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In this issue:

  * Renewable Energy Technologies
  * Real-World Effects of Virtual Worlds
  * Mobile Communications
  * eLearning for Sales-Force Professionals
  * Blackboard's Patent
  * New MacroMonitor Deliverable
  * Organic Electronics
  * Signals of Change
  * Mergers and Acquisitions in eLearning
  * Portable Power
  * Workshops and Presentations 
	

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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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---------------------
 Recent Publications
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Renewable Energy Technologies

A new Explorer technology area will explore the potential
of modern renewable energy technologies to offer viable
and sustainable alternatives to today's dominant fossil-
fuel (coal, oil, and natural-gas) and nuclear
technologies. Scientists are making advances in a broad
range of renewable technologies for power production,
transport fuels, and heating and cooling. Renewable
technologies draw on energy resources that are
continuously replenished-including heat and light from
the sun, wind, biomass, falling water, heat from inside
the earth, and ocean energy. These technologies have the
potential to offer clean new sources of energy, provide
economic-development opportunities, and improve the
standard of living for people in rural areas. As more
countries embrace the idea of large-scale use of
renewable energy, however, stakeholders need to recognize
and assess economic, environmental, and social trade-offs
of each technology, such as land-management issues.
(Renewable Energy Technologies Technology Maps and
Viewpoints are available to sponsors of the Explorer
service only: http://www.sric-bi.com/Explorer/techList.shtml.)


Real-World Effects of Virtual Worlds

The human propensity for categorizing, labeling, and
judging frequently leads people into false distinctions
or oversimplifications. In particular, the distinction
that most people draw between the real world of physical
objects and virtual worlds is becoming more difficult to
pin down. As the capabilities of computers, networks,
software, and sensors continue to advance at a rapid
pace, the virtual worlds made of bits and bytes are
increasingly impinging on the real world, and this gradual
conflation of worlds is transforming the focus of digital
computing technologies from calculation to simulation.
(The Real-World Effects of Virtual Worlds is available to
sponsors of the Scan[TM] program only:
http://www.sric-bi.com/Scan/ScanMonthly.shtml .)


Mobile Communications

The new Explorer technology area of Mobile Communications
will take over from Mobile Data to provide a better view
of the rapidly changing world of the technology and the
new commercial opportunities arising from third-generation
(3G) cellular technology and its competitors. Present-day
mobile-data applications still center on second-generation-
style services such as texting, ringtones, and screen
logos, yet worldwide mobile-data revenues are an order of
magnitude smaller than mobile-voice revenues. Mobile
Communications will focus on opportunities emerging from
3G cellular technology and its competing technologies and
services, including WiMax, wireless local-area networks,
hotspots and hot zones, personal-area networks that
capitalize on technologies such as Bluetooth, portable
game consoles with wireless multiplayer capability, devices
that are programmable to execute enterprise applications,
and application-specific mobile terminals.
(Mobile Communications Technology Maps and Viewpoints are
available to sponsors of the Explorer service only:
http://www.sric-bi.com/Explorer/techList.shtml .)


eLearning for Sales-Force Professionals

The sales force is arguably the place in organizations in
which learning and training can have the biggest business-
performance impact, because even incremental improvements
in the efficiency or effectiveness of sales professionals
can significantly increase revenue. However, because
direct-sales professionals are under intense time and
performance pressures and are constantly on the go, they
have little tolerance for traditional, classroom-based
training sessions. With the availability of new learning
technologies, a growing number of companies are
experimenting with innovative ways to meet the learning
and training needs of their sales professionals.
(The Role of Technology in Sales Learning and Training is
available to sponsors of the Learning-on-Demand program
only: http://www.sric-bi.com/LoD/reports.shtml .)


Blackboard's Patent

Blackboard's recent decision to patent its course-
management system has generated alarm across the eLearning
industry and is at odds with organizations' general movement
toward greater use of open-source software in learning. U.S.
universities, which are Blackboard's core customer base,
have been particularly vocal. Oracle is dealing with open
source quite differently, by contributing to the open-source
learning-management system Sakai. (This September 2006 LoD
Viewpoints is available to subscribers of the Learning-on-
Demand Program only: http://www.sric-bi.com/LoD/reports.shtml .)


New MacroMonitor Deliverable

The Consumer Financial Decisions program is now
supplementing its usual in-depth analyses of MacroMonitor
data with visuals that present results as pictures. The
new Custom Graphical Analysis provides more than 500 charts
that show 2004-05 MacroMonitor results for up to six
population segments of the client's choosing. The charts
cover a range of financial attitudes, behaviors, channel
use, and demographics for each population segment.
(Available to sponsors of MacroMonitor only:
http://www.sric-bi.com/CFD/MacroMonitor.shtml .)


Organic Electronics

The new Explorer technology area Organic Electronics,
formerly Conductive Polymers, broadens SRIC-BI's coverage
of electrically and electronically active organic materials
to include small molecules-key components of commercial
organic light-emitting diode displays-as well as polymers
(macromolecules). As a family, organic electronic materials
show promise in applications in which light weight and a
thin profile are at a premium. At present, these materials
find widespread use in portable devices such as mobile
phones and MP3 players. Emerging applications include
energy-efficient lighting, printed electronic devices (such
as backplanes for rollable displays), and flexible
photovoltaic cells. (Organic Electronics Technology Maps
and Viewpoints are available to sponsors of the Explorer
service only: http://www.sric-bi.com/Explorer/techList.shtml.)


Signals of Change

Companies are discovering that fast, inexpensive failures
provide valuable lessons and help them learn to leverage
risk effectively. The latest issue of Scan[TM] Monthly
explores this and other signals of change, including humans
as complex ecosystems, the potential of technology synergies
to speed development exponentially, companies' need to know
their customers better, and corporate architectures to tap
into employees' creativity. (Scan[TM] Monthly is available
to sponsors of the Scan[TM] program only:
http://www.sric-bi.com/Scan/ScanMonthly.shtml.)


Mergers and Acquisitions in eLearning

Consolidation continues to change the shape of the eLearning
industry. Three recent acquisitions are particularly
noteworthy because of their implications for other players:
Affiliated Computer Services acquired Intellinex, NIIT
Global acquired Element K, and Horizon Technologies
acquired WBT Systems. Two of these acquiring companies want
to become leaders in learning business-process outsourcing,
and the third is targeting enterprise-consulting services.
The move to services reflects a decline in the fortunes of
learning-management systems and off-the-shelf content.
(This August 2006 LoD Viewpoints is available to subscribers
of the Learning-on-Demand program only:
http://www.sric-bi.com/LoD/reports.shtml.)


Portable Power

The new Explorer technology area of Portable Power, formerly
Portable Batteries, extends the coverage of technologies
that compete with portable batteries-many of which are
proving to be more technically and commercially viable in
meeting the power demands of the new generation of wireless
devices and portable entertainment products. Even the more
advanced battery chemistries-nickel metal hydride and
lithium ion-are finding difficulty meeting these demands.
Micro fuel cells, microengines, biofuel cells, and energy
harvesting are all emerging as possible alternatives to more
conventional battery power sources.
(Portable Power Technology Maps and Viewpoints are available
to sponsors of the Explorer service only:
http://www.sric-bi.com/Explorer/techlist.shtml.)



-----------------------------
 Workshops and Presentations
-----------------------------


Biotechnology Workshop

On 2 November, current clients of Explorer and Scan[TM] have
an opportunity to  attend a meeting on biotechnology in
Washington, D.C. SRIC-BI's Genomics and Nanobiotechnology
analyst, Andrew Broderick, will first discuss recent
Viewpoints and Scan signals of change in bio-related topics.
Kermit Patton, director of Scan, will then lead participants
in a typical Scan meeting to identify patterns of change from
a set of abstracts that relate to the bio theme. To attend,
contact Mike Walsh (mwalsh@sric-bi.com).


Workshop on Technology in Leadership Development

Eilif Trondsen, director of the Learning-on-Demand program,
will conduct a workshop in November at Leadership &
Performance Futures 2006 in London, England. Attendees of
the highly interactive one-day workshop will hear four
presentations on the use of technology in leadership
development and participate in discussions of best practices
and new ideas in the field. Trondsen will also chair a session
on this subject at Online Educa Berlin in late November. (For
workshop details, download the Leadership & Performance
Futures 2006 brochure: http://www.sric-bi.com/LoD/news.shtml.)


Meeting with Renewable Energy Analyst

Susan Leiby, senior consultant and analyst with the Explorer
service, will present highlights of her recent work in
renewable energy technologies in SRIC-BI's Tokyo office on
6 December.



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