, relying heavily on organisational change, training and other intangibles. All of this makes them difficult to analyse and reproduce and near to impossible to measure. Economic literature dating back more than five decades has focused on the role of competition in producing innovations. But in policy circles, innovation has long been synonymous with scientific research and development, perhaps because it is identifiable and measureable, unlike innovations.

One of the key findings of the last decade’s research into innovation is recognition of the wider innovative ecosystem that nurtures and facilitates innovation. The social and economic context in which firms operate can encourage or hinder innovation. Lessons from history make it clear that innovators respond to wider conditions and incentives to be entrepreneurial. The wider conditions approach calls for policy to get the conditions right for innovators to thrive rather than ones that try to pump-prime innovation through investment in research and development.

Click here to read the full report

Photo from Creative Commons: Flickr: By MinimalistPhotography101.com

Financing Industrial Biotechnology in the UK

Source: NESTA

Report prepared for NESTA by Technology Greenhouse Ltd

Extract from Executive Summary:

The UK Government has identified industrial biotechnology (IB) as a key driver of wealth creation in the 21st century and in November 2007 it established the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation and Growth Team (IB-IGT). In May 2009, the IB-IGT presented a major report to government (‘IB-2025’) which estimated that IB could add £4-12 billion per year to the UK economy by 2025. In order to capitalise on this opportunity, UK companies will need to raise finance to invest in the industrial and commercial development of IB products.

Building on the pioneering work of the IBIGT, NESTA commissioned this research to examine the corporate funding environment for IB in the UK two years on. It involved an in-depth survey of selected participants working in this nascent sector. The output from the interviews is summarised into a series of common themes. Based on these themes, a number of conclusions were drawn regarding the current status of the UK IB sector and ad hoc recommendations developed for steps which could lead to an improved financing environment (Key Findings).

At the broadest level of categorisation, biotechnology can be divided into ‘Healthcare’ and ‘Industrial’ segments. For the purposes of this research, the industrial biotechnology (IB) segment has been sub-divided by product into four categories: chemicals and materials, bio-energy and biofuels, waste to energy and waste remediation, and enhanced food production.

The leading country internationally in IB is the US. Within Europe, Germany is well ahead of all other countries. The UK competes in the next tier, most notably with Switzerland and Holland, which is an improvement on the position the UK has historically occupied. In Asia, both India and China are increasingly active. Brazil is also making significant progress, particularly where sugar is used as a feedstock.

Click here to read the full report

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The Global Innovation Index 2011

The Global Innovation Index 2011 ranks 125 countries/economies across the world in terms of their innovation capabilities and results. The Report highlights those countries that achieve more innovation outputs surmounting weaknesses from the input side – the efficient innovators – and those that lag behind in fulfilling their innovation potential. Innovation performances are analyzed in reference to the income and regional groups.
The GII is a collaborative effort of five Knowledge Partners,led by INSEAD, and including Alcatel-Lucent, Booz & Company, the Confederation of Indian Industry and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a specialized agency of the United Nations

Read the Report.

Picture: Flickr:Creative Commons: Tanakawho

Tech-savvy doctoral students increasingly look to open web technologies

  

"The UK's Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) and the British Library have released a report, according to which young researchers are increasingly using free web technology to help with their research. However they are not active in creating content, says the report.

The British Library/ JISC generation Y, 'Researchers of Tomorrow' report shows that passive use of these open web technologies is more common than active use. Researchers are reading wikis and blogs without adding to them; they make passive use of Internet forums for research, and few blog themselves. It was found that while 29 percent made passive use of Internet discussion forums, only 13 percent were active on them.

The UK's largest survey of the information seeking behaviours of doctoral students born between 1982-1994, commonly dubbed generation Y, shows a 'modest increase' in the students' use of web technology over the past year. Compared with a sample of older students, more of the generation Y sample had used at least one kind of open web or Web 2.0 technology with only 8 percent saying they had used none at all.

The study includes a survey of doctoral students of any age to provide background to the generation Y research. The first report took place at the end of June 2009 with the assistance of over 70 universities and covering all subject disciplines. It was repeated in 2010 and will be launched for the third and final time in mid 2011."

Source: JISC - Researchers of Tomorrow

Picture: FlickR ; Creative Commons: MinimalistPhotography101 (Steve Johnson)

Digital Opportunity: a Review of Intellectual Property and Growth

In November 2010 the Prime Minister David Cameron announced an independent review of how the Intellectual Property framework supports growth and innovation. Chaired by Professor Ian Hargreaves and assisted by a panel of experts, the review reported to Government in May 2011.

The Review makes 10 recommendations designed to ensure that the UK has an IP framework best suited to supporting innovation and promoting economic growth in the digital age:

Key recommendations (from BIS press release)

• The UK should have a “Digital Copyright Exchange”: a digital market place where licences in copyright content can be readily bought and sold, a sort of online copyright shop.


• The Government should legislate to permit access to orphan works, where the owner cannot be traced. For example some copyrighted works remain locked away because their authors either aren’t known or can’t be traced to give permission for use. In the worst cases, where one owner cannot be located - just one out of hundreds contained in a film or TV programme - they can effectively hold the interests of others to ransom as it becomes a criminal offence to exploit that work commercially.


• Updating what it is lawful to copy. This includes copying for private purposes (such as shifting music from a laptop to an mp3 player) and copying which does not conflict with the core aims of copyright – for example, digital copying of medical and other journals for computerised analysis in research. For example an academic working on malaria cannot draw on previous research through data mining because they cannot get permission to copy the datasets they need to mine.


• The Government’s IP policy decisions need to be more closely based on economic evidence and should pay more attention to the impact on non-rights holders and consumers;


• Changes to the Intellectual Property Office’s (IPO) powers to enable it to help the IP framework adapt to future economic and technological change

Click here to read the full report

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The scientific century: securing our future prosperity

The Royal Society has published a new report entitled ‘The scientific century: securing our future prosperity’. The advisory group to the report was chaired by Sir Martin Taylor FRS and included two Nobel Laureates, two former ministers of science, and leading figures from two high-tech companies.

The report highlights last year’s announcement of a $21 billion boost for science in the US and recent claims from American scientists that they will steal our finest minds if UK investment slips.  It also draws attention to a recent €35 billion investment in the ‘knowledge economy’ by France, a commitment from the German government to increase their federal budget for education and research by €12 billion by 2013 and the year on year increase of 20% in China’s science spending over the last decade.

It also highlights the emergence of an innovation economy in the UK with universities becoming fledgling economic powerhouses. Patents granted to UK universities have increased by 136% between 2000 and 2008 and university spin outs employed 14,000 people in 2007/08 and had a turnover of £1.1 billion. While the report also cites examples of science driving successful sectors of the economy such as pharmaceuticals, business R&D is picked out as a weakness for the UK.  In 2007 British companies spent 1.14% of GDP on R&D while in the US the figure was 1.9% and in Germany 1.8%.

To maximise the economic opportunities from science the Royal Society report recommends:

• Creating a 15 year framework for science and innovation, with increased spending
• Prioritising investment in scientific skills and infrastructure, such as laboratories and equipment
• Expanding the R&D tax credit

Photo from Creative Commons: Flickr: PNNL - Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

The Dark Side of Creativity: Original Thinkers Can Be More Dishonest

Harvard Business School Working Papers No. 11-064 (PDF)

Authors: Francesca Gino and Dan Ariely

Abstract: Creativity is a common aspiration for individuals, organizations, and societies. Here, however, we test whether creativity increases dishonesty. We propose that a creative personality and creativity primes promote individuals' motivation to think outside the box and that this increased motivation leads to unethical behavior. In four studies, we show that participants with creative personalities who scored high on a test measuring divergent thinking tended to cheat more (Study 1); that dispositional creativity is a better predictor of unethical behavior than intelligence (Study 2); and that participants who were primed to think creatively were more likely to behave dishonestly because of their creativity motivation (Study 3) and greater ability to justify their dishonest behavior (Study 4). Finally, a field study constructively replicates these effects and demonstrates that individuals who work in more creative positions are also more morally flexible (Study 5). The results provide evidence for an association between creativity and dishonesty, thus highlighting a dark side of creativity.

 

Teens and Mobile Phones

Text messaging has become the primary way that American teenagers communicate with their friends, surpassing face-to-face contact, email, instant messaging and voice calling. According to the latest research from the Pew Internet & American Life Project text messaging among American teens has shot up in the past 18 months to 54% texting daily in September 2009. And it's not just frequency – teens are sending enormous quantities of text messages a day. Half of teens send 50 or more text messages a day, or 1,500 texts a month, and one in three send more than 100 texts a day, or more than 3,000 texts a month. Older teen girls ages 14-17 lead the charge on text messaging, averaging 100 messages a day for the entire cohort. The youngest teen boys are the most resistant to texting – averaging 20 messages per day.

Selected findings:

• Some 75% of 12-17 year-olds now own cell phones, up from 45% in 2004. Those phones have become indispensable tools in teen communication patterns.
  
• Boys typically send and receive 30 texts a day; girls typically send and receive 80 messages per day.
  
• Teen texters ages 12-13 typically send and receive 20 texts a day whilst 14-17 year-olds typically send and receive 60 text messages a day.
  
• 21% of teens who do not otherwise go online say they access the internet on their cell phone.
  
• 41% of teens from households earning less than $30,000 annually say they go online with their cell phone. Only 70% of teens in this income category have a computer in the home, compared with 92% of families from households that earn more.

Click here for the full report

Photo from Creative Commons: Flickr: Brandon Christopher Warren

She Figures 2009

She Figures 2009 is the third publication of a set of key indicators that look at the current situation of women in science and research. The She Figures data collection is undertaken every three years as a joint venture of the Scientific Culture and Gender Issues Unit of the
Directorate-General for Research of the European Commission and the group of Statistical Correspondents of the Helsinki Group. The major findings and trends put forward by She Figures 2009 can be summarised as follows:

Women in scientific research remain a minority, accounting for 30% of researchers in the EU in 2006.

In the EU-27, 45% of all PhD graduates were women in 2006; they equal or outnumber men in all broad fields of study, except for science, mathematics and computing (41%), and engineering, manufacturing and construction (25%).

Over the period 2002-2006, there has been an increase in the overall number of female researchers in almost all fields of science in the EU-27: the most positive growth figures characterised the fields of the medical sciences, the humanities, engineering and technology and the social sciences

The highest shares of female researchers in the Business Enterprise Sector are in the fields of the agricultural and medical sciences and the lowest shares in engineering and technology.

Women’s academic career remains markedly characterised by strong vertical segregation: the proportion of female students (55%) and graduates (59%) exceeds that of male students, but men outnumber women among PhD students and graduates (the proportion of female students drops back to 48% and that of PhD graduates to 45%). Furthermore, women represent only 44% of grade C academic staff, 36% of grade B academic staff and 18% of grade A academic staff.

The proportion of women among full professors is highest in the humanities and the social sciences (respectively 27.0% and 18.6%) and lowest in engineering and technology, at 7.2%.

The official measure of the overall gender pay gap covering the entire economy stood at 25% in the EU-27 in 2006, a slight improvement from 2002 when it stood at 26%.

On average throughout the EU-27, 13% of institutions in the Higher Education Sector are headed by women and just 9% of universities have a female head.

Click here to read the full report

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Futurity is launched

 

Futurity

The University of Pennsylvania has joined a group of leading research universities to launch Futurity (www.futurity.org), an online research channel covering the latest discoveries in science, engineering, the environment, health and more. Penn is one of 35 founding partners supporting the site, which offers direct access to research news posted by Penn and other universities.

Futurity provides the public with direct access to research breakthroughs by combining visual elements and lay explanation with links to published reports and supplemental materials that allow readers to explore topics in more detail. The site, designed to encourage interaction, is available in a mobile-friendly version, and visitors can comment on stories and sign up for a daily e-mail updates.
“With news holes shrinking, Futurity allows major research universities to build a bridge between the academic community and the public,” Steven J. Fluharty, vice president for research at Penn, said. “The site provides both the casual reader with an interest in science — as well as the seasoned researcher or science journalist — with quick access to a comprehensive and varied body of national research.”

Futurity cofounder Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations at Duke University, says the site serves another vital role. It allows the public to see how federal, state and private funding are being put to use by universities to address critical challenges.

Organised into:

• Earth & Environment
• Health & Medicine
• Science & Design
• Society & Culture

You can browse, search or opt to receive email alerts or RSS Feeds on a range of fascinating topics. Did you know:

• Lego is being used to visualise Nanotechnology

• Spotted hyenas perform better than primates on cooperative problem-solving tests

• The age of first drink is linked to alcoholism

Science, Technology and Innovation in Europe

This publication presents an analysis of Science, technology and innovation in Europe looking at the main statistical indicators in this field. It is intended for both generalists and specialists and is divided into three main parts: Part 1: Investing in R&D; Part 2: Monitoring the knowledge workers; and Part 3: Productivity and competitiveness

Selected highlights from the report:

In 2006, R&D expenditure as a share of GDP (R&D in the EU-27 remained stable at 1.84 %.  Considering the estimates by sector, most R&D expenditure is financed by the business enterprise sector (BES), which accounted for almost two thirds (1.17 %) of R&D intensity in 2006, while the public sector (higher education and government) accounted for 0.65% and the remaining 0.02 % was financed by the private non-profit sector (PNP).

In 2006 the leading EU-27 Member States in terms of R&D intensity were Sweden and Finland, with 3.73 % and 3.58 % respectively. R&D intensity also exceeded 2 % in Germany (2.53 %), Denmark (2.43 %), Austria (2.49 %) and France (2.09 %).

At EU level, high-tech exports grew on average by 0.5 % per year between 2001 and 2006, while high-tech imports declined by 0.1% per year. At country level, Cyprus recorded the highest average annual growth rate in high-tech exports (63.5%), followed by Latvia (32.7%), Slovakia (32.0%) and Bulgaria (31.2%). Over the same period Slovakia recorded the highest AAGR in terms of high-tech imports (26.7%).

In 2006, 1.3 million researchers (in FTE) were employed in the EU-27, which represents an increase of 77 700 over 2004. In the same period the number of researchers increased in most EU-27 Member States. In 2006, Germany employed the most researchers in FTE (282 000), followed by Spain (116 000).

Women are still under-represented in R&D in the EU-27, especially in the business enterprise sector: in 2005, women represented 30 %of all researchers in the EU and only 19 %of researchers employed in the BES. The share of female researchers was generally higher in the new Member States (2004 and 2007 enlargements) and candidate countries.

The report also presents the results from the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) at European and national level, together with a look at the Community Innovation Surveys (CIS) for 2006 and 2008.

The full report can be downloaded from the Eurostat website

Photo from Creative Commons: Flickr: mybloodyself

The Future of the Book?

 The British Library invites readers to explore the future of the book.
Over the next three months a new display from the British Library will give readers the chance to test drive three e-readers from Sony and iRex Technologies currently available in the UK.

Situated on the 1st floor of the Library's flagship building at St Pancras, the e-reader display will give visitors the chance to familiarise themselves with these new devices and to freely explore the possible recreational and research benefits of the e-book revolution.

Offering a hugely versatile reading experience, e-readers have seen an explosion of interest in recent months, with leading publishing experts suggesting that the industry has finally hit its 'iPod moment'. As one of the World's greatest research Libraries and a leader in the UK's knowledge economy, the British Library has a vital role to play in ensuring our readers are equipped with the digital literacy skills to be able to use such technology and thrive in the 21st century research environment. 

Traditionally, e-readers have struggled to compete with the traditional book due to issues with low battery life and the use of harsh back-lit screens.  Overcoming these obstacles through the use of e-ink technology, e-reading devices are more capable of satisfying reader expectations and can deliver a variety of additional functions such as the ability to vary font size, access WiFi and make annotations.  Devices on display include: Sony Reader;iRex DR1000; The iLiad.

The e-readers on display have been pre-loaded with material currently available on the market.  However, in the future, the British Library hopes to exploit e-reader technology to facilitate access to our own digital collections.

Picture: Flickr; Creative Commons: Jurvetson

 

Beyond Borders: The Global Innovation 1000: Booz & Company study of corporate R&D spending

  This year’s annual Booz & Company study of corporate R&D spending reveals, for the first time, where in the world the money is being spent - and why.

As business becomes increasingly global, corporate innovation strategies are becoming more global as well: Multinational companies are spending a significant - and growing - share of their research and development money outside the countries in which they are headquartered. Booz & Company’s annual Global Innovation 1000 study found that in 2007, the top 80 U.S. corporate R&D spenders deployed an estimated US$80.1 billion of their $146 billion R&D funds overseas. The top 50 European companies spent $51.4 billion of their $117 billion total outside the continent. In Japan, the top 43 Japanese firms exported $40.4 billion of their total $71.6 billion to other countries.

At first glance, observers might think that this represents a loss of jobs, intellectual power, and influence for the home countries of these companies. But innovation spending seems to flow in both directions at once. Even as the companies based in the U.S. performed $80.1 billion worth of R&D in other countries, companies headquartered elsewhere poured $42.6 billion into R&D conducted in the U.S. (See Exhibit 1.) In fact, 40 percent of the money spent on R&D in the U.S. is spent by companies headquartered elsewhere. The total amount of R&D spending in the U.S. is 2.7 times as great as in Japan, whereas the spending generated by companies headquartered in the U.S. is only two times as great. Moreover, companies that invest wisely in a multinational innovation footprint are gaining far better returns on their R&D investment than companies that exclusively keep their laboratories at home — or that fragment them across a wide variety of locations.

The study found that the Global Innovation 1000 companies are spending an average of 55 percent of their innovation dollars outside their home country, demonstrating how international the practice of innovation has become over the past several decades. All the biggest companies are now multinational, and their R&D footprints reflect the need to succeed in the global economy — to compete against nimble and fast-growing local and international operators, win share in unfamiliar new markets, understand the customers in those markets, recruit talented scientists and engineers, and capture the best ideas from around the world. Fully 91 percent of this year’s Global Innovation 1000 already conduct innovation activities outside the countries in which they are headquartered.

To read more click here.

Picture: Creative Commons: FlickR: Mishel Churkin

Global ICT spending forecasts

The global marketplace for information and communications technology (ICT) will exceed $3.7 trillion this year and will top $4 trillion by 2011, according to Digital Planet 2008, a study released by the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) on the first day of its World Congress for Information Technology.

Slowing economies in developed countries will lead ICT spending into a period of slower growth through 2011. However, strong demand in 2007 will spill over into 2008, resulting in annual growth of 10.3% in both years, down from a peak level of 12.3 percent in 2004. Growth in overall ICT spending is projected to decline to 3.6 percent by 2011. The executive summary (pdf file,11MB) and some of the report tables and country tables are available on the Web.

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Creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship in R&D management

The latest issue of R&D management is one of two special issues emerging from the R&D Management Conference held in Taiwan in 2006 (the other special issue is in the Journal of creativity and innovation management (Vol.17:1).  The conference focused on ways to stimulate creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship in R&D management and in the conduct and performance of R&D activities. It addressed the need for new approaches and practices in management, education and academic research. The sub-themes of the conference covered: creativity education and innovation culture; educating and nurturing creative and entrepreneurial R&D workers; linking creativity and innovation to R&D and business performance; business incubation and venturing; research and technology commercialisation. The papers presented in the R&D management special issue focus on the following sub-themes: (1) linking creativity and innovation to R&D/business performance, (2) business incubation and venturing, and (3) research and technology commercialization.

This issue of R&D management (Vol.38:3) can be found in the journals collection located in the library basement.

Alternatively, current staff, students and faculty can use Article Finder (available via Portal) to find out which of our databases provides full-text access to this journal.

Future-oriented technology analysis as a driver of strategy and policy

This special issue features seven papers taken from the Second International Seminar on Future- Oriented Technology Analysis (FTA), organized by the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS), one of the seven scientific institutes of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC).  The acronym FTA refers to strategic foresight, forecasting and technology assessment.  The central emphasis of the conference was the delivery of concrete and valued policy outcomes and impacts from FTA activities. Each paper selected emphasises a number of important elements of the foresight process whether being implemented at national or institutional level and whether in the public or private sector. Common features include the development and/or realignment of networks, intelligence gathering, strategic vision, agenda-setting, and priority-setting. Contributions were selected by the editors to reflect a range of diverse but practical situations, most of which have been neglected in the previous literature on foresight and other future-oriented approaches applied to decision-making.

This issue of Technology analysis & strategic management (Vol: 20:3) can be found in the journals collection located in the library basement.

Alternatively, current staff, students and faculty can use Article Finder (available via Portal) to find out which of our databases provides full-text access to this journal.

Innovation in emerging markets 2008

Innovation in emerging markets is an annual study from Deloitte’s Global Manufacturing Industry Group. This year it concentrates on product safety, product quality and environmental standards in emerging markets. Last year saw a number of high-profile product recalls. From contaminated dog food to children’s charm bracelets and necklaces decorated with paint containing high levels of lead. All of these recalls had one thing in common; they were all sourced from emerging markets. On top of this a rising concern for the environment among consumers, has resulted in global manufacturers are paying more attention to the potential environmental impact of their production processes.

More than 650 executives from developed markets and across various manufacturing sectors were involved in the survey. Around three-quarters reported an increased use of suppliers in emerging markets in the last three years, with almost half saying their use had increased significantly. The report examines how these companies are responding to growing concerns around product safety.  It concludes that global manufacturers sourcing from emerging markets will require better vendor selection, testing, monitoring and contract provisions.  More stringent standards will mean higher operating costs but providing products with a guarantee that they meet strict standards should present manufacturers with an opportunity to turn this challenge into a competitive advantage

The report can be downloaded from the Deloitte’s website

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RFID: technology, applications and impact on business operations

Radio frequency identification (RFID) is an emerging technology that is increasingly being used in business and industry, particularly in logistics and supply chain management (SCM). RFID tools play an important role in supporting logistics and SCM processes because of their ability to identify, categorize and manage the flow of goods and information throughout the supply chain.  In light of the growing importance of RFID technology, the April issue of the International journal of production economics (vol. 112:2) is a special issue devoted to RFID technology, providing an overview of the current state of its applications and the impact of this on business operations.  The nine papers that have been selected are intended to provide a platform for the discussion of strategic frameworks, conceptual and analytical models and case studies on the design, development, and implementation of RFID systems.

The latest issue of the International journal of production economics can be found in the journal collections located in the library basement.

Alternatively, current students, faculty and staff can access this journal from Science direct, which can be found on the A-Z list of library databases via Portal.

Picture from Creative Commons: Flickr: midnightcomm

10 emerging technologies - 2008

Every year the editors of Technology review compile a list of 10 emerging technologies set to become important over the next few years. This is work that is ready to emerge from the lab, covering areas such as computer hardware and software, biological imaging and energy.

This year the following are included:

• Cellulolytic enzymes – used in biofuel production
• Reality mining – use of data-mining algorithms to information collected by cell phone sensors
• Connectomics – mapping of all synaptic connections between neurons
• Offline web applications – development of web technologies using resources of a user’s computer
• Graphene transistors – a new form of carbon which could vastly improve computer processors
• Atomic magnetometers – tiny magnetic-field sensors which could revolutionize MRI
• Wireless power – wireless power which can be transmitted without the use of cables
• Nanoradio – single molecules that could be used to improve cell phone communications
• Probablistic chips – computer chips that could extend battery life in mobile devices
• Modeling surprise – surprise modeling which combines data mining and machine learning to enable people to anticipate and cope better with unusual events.

The April issue of Technology review can be found in the journals collection located in the library basement.

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Science, technology and innovation in Europe

It is widely recognised that knowledge and innovation are the key to job creation and economic growth. Using a wide set of data tables, graphs and written analysis, this Eurostat publication presents a comprehensive picture of the science, technology and innovation activities in the European Union. It shows the contributions and expenditures on R&D; and defines the characteristics of the high-skilled people participating in these areas. It also describes the innovation activities of enterprises, as well as patenting, which is one of the channels leading to commercialising newly developed technology. Statistics on high-tech industries and knowledge-based services and human resources in science and technology are also included. The publication can be freely downloaded from the Eurostat website

Picture from Creative Commons: Flickr: Schoschie

Connectivity scorecard

 Professor Leonard Waverman of London Business School has recently released the first Connectivity scorecard report. The Connectivity scorecard is a pioneering global information and communications technology (ICT) index designed to measure the extent to which Governments, businesses and consumers in 25 nations make use of the technologies underpinning the information economy. The countries are divided into two categories - innovation driven economies and resource or efficiency driven economies. The United States comes in at number one for the innovation driven category, closely followed by Sweden and Japan.  Russia and Malaysia do well in the efficiency driven category due to their high literacy rates and usage scores. India and Nigeria are the lowest scores on the emerging segment Scorecard, falling behind on both.

To read the report in full click here

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How consumer conversation will transform business

This report from PricewaterhouseCoopers examines how new technologies and new methodologies are helping to provide companies with a greater understanding of consumers. At present there are approximately 75 to 100 million blogs and 10-20 million internet discussion boards and forums in the English language. Consumers are making full use of online media to discuss when and how they buy, providing a granular, real-time view of consumer behaviours and attitudes – it is the consumer, not the marketers that are leading the discussion!

How should companies translate the consumer voice into company strategy? Which department should own and drive this evolving business area since, operationally it spans several functions. The report looks at specific strategies on how companies can achieve incremental improvements in business processes, technology, and organizational culture.

Click here to read the report.

IBM Next Five in Five - Innovations to change our lives in the next five years.

The second annual "IBM Next Five in Five" is a list of innovations that have the potential to change the way people work, live and play over the next five years. The list is based on market and societal trends expected to transform our lives, as well as emerging technologies from IBM’s Labs around the world that could make these innovations possible.

It will be easy for you to be green and save money doing it.

The way you drive will be completely different.

You are what you eat, so you will know what you eat.

Your cell phone will be your wallet, your ticket broker, your concierge, your bank, your shopping buddy, and more.

Doctors will get enhanced “super-senses” to better diagnose and treat you.

To read more about the above and to watch the accompanying video go to:

http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/22683.wss

Industrial Research Institute’s R&D trends forecast for 2008

The Jan-Feb issue of Research-technology management includes the results of the 24th IRI (Industrial Research Institute) trends forecast for the US for 2008. According to the IRI, total company R&D expenditure is forecast to have robust growth, with 38% of the companies forecasting a 5% or greater increase. However, unlike last year, it appears that this level of expenditure growth is increasing faster than sales growth. In 2008, companies are continuing to support open innovation as shown in the forecasts for significant increases in the use of outside resources.

The latest issue of Research-technology management can be found in the journals collection located in the library basement. Alternatively, use Article Finder (available via Portal) to find out which of our databases provides full-text online access.

 

Picture from Creative Commons: Flickr:rq?

The Global Innovation 1,000 - largest corporate R&D spenders

In the third Global Innovation 1,000 Survey of the world's largest corporate R&D spenders, Booz Allen Hamilton experts found no correlation between how much companies spend on R& D and their innovation success.

Rather, the most successful companies align their innovation efforts with corporate strategy and listen to their customers every step of the way.

Click here to read the full Resilience Report

New guide to researching ICT

Focussing on the ICT sector, this new report covers market research reports, web resources, journals, books, reference materials and career guides.

Available on the Library website under Library guides or in Portal > Library > Help and advice > Research resource guides.

Image courtesy of SantiagoG, Flickr

TED - Ideas WorthSpreading - video clips

I have recently discovered TED

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.

The annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes). This site makes the best talks and performances from TED available to the public, for free. Almost 150 talks from our archive are now available, with more added each week. These videos are released under a Creative Commons license, so they can be freely shared and reposted.

Here are highlighted a few recent talks, but go to the site to browse and view a range of videos on subjects ranging from: 'The Future of Medicine' and 'How Brain Science Will Change The World' to 'Why Schools Kill Creativity' and 'The Best Stats You've Ever Seen'.

John Doerr – Seeking Salavationand Profit in Greentech

"I don't think we're going to make it," John Doerr proclaims, in an emotional talk about climate change and investment. Spurred on by his daughter, who demanded he fix the mess the world is heading for, he and his partners at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers embarked on a greentech world tour -- surveying the state of the art, from the ethanol revolution in Brazil to Wal-mart's eco-concept store in Arkansas. KPCB is investing $200 million in green technologies to save the planet and make a profit to boot. But, Doerr fears, it may not be enough.

Larry Lessig: How creativity is being strangled by the law.

Larry Lessig got TEDsters to their feet, whooping and whistling, following this elegant presentation of "three stories and an argument." The Net's most adored lawyer brings together John Philip Sousa, celestial copyrights, and the "ASCAP cartel" to build a case for creative freedom. He pins down the key shortcomings of our dusty, pre-digital intellectual property laws, and reveals how bad laws beget bad code. Then, in an homage to cutting-edge artistry, he throws in some of the most hilarious remixes you've ever seen.

Ray Kurzweil: How technology's accelerating power will transform us.

Prolific inventor and outrageous visionary Ray Kurzweil explains in abundant, grounded detail why -- by the 2020s -- we will have reverse-engineered the human brain, and nanobots will be operating your consciousness. Kurzweil draws on years of research to show the speed at which technology is evolving, and projects forward into an almost unthinkable future to outline the ways we'll use technology to augment our own capabilities, forever blurring the lines between human and machine..

To find more go to:

http://www.ted.com/talks

End

UK household Internet access

The latest figures for UK household Internet access have just been published by the Office for National Statistics. There are an estimated 13.9 million households (57%) in Great Britain that could access the Internet from home between January and April 2006. This is an increase of 2.9 million households (26%) since 2002, and 0.6 million (5%) over the last year. The number of households with Internet access across the United Kingdom in 2006 was 14.3 million, with the highest percentage of households with access being the South East with 66%. In terms of broadband, 69% of households now have access to a broadband connection.

The latest update to the quarterly Index of Internet Connectivity, a survey which measures the change in the level of all business and household connections to the Internet, has also just been released.

To view these results and other related data visit the Office for National Statistics website