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March 19 - 25, 2007

Hot Technologies for 2007

Each year, Technology Review (TR) magazine lists hot new technologies with the potential to transform how we live and work. TR’s 2007 list touches on a lot of areas, including medicine, energy and the Internet. On the health care/biotech front, hot technologies include nanohealing, neuron control, and single cell analysis. All of these tools will help transform how we diagnose and treat diseases like Parkinson’s and depression. In the energy sector, quantum- solar dot power holds great promise. Quantum-dots are tiny crystals of semiconductors that are only nanometers wide. Their miniscule size allows them to interact with light in a more efficient manner, and may help make solar power more efficient and cost competitive. Finally, anyone who has logged onto YouTube will understand why TR also lists peer-to-peer video networks as an important emerging technology. As peer-to-peer video becomes more popular, the Internet backbone may not be able to efficiently handle the traffic. Peer-to-peer networks offer one tool to save bandwidth and enhance Internet capacity.

The Technology Review “Ten Emerging Technologies 2007” list appears in the March/April edition of Technology Review.

New Tech Transfer Numbers

The Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) has recently released its latest numbers on university technology transfer and commercialization. The data (from Fiscal Year 2005) show that the process of moving research into the marketplace seems to be getting smoother. In FY 2005, 527 new products were made available to the public and both invention disclosures and patent applications increased. Total spending (based on reports from 228 institutions) reached $1.1 billion. Washington is still the primary investor as federal funds accounted for 67% of this research support. Private sector funds accounted for only 7% of the total. AUTM has also begun tracking how university spin-off companies obtain their start-up financing. Friends and family continue to be the primary source of such investments, but this year’s survey also shows an increase in funding from angel investors, institutional support and from the federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer Program (STTR). Venture capital firms provide support for less than 20% of these start-up firms.

View the Association of University Technology Managers study, AUTM U.S. Licensing Survey FY 2005. Data for Canada are also available.

The Path to Digital Prosperity

While there are multiple factors driving the American economy, it’s hard to discount the critical importance of information technology (IT) advances. A new report from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation examines the role of information technology in driving economic prosperity. The authors contend that the “IT engine” does not appear ready “to run out of gas soon.” They predict that IT advances will continue to drive productivity improvements, thus improving quality of life, for decades. However, this prediction does not imply that we should just sit back and enjoy the ride. The report concludes with a series of recommendations for improving the IT field and ensuring that its benefits are equitably shared. Among the recommendations are a reform of tax policies to encourage additional IT investment, public policies to ensure equal access to IT advances, and, perhaps most importantly, a caution to do no harm In other words, policymakers must be careful to avoid new rules and regulations that can strangle innovations in the IT sector.

Read the March 2007 Information Technology and Innovation Foundation report, Digital Prosperity: Understanding the Economic Benefits of the Information Technology Revolution, by Robert D. Atkinson and Andrew S. McKay.

Ranking State Education Systems

While one Chamber of Commerce-sponsored Commission was commenting on US capital markets reform, another Chamber division—the Institute for a Competitive Workforce—released a national scorecard of how states rank in terms of educational effectiveness. The Score Card uses nine different measures that seek to assess state performance in terms of academic achievement, return on investment, rigor of standards, teacher quality, and workforce readiness. States do not receive a single overall grade, but are instead graded on each of the nine measures. However, some interesting nationwide trends are revealed in the data. In general, the quality of data and statistics on educational outcomes is quite weak. In addition, many states need to introduce more rigorous standards for both teachers and for measuring student achievement. The report concludes by making the case for a “business-based” approach to education reform. As the authors note, “. . . much of what ails schooling today is a lack of management savvy, information, and organizational discipline.” Business leaders need to collaborate with educators to help them transform their schools into accountable high performance organizations.

Access the February 2007 Institute for a Competitive Workforce report, Leaders and Laggards: A State-by-State Report Card on Educational Effectiveness.

The National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship, an initiative of the Public Forum Institute made possible by a grant from the Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City. Through NDE-news, we bring you short summaries and analyses of various trends driving the innovation economy. Subscribe now to receive your weekly copy. Archived issues are available online. Links to the day's entrepreneurship stories from across the nation and around the world are posted each weekday on the NDE main page - bookmark it and stay informed about the latest entrepreneurship news.

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