Tag: innovation

Vaccine Commitments

The commitment made yesterday by rich countries to buy a suitable vaccine, meeting internationally recognized standards for efficacy and safety, could transform the economics of development of new vaccines. Pause briefly on how radical this policy is. There is a social need for extra R&D and investment in production facilities. But instead of paying researchers to do that research – which might or might not succeed, they are creating market incentives and allowing competition to do the rest. The donors create a reward for the private sector – the prospect of a lucrative market for vaccines – which enables firms to invest in developing and producing the needed vaccines. But if the research fails it will cost the donors nothing. The taxpayer will only have to cough up if the vaccines are actually developed and used. And if the vaccine is used, it will save more than 5m lives over the next 25 years – at $300 per life saved, a bargain in development terms. For firms, this is attractive because it creates a whole new market for their products, and enables them to serve poor country markets on a commercial basis, rather than as an act of corporate social responsibility. And for developing countries, they have the prospect of access to new vaccines, which in the past have taken 15-20 years to be mass produced cheaply enough for them to be widely used in developing countries. So this is an results-based, market-oriented, hard-headed partnership between donors, developing countries and the pharmaceutical industry which, if it works, will solve one of the most important health challenges on the planet.

Foreign transaction fee ripoff

I just got off the phone with Citibank after noticing a bunch of “Foreign Transaction Fees” on my bank statement — turns out that when you use your credit or debit card outside of the US, Visa and Mastercard charge 3% in transaction fees on the spend. It doesn’t matter if you use an ATM, buy over the Internet/phone, or walk into a store — the credit-card companies always dip their beaks.

the financial industry is totally ripe for disruptive innovation.

Jeff Bezos vs Bill Gates

I’ve given presentations on “creating passionate users” at both Amazon and Microsoft. 2 big companies, 2 CEOs. Guess which CEO has been to the talk? And he didn’t just sit there, he participated. His hand shot up when I asked a question. He quit fondling his Blackberry. But far more importantly–he asked an amazing question. then he asked, “How can I do more for our reviewers? These people do so much, and work so hard–especially the ones who do a lot of reviews — and the ‘Top Reviewer’ badges are not enough.” I was speechless. Not because I couldn’t think of an answer, but because I couldn’t believe someone this far up the food chain would even think–let alone care about this.

Energy Innovation

From a correspondent at the World Economic forum in Davos: I went to the energy dinner hosted by MIT and the striking thing was the composition of the audience. No top guys from Shell or BP in evidence. But Silicon Valley packing the room. The tech crowd included Vint Cerf, Vinod Khosla, John Doerr, Larry Page, Chad Hurley … and Sergey Brin came late. So full that even Page and Hurley had trouble getting in. Topics: nanobatteries, solar, natural selection and biofuel bugs, transmission grids.

2015-07-29:

If we create the right environment for innovation, we can accelerate the pace of progress, develop and deploy new solutions, and eventually provide everyone with reliable, affordable energy that is CO2 free. We can avoid the worst climate-change scenarios while also lifting people out of poverty, growing food more efficiently, and saving lives by reducing pollution.

2015-11-30:

2 related initiatives are being announced at today’s event. One is Mission Innovation, a commitment by more than 10 countries to invest more in research on clean energy. The other is the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, a global group of private investors who will support companies that are taking innovative clean-energy ideas out of the lab and into the marketplace. Our primary goal with the Coalition is as much to accelerate progress on clean energy as it is to make a profit.

this is a good step but coal needs to be defunded much more.

Razor light

put your facial hear into a dormant state with LASERS! everything is better with lasers.

A device that uses light to send hair follicles to sleep, making skin smooth for weeks at a time, without shaving or waxing, is being patented by Philips.

Rolamite

As basic as the lever or pulley, the simple concept called “Rolamite” promises a revolution in mechanical design. What’s a Rolamite? It looks like a simple gadget made with 2 rollers and a steel band, but it’s much more. As basic as the wheel, the lever, or the hinge, it is the only elementary machine discovered this century. Its use will be widespread — in everything from switches, thermostats, and valves to pumps and clutches, and as almost frictionless bearings.

this makes me wonder if there is a list of basic mechanisms? sort of like the atoms of language, or the most fundamental algorithms

Google and Healthcare

What is needed in the field of healthcare isn’t palliatives. We don’t need measures that merely help doctors manage their practices or get a few more images into the operating theatre. We need to put control into the hands of the sick and their caregivers and to gently suggest that those who treat them, medicate them, test them, or diagnose them, are out of date if they do not instantly deliver this information to the patient.

they are building a health url.