innovation
Looks like Siemens has taken a page from GE’s playbook by launching a large-scale competition to find and fund ideas for a better energy future. Similar to GE’s ecomagination Challenge, Siemens’ Smart Grid Innovation Contest offers a chance to win both small and large cash prizes, and is
innovation
IBM has opened its first IBM Innovation Centre in Mexico. Local startups, venture capitalists, developers and academics will gather there to begin building new skills that will drive innovation across industries such as banking, communications, healthcare, retail and government. The Mexico centre joins a worldwide network of 39 IBM Innovation
innovation
“Crowdsourcing” might be just the label du jour for what is really simple collaboration or competition for the best ideas. But it is helping to generate some promising solutions for serious social and environmental problems. The tricky bit now lies in followup: how many of the life-altering ideas identified through
innovation
Despite now being the world’s top greenhouse gas emitter, China is going all-out to improve its sustainability with a diverse range of projects from wind farms to eco-cities to high-speed rail. And some of the leading global technology companies are working with the country to help it meet its
innovation
Amid all the questions about where companies can meet their carbon reduction commitments, not often would attention turn to the little round discs that are probably overflowing in your computer-desk drawer. Despite the growing popularity of downloads for music and even films, the humble CD and DVD continue to thrive.
innovation
Magnets could hold the secret to ultra-efficient household refrigerators and cooler laptops, but the theory probably has years to go before becoming reality in your home. While scientists have known about the phenomenon called the magnetocaloric effect for more than 100 years, using magnets to provide cooling hasn’t advanced
innovation
A nanomaterial-based paint inspired by the flow-efficient texture of shark scales could help reduce fuel consumption for airplanes and ships, and lead to wind turbines that spin with less air resistance and generate more energy. Developed by researchers at Germany’s Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, the paint is designed to not only diminish
innovation
Matthew Luethi knows a few things about those wind turbines you see cropping up everywhere that you might not know. One, they’re inefficient. Two, they break down a lot. And, three, he’s got a unique solution to both those problems. Inefficient? Isn’t wind energy supposed to be
innovation
Can’t persuade your family members and friends to recycle, ride their bikes and do other things to reduce their carbon footprints? Maybe the answer isn’t telling them it’s the right thing to do but showing them it’s the fun thing to do. That’s the philosophy
innovation
James Bond did it in “Tomorrow Never Dies,” and one day soon, you might too: drive your car using a mobile phone. Yes, there’s now an app for that. Next Monday, scientists from the Free University of Berlin will give a media demonstration showing how they can use an
innovation
The US Department of Energy (DOE) is pinning its hopes — and money — on the possibility that we could one day easily store energy from intermittent sources like wind and solar for steady power supplies, or produce transport fuel directly from bacteria using sunlight, water and carbon dioxide. Those two innovations
innovation
An “eternal candle,” low-temperature radiator and three-dimensional skin-imaging device are among some of the latest technologies from Trinity College Dublin (TCD) to have reached the commercialisation stage. A variety of new technologies from Trinity Research & Innovation were showcased at the college this week. Among the inventions deemed ready for