I spoke to a group of business, education, and nursing graduates last weekend. Afterward I was thinking about how interesting their careers will be. In the next twenty years their sectors will be transformed by customized applications running on smart networks—the personalization revolution.

A long time ago I received two degrees in extraction-mining and energy finance. I spent the first dozen years of my career implementing what I learned and thinking mostly of myself-my next promotion, my next car, my next house. It worked out pretty well, but there were people around me that reminded me about contribution-making a difference for other people. I come from a line of teachers, farmers, shop owners, and health professionals that quietly served their community...

"Next-generation human genomics has arrived. The first large-scale whole-genome sequencing project has now begun in China...The Yanhuang Project, which will sequence the entire genomes of 100 Chinese individuals over 3 years

The big challenge of our time--more energy with a smaller environmental footprint--is leading to interesting intersections between biochemistry and energy production. 

For two years we've looking for the right nanotech prize.  A paper in the January 10 Nature suggests that a prize for thermoelectric materials might be a great nano prize and a good fit with the Energy & Environment suite of prizes in development.

"Approximately 90% of the world's power is generated by heat engines that operate at 30-40% efficiency, such that roughly 15 terawatts of heat is lost to the environment.  Thermoelectric modeules could potentially convert part of this low-grade waster heat into electricity...Here we report the electrochemical synthesis of large-area, wafer-scale arrays of rough Si nanowires that..show promise as high-performance, scalable thermoelectric materials."

 

If you appreciate the importance of free markets to innovation and entrepreneurship, then you may be disturbed by the protectionist rhetoric espoused by some of the presidential candidates

Before she moved on campus at LMU last year, my daughter was already connected to most of the kids in her dorm.  It's fair to assume that most high school and college kids spend as much time on social networking sites as doing homework these days; it's certainly true if you add the time they spend in virtual realities playing collaborative games, and sharing music and YouTube videos.  These kids will be launching careers with amazing/interesting networks and an interesting set of expectations about how the connect with and learn about the world. 

It's interesting to see the quite growth of business networks like LinkedIn (we're finally catching on).  

It's interesting to see how fundamentally YouTube changed the Presidential campaign.

It's interesting to watch the growth of online learning and ecommerce...the realized promise of Web 2.0.

It's interesting that 20 somethings are shaping the new economy. 

 

An interesting post by Tyler Cowen, Mercatus, GMU

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2008/01/what-i-am-nearl.html

Make sure to read what he's uncertain about as well. 

This sort of 'what I believe right now' exercise is a terrific way to kick off a planning process

 

 

The recently signed Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 does little to improve independence or security.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s a few small steps in the right direction but it’s not leadership, it’s bringing up the rear.  By the time fleet averages are required to reach 35 mpg in 2020 the climate game will be lost.  That’s about all we can expect out of a congress that is increasingly partisan and decreasingly able to address complex problems.

Prize philanthropy is a powerful strategy for producing innovation and public benefit. Well constructed prizes break bottlenecks, change perceptions, and accelerate adoption of beneficial innovations. There are three primary benefits of well constructed prizes and media savvy global competitions; they are a high leverage and efficient investment, a powerful innovation strategy, and an effective change strategy.