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In this issue:

* Patenting Human Genes
* Harnessing Pervasive Computing for Personal Safety
* Learning from Internet Pioneers
* Designing Successful Location-Based Services
* Using Macs for Supercomputing
* Identifying Signals of Change
* Staking Out LCD Markets in Asia
* Extending the Reach of Speech Applications
* Growing the Digital-Camera Market
* Educating Tomorrow's Retirees
* Exploring the New Field of Metanomics



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(Full text of SRIC-BI publications is available to sponsoring 
clients only.  To find out if your company is a sponsor, please 
visit http://www.sric-bi.com/info.shtml.)
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Patenting Human Genes

Many people oppose the patenting of any products of biotechnology 
research. Yet without patents, the life-sciences industry could 
not afford to assume the high risk of developing new therapeutic 
drugs. Long development timelines and an uncertain patenting 
process will haunt the genomics industry as participants and 
patenting authorities strive for a balance between serving the 
social good and providing incentives for commercialization. 
(Human-Gene Patents: Controversy, Uncertainty, and Evolving 
Regulations)
http://www.sric-bi.com/BIP/Bulletin/B305.shtml - 2373


Harnessing Pervasive Computing for Personal Safety

Pervasive computing opens the door to networked and mobile 
solutions that help monitor patients' health, track down people 
in trouble, and verify people's identity for access to information 
or buildings. Among the most promising safety and security 
solutions are location-tracking devices, biometric technologies, 
networks of computer chips with radio-frequency identification 
tags, and closed-circuit camera systems that use streaming audio 
and video feeds. (Pervasive Computing and Personal Safety)
http://www.sric-bi.com/BIP/Bulletin/B305.shtml - 2374


Learning from Internet Pioneers

Companies like Dell, Amazon.com, Lands' End, Tesco, and Wal-Mart 
have found ways to exploit the special strengths of the Internet 
in every part of the value chain. Not content to tinker with old 
business models, these successful players have pursued paths of 
self-determination, experimented with multiple business models to 
minimize their risk, and kept their eye on the ultimate goal of 
delivering value to their customers. (Internet-Enabled Business 
Models: Lessons from the Pioneers)
http://www.sric-bi.com/BIP/Bulletin/B305.shtml - 2375


Designing Successful Location-Based Services

Though almost a billion people now tote around cellular phones, 
these users will not necessarily embrace all the mobile-location 
services that vendors think up. Many industry players have begun 
to believe the hype about the potential of certain services and 
risk jeopardizing future revenue through misplaced investments. 
The key is to define the characteristics of compelling 
location-based services before taking the leap. 
(Location-Based Services)
http://www.sric-bi.com/BIP/Bulletin/B305.shtml - 2376


Using Macs for Supercomputing

In 1994, NASA inaugurated the practice of connecting PCs in a 
cluster to enable inexpensive supercomputing. Now, scientists 
are able to avoid the complexities of connecting multiple 
Intel-based PCs by connecting an ever-larger number of Apple 
Macintosh computers. In addition to being easier to install and 
maintain, the Mac platform provides PC-equivalent computing power 
while consuming much less electricity. (April 2002 
High-Performance Computing Viewpoints)


Identifying Signals of Change

At a recent Scan meeting in SRIC-BI's London, England, office, 
analysts discussed regulatory changes in Japan that make 
investment more attractive to U.S. and European companies. 
Other topics of the day were the need to rethink incentives for 
start-ups and recent evidence that large companies are attempting 
to mimic the flexibility, speed, and responsiveness of successful 
small companies. (Signals of Change: January 2002)
http://www.sric-bi.com/BIP/Bulletin/B305.shtml - 2377


Staking Out LCD Markets in Asia

Taiwanese and Chinese competitors in the Asian market for 
liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) are giving Japanese and Korean 
manufacturers a run for their money, largely because of low 
labor costs at home. As a result, Japanese and Korean players 
are staking out a sector in the LCD market in which they hold 
the aces: the high end, which includes LCDs for large-screen 
TVs and notebook computers. (April 2002 Flat-Panel Displays 
Viewpoints)


Extending the Reach of Speech Applications

Speech technology is close to achieving a natural interface 
and is finding great use in call-center applications such as 
call routing, information queries, transactions, and technical 
service. The use of speech recognition in these common applications 
is building a foundation for more sophisticated and more ubiquitous 
implementations, with potential to revive the market for voice 
portals. (Speech Recognition: Beyond the Call Center)
http://www.sric-bi.com/DF/summaries/SpeechRec0402.shtml


Growing the Digital-Camera Market

After much hype and several years of modest market growth, 
sales of digital still cameras have taken off and are likely 
to reach 25 million units in 2002. By 2006, worldwide unit 
sales of digital cameras will surpass those of traditional 
film cameras, and by 2010, digital cameras will account for 
two-thirds of the units that camera makers sell. (Digital 
Photography: Market Growth and the Photographic Experience)
http://www.sric-bi.com/DF/summaries/DigPhoto0402.shtml


Educating Tomorrow's Retirees

In the 1990s, people's investments grew no matter what 
they did, masking the fact that many consumers do not know 
how much money they need to save for retirement or where 
their current retirement assets are invested.  Now that 
the market boom is over, people are more receptive to 
financial advice, opening the door for financial institutions 
to offer services that make retirement planning relatively 
easy and painless. (Financial Illiteracy: The Challenge in 
Retirement Planning)
http://www.sric-bi.com/CFD/MRsummaries/MR.V-8.shtml


Exploring the New Field of Metanomics

Scientists' growing ability to extract DNA directly from 
samples from soil, seawater, or other natural environments 
is providing new insights into the tremendous biological 
diversity and commercial opportunity that lie in the 
microbial world. Through this emerging field of metanomics, 
or environmental genomics, scientists hope to find microbes 
that improve their understanding of diseases or lead to new 
therapeutic drugs and industrial chemicals. (April 2002 
Genomics Viewpoints)


SRI Envirotechnical  Program to Protect Marine Life

SRI International's Envirotechnical Program is preparing 
an environmental assessment of a proposed expansion to the 
National Ocean Service Kasitsna Bay Laboratory in Alaska. 
The proposed facility upgrade will undergo evaluation for 
potential effects on subsistence clamming, local populations
of sea otters, and archaeological sites. For more information, 
visit http://www.esd.sri.com/rsed/envtek.html. Keep up with 
SRI's developments in communications, robotics, pharmaceuticals, 
medical devices and many other areas by subscribing to its 
quarterly e-newsletter, the SRI Digest. Visit www.sri.com 
to sign up.


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Copyright 2002 by SRI Consulting Business Intelligenc.