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In this issue:

  * Energy Harvesting
  * Opportunities in Health Care
  * A "U-City" in Korea
  * eLearning and Merger Mania
  * Market Development of New Bioplastics
  * Media Technologies in Turmoil
  * Best-Practices Survey
  * Signals of Change
  * Usability of Learning Technologies
  * The Search for Health-Care Solutions
  * Presentations by SRIC-BI Staff


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(Full text of SRIC-BI publications is available to
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---------------------
 Recent Publications
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Energy Harvesting

The number of small-form-factor electronic devices in the
marketplace is burgeoning, and batteries have many
drawbacks in powering these devices. A need exists for
new microenergy sources that are very compact yet long
lasting. One approach is energy harvesting, which captures
energy in the environment to power devices. Some fuel
cells, such as biofuel cells, classify as energy-
harvesting devices, but researchers are working on many
other types of energy-harvesting devices as well,
including ones for remote wireless sensors and sensor
networks.  (October 2005 Fuel Cells Viewpoints)
http://www.sric-bi.com/Explorer/FC.shtml



Opportunities in Health Care

Spiraling costs, rapid development of new treatment
technologies, new concepts of health and wellness, new
diagnostic capabilities, and impractical funding
mechanisms are paving the way for dramatic, if not
revolutionary, change in the health-care industry. To
succeed in this environment, companies will need to
tap into opportunities for innovation that emerge from
the confluence of commercial, cultural, scientific, and
technological forces. (Health-Care Innovation
Opportunities)
http://www.sric-bi.com/Scan/ScanMonthly/SM031.shtml#D05-2514



A "U-City" in Korea

U.S. and Republic of Korea developers plan to develop a
600-hectare, $20 billion city that could become the
foremost ubiquitous city ("U-City") in Asia and perhaps
the world. Through networking of all the computers in the
city, residents will be able to use a single wireless
token to gain access to their homes and offices, buy
groceries, pay for parking, ride the subway, conduct
videoconferences, and so forth. Two potential impediments
to realizing this vision are concerns about privacy and
worries about the security of the tokens. (October 2005
Pervasive Computing Viewpoints)
http://www.sric-bi.com/Explorer/PVC.shtml



eLearning and Merger Mania

Saba's agreement to purchase Centra, Blackboard's
agreement to purchase WebCT, and Huveaux's recent
purchase of U.K. content leader Epic highlight the
increasing consolidation that is reshaping the eLearning
marketplace. Oracle's plan to acquire Siebel Systems,
though it has no immediate impact on the eLearning
industry, is also a reminder that enterprise-software
companies can change their behavior when a software
market starts to reach a significant size. (October
2005 LoD Viewpoints)
http://www.sric-bi.com/LoD/viewpoints.shtml



Market Development of New Bioplastics

New bioplastics from feedstocks such as corn are in
commercial use, and several additional bioplastics will
join them in the next few years. For the biocatalyst
companies that make these emerging "green" technologies,
marketability is a major issue. Achieving cost
competitiveness with conventional petroleum-derived
plastic is the central challenge. (October 2005
Biocatalysis Viewpoints)
http://www.sric-bi.com/Explorer/BC.shtml



Media Technologies in Turmoil

The news media have thoroughly documented the woes of the
recording industry in the face of new distribution
technologies. But revolutionary changes are coming to all
other media as well, including print media, radio, movie
theaters, and the Internet. Television may experience the
most dramatic change because it has yet to suffer the
effects of digital technology that other media are already
dealing with. (Media Landscapes in Turmoil)
http://www.sric-bi.com/Scan/ScanMonthly/SM032.shtml#D05-2516



Best-Practices Survey

A recent SRIC-BI survey reveals that many companies feel
vulnerable to surprises, discontinuities, and missed
signals in the business environment. Moreover, none of the
respondents have an end-to-end "corporate-radar" process
in place for receiving new data and identifying business
opportunities and threats that emerge outside the
periphery of their business focus. The results of this
study are available to the public. (Corporate Radar:
Best-Practices Survey Results)
http://www.sric-bi.com/consulting/briefings.shtml



Signals of Change

Vaccination appears to be staging a comeback,
particularly to protect against lifestyle-related,
noncommunicable diseases like cancer, diabetes, and
obesity. The October 2005 issue of Scan(TM) Monthly
discusses this and other signals of change, such as
multisensory interfaces, the emerging practice of selling
opportunities for customers to be creative, experiments
in distributed and decentralized manufacturing, and new
medical implants with rehabilitative purposes.
(Scan[TM] Monthly, October 2005)
http://www.sric-bi.com/Scan/ScanMonthly/SM032.shtml#SoCs



Usability of Learning Technologies

Usability can make or break a product, as the runaway
success of the iPod proves. However, the learning
industry often overlooks usability, particularly in
content, and companies end up wasting investments when
learners struggle with poor software. Buyers and vendors
alike have so far emphasized price, delivery time, and
(to a lesser extent) functionality but now need to add
quality, including improved user-interface design, to
their list of priorities. (September 2005 LoD Viewpoints)
http://www.sric-bi.com/LoD/viewpoints.shtml



The Search for Health-Care Solutions

Health-care spending continues to rise in industrialized
countries and is laying claim to an increasing share of
GDP. Clearly, many health-care systems, particularly in
the United States, are in need of reforms that bring
about systemic change. A recent SRIC-BI study explores
some of the possible outcomes as new players, new
technologies, and innovative business models disrupt
traditional means of delivering health care in the
industrialized world. (Revolutionary Solutions to
Health Care's Malaise)
http://www.sric-bi.com/Scan/ScanMonthly/SM031.shtml#D05-2515




--------------------------------
 Presentations by SRIC-BI Staff
--------------------------------

eLearning

Eilif Trondsen, director of SRIC-BI's Learning-on-Demand
Program, will participate in the largest eLearning
conference in Europe--Online Educa--on 30 November
through 2 December 2005 in Berlin, Germany. Along with
Harry Wittenburg of Genentech, Dr. Trondsen will hold a
workshop on learning architecture, and he will chair and
speak at two other sessions. On 15 to 19 November 2005,
Dr. Trondsen participated in the Advanced Distributed
Learning Co-Lab eLearning Summit in Memphis, Tennessee.
http://www.sric-bi.com/news.shtml


World Futures

Nick Evans, vice president of SRIC-BI and director of
Explorer, will speak at "WorldFuture 2006: Creating
Global Strategies for Humanity's Future" in July 2006
in Toronto, Canada. Dr. Evans will describe a methodology
for realistically evaluating the demand, timing, and
likely path of development for next-generation
technologies, highlighting several such technologies
that have been important enablers of innovation.
http://www.sric-bi.com/news.shtml


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