Innovation Watch Newsletter 12.11 - June 1, 2013

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Innovation Watch Newsletter - Issue 12.11 - June 1, 2013 ISSN: 1712-9834

David Forrest is aCanadian writer andstrategy consultant. His

Integral Strategyprocess has been

widely used to increasecollaboration in

communities, buildsocial capital, deepen

commitment to action,and develop creativestrategies to deal with

complex challenges.

David advises

organizations onemerging trends. He

uses the termEnterprise Ecology todescribe how ecological

principles can beapplied to competition,

innovation, andstrategy in business.

Highlights from the last two weeks...

companies develop software for designing life... crowdsourcingcould raise money to fund science... new technology could lead to400 gigabit per second internet speeds... Google Glass will soonsupport facial recognition... Kenya leads the world in mobilemoney... contrarian thinking sparks innovation... the scary futureof personal data... Jaron Lanier wants to rebuild the middleclass... Chinese farms go global... New Zealand and China talkabout linking their currencies... China plans to implement a pilotcarbon-trading program... global fisheries are changing due toocean warming... Elon Musk imagines a new transportationtechnology that will reduce travel time from Los Angeles to San

Francisco to 30 minutes... brace yourself, we are entering aresource-shock world...

More resources ...

a book by Noah Scalin and Michelle Taute: The Design Activist'sHandbook... a link to the BSR website on global sustainability... avideoclip from the Skoal Foundation on imagining the future... ablog post by Dan Baum on the world's most ambitious eco-city...

David Forrest
http://innovationwatch.com/innovation-watch-newsletter-12-11-june-1-2013/http://innovationwatch.com/innovation-watch-newsletter-12-11-june-1-2013/


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David is a member of

the Professional WritersAssociation of Canada,the World Future

Society, and otherfutures organizations.

He is a member of theAdvisory Committee of

the Institute forScience, Society and

Policy at the Universityof Ottawa.

Innovation Watch

SCIENCE TRENDS

Top Stories:

Bio-Hackers, Get Ready (Tech Crunch)- A pair of companies

in San Francisco's SOMA neighborhood and Tel Aviv are positioning

themselves as the "Wintel" of the bio-hacking era. One company,

called Genome Compiler, builds software for designing synthetic

life forms, while the other, Cambrian Genomics, is experimenting

with ways to cheaply laser print DNA. Like the old Microsoft-Intel

relationship of the PC era, they believe they have the symbiotic

relationship necessary to usher in a new era where anybody can

inexpensively create their own life forms. Genome Compiler is

backed with $3 million in funding, including $2 million from

Autodesk. Cambrian is funded by Founders Fund, Felicis Ventures

and Draper Associates.

Is It Possible to Kick Start Science? (BBC)- Kickstarter,

IndieGogo and other crowd funding sites are increasingly hosting

an array of technology projects, with some raising a lot of money,

while others have raised debate. 3Doodler claims to be the first

3D printing pen, and raised over $2.3m, having required just

$30,000. Currently the Glowing Plants project is creating

enthusiasm and controversy with the team's plan of making

sustainable natural lighting by using synthetic biology to make

plants glow. There has also been a growth in platforms for crowd

funding purely for science research, but there are questions as towhether such a model is feasible for science, and if it does more

harm than good.

More science trends...

TECHNOLOGY TRENDS

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Top Stories:

Noise-Canceling Tech Could Lead to Internet Connections

400 Times Faster than Google Fiber (Venture Beat)-

Researchers noted that sending twin light beams down a fiber

optic cable along with the original transmission of data could

basically eliminate that noise, as the light beams would pick up

the noise and cancel it out. BBC News notes that the research

team led by Xiang Liu of Bell Laboratories used this technique,

called phase conjugation, to send a signal of 400 gigabits persecond through 12,800 km of fiber optic cable. For perspective,

Google Fiber offers its subscribers 1 gigabit per second, and the

length Liu's team sent that signal is longer than the transoceanic

fiber links.

Google Glass: Facial Recognition Coming Soon (Telegraph)

- The new software from Lamda Labs, who are based in San

Francisco, raises the prospect of never forgetting a face again, and

also of internet recommendations for who Google Glass wearers

should meet at large social gatherings. It will launch to computer

programmers in days. Google has been at pains to remind usersthat Glass itself does not include facial recognition, and has come

under pressure from American senators to answer questions they

claim the wearable computer raises over privacy. But the device's

terms and conditions do not explicitly forbid using the device's

camera to detect faces and then to identify them via Glass's

screen, which sits above the users right eye and is visible only to

them.

More technology trends...

BUSINESS TRENDS

Top Stories:

Why Does Kenya Lead the World in Mobile Money?

(Economist)- Paying for a taxi ride using your mobile phone is

easier in Nairobi than it is in New York, thanks to Kenyas world-

leading mobile-money system, M-PESA. Launched in 2007 by

Safaricom, the country's largest mobile-network operator, it is

now used by over 17m Kenyans, equivalent to more than two-thirds of the adult population; around 25% of the country's gross

national product flows through it. M-PESA lets people transfer

cash using their phones, and is by far the most successful scheme

of its type on earth.

Tap into Y Combinator's Contrarian Thinking (Inc.)- To

create something entirely new -- something that the world has not

seen before -- requires contrarian thinking. Peter Thiel, a co-

founder of Paypal who's now one of the world's best-known

venture capital investors, says you know you're on the right track
http://innovationwatch.com/44334/noise-canceling-tech-could-lead-to-internet-connections-400-times-faster-than-google-fiber-venture-beat/http://innovationwatch.com/44334/noise-canceling-tech-could-lead-to-internet-connections-400-times-faster-than-google-fiber-venture-beat/http://innovationwatch.com/44322/google-glass-facial-recognition-coming-soon-telegraph/http://innovationwatch.com/trendwatch-technologyhttp://innovationwatch.com/44318/why-does-kenya-lead-the-world-in-mobile-money-economist/http://innovationwatch.com/44318/why-does-kenya-lead-the-world-in-mobile-money-economist/http://innovationwatch.com/44307/tap-into-y-combinators-contrarian-thinking-inc/http://innovationwatch.com/44307/tap-into-y-combinators-contrarian-thinking-inc/http://innovationwatch.com/44307/tap-into-y-combinators-contrarian-thinking-inc/http://innovationwatch.com/44318/why-does-kenya-lead-the-world-in-mobile-money-economist/http://innovationwatch.com/44318/why-does-kenya-lead-the-world-in-mobile-money-economist/http://innovationwatch.com/trendwatch-technologyhttp://innovationwatch.com/44322/google-glass-facial-recognition-coming-soon-telegraph/http://innovationwatch.com/44334/noise-canceling-tech-could-lead-to-internet-connections-400-times-faster-than-google-fiber-venture-beat/http://innovationwatch.com/44334/noise-canceling-tech-could-lead-to-internet-connections-400-times-faster-than-google-fiber-venture-beat/


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when you can explain what you're trying to by saying: "Most

people believe in X. But the truth is 'not X.'"

More business trends...

SOCIAL TRENDS

Top Stories:

You are Your Data: The Scary Future of the Quantified Self

Movement (Pando Daily)- Few if any consumers who fell

behind on their credit card payments in the early 2000s thought

that half a decade later employers would use their credit report to

determine their job worthiness. Few avid social media users must

have realized that insurance companies, the IRS, law enforcement,

and credit agencies would soon use their their data to investigate

fraud, determine creditworthiness, and monitor other potentially

illegal activity. History suggests they should have.

Jaron Lanier Wants to Build a New Middle Class on

Micropayments (Nieman Lab)- "We're used to treating

information as 'free,'" writes Jaron Lanier in his latest book Who

Owns the Future?, "but the price we pay for the illusion of 'free' is

only workable so long as most of the overall economy isn't about

information." Lanier argues that a free-culture mindset is

dismantling the middle-class economy. In his estimation, the idea

"that mankind's information should be free is idealistic, and

understandably popular, but information wouldn't need to be free

if no one were impoverished."

More social trends...

GLOBAL TRENDS

Top Stories:

Chinese Farms Go Global (The Diplomat)- If the Chinese

government is to achieve its goal of accelerated urbanization, oneissue it must deal with is food security. Already, as China has

developed more of its land, concerns have developed over whether

enough arable land will be available to produce enough food to

feed its massive population. This problem has serious implications.

As Katherine Morton, a specialist on Chinese environmental

governance, notes: "Ten percent of the Chinese population is

estimated to be undernourished, the rural labor force is declining,

and agricultural productivity is increasingly vulnerable to climate

change, natural disasters and water shortages."
http://innovationwatch.com/trendwatch-businesshttp://innovationwatch.com/44287/you-are-your-data-the-scary-future-of-the-quantified-self-movement-pando-daily/http://innovationwatch.com/44287/you-are-your-data-the-scary-future-of-the-quantified-self-movement-pando-daily/http://innovationwatch.com/44281/jaron-lanier-wants-to-build-a-new-middle-class-on-micropayments-nieman-lab/http://innovationwatch.com/44281/jaron-lanier-wants-to-build-a-new-middle-class-on-micropayments-nieman-lab/http://innovationwatch.com/44281/jaron-lanier-wants-to-build-a-new-middle-class-on-micropayments-nieman-lab/http://innovationwatch.com/trendwatch-societyhttp://innovationwatch.com/44338/chinese-farms-go-global-the-diplomat/http://innovationwatch.com/44338/chinese-farms-go-global-the-diplomat/http://innovationwatch.com/trendwatch-societyhttp://innovationwatch.com/44281/jaron-lanier-wants-to-build-a-new-middle-class-on-micropayments-nieman-lab/http://innovationwatch.com/44281/jaron-lanier-wants-to-build-a-new-middle-class-on-micropayments-nieman-lab/http://innovationwatch.com/44287/you-are-your-data-the-scary-future-of-the-quantified-self-movement-pando-daily/http://innovationwatch.com/44287/you-are-your-data-the-scary-future-of-the-quantified-self-movement-pando-daily/http://innovationwatch.com/trendwatch-business


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New Zealand, China in Talks on Convertibility of Currencies

(Wall Street Journal)- Seeking to help its exporters, New

Zealand is negotiating with China to make their currencies directly

convertible, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister John Key said.

Wellington's push is aimed at driving down costs for companies

that do business with China, which is close to overtaking Australia

as New Zealand's No. 1 trading partner. Talks are in the "very

early stages" and "progressing," the spokeswoman said, adding

that the issue had been brought up during Mr. Key's visit to China

last month.

More global trends...

ENVIRONMENTAL TRENDS

Top Stories:

China Unveils Details of Pilot Carbon-Trading Programme(Guardian)- China has unveiled details of its first pilot carbon-

trading programme, which will begin next month in the southern

city of Shenzhen. The trading scheme will cover 638 companies

responsible for 38% of the city's total emissions, the Shenzhen

branch of the powerful National Development and Reform

Commission (NDRC) announced. The scheme will eventually

expand to include transportation, manufacturing and construction

companies. Shenzhen is one of seven designated areas in which

the central government plans to roll out experimental carbon

trading programmes before 2014.

Fisheries Could Be in Hot Water Due to Climate Change (Ars

Technica)- As our planet warms from excess carbon in the

atmosphere, some of that heat is absorbed by the ocean. Fish and

invertebrates are responding to warming waters by moving to

higher latitudes or deeper waters where the water is cooler, and it

was expected that these shifts would eventually affect availability

of some commercially harvested species. "Eventually" may be

now. Ocean warming has already affected global fisheries in the

past four decades, according to a new study published in Nature.

By looking at catch statistics, scientists discovered that the

composition of species in fisheries around the world is already

shifting and changing our menu.

More environmental trends...

FUTURE TRENDS

Top Stories:
http://innovationwatch.com/44309/new-zealand-china-in-talks-on-convertibility-of-currencies-wall-street-journal/http://innovationwatch.com/44309/new-zealand-china-in-talks-on-convertibility-of-currencies-wall-street-journal/http://innovationwatch.com/trendwatch-globalhttp://innovationwatch.com/44278/china-unveils-details-of-pilot-carbon-trading-programme-guardian/http://innovationwatch.com/44278/china-unveils-details-of-pilot-carbon-trading-programme-guardian/http://innovationwatch.com/44266/fisheries-could-be-in-hot-water-due-to-climate-change-ars-technica/http://innovationwatch.com/44266/fisheries-could-be-in-hot-water-due-to-climate-change-ars-technica/http://innovationwatch.com/44266/fisheries-could-be-in-hot-water-due-to-climate-change-ars-technica/http://innovationwatch.com/trendwatch-environmenthttp://innovationwatch.com/trendwatch-environmenthttp://innovationwatch.com/44266/fisheries-could-be-in-hot-water-due-to-climate-change-ars-technica/http://innovationwatch.com/44266/fisheries-could-be-in-hot-water-due-to-climate-change-ars-technica/http://innovationwatch.com/44278/china-unveils-details-of-pilot-carbon-trading-programme-guardian/http://innovationwatch.com/44278/china-unveils-details-of-pilot-carbon-trading-programme-guardian/http://innovationwatch.com/trendwatch-globalhttp://innovationwatch.com/44309/new-zealand-china-in-talks-on-convertibility-of-currencies-wall-street-journal/http://innovationwatch.com/44309/new-zealand-china-in-talks-on-convertibility-of-currencies-wall-street-journal/


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We Think We Know What Elon Musk's Hyperloop is, and

How It Can Get You from LA to San Francisco in 30 Minutes

(Business Insider) - Tesla founder Elon Musk has been teasing

an exciting idea for a new form of transportation for the last year.

He calls it the "Hyperloop" and he says it's better than a bullet

train. The Hyperloop would get people to Los Angeles from San

Francisco in 30 minutes. However, he's been vague about how

he's going to make the Hyperloop a reality. The closest to detail

he's gotten is when he said the Hyperloop is a "cross between a

Concorde, a railgun and an air hockey table."

Entering a Resource-Shock World (Yahoo)- Brace yourself.

You may not be able to tell yet, but according to global experts

and the US intelligence community, the earth is already shifting

under you. Whether you know it or not, you are on a new planet,

a resource-shock world of a sort humanity has never before

experienced. Two nightmare scenarios -- a global scarcity of vital

resources and the onset of extreme climate change -- are already

beginning to converge and in the coming decades are likely to

produce a tidal wave of unrest, rebellion, competition and conflict.

At first, such mayhem is likely to arise largely in Africa, CentralAsia and other areas of the underdeveloped South, but in time all

regions of the planet will be affected.

More future trends...

From the publisher...

The Design Activist's Handbook: How to Change the World (Or

at Least Your Part of It) With Socially Conscious Design

By Noah Scalin and Michelle Taute

Read more...

Trends and Futures... New Books- New and not-yet-published books on trends andfutures.

A Web Resource... BSR- Businesses and institutions around the globe are working tocreate an economy that thrives within planetary boundaries and enables all the world'speople to lead dignified, prosperous lives. Turning this vision into reality is the centralchallenge of the 21st century. BSR works with a global network of more than 250 membercompanies from its offices in Asia, Europe, and North and South America, to developsustainable business strategies and solutions.

Multimedia...Dare to Imagine (Skoll Foundation) - What will the world look like in 50years? The problems facing our world are so large that they demand disruptive thinking. Wedon't have time to think in incremental terms. It's time to challenge the status quo, anddare to imagine what we can do. (8m 21s)
http://innovationwatch.com/44341/we-think-we-know-what-elon-musks-hyperloop-is-and-how-it-can-get-you-from-la-to-san-francisco-in-30-minutes-business-insider/http://innovationwatch.com/44341/we-think-we-know-what-elon-musks-hyperloop-is-and-how-it-can-get-you-from-la-to-san-francisco-in-30-minutes-business-insider/http://innovationwatch.com/44341/we-think-we-know-what-elon-musks-hyperloop-is-and-how-it-can-get-you-from-la-to-san-francisco-in-30-minutes-business-insider/http://innovationwatch.com/44297/entering-a-resource-shock-world-yahoo/http://innovationwatch.com/trendwatch-futurehttp://innovationwatch.com/the-design-activists-handbook-how-to-change-the-world-or-at-least-your-part-of-it-with-socially-conscious-design-by-noah-scalin-and-michelle-taute-how-bookshttp://innovationwatch.com/new-bookshttp://www.bsr.org/enhttp://innovationwatch.com/44009/dare-to-imagine-skoll-foundation/http://innovationwatch.com/44009/dare-to-imagine-skoll-foundation/http://www.bsr.org/enhttp://innovationwatch.com/new-bookshttp://innovationwatch.com/the-design-activists-handbook-how-to-change-the-world-or-at-least-your-part-of-it-with-socially-conscious-design-by-noah-scalin-and-michelle-taute-how-bookshttp://innovationwatch.com/the-design-activists-handbook-how-to-change-the-world-or-at-least-your-part-of-it-with-socially-conscious-design-by-noah-scalin-and-michelle-taute-how-bookshttp://innovationwatch.com/trendwatch-futurehttp://innovationwatch.com/44297/entering-a-resource-shock-world-yahoo/http://innovationwatch.com/44341/we-think-we-know-what-elon-musks-hyperloop-is-and-how-it-can-get-you-from-la-to-san-francisco-in-30-minutes-business-insider/http://innovationwatch.com/44341/we-think-we-know-what-elon-musks-hyperloop-is-and-how-it-can-get-you-from-la-to-san-francisco-in-30-minutes-business-insider/http://innovationwatch.com/44341/we-think-we-know-what-elon-musks-hyperloop-is-and-how-it-can-get-you-from-la-to-san-francisco-in-30-minutes-business-insider/


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The Blogosphere... Inside the World's Most Ambitious Eco-City (PopSci)- Dan Baum "At first glance, Masdar City appears a mirage. From a distance it looks like a singlemulticolored building, standing lonely on the horizon. Part of the illusion is due to the city'sstrange setting: next to Abu Dhabi airport, just across the highway from the Arabian Gulf,in a deeply inhospitable stretch of desert. Between it and downtown Abu Dhabi lie 20 milesof the most wasteful urban development I've ever seen -- a featureless plain studded withostentatious walled houses the size of the Supreme Court and crisscrossed by empty six-lane boulevards. But the illusion is also a matter of density. Masdar City, an $18-billion

experiment, will hold 40,000 residents in only two square miles."

Email: [email protected]
http://innovationwatch.com/44285/inside-the-worlds-most-ambitious-eco-city-popsci/mailto:[email protected]://twitter.com/innovationwatchmailto:[email protected]://innovationwatch.com/44285/inside-the-worlds-most-ambitious-eco-city-popsci/

Innovation Watch Newsletter 12.11 - June 1, 2013

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