Innovation Pipeline

For all the unpleasant characteristics green algae possesses, it is beloved in cleantech circles because it can manufacture biofuels.
Now, scientists at the Angstrom Laboratory at Uppsala University in Sweden have discovered green algae’s distinctive cellulose nanostructure can also provide an effective coating substrate for batteries. It provides two advantages: it’s lighter in weight and much [...]

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The U.S. stimulus package had a clear message and mandate for renewable energy. There was far less stimulus devoted to the water industry and people wondered how that would impact the business.
As it turns out, a recent water industry survey of businesses and technologists indicates there’s a rebound in water-project spending expected over the next [...]

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Looking back on the historic computer collaboration demonstration in 1968, it was as if a time traveler from the future had returned to San Francisco to share a glimpse of the future. There were other major technology milestones achieved that year with the first man walking on the moon.
The assassinations of Martin [...]

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Oil and water do mix — all too often. And they’re not so easy to separate. Just ask the research scientists trying to develop next-generation water-filtration technologies to do it.
But with the 21st century toolsets of nanotech and chemistry, they promise to overcome vexing problems of cost-effectively removing oil agents from drinking water.
Researchers at Purdue [...]

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Pushing boundaries. That’s the modus operandi for most students on college campuses. And it takes all forms–from social to political to technological.
Judging by the discussions at last week’s Bears Symposium on the Future of Technology, that spirit is alive and well at the University of California at Berkeley.
This year’s themes and buzzwords were not different [...]

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Early-stage startups can fail for a lot of reasons. Seed capital, obviously, plays a key role and some contend seed financing is now harder to come by than 10 years ago. Translation: bad news for startups.
But economists and bullish investors say the rules of capital efficiency will prevail. Which means funding will find its way [...]

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Out among the stoic mesas of New Mexico, there are a few tech startups beating the odds and coming of age. New Mexico is not known for its robust startup environment but it does have perhaps the highest concentration of doctorate-degree workers in the United States–and some impressive innovation.
That intellectual capital has helped power startups, [...]

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Research labs like those of UC Berkeley’s Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences offer a glimpse into the tech innovations a few years out. This year’s UC Berkeley’s annual Bears Research Symposium was no different. It brought out some of the best and brightest professors (and inspired grad students) working on a wide range of challenges from data management to wireless sensors to RF micro-mechanical systems.

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IBM’s life-changing innovations are five years off but engineers say they’ll offer society real benefits.

Crystal-ball gazing is a contact sport in the world of high tech. This past week IBM opened its lab doors to press and analysts to show off some of the innovations it has en route to market. This well-known Silicon Valley facility is a long way from concrete, traffic and noise. The cluster of buildings a few miles south of San Jose is surrounded by grazing land and rolling hills.

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W. Lewis Johnson is changing the way we learn. Students will no longer sit in class and listen to an instructor talk at them, they’ll teach themselves, with a little help from artificial intelligence.

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