Are we seeing a more Enlightened US Consumer, or is this just the Aging of Baby Boomers?

February 19, 2010

Every time I see a reference about the new American consumer I think of a post 9/11 The Onion article:  A Shattered Nation Longs to Care about Stupid Bulllshit Again.
Events like 9/11 and the recent economic collapse can certainly alter consumer sentiment- especially in the short term.  But life stage transitions matter more!  And the [...]

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World Economic Forum Scenarios Explore the Future of Mining and Metals in 2030

February 17, 2010

The World Economic Forum (sponsor of the annual Davos gathering) has released a short set of scenarios highlighting broad implications around plausible outcomes for the ’Future of Future of Mining and Metals in 2030‘. WEF’s scenarios demonstrate the value of foresight and futures thinking for public and private sector leaders interested in exploring uncertainties about global change (and [...]

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My trip to see the final night launch of the NASA Space Shuttle program [10+ Videos]

February 16, 2010

One Final Night Launch…
Last week I fulfilled a lifelong dream of seeing the Space Shuttle liftoff- in what will likely be the last night launch of the NASA Shuttle Program.  Now that the International Space Station is nearing completion NASA will retire the reusable Shuttle fleet in September, and move towards lower cost expendable rockets that might be [...]

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Want to see the future of car design and manufacturing? Watch Trexa, Local Motors and Riversimple

February 14, 2010

Forget about trying to displace oil, the target for disruption is the internal combustion engine!
If you want a sneak peak at the most revolutionary ideas in how we design, build and experience cars visit: Local Motors, River Simple, Commn, and Trexa (Image).
These companies are rethinking platform-based vehicle design to support manufacturing and business model innovations that might define [...]

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Cisco CEO John Chambers Urges Innovation Across Market Transitions and Video based Collaboration

February 4, 2010

Cisco CEO John Chambers is selling a very powerful vision of future growth based on innovation timed to major market transitions occurring in business, government, education and infrastructure.  His current ‘network-based collaboration’ stump speech offers lessons on building an organizational culture based on foresight and innovation:

Innovate across Market Transitions – The secret to company longevity [...]

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Davos 2010 Ideas Lab Talks from MIT Group on Nature of Social and Connected Intelligence [5 Videos]

January 30, 2010

The 2010 World Economic Forum (”Davos”) has released a set of 5 minute video presentations from its IdeasLab program. Presentations are limited to 5 minutes (20 slides) so there is no ‘death by powerpoint‘, just good old fashioned ideas sharing from some of the world’s brightest minds.
Here are five presentations from a group of MIT [...]

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GM’s Decision to Build Electric Motors Could Shift Conversation on Future of American Manufacturing

January 28, 2010

Forecast & Outlook: Electric vehicles (EVs) powered by the integration of batteries, hydrogen fuel cells and capacitors, represent an enormous opportunity for re-tooling America’s manufacturing base.  The high end of the value chain in automobiles is no longer based on combustion engines or mechanical systems, and has shifted towards electric propulsion, composite materials, energy storage/conversion, [...]

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Company to Watch in Bio Industrialism: Novozymes [Videos]

January 27, 2010

Before we look at what makes Novozymes a company to watch – it is helpful to understand the market transitions occuring in materials science and engineering that drive all major sectors from food to energy to pharmaceuticals.
An Era based Look at Industrialism:
Ores, Hydrocarbons & Semiconductors
The history of industrialism, and our ability to manipulate the interactions of [...]

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Beyond the Military, A Bright Future for Situational Awareness Systems

January 25, 2010

Forecast & Outlook:  The principles of ‘situational awareness’ based on perception, comprehensive and projection might soon support a wide range of applications that reach far beyond military operations and crisis response.   It is a user and outcomes-centric systems approach that could integrate anticipated advances in mobility, ‘smart’ infrastructure, learning systems, policy-making and business intelligence.
Situational [...]

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[Video] The Future of Coal, Carbon and Cathedral Thinking

January 20, 2010

Forecast & Outlook:  Coal is the world’s fastest growing source of energy and leading fuel source associated with carbon emissions.  There is a two-fold path to rethinking our relationship with coal’s carbon molecules based on ‘Cathedral Thinking‘ and ‘Manhattan Project‘ strategies.  The end result and legacy we might leave future generations is a new capacity to better [...]

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