Wednesday, April 12, 2006
INNOVATION & THE CREDIT MARKET. A COUPLE OF HINTS ABOUT THE EXERCISE ...
- New products. Read about Nav-u, Sony's "personal navigator". Why not take a look at the biochemical industry? One example: AstraZeneca.
- New markets. It looks like Home Depot is looking at the Mexican market. The Financial Times runs an interesting story about Central European companies looking east, not west, to invest.
- Innovation & the Internet. The London Review of Books on Google. The Economist on blogs and business.
- New sources of energy. Check out articles at the MIT's Technology Review, like this one. A useful review of the impact of high oil prices on innovation was published by Wired back in December: here's the link. See also this Reuters article, and TMA's website devoted to "wind energy systems". Fuel cells are very popular right now. And here's an article on Australia's "solar tower of powert".
- New products. Read about Nav-u, Sony's "personal navigator". Why not take a look at the biochemical industry? One example: AstraZeneca.
- New markets. It looks like Home Depot is looking at the Mexican market. The Financial Times runs an interesting story about Central European companies looking east, not west, to invest.
- Innovation & the Internet. The London Review of Books on Google. The Economist on blogs and business.
- New sources of energy. Check out articles at the MIT's Technology Review, like this one. A useful review of the impact of high oil prices on innovation was published by Wired back in December: here's the link. See also this Reuters article, and TMA's website devoted to "wind energy systems". Fuel cells are very popular right now. And here's an article on Australia's "solar tower of powert".
Monday, April 10, 2006
THINK TANKS. A NEW BRITISH THINK TANK
. Open Europe
Think Tank inflation seems unstoppable. Open Europe, a new British Think Tank, believes (as its name tends to suggest) that "the EU must now embrace radical reform based on economic liberalisation, a looser and more flexible structure, and greater transparency and accountability if it is to overcome these challenges, and succeed in the twenty first century".
Check out the interesting publications section.
. Open Europe
Think Tank inflation seems unstoppable. Open Europe, a new British Think Tank, believes (as its name tends to suggest) that "the EU must now embrace radical reform based on economic liberalisation, a looser and more flexible structure, and greater transparency and accountability if it is to overcome these challenges, and succeed in the twenty first century".
Check out the interesting publications section.
Thursday, April 06, 2006
MA THESIS. FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO PLAN TO WRITE ON ASYMMETRIC WARFARE, CONFLICT RESOLUTION, ENERGY SECURITY, MILITARY RESTRUCTURING ...
. Thomas P. M. Barnett
Check out Thomas Barnett's blog. Barnett is a "grand strategist". In other words, he concentrates on "macro" issues, not on details. Nevertheless, his two books have caused quite a stir in the U.S. defense community (*).
Essentially, Barnett argues that connectivity, the driving force behind the process of globalization, determines the overall security outlook. "Show me a country that is disconnected from the world economy", says Barnett, "and I will show you a security problem".
In his view, the world is divided into a connected Core (OECD countries), an increasingly connected New Core (India, China, Brazil, etc.) and a disconnected Gap (Africa, the Middle East, parts of Asia and Latin America). With this framework in mind, Barnett regularly makes bold forecasts in the fields of asymmetric warfare, conflict resolution, energy security, and (especially) military restructuring.
(*) The Pentagon's New Map. War and Peace in the Twenty First Century (New York: Putnam, 2004) and Blueprint for Action. A Future Worth Creating (New York: Putnam, 2005).
. Thomas P. M. Barnett
Check out Thomas Barnett's blog. Barnett is a "grand strategist". In other words, he concentrates on "macro" issues, not on details. Nevertheless, his two books have caused quite a stir in the U.S. defense community (*).
Essentially, Barnett argues that connectivity, the driving force behind the process of globalization, determines the overall security outlook. "Show me a country that is disconnected from the world economy", says Barnett, "and I will show you a security problem".
In his view, the world is divided into a connected Core (OECD countries), an increasingly connected New Core (India, China, Brazil, etc.) and a disconnected Gap (Africa, the Middle East, parts of Asia and Latin America). With this framework in mind, Barnett regularly makes bold forecasts in the fields of asymmetric warfare, conflict resolution, energy security, and (especially) military restructuring.
(*) The Pentagon's New Map. War and Peace in the Twenty First Century (New York: Putnam, 2004) and Blueprint for Action. A Future Worth Creating (New York: Putnam, 2005).
ECONOMICS & INNOVATION. A REVIVAL OF INTEREST IN NUCLEAR POWER
. Max Wilkinson: "Embrace nuclear power and stop tilting at windmills", Financial Times
Wilkinson reflects on a "global revival of interest in nuclear power". Some 24 new reactors are now being built worldwide. A further 41 are planned, and another 113 are under consideration. That sounds like huge investments ahead!
. Max Wilkinson: "Embrace nuclear power and stop tilting at windmills", Financial Times
Wilkinson reflects on a "global revival of interest in nuclear power". Some 24 new reactors are now being built worldwide. A further 41 are planned, and another 113 are under consideration. That sounds like huge investments ahead!
