August 2009 Archives

A project called GridEcon has spawned a platform that allows the selling and buying of standardized computing resources. In the process, it could make computing a utility like electricity.

Grids themselves have been around for quite a while, made famous by the SETI@HOME network, where ordinary computer users volunteered their unused computer processing power to analyze signals from space. SETI hoped to find patterns in the signals revealing extraterrestrial intelligence.

The difference with the GridEcon project is the commodity market platform that enables users to bid on available computing capacity, or put out a tender for a specific computing time slot.

This spot and future market mechanism is enabled by a computing platform developed by the research team, who were funded by the EU's Sixth Framework Program for research.

Organizations already rent cloud computing capacity from companies like Amazon, Hewlett Packard and others, but these companies generally only offer their spare capacity. GridEcon's platform is open - users can buy and sell computing capacity on their own terms.

Buyers can also be sellers. If a company has a large computer park it can offer its spare capacity, but if it has a temporary need for much greater capacity it can bid for it on the marketplace.

GridEcon built a virtual trading floor for computing resources, a platform for validating new market-based services, published extensive studies on the economics and mechanics of computing resource marketplaces, and generated a buzz around the concept.

A video of WiTricity's wireless power transmission technology (covered in a post here last month) has emerged online showing how resonant magnetic fields between coils can enable wireless connection of TVs and cell phones to electric power. The company's CEO, Eric Giler, recently attended the First German Electric Vehicle Congress where the wireless transmission medium was proposed as a passive charger for electric vehicle vehicles.

Have all of the great technology companies already been created? Not even close, insists Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO. The only thing for certain in the future of technology is its dynamism, and that the names and the players are always changing. Ballmer points to smart displays and better human-computer interaction as future areas of exploration. He credits software with having impact on the future of energy, environmental science, and other fields. Source: Stanford Universities Entrepreneurship Corner

No single success metric says more about a region's ambition to become the next Silicon Valley than its indigenous climate for startups. As a reporter covering Europe on assignment for many years I can recall top executives from firms like ST Microsystems railing about Europe's risk-averse, "stigma of failure," culture.

In the U.S. of course, the more failures under your belt - the greater your chances of success.

But in parts of Europe, taht's beginning to change.

For some excellent insight and perspective into just where, and how it's changing, check out EE Times German editor Christoph Hammerschmidt's interview with Gerhard Fettweis, professor at the Dresden Technical University. In the interview Prof. Fettweis explains why Germany's eastern region is better suited to risk-taking and an entrepreneurial environment, and why. One key ingredient he says, is his students willingness to take on the tough route to the top.

A few highlights and quotes from the Professor:

• It may sound like a platitude, but it is because the students here are hungry. They have a level of motivation like in the U.S. In other famous universities in Germany, students try to find 'easy' courses and seminars to get good exam results. In Dresden, they go for the difficult topics because they are aware that it will help them more in their career and in their lives. In contrast to Western Germany they typically come from a much poorer social environment. They know that they have to set up their own business to make a living, just like the first immigrants in the USA...

 

• We are now at the point where the founders of companies in the nineties, with all their experience, are becoming serial entrepreneurs. This means that in Europe, for the first time, we are in the position where it is possible to launch a company with seasoned entrepreneurs, with people who know how to do it. One does not need a manager from large concerns, because these guys do not have the SME thinking.

For more, including a list of emerging new technology companies, see the compete interview here.

Technology today is so advanced that it's easy to lose sight of where all it all comes from.

Or, as Arthur C. Clarke stated in his third law of predictions:"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

Now it seems, China is engaging in a bit of sleight of hand that may bring prestidigitation predictors tumbling down to earth- literally.

According a recently published report China is said to be drawing up plans to prohibit or restrict exports of rare earth metals that are produced in China and play a vital role in cutting edge technology, from hybrid cars and catalytic converters, to superconductors, and precision-guided weapons.

Such as?

Such as: terbium, neodymium, cerium, lanthanum, europium, dysprosium, yttrium, thulium, and lutetium, for starters.

Terbium, it turns out, is the material that puts the magic in low-energy light bulbs, replacing tungsten.

Neodymium is a critical component in disk drives where it powers special magnets used in tiny spindle motors, wind turbines, and the electric motors of hybrid cars.

The Toyota Prius, for instance, uses 25 pounds of rare earth elements per car. Cerium and lanthanum are used in catalytic converters for diesel engines. Europium is used in lasers.

Blackberries, iPods, mobile phones, navigation systems, and air defense missiles all use rare earth metals which also serve to filter viruses and bacteria from water, and cleaning up Sarin gas and VX nerve agents.

China, claims it needs these resources to develop its own economy and to achieve energy efficiency according to a draft report by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology which has called for a total ban on foreign shipments of terbium, dysprosium, yttrium, thulium, and lutetium.

Other metals such as neodymium, europium, cerium, and lanthanum will be restricted to a combined export quota of 35,000 tonnes a year, far below global needs, according to Alistair Stephens,of Australia's rare earth group Arafura, who reports that his contacts in China have been shown a copy of the draft -- `Rare Earths Industry Devlopment Plan 2009-2015'.According to Miao Wei, vice minister of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) mining rights for large rare earth mines will be transferred to strong enterprises via tender in the future.

China is the largest rare earth resources producer, user and exporter in the world. It takes up 87 percent of the share on the international rare earth market.

According to Miao, MIIT will raise the threshold for access to the rare earth industry and enact technical standards for refining enterprises. Meanwhile, it will formulate the production plan and establish censorship for rare earth exploration.

To optimize resources distribution and strengthen the rare earth industry, MIIT will also promote merger and acquisition of the related enterprises, noted Miao.

The ministry also plans to improve the management mechanism for rare earth exports to guard against resources outflow according to a report published by Chinamining.org..

Cleantech is expected to become the most important sector of the economy according to a survey of UK business leaders, reported here.

The new survey questioned business leaders from across eight sectors and found that nearly half (43 percent) of those questioned believe that cleantech will grow at the fastest pace by 2020, followed by science and technology (20 per cent) and media and entertainment (15 per cent). 

The survey highlights how the current economic climate presents new opportunities for new areas of the economy to thrive.  

Combined with a growing awareness to find solutions for some of society's greatest challenges - from tackling climate change to supporting an ageing population - investing now in innovative, high-growth areas will be essential for bolstering the UK economy once recovery kicks in.

Further findings:

73 percent of those polled believe that business and government must work together to promote the development of skills needed to bring the UK out of recession.

One in five of those surveyed chose web 2.0 as the best technological development of the last ten years.

The European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) has proposed that the world is at the cusp of Space Exploration 3.0, a "third age" where nations will cooperate to explore the solar system.

Countries will no longer undertake missions into space for national prestige, but in cooperation with other states for exploratory and economic reasons, or "utilitarian exploration," according to Nicolas Peter, a research fellow at the ESPI. who first presented his ideas at an ESPI meeting last year.

"It will involve industry, universities and other non-governmental organizations," according to Peter. "This adventure will be driven primarily by a quest for knowledge, involving not only the hard sciences but arts and humanities as well. We're evolving towards an open market situation where a lot of new actors will be able to join the new space race."

Along those lines, the head of NASA's Moscow office, Marc Bowman, recently invited Russia to carry out a joint manned flight to Mars. He told an international aviation and space conference in Moscow that the Mars mission should take advantage of the achievements made by the International Space Station and use a multinational crew.

In addition, NASA and the European Space Agency plan a Mars Exploration Joint Initiative that would involve a series of  orbiters and roving vehicles from 2016-2020.

The unmanned space craft would conduct astrobiological, geological and geophysical investigations of the Martian surface.

The number of space agencies in the world has been steadily rising since the 1990s and reached 36 in 2005. Bilateral and multilateral agreements between agencies are also growing.

The International Space Station has it made it possible for many countries to take part in long-term, structured programs of space research.

Malaysia expects its biotechnology sector to employ up to 160,000 people and contribute 5% of GDP by 2010, according to a Frost & Sullivan report.

The country's advantages in biotech include a rich biodiversity, multi-ethnic population, lower cost, regulatory support and financial incentives, such as tax incentives and funding schemes.

"The biotechnology industry in Malaysia is expected to grow by revenue at an average rate of 15 percent per year (CAGR)," said Rhenu Bhuller, global VP for pharmaceuticals at F&S. "Healthcare revenue will experience the highest growth with CAGR of 20 percent, followed by agriculture 15 percent and industrial 10 percent. By the year 2013 the industry is expected to generate RM45 billion in revenue."

Malaysia has launched five Regional Economic Growth Corridors to encourage companies seeking new growth opportunities in the area of healthcare biotechnology and its implementation.

The biggest challenge is moving from lab-based research to commercialization, as well as meeting human resource needs, the report said.

The Malaysian government set up BiotechCorp to support the development of biotechnology companies. One of BiotechCorp's mandates is to facilitate the inflow of foreign capital into the sector. A key focus is technology transfer and licensing. The company intends to ensure that rights of parties involved, including IP, are fully protected in collaborations and partnerships that seek to commercialize R&D.

The Czech Republic pulled in 124 investments for a total value of $1.1 billion (CZK 19.7 billion) in the first half of the year, according to Czech Invest, the state investment agency.

The figures represent a 12% increase in the number of projects but a decrease of 45% in investment volume over the same period last year.

Part of the drop is due to the financial crisis, but officials see declining volume of FDI as a trend due to the shift from manufacturing to services.

"In the composition of investments, there is an ever growing share of services, which reached 85% this year. When starting operations, services require significantly less money than do industrial enterprises," said Alexandra Rudyšarová, acting CEO of Czech Invest.

Software-development firms accounted for the bulk of projects, as information technology made up one-third of all new investments.

Other investment sectors were mechanical engineering, electronics and automotive.

The greatest number of jobs being created in the automotive industry are in R&D. In the first half of this year, the Czech Republic gained four new development centers, which announced plans to employ three hundred specialists.

In total, 2,916 new jobs will be created in the Czech Republic, one third of which will be filled by university graduates, the agency said.

Taiwan's three government-run science parks generated aggregate revenues of NT$631.4 billion (US$19.2 billion) during January-June 2009, a decrease of 38.2% on year, according to the National Science Council (NSC). Revenues from the semiconductor/microelectronics industries totaled NT$316.3 billion and accounted for 50.1% of the total, followed by optoelectronics industries with NT$254.7 billion for a 40.3% share.

The three science parks are the Hsinchu Science Park (HSP), above, the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP) and Southern Taiwan Science Park (STSP). As of the end of June 2009, there were 689 companies in the three science parks with 194,096 employees in total, NSC indicated.

A chart of the three science parks' revenues between January last year and June indicated that revenues bottomed out last January, then began a gradual rise.

 

NSC: Taiwan government-run science park revenues, January-June 2009 (NT$b)
Science park	Amount	Y/Y
Hsinchu Science Park	357.9	(35.3%)
Central Taiwan Science Park	87.3	(47.8%)
Southern Taiwan Science Park	186.2	(38.2%)

Revenues totaled NT$377.2 billion in the second quarter of this year, representing an increase of 48.3 percent from the first quarter.

"Judging from that trend, the revenues of the three science parks will continue to rise in July and August," Chen said.

Semiconductors, microelectronics, optoelectronics, computers and peripherals are the main products of Taiwan's science park network.

From combined sources: Digitimes, Taipei Times, Taiwan National Science Council

Information and communications technology is build on a half century of advances in microelectronics technology. But it's also dependent upon the infrastructure of a region's electric power grid.

The extent of this dependence is manifest to anyone who has attended a technology or business conference in a developing -or developed-  country where frequent brownouts can put big-screen, high tech Powerpoint presentations into blackout mode, along with the lights and air conditioning.

Soon to follow in ICT's foot steps?  Battery powered, electric automobiles with fully electronic control.

Ford, among others,  has plans for future vehicles to plug into 'the grid' allowing  owners to choose to recharge at off-peak times when electricity is cheaper, or when renewable energy is available. It's all part of an effort to drive interest in alternative energy vehicles. Ford recently released details of a two-year collaboration with 10 utility companies as well as the Department of Energy on the design of a system that allows car owners to control when they charge vehicles and for how long.

The age of the grid-driven, electric powered, electronically controlled vehicle is upon us, and it's spurring efforts by countries around the wrold to get in on the act.

And, when it comes to electric mobility, the German capital, Berlin, is fast becoming the preferred testing ground for European companies to show off their newest technology. BMW and Daimler are both testing vehicles in Berlin, according to this report.

Sustainability is the new industry buzzword and "in the future, the zero-emission vehicle will be the basis for our business model," said Bernhard Mattes, vice president of Ford of Europe's Customer Service Division. Similar statements came from Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn and from Karl-Thomas Neumann, CEO of tier one Continental AG, EE Times reports.

Around the world, the convergence of electric power and electronics for control is totally reshaping the automotive industry. Consequently, it's attracting the attention of countries, like Taiwan - big in the chip and computer business but with a relatively low low profile in today's automobile industry.

Earlier this week Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs disclosed plans to up its investment in its automotive electronics industry. Taiwan launched what it calls a "Project to Establish Indigenous Technology for the Automobile Industry" to support development of auto projects focusing on safety, information systems and navigation. The government also is supporting development of RFID "service modules" for the auto industry as part of a demonstration auto supply chain project.

The project will focus on telematics systems, auto lighting, LED headlights, parking systems and tire pressure monitoring systems. Taiwan hopes to expand its supply of auto electronics to major car manufacturers around the world, and to facilitate this the Taiwan government has identified segments of the industry where investment is needed. China is Taiwan's biggest target market for auto electronics where it estimates that Taiwanese auto electronics production could triple by 2015 to more than $9 billion annually as demand in China and other Asian markets surges.

Meanwhile, back in Europe, the German government has agreed to foster development and public acceptance of electric cars, noting that by the year 2020, the government hopes to see one million electric vehicles on Germany's roads. Playing catch-up, mostly with Japan, the German federal research ministry plans to spend €200 million (about $282 million) in R&D.

In other another e-vehicle development, one with a new twist on trolley catenary systems, researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) have developed an electric transport system powered by cables underneath the surface of the road via non-contact magnetic charging. As well as potentially saving Koreans a lot of money by reducing crude oil imports, widespread adoption of the technology also offers the potential of improving air quality in currently polluted cities

Taiwan's government intends to invest T$45 billion ($1.4 billion) into renewable energy in an attempt to help the sector grow nearly eight-fold by 2015, according to a Reuters report.

"The green energy sector can turn Taiwan into a major power in energy technology and production, as well as provide the creation of green jobs," Taiwan's Premier Liu Chao-shiuan said in a statement.

In addition, Taiwan and China are taking steps to cooperate on wind energy, a step that will allow Taiwanese firms to enter China, the fastest-growing wind power market, and other international markets.

Taiwan's advantage is its superior manufacturing quality control, but in cooperation with China, it can develop offshore wind power and open up new markets, said Alex Tong, deputy director-general of ITRI's Mechanical and Systems Research Laboratories.

"Taiwan can cooperate with China on system integration and use it as entry to international markets," Tong said.

Offshore wind power is more expensive than onshore, but Taiwan's government is supporting R&D that is aimed at reducing production costs.

Latin American countries have to become more competitive in the global economy, US Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz said in a recent Miami Herald interview.

"One hidden aspect of this crisis is that while it is a financial crisis, it is an economic crisis: it marks a point in the transformation of the global economy, a shift in comparative advantages,'' Stiglitz said. "If Latin America is going to prosper, it has to upgrade its skills, improve its technology to become more competitive in the global economy.''

The crisis is shrinking the pie of the world economy, creating stronger competition among developing countries to sell their goods to the wealthiest markets, he said.

"We are moving now from manufacturing into a service economy, and this crisis may be a global demarcation point. And that means that countries really have to prepare for globalization [and] have the skills with which to compete in a global marketplace.''

Citing the case of Mexico, he said that many of its problems "can be traced back to its failure to invest enough in education, infrastructure.''

He added, "China does not have free trade access to the United States, but China directed its energies to investments in education, technology, infrastructure, and it more than overcame the competitive disadvantage of not having free access to the United States.''

The National Geographic Channel has launched a nationwide quest to discover India's most innovative and creative ideas in a program sponsored by Yamaha as part of its 'Shaping the Future' media campaign.

The initiative seeks to identify potential and relevant innovations that could lead to technological or scientific breakthroughs or those that help improve quality of life. The innovations will be evaluated across four categories: Environment Edge, Technology Edge, Human Edge and Re-Engineering Edge.

The nationwide campaign seeks to identify the most promising inventions and innovations across India where it is looking for innovations that can "make a difference to our life, our world and the future."

The second edition of the Global Innovation Index in 2008 ranked India 41 in the Top 130 list of the World's Most Innovative Countries.

Individuals from all corners of the country will get an opportunity to showcase their innovations that they believe has the potential to make a difference to society and to India. To enable this, the National Geographic Channel has collaborated with some of India's leading educational institutions including the FITT, IIT Delhi (Foundation for Information & Technology Transfer of Indian Institute of Technology), SINE, IIT Bombay (Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship of Indian Institute of Technology), NSRCEL IIM, Bangalore (Nadathur S Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning at the Indian Institute of Management) and TePP, DSIR (Technopreneur Promotion Programme at the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research.)

Rajesh Sheshadri, Senior Vice President, Content and Communication, National Geographic Channel - India, said, "We believe that the innovation potential of India is immense and that much of it remains untapped and hidden. The real endeavor of the program is to unearth this and to also provide a relevant platform that showcases India as an innovation powerhouse. We believe this will further help to create an enabling environment that further stimulates innovative thinking that is focused on important social and technological issues to help make a difference to society and environment,"

According to National Geographic the selection process of this campaign will span across six phases. The online registration began 10th August, where participants have been encouraged to register themselves at the  www.msnindia.com/ngc web site. The shortlisted projects will be judged by a panel of eminent academicians, technicians and industrialists. All the projects will be awarded across four categories namely Environment, Technology, Human and Re-Engineering. A jury will choose four teams spanning all categories after a stringent set of evaluations and presentations.

The program will be extensively promoted across media - on-air, on-ground, radio and on-line. The National geographic Channel has an exclusive tie-up with the leading online portal, MSN.

For further details visit this website http://specials.msn.co.in/sp09/shapingyourfuture/
or contact: priyam.chaturvedi@bm.com or swatee.dobriyal@bm.com

How effective are high tech clusters, or local centers of IT excellence, at spurring regional economic growth and development?

According to a recently published study carried out by the Technical University of Darmstadt that compared a number of high-tech regions world-wide, close cooperation between industry, science and politics provides a significant development impulse to specific industries and a strong regional competitive advantage. The survey compared developments in Silicon Valley (USA), Bangalore (India), Oulu (Finland) and Dresden and the Rhine-Main-Neckar area in Germany. It concluded that regional and national development of industry clusters are a fundamental component of modern strategic economic policy.

There are, however, many obstacles to realizing the full potential of such regional technology development efforts.

"Although Germany's Rhine-Main-Neckar cluster has one of the largest global concentration of resources it has not yet developed to the extent of similar clusters in the US, India or Finland," the study noted, observing that "impediments common to many European clusters include international awareness, access to venture capital, and lack of political support including an underdeveloped European software patent system.

To leverage European technology excellence in terms of business opportunities and the creation of qualified jobs, a more favorable financial and regulatory environment must be developed in cooperation between the European business community and government institutions, observers noted.

The Rhein-Main-Neckar region is said to be Germany's largest high-tech cluster stretching from Frankfurt to Heidelberg and is home to Germany's biggest software companies, including Software AG and SAP.

Rhine-Main-Neckar reportedly boasts more software companies than any other high-tech cluster and, outside of Silicon Valley, more high-tech employees and significantly higher revenue. However, the region has ICT employment levels and ICT revenue at 20% of those at in Silicon Valley according to this chart from the survey.

Cluster	Revenue	Companies	Employees	Area (Sq KM)
Rhein-Main-Neckar	€42 billion	8,000	80,000	5,000
Silicon Valley	€180 billion	7,000	500,000	4,000
Oulu (Finland)	€5 billion	800	18,000	400
Bangalore (India)	€2 billion	1,500	80,000	500

　

The study focused on clusters in either their development or growth phases having already established a sufficient level of start-up companies, the success of established players, knowledge transfer through universities and availability of a highly qualified workforce.

According to Massimo Pezzini, Vice-president and Gartner Fellow at Gartner Inc. "the European software industry has generated over the years many innovative and competitive products, but its technology strengths only rarely turned into strong market leadership for European software vendors. To leverage European technology excellence in terms of business opportunities and creation of qualified jobs, a more favorable financial and regulatory environment must be developed in cooperation between the European business community and government institutions".

The significance of the contribution of ICT to wealth creation in Europe is often underestimated. In the German state of Hessen, including Darmstadt and Frankfurt, ICT accounts for 95,000 jobs and €31 billion revenue annually, more than 50% higher than the chemical industry and 100% more than the corresponding automobile industrry.

Copy of full survey available here: IT Cluster Survey.pdf

India and Russia have jointly developed the spacecraft, landing platform and moon rover vehicle for a planned mission to the moon, according to siliconIndia.

The Chandrayaan-2 mission involves an unmanned lunar orbiter to be sent to the Moon in 2011-2012.

Russia's main task is developing the moon rover, which is expected to collect and analyze samples of the lunar soil and transmit the resulting data.

The development collaboration started after the launch of India's first unmanned mission to the moon, the Chandrayaan-1, in October 2008. The successful launch of the Chandrayaan-1 on board the Indian-built rocket made India the third Asian country after Japan and China to send an unmanned probe to the moon.

India has also begun building an astronaut training center in Bangalore, designing a new launch pad and modifying launch vehicles to prepare for an ambitious manned spaceflight.

A feasibility study expects the mission to occur in 2015-16. The aim is to build and demonstrate the capability for carrying humans to low earth orbit and their return to earth.

PCs are so heavily infested with viruses in Africa that they are hindering the continent's development, according to a Guardian report.

By some estimates, 80% of all computers in Africa will host some form of virus or destructive software, compared to 30% in the UK.

"Viruses spontaneously reboot computers, destroy vital data, and clog Ethiopia's already severely pinched internet connection (it is not unusual to wait 10 minutes to access a single web page)."

The small business sector is hindered and government is impacted as well: In Ethiopia, a state agriculture development plan was lost to a virus-infected PC.

Poor countries don't have the funds to pay for licensed anti-virus software and rely on free protection such as AVG. But the viruses that cause damage still get through. Anti-virus software needs continual updates but downloading updates for a major anti-virus program could take a full day on a 56k dialup link.

Upgrading technology infrastructure has a paradox: The Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System would help Ethiopians download antivirus updates faster, but would also expose them to more attacks.

Africa's financial and technical problems are compounded by the developing world's dire shortage of IT education.

Gartner publishes 2009 "Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies"

Report reveals what tech entrepreneurs learn through experience: that all new technologies travel through five stages, starting with a  "technology trigger" that leads to maximum hype toward the summit of "inflated expectations", then tumbling to  the "trough of disillusionment", before returning to the "slope of enlightenment" then onto the "plateau of productivity".

China, the world's largest producer and consumer of cars in the world, has the industrial muscle to set the global trend for electric vehicles, according to Shai Agassi, Israel's electric car entrepreneur, who was interviewed recently.

China will need to add somewhere around 400 million to 500 million cars in the next decade or two in order to satisfy demand from its growing middle class.

"You start to understand that there is a huge industrial effort [which will mean] that China can take over the backbone of the world's manufacturing," he said. "And by doing so, [China will] actually pick the market. If they go electric, everybody has to go electric."

 China has the ability to "lead forever" in the post-gas engine vehicle market.

Agassi's startup, Better Place, is using $200M in seed money to set up networks of service stations for electric cars, helping to transition drivers from environmentally-harmful gas engine cars.

From a regional standpoint, Agassi sees "three couples" in the electric car world: China and Japan; the US and Canada/South America; and France and Germany. "

"On each of the continents, you see one party moving really fast -- [for example] China in the case of Asia -- and one party reluctantly following its OEMs."

In Asia, Japan was stuck behind Toyota's Prius hybrid model. "It's hard to defend the hybrid and we're now seeing Japan racing to catch up with electric vehicles, [while] China is moving on. And you're seeing the same thing in America," he said.

In Europe, France led the conversion to electric cars. Germany was held back by Daimler and VW. "Now that Daimler has bought into Tesla, and VW announced a partnership with China's BYD, you're starting to see the German government moving to catch up [with] the French regulation and position on electric vehicles."

In a mini-Manhattan Project, the US has laid down $377M in an effort to speed up fundamental advances in alternative energy technologies.

The money is funding 46 multi-million dollar "Energy Frontier Research Centers" (EFRCs) located at universities, national laboratories, nonprofit organizations and private firms across the country.

"These centers will mobilize the enormous talents and skills of our nation's scientific workforce in pursuit of the breakthroughs that are essential to expand the use of clean and renewable energy," said Energy Secretary Steven Chu, in a statement.

The US Department of Energy is aiming for major advances in solar energy, biofuels, transportation, energy efficiency, electricity storage and transmission, clean coal and carbon capture and sequestration, and nuclear energy.

"As global energy demand grows, there is an urgent need to reduce our dependence on imported oil and curtail greenhouse gas emissions," Chu said.

EFRC researchers will also take advantage of new capabilities in nanotechnology, high-intensity light sources, neutron scattering sources and supercomputing.

This year, the number of mobile phone users worldwide is expected to exceed 4 billion, according to research from Berlin-based European Information Technology Observatory (EITO).

The number of mobile phone users are forecast to rise from 3.9 billion in 2008 to 4.4 billion in 2009, an increase of 12%. BRIC countries are driving the growth.

"The strongest growth in the use of mobile phones now comes from newly industrialized and developing countries," said EITO chairman Bruno Lamborghini.

The number of mobile phone users in India is expected to increase by 32 percent in the year 2009 to 457 million. In Brazil, the number of mobile phone users will rise by 14 percent to 172 million and in China by 12 percent to 684 million.

In Europe, the US and Japan, the trend is for high-quality multimedia mobiles with Internet access, Lamborghini added.

Zambia has joined a pan-African e-network being promoted by the Indian government and designed to provide telemedicine, videoconferencing and tele-education, according to a recent report.

The project aims to develop Africa's ICT capabilities by eventually connecting all 53 African countries to satellite and optic fiber. The program is a joint initiative with the Africa Union.

Cost to the Indian government will be more than $125 million, although the project will likely demand $1 billion in total.

The project is seen by some as Africa's biggest ICT project ever with online education and telemedicine expected to extend to rural areas.

India hopes the investment will help it sell telecom gear to Africa as well as IT services for telemedicine and other social applications.

Poland has received a 675M euro ($950M) loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) for funding research conducted by scientific institutes and universities, according to PAIZ, the Polish Investment Bureau

The bank also granted two loans totaling 250M euros to support projects implemented by small and medium-sized enterprises.

Poland will use the 675M euro loan to invest in knowledge-based society initiatives and research infrastructure.

The smaller loans target projects focused on environment protection and energy efficient strategies, among other areas.

Harvard Business School has examined the locations of venture capital firms, research that could be interesting to policymakers who seek to attract venture capital.

San Francisco, Boston, and New York together make up half of the 1,000 venture capital office locations listed in "Pratt's Guide to Private Equity and Venture Capital Sources," the report says.
 
Half of the US-based companies financed by VC firms are located in these three cities.

And, companies based in venture capital centers have a higher success rate than those outside, for a variety of reasons.

The report examines the impact that VC firm geography has on investments and outcomes. Among the findings:

--The success rate of VC investments in a region open prompts the opening of new branches.

--VC firms in San Francisco, Boston, and New York City outperform in their investments relative to their peers in other cities. But the outperformance is highest outside the cities where they have local offices.

The research also makes a case for policies encouraging VC investments in a region. "Anything that policy makers do that contributes to an increase in the number of successful venture-backed investments in a region will also increase the probability of a venture branch office opening in that region."

The full PDF report can be downloaded here.

Cloud computing, which basically moves software and services to the Internet from the user's equipment, could lower initial costs for startups.

The cloud computing concept is particularly appealing to start-ups and SMEs because in many cases 50% of capital investment goes into IT infrastructure, said Sundararaj Subbarayalu, partner India-based Anantara Solutions in a report.

Companies are evaluating how much of their processing requirements can be moved to the cloud, which would turn capex into opex (operating expense).

"It is all about processing power on tap, and many organizations that were not able to invest in such infrastructure, whether hardware or software, are now able to leverage the cloud computing concept to significantly reduce costs."

Data security issues in the cloud are still being worked out, however.

Warming relations between China and Taiwan and the expected opening of direct cross-strait flights could magnify Taiwan's appeal as a regional technology hub, according to the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei, reported here.

AmCham and several analysts have proposed Taiwan should use the opportunity to transform itself into a regional technology hub.

A hub, according to analysts, would be a collection of foreign and domestic companies working in tech-related downstream activity, such as chip packaging, venture capital firms and other financial services aimed specifically at technology companies.

TSMC already accounts for 80 percent of the world's notebook computer production. Taiwan could leverage its strengths in high-tech manufacturing to position itself in ICT and biotech.

AmCham  added that "Taiwan has a window of about 10 years to accomplish this before cities in China start catching up."

Airlines have high expectations direct cross-strait flights will begin August 31.