I was puzzled by a recent HSBC report claiming that technology would transform the UK landscape with places like Dundee becoming a computer gaming hub and Newcastle, where much of the post industrial activity consists of handing out or receiving government benefits would be transformed by nanotechnology. The report seems to reveal a previously unknown Geordie fervour for science as …
Tomorrow Will Be Just Like Today – But Smaller
I was rather shocked by Business Week’s list of the 20 Most Important Inventions of the Next 10 Years. It simply assumes that the next twenty years will be exactly the same as the present, but with things getting smaller and faster and generally better (thanks to nanotech in three of four of them). These types of future look articles …
Time For A New Green Agenda?
Yesterday’s meeting started me thinking about why, despite some NGO finding another potential climate related catastrophe almost every day, there is a feeling of frustration and a lack of progress. It looks to be the fault of the Green movement itself. If we take a look at the history of the environmental movement, most if it sprang from the anti …
Oops, I Just Went Green!
I spent a rather enlightening afternoon today at the UK Aware Ideas for Greener Living exhibition speaking on a panel hosted by Francis Sealy of 21st Century Network (@21stCN). Francis had selected a panel consisting of a technology expert (myself) and a couple of people who were interested in living a more simple life. One of these, a chap called …
The Best Minds in the UK At Loggerheads Over Technology
British scientists are hopping mad about comments from Bank of England Governor, Mervyn King, who recently argued against increased science funding, presumably on the grounds that all the money had already been spent on health and safety agencies, totally ineffective government agencies and bailing out Scottish Banks. I would expect the Governor of the Bank of England to understand a little bit of …
The Hype That Came Back to Bite
I received an email from the US NanoBusiness Alliance (yes they are still limping along) appealing for data on jobs created by nanotechnologies, a clear case of the hype that came back to bite. We Need Your Jobs Data During the Public Policy Tour, we received an assignment from Senator Wyden, Tom Kalil, and several other champions of nanotechnology: in …
A Fool & His Money Are Soon Parted
It’s nice to see the UK Department of Innovation, Universities & Skills (DIUS) lobbying for a billion pounds to be spent on scientific research, but it’s worrying that, as with most of these ‘stimulus’ packages, little time has been spent figuring out what really needs to be done and the majority of the package is focussed on quick wins and …
VCs Dabble, Dither & Diversify
The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article about how “with their core business in shambles, some venture capitalists are changing their stripes, styling themselves as investors in distressed assets and public companies.” Here’s why: Start- ups today take a median 6.6 years to go public or get sold, up from 5.4 years in 2005, according to research firm VentureSource. …
Should the VC Model Retire Gracefully?
Umair Haque, whom I’ve referenced before, has a nice post echoing some of the sentiments expressed here and at a growing number of other places – namely that a new economy needs both new financing models and some more creativity. In Yorkshire we’d say it was a clapped out old nag that was only fit for the knackers yard, but …
Let A Million Flowers Bloom
Given the global gloom emanating from all sources, it was at least nice to see that our little bit of the world, nanotechnologies, got a mention in Davos and Andrew Maynard who is also on the nanotechnologies council with me has the background details here. However, I’m still a bit worried that most discussions about nanotechnology tend to focus on …