Technology Innovators Research Articles

Technological Innovations: Development, Application and Results

This paper presents the results of the analysis of scientific and technological development in Russia in the period between 1997 and 2017, based on the example of creation and application of technological innovations. The empirical study is methodologically based on “The main provisions for the concept of innovative industrialization in Russia” [1, 2]. The best performing groups of organizations are identified in the following innovation segments: development of advanced production technologies; application of advanced production technologies; production of novel innovative products for specific markets. The performance is assessed based on the number of created and applied production technologies, the volume of manufactured innovative products and a comparative analysis of labor productivity performed for technologically innovative organizations and organizations that are not engaged in technological innovation.

The Need for Continued Innovation in Solar, Wind, and Energy Storage

Varun Sivaram is the Philip D. Reed fellow for science and technology at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, an adjunct senior research scholar at Columbia University, and a member of the energy and environment advisory boards at Stanford University. He is the author of the book, Taming the Sun: Innovations to Harness Solar Energy and Power the Planet (MIT University Press, 2018) and the editor of the book, Digital Decarbonization: Promoting Clean Energy Systems Through Digital Innovations (CFR Press, 2018). Forbes named him one of its 30 under 30 in law and policy, and Grist named him one of the top 50 leaders in sustainability. John Dabiri is Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering and of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University, senior fellow in the Precourt Institute for Energy, and a MacArthur Fellow. His research focuses on science and technology at the intersection of fluid mechanics, energy and environment, and biology. For his research in bio-inspired wind energy, Bloomberg Businessweek magazine listed him among its Technology Innovators, and MIT Technology Review magazine named him one of its 35 innovators under 35. David M. Hart is professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, co-chair of the Innovation Policy Forum at the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, and senior fellow at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation . He co-authored the April 2018 MIT Energy Innovation working paper Energy Storage for the Grid: Policy Options for Sustaining Innovation with William B. Bonvillian and Nathaniel Austin.

Locating the fourth helix: Rethinking the role of civil society in developing smart learning cities

In the Global North and increasingly in the Global South, smart city technologies are enthusiastically seen as a solution to urban problems and as an alternative to austerity. However, to move beyond a narrow technological focus, it is necessary to explore the degree to which smart initiatives are committed to building socially inclusive innovation with learning at its core. Using the particular case of the Future City Demonstrator Initiative in Glasgow, United Kingdom, the most high-profile initiative of its kind funded by government, the authors of this article assess the extent to which this smart city adopts such an inclusive approach. They use the quadruple helix model (government – academia – industry – civil society) as a starting point and develop an analytic framework composed of four strands: (1) supporting participation of citizens in decision-making; (2) implementing technological innovation which positions citizens as active users; (3) implementing technological innovation to benefit the community; and (4) evaluating technological innovation in the light of the experiences and needs of citizens. Unlike most analyses, the principal focus of this article is on the fourth element of the helix, civil society. The authors argue that Glasgow’s rhetoric of smart urbanism, while aspiring to problem-solving, devalues certain principles of human agency. They emphasise that urban change, including the city’s desire to become technologically innovative, would more fully facilitate active citizenship, social inclusion and learning opportunities for all if it were underpinned by the broader conceptions and frameworks of learning cities.

An android smartphone as IDE and robot controller

FIRST is a non-profit organization whose mission is inspire young people to be science and technology leaders and innovators... The FIRST Tech Challenge robotics program invites students in gr...

Spatial-temporal disparities, saving potential and influential factors of industrial land use efficiency: A case study in urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River

Based on the sequential generalized directional distance function (SGDDF) and Metafrontier non-radial Malmquist index (MNMI), the dynamic changes, saving potential, efficiency decompositions, and influencing factors of industrial land use efficiency are analyzed. This paper is a case study on the urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River focusing on the years between 2003 and 2012. The results show that (1) potential for significant improvement in industrial land use efficiency exists, and the saving potential of industrial land shows a rising trend. With the least saving potential, the Poyang Lake city group enjoys the highest efficiency. With the greatest saving potential, the efficiency in Wuhan city group is the lowest. (2) A positive catch-up effect and technological progress can be observed in industrial land use efficiency in the examined region, but the lack of technology innovators inhibits the promotion of industrial land use technology. (3) The analysis of the influencing factors shows that the relationship between per capita GDP and industrial land use efficiency follows an “N” shape. With the further economic development, industrial land use efficiency will decline slightly. Enhancing industrialization and land investment policies is thus conducive to increasing industrial land use efficiency, while industrial labor surplus and the governance of “Land Finance” have the opposite effect. Specific countermeasures to promote industrial land use efficiency are as follows: optimize industrial structure and improve labor skills; expand local industrial economy size properly to absorb surplus labor; perfect the land circulation system, and give full play to the resource allocation function of the land market; promote cross-regional flow of production factors; and strengthen regional cooperation among cities in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.

The Japan Patent Office (JPO) Guide to Licensing Negotiations Involving Standard Essential Patents, Comment of the Global Antitrust Institute, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University

The GAI submitted comments in response to a public consultation by the Japan Patent Office (JPO) regarding its Draft Guide for SEP (standard-essential patent) Licensing Negotiations. The GAI comments encouraged the JPO to acknowledge the platform characteristics of standard-setting organizations (“SSOs”), which link technology innovators directly with technology implementers, and to recognize the key role of SSOs in determining how patents necessary to the provision of standardized products and services should be licensed. The comment also asked the JPO to accept that substantial flexibility is necessary for SSOs and parties engaged in SEP licensing, in light of the wide variation in technologies, standards, and the competitive conditions prevailing in affected markets.

Composing Visual Music: Visual Music Practice at the Intersection of Technology, Audio-visual Rhythms and Human Traces

Creators of visual music face the challenge of retaining their own artistic impetus amidst an overwhelming choice of instruments, aesthetics, practice, techniques and technologies brought about by the impinging presence of a vast sea of data and tools. Navigating the data-driven ephemerality of artistic technology and its market-driven constraints by utilising strategies similar to composer Ron Kuivila’s (1998) for getting ‘under’, ‘over’ and ‘into’ will be examined with the aim of elucidating methodologies for creating works that other artistic practitioners may find useful.Leading pioneers of visual music were, of necessity, innovators of technology as well as visual musicians and artists. There is an intrinsic tension between developing new technology in order to re-imagine how music can be made visible and technological pioneers succumbing to the fascination of exploring the technology itself. Understanding aspects of perception, such as rhythm, is key to developing new technologies and processes in ways that avoid this pitfall and keep the experience of visual music central. Audio-visual synchronisation and rhythm are vital to create, in the seminal computer artist John Whitney’s words: ‘an art that should look like music sounds’ (1980: front dust jacket).Integrating the body, human traces and especially the human voice into visual music compositions underpins the key objective which is to create work that is non-narrative, ‘abstracted animation’1 (Watkins, 2015), and yet suffused with human presence and emotion. Visual music can be perceived as overly repetitive, cold and alienating if it seems to embody a purely mechanical alignment of music to image, or if it seems disengaged from both human emotions and natural imagery. This paper is part of an on-going investigation into developing methodologies for composing new abstract visual music pieces and, ultimately, parameters for a visual musical instrument.

Digitalisation and social innovations – perspectives and risks to the society

The process of digitalisation of the economy and social sphere that has occurred in the last decades is beyond the wildest expectations put forward by the technological pioneers. Information technologies and new possibilities of electronic communication have totally changed business, economic and social relations, as well as labour market, industries and professions. Technologies as social innovations change the way of work, forms of education and development, adherence to social networks or consumption patterns. The article also tries to prove that social innovations are not only digital technologies, but also the search for new social ideas and values, including solutions in the scope of social economy, sharing economy, a new model of welfare state. Moreover, some new social issues are revealed, together with new forms of social risk related to the development of technology and digi-talisation, which will have to be solved in the future.

A Very Brief History of Chinese Science Fiction

After laying the groundwork by suggesting that ancient texts that offered supernatural explanations for natural phenomena demonstrated curiosity about the natural world as well as scientific imagination, authors Yao Jianbin and Wu Yan give an overview of major Chinese science fiction authors and trends since the late nineteenth century, when science fiction per se was introduced into China. Tying the development of science fiction in China to the nineteenth-century importation of Western science and science fiction, Yao and Wu trace the fortunes of this kind of literature through the turbulent decades of the twentieth century. They further connect the resurgence and international success of science fiction from China to China’s rise as a technological innovator and world power.

Climate and Creativity: Cold and Heat Trigger Invention and Innovation in Richer Populations

Nobel laureates, technological pioneers, and innovative entrepreneurs are unequally distributed across the globe. Their density increases in regions toward the North Pole, toward the South Pole, and very close to the Equator. This geographic anomaly led us to explore whether stressful demands of climatic cold and climatic heat (imposed necessities) interact with economic wealth resources (available opportunities) in modulating creative culture—defined here as including both inventive idea generation and innovative idea implementation. Controlling for societal intellectualization, industrialization, and urbanization, results indicated that higher thermal demands, primarily cold stress and secondarily heat stress, hinder creativity in poorer populations but promote creativity in richer populations. Complementing their direct wealth-dependent effects, colder and hotter temperatures also exert indirect wealth-dependent effects on creative culture through lower prevalence of human-to-human transmitted parasitic diseases. Across 155 countries, the resulting ecotheory of creativity accounts for 79% of the variation in creative culture. The findings open up valuable perspectives on the creativity-related consequences of thermal climate—and climate change—in poor and rich populations.

PD50 Helping Innovators Navigate Policy And Regulatory Processes

Introduction:As part of a national aging and technology network, AGE-WELL, one work group aims to promote the understanding of potential policy and regulatory hurdles among innovators and decision-makers. This study describes the development of resources to help innovators to navigate policy and regulatory systems to have their technologies adopted.Methods:A policy primer was created that highlights considerations for innovators during the innovation process (from development to implementation). The content of the policy primer was developed by identifying resources through the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technology in Health Grey Matters search tool, and in consultation with legal and regulatory consultants. By surveying AGE-WELL technology-developing projects (n=15) we characterized the technologies being developed within the network. Survey questions included: intended end-user/purchaser of the technology and past/anticipated facilitators/barriers in their innovation process. The policy primer and survey data were combined to create tailored innovation maps with considerations for each technology being developed within the network. These materials were used to develop a beta website where users can receive information relevant to various innovation stages, as it pertains to their technology. We gained feedback about our materials via surveys and interviews with AGE-WELL technology developers.Results:The tailored innovation maps and website were seen as helpful resources for understanding policy and regulatory processes required for technology adoption. Technology developers expressed interest in gaining further access to these resources. Innovators desired additional resources about demonstrating value and measuring technology effectiveness.Conclusions:Resources were developed to help guide technology innovators through policy and regulatory processes; preliminary feedback suggests these were valued by innovators. Next steps include refining the website and releasing these resources to innovators beyond the AGE-WELL Network.

Are environmental innovators persistent?

A growing body of literature concerns innovation persistence, but does not deal with environmental innovation, which is an important topic in the context of global warming. In this paper, we contribute to this literature by testing whether environmental innovators are persistent. Our empirical approach rests on the use of the Community Innovation Survey (CIS) 2008 and CIS 2010 data for firms from Luxembourg. Due to the lack of harmonisation, we are obliged to carry out a consistent statistical retreatment related to the data. Our probit models show that environmental technological innovators are persistent. The phenomenon of environmental innovation persistence is also positively affected by regulation and voluntary measures.

Bridging healthcare education and technology solution development through experiential innovation

Healthcare education is continually evolving to meet the global healthcare needs of society. Education is of critical importance to support healthcare workers professional development while also expanding the evidence-base for healthcare professional training. There are inherent links between healthcare professionals’ educational development and patient safety. In recent years, there has been considerable emphasis on the role of technology to enhance patient safety and to support healthcare professionals in practice. However there is growing concern regarding the mismatch in healthcare professionals technological skills and how technological innovators are informed of healthcare needs. Education plays a key role to bridge this gap. Collaborating in simulated clinical learning environments, e.g. university-simulated clinical skills laboratories, can provide a valuable resource to support students’ technical competencies as they graduate into a digital healthcare environment. It also provides a safe innovation environment for healthcare solution developers to experiment with implementing technology to improve healthcare practice and faculty development. We review the literature to examine state-of-the-art in healthcare education and healthcare innovation with a view to developing a framework to guide how we can begin to successfully bridge healthcare education and technology innovation.

Pluto’s Features Receive First Official Names

Names of mountains, plains, valleys, and craters honor human and technological pioneers, Pluto scientists, and underworld mythology from around the world.

(Invited) ALD Metal Fluorides for Ultraviolet Filter and Reflective Coating Applications

We report on the development of atomic layer deposition (ALD) processes for integrating optical filter coatings directly onto back-illuminated silicon sensors for ultraviolet applications. These devices, including CCD imaging arrays and large-area avalanche photodiodes, are modified with a two-dimensional doping method utilizing molecular beam epitaxy to provide high internal quantum efficiency in the UV. Detector integrated coatings are then required to recover additional external losses due to natural silicon reflectance at these short wavelengths. This includes the development of broadband AR coatings, multilayer narrowband coatings, and metal-dielectric filters for solar-blind devices. The use of ALD is attractive for this purpose because the low deposition temperature and thermal surface reactions do not degrade the 2D doping layers, and therefore do not result in reduced detector quantum efficiency. Applications implementing these coated detectors related to terrestrial and space astronomy, astrophysics missions, and particle physics experiments will be discussed. Cosmology is experiencing a very exciting time in exploration. Communities of scientists and technology innovators are studying four concepts for flagship future missions selected and supported by NASA. Two of these four missions are Earth-orbiting large aperture telescope observatories that will include UV capabilities. Currently, these ongoing studies have identified high efficiency detectors and high reflectivity mirror coatings as high priority technologies, particularly those that can extend and enhance system performance for UV wavelengths shorter than those previously explored by missions like the Hubble Space Telescope. At wavelengths below 200 nm, typical ALD dielectric oxide materials like TiO2, HfO2, SiO2, and Al2O3 exhibit large optical losses; we have pursued the development of new processes for ALD metal fluorides to extend coating performance into this far UV wavelength range. Thin films of MgF2, AlF3, and LiF are demonstrated using anhydrous hydrogen fluoride (HF) as the fluorine-containing precursor. This is in contrast to alternate ALD methods for fluoride materials which often utilize reactive metal fluorides as the fluorine precursors, and can result in thin films with components of residual metal oxide contamination. The use of HF has allowed for films with good UV optical properties at deposition temperatures as low 100 °C. This enables compatibility with a variety of 2D-doped silicon sensor formats as well as optical components like polymeric diffraction gratings. The deposition rate of these fluoride materials has a more significant substrate temperature dependence than other common ALD chemistries that often display a ‘window’ of uniform film growth per ALD cycle. Characterization of these coatings is performed with measurements of far UV reflectance and transmittance, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, ellipsometry, and atomic force microscopy. These ALD fluoride materials are also effective protective coatings for reflective aluminum optics. Protected UV Al mirrors with ALD AlF3 overcoats are shown to be competitive with state-of-the-art commercial mirrors made with conventional physical vapor deposition (PVD) methods. The use of ALD in these components holds promise in reducing the thickness of the overcoat relative to PVD approaches. This has significant performance implications for far UV mirrors and the ultimate short wavelength cutoff of Al mirrors for potential future NASA astrophysics missions. The large scale coating uniformity, and corresponding reflectance uniformity of ALD overcoats is also attractive for the same applications. Additionally, the use of HF-based ALD chemistries can also allow for the thermal atomic layer etching (ALE) of a variety of materials including aluminum oxide. By combining these ALE methods with ALD encapsulation, it is possible to chemically strip the oxidation that occurs on metallic aluminum and effectively replace it with thin fluoride layers. Stable Al mirrors with protective fluoride coatings approximately 3 nm thick are demonstrated with this combined ALE/ALD approach. The environmental stability of these coatings will be described in the context of resistance to high-humidity conditions. Figure 1

THE EMERGENCE OF HEALTH TECHNOLOGY FIRMS THROUGH THEIR SENSEGIVING ACTIVITIES AND COMPETITIVE ACTIONS

Few studies have examined the process by which health technology innovators must socially construct their firm and share their ideas with economic and health system actors. To fill this gap, we intended to provide insights into the differences characterising the health technology startup (HTS) among other startups and test a conceptual model by characterising press releases and media coverage emanating from five firms (three HTS and one well-established firm, and one non-health information technology). Using a multiple case study design, with three embedded units of analysis composed of the startups’ sensegiving intentions, its competitive actions and its strategic responses to pressures, we observed marked difference in the use of marketing and symbolic actions as well as recourse to prominent actors. Besides, health startups were the only ones relying on cognition rather than actors’ self-interest or moral judgments. There were also differences depending on the startup status and the number of actors resulting in different response patterns to pressures. The findings are paving the way to further research on innovators and actor’s inner thinking, which may contribute to shaping business development programs targeted specifically for health tech startups, and may help emerging entrepreneurs compare their evolution to health and non-health tech startups.

Comment on “The Current Wave of State Enterprise Reform in China: A Preliminary Appraisal”

Comment on “The Current Wave of State Enterprise Reform in China: A Preliminary Appraisal”

Interdisciplinary Collaboration in Maternal Mental Health

One out of every five to seven births is affected by postpartum depression, making it the most common maternal health problem in the first year after childbirth. Early identification and treatment are essential, though screening and treatment rates are low. Factors that inhibit effective screening and treatment include lack of uniform screening policies in all maternal health settings, poor coordination of care between primary care and mental health services, inadequate coordination of community education efforts and resources, social stigma surrounding mental health treatment, and ineffective application of research and technology in the clinical setting. An interdisciplinary model that includes primary care providers, mental health professionals, community resources, policy makers, researchers, and technological innovators addresses these gaps in care and enhances screening and treatment efforts that improve overall maternal and child health. We present a promising interdisciplinary cross-organizational approach coalescing diverse perspectives from those working across policy, research, training, primary care, and mental health in various disciplines to practice collaboratively to improve perinatal mental healthcare.

Three financial regulators issue reports on product and service innovations

PurposeTo summarize developments by the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”), the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”), and the UK Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) in their respective efforts to facilitate responsible financial innovation, and to predict what the financial services industry may expect in coming months.Design/methodology/approachThis article summarizes financial marketplace developments of particular interest to the CFPB based on the CFPB’s report on its initiative to support responsible financial innovation and CFPB Director Richard Cordray’s speech at the Money 20/20 conference. The article also discusses the OCC’s release of a framework for its “Innovation Initiative”, providing insight to how the agency intends to engage with the fintech industry. Finally, this article explains how the FCA has identified the first cohort of firms to participate in its regulatory sandbox to test new financial products and services as part of the FCA’s wider “Project Innovate” initiative.FindingsFinancial technology innovators should closely monitor the agencies’ recent regulatory and policy developments to facilitate responsible financial innovation to be aware of new opportunities and regulatory consequences.Originality/valueThis article provides practical advice for fintech companies and other financial innovators on regulatory and policy updates from experienced financial services lawyers.

Nutrient Sensor Challenge Winners Announced at ASLO Conference

The winners of the Nutrient Sensor Challenge were announced at a special awards session at the ASLO Aquatic Sciences Meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Thursday, March 2. Launched in December 2014, the Nutrient Sensor Challenge aimed to accelerate the development, production, and use of affordable, reliable, and accurate nutrient sensors. These sensors will enable automated and high-resolution nutrient monitoring in aquatic environments ranging from freshwater lakes and streams to the coastal ocean. Nutrient pollution is one of the nation's most difficult environmental challenges. While nutrients are essential compounds for functioning ecosystems and the production of food, fiber, and livestock feed, excessive nutrient levels can dramatically alter aquatic environments and threaten economic and human health. An independent judging panel selected Systea S.p.A. as the winner for both Nitrate and Phosphate sensors. The Systea instruments represent a cost-effective, commercially available solution for measuring both nitrate and phosphate in an integrated package. It uses a wet chemistry approach to measure both nitrogen and phosphorus, and performed well in lab testing and across the three field deployments, including 72 days in Chesapeake Bay. The judging panel awarded an Honorable Mention for Innovation and Potential to the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) team. The NOC sensor represents a fundamentally new approach to the wet chemical in situ analyzer method, using chip-based microfluidics technology. Though some engineering challenges need to be addressed for continuous, full-scale field deployment, the sensor performed well in the lab and maintained accuracy and precision across a wide range. The sensor is also forecast to be near the Challenge goal for purchase price. For the past two years, the Challenging Nutrients Coalition has been working to facilitate the development of nutrient sensors that will provide the data needed to inform decisions to reduce nutrient loads on land, in the air, and in waterways and to track progress. The Coalition is an extensive collaboration between government agencies (including Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, United States Geological Survey, and National Institute of Standards Technology), NGOs, and academia that deploys open innovation and incentive prize approaches to advance nutrient pollution management and reduction. To stimulate these new innovations, the Coalition launched the Nutrient Sensor Challenge in collaboration with the Alliance for Coastal Technologies (ACT). The challenge goal was for new, more accurate, precise and reliable technologies to be commercially available by 2017 for a purchase price of less than $5,000 and with other significant savings in cost-of-ownership. After two years of development, and rigorous field and laboratory testing by ACT, the winners were selected by an independent panel of expert judges. “Many thanks go to the many technology innovators, our technical advisory committee, and independent judging panel,” said Mario Tamburri, Executive Director of the Alliance for Coastal Technologies. “The next step is to get these next-generation sensors into the hands of users to help stop the nutrient pollution problem.” All instrument performance testing results will be available to the public in a series of individual verification reports published on the ACT website in April 2017. More information on the nutrient pollution issue, the Nutrient Sensor Challenge, and the winners can be found at www.nutrients-challenge.org. Denice Shaw from EPA Office of Research and Development presenting award to Pompeo Moscetta of Systea. Amy Pelsinsky, Director of Public Relations, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Baltimore, MD, U.S.A., apelsinsky@umces.edu