BusinessWeek (July 30, 2010) – What can people in business learn from studying the ways successful designers solve problems and innovate? On the most basic level, they can learn to question, care, connect, and commit, four of the most important things successful designers do to achieve significant breakthroughs. Go to Source
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It’s not always easy to bridge the gap between academic research and the business world. Two recent articles offer perspectives on different aspects of the process: TURNING IDEAS INTO START-UPS. A recent New York Times article highlights university “idea incubators” – such as MIT’s Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation — that help professors bring their innovations to market.  Notes The New York Times: “M.I.T. is...
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Small units that purify household sewage could provide a source of electricity for urban and remote communities in the developing world, according to researchers. The units would be populated with Shewanella oneidensis, one of several types of bacteria that can break down organic matter in sewage, producing electrons and protons. If the sewage...
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An unusual vaccine development collaboration, which should lead to the launch of a cheap meningitis vaccine for Sub-Saharan Africa later this year, is emerging as a feasible way forward in the quest to make newer vaccines affordable in developing countries. The Serum Institute of India’s vaccine for meningitis — a bacterial infection of...
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Cecilia Ibru, CEO of Nigeria’s Oceanic Bank International, is no stranger to crisis: she has dealt with the challenges arising from the present global recession in the context of Nigeria’s efforts at tackling issues—poverty, civil unrest, and corruption—that have kept roughly 70 percent of the country’s population below the poverty line. In this...
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Cecilia Ibru, CEO of Nigeria’s Oceanic Bank International, is no stranger to crisis: she has dealt with the challenges arising from the present global recession in the context of Nigeria’s efforts at tackling issues—poverty, civil unrest, and corruption—that have kept roughly 70 percent of the country’s population below the poverty line. In this...
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State-owned enterprises have always struggled to match the private sector’s performance standards. That problem has become more acute now that many governments have been forced to deal with the current economic crisis by acquiring assets from private companies. Still, some state-owned companies in emerging markets have borrowed lessons from the private sector to...
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‘South-South’ biotech collaborations boost health, economies: Study The availability of more affordable drugs, vaccines and diagnostics that would help countless people worldwide is the foremost benefit expected from a growing number of collaborations between biotech firms in developing countries, according to a study to be published Mon. May 10 in the UK journal Nature...
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Researchers across 13 European and African research institutes will work together to integrate data from climate modelling and disease forecasting systems to predict the likelihood of an epidemic up to six months in advance. The research, funded by the European Commission Seventh Framework programme, will focus on climate and disease in Senegal, Ghana...
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Nitrogen is vital for all plant life, but increasingly the planet is paying a heavy price for the escalating use of nitrogen fertilizer. Excess nitrogen from fertilizer runoff into rivers and lakes causes algal blooms that create oxygen-depleted dead zones, such as the 6,000 to 7,000 square mile zone in the Gulf of...
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