New high-tech, comfort-cooling-on-demand crash helmet technology boosts rider comfort and safety

The team of British team of inventors responsible for the ThermaHelm Brain Cooling Crash Helmet Technology have now produced a new cooling technology designed to offer riders instant head cooling at the push of a button and boost road safety.

Called the ICE System (Internal Cooling/Extraction) the patented helmet technology contains a network of tiny tubes which when activated by the rider releases compressed gas to cool the head by several degrees in seconds.

The cooling process also boosts road safety by helping riders maintain concentration in hot conditions and by demisting visors with the push of a button.

ThermaHelm is the organisation behind a pioneering brain cooling device designed to prevent serious injury and death due to brain swelling post head impact in motorcycle accidents. Inventor Jullian Preston-Powers, who leads the ThermaHelm design team, said: “The cooling helmet addresses one of the oldest challenges faced by all riders – how to cool down in hot conditions or during heavy exertion such as in motocross.

“From our work in creating the brain cooling helmet, which only activates in an impact, we discovered that riders were also crying out for a solution to overheating while on the road.

“We therefore designed a new helmet to offer a simple yet highly effective solution – a helmet which at the touch of a button releases a cooling gas around the rider’s head.

“Not only does this helmet boost rider comfort, it also boosts rider safety as research shows concentration levels dip when riders overheat.”

The new helmet will soon be in production and aims to reach the market towards the end of 2010.

Traditional helmet design has focussed on safety only and although some work has been done to address overheating, no complete solution has been available.

The ThermaHelm cooling helmet makes no compromise on safety, offering the same thickness of impact absorbent material between the rider’s head and the outer surface of the helmet.

But it also incorporates a circumcranial network of porous tubing or membrane attached to a small compressed gas canister with a trigger to initiate a release of compressed gas within the safety helmet whilst being worn on a wearer’s head. The trigger can be positioned where ever is convenient to the rider.

The cooling helmet is also cost effective, with refill gas canisters costing in the region of £10 and able to deliver multiple cooling bursts.

The ICE cooling system will retail at around £199 and can be ordered to include the ThermaHelm brain cooling design for impact collisions.

The ThermaHelm team has had strong support from distinctive inclusion into UK Trade & Investment’s Global Entrepreneur Programme, which attracts some of the world’s best entrepreneurs and early stage technology companies to use the UK as their springboard to global success.

ThermaHelm has been working from its research base at the Sussex Innovation Centre in Brighton, East Sussex.

In the early 1900′s, Birmigham’s Oliver Lucas developed a steering wheel fitted with an electric car horn that quickly became an industry standard. For many years the horn remained the only button found on vehicle steering wheels, but nowadays they are covered with a multitude of buttons for controlling everything from the vehicle’s sound and climate control systems to on board computer functions and a connected smartphone. Researchers from Germany’s Technische Universitaet Muenchen, working in collaboration with BMW, have now extended the function of the humble steering wheel even further with the development of a sensor system integrated into the steering wheel that can give the driver a quick health check while driving.

While a variety of systems for monitoring vital signs of drivers have already been developed as part of studies to measure things such as stress levels while driving, these often see the driver wired up so are not suitable for inclusion in mass produced passenger vehicles. By integrating the appropriate sensors into the steering wheel, the system developed at TUM allows data to be collected unobtrusively. The collected data is then radioed to a microcontroller, which can then relay the measurement results to the vehicle’s information display.

The system uses two commercially available sensors to measure whether the driver is under severe stress, or whether their blood pressure is too high. The first shines an infrared light into the fingers and measures the heart rate and oxygen saturation via reflected light, while the second measures the electric conductance of the skin at contact. Both sensors require the driver’s hands to be in contact with the steering wheel to collect their data – something that’s recommended when operating a vehicle anyway.

The researchers carried out initial tests with subjects from the Munich Senior Citizens Advisory Council and saw data provided during four fifths of driving time. More than half the test subjects reportedly felt encouraged to have repeated check ups after using the system. But the researchers say the applications for the system go beyond simple vital sign monitoring.

“Our vision is to get the vehicle to detect when the driver is no longer feeling well and to the initiate appropriate measures,” says Professor Lueth, who led the research. “When a stress situation is detected by means of skin conductance values, phone calls can be blocked, for instance, or the volume of the radio turned down automatically. With more serious problems the system could turn on the hazard warning lights, reduce the speed or even induce automated emergency braking.”

To extend the amount of data collected and increase the reliability of assertions made about the driver’s health, the system also allows additional devices, such as a blood pressure monitor, to be connected via a radio connection. This is possible using a micro-controller application also developed by the researchers that processes the data and transfers it back to the vehicle.

The TUM team’s research was part of the Fit4Age research project in the “Assistance Systems for an Aging Society” group, with funding provided by grants from the Bavarian Research Foundation (BFS). Collaboration partners at BMW were responsible for the technical installation of the system components into the vehicle.

By Darren Quick

In order to create artificial photosynthesis scientists have built a mechanical version of the leaf. Using the leaf, water and sunlight to strip H2 out of H2O they can make hydrogen fuel, all by using only the materials that make up solar cells. Using a silk screen and solar paint they make a white film on a glass slide and die it in order to capture the energy from sunlight and then to produce cheap electricity.

“A practical artificial leaf has been one of the Holy Grails of science for decades,” said Daniel Nocera, Ph.D., who led the research team. “We believe we have done it. The artificial leaf shows particular promise as an inexpensive source of electricity for homes of the poor in developing countries. Our goal is to make each home its own power station,” he said. “One can envision villages in India and Africa not long from now, purchasing an affordable basic power system based on this technology.”

So in building an artificial photosythesis device that uses sunlight, a membrane and a catalysts one can only hope that we can eventually end our dependence on petroleum and provide an abundant energy source that won’t pollute our planet. Now wouldn’t that be nice?

by Julie

We have to do everything we can to encourage the entrepreneurial spirit, wherever we find it. We should be helping American companies compete and sell their products all over the world. We should be making it easier and faster to turn new ideas into new jobs and new businesses. And we should knock down any barriers that stand in the way. Because if we’re going to create jobs now and in the future, we’re going to have to out-build and out-educate and out-innovate every other country on Earth.

-President Barack Obama, September 16, 2011

Guiding Principles

President Obama recognizes that technology is an essential ingredient of economic growth and job creation. Ensuring America has 21st century digital infrastructure—such as high-speed broadband Internet access, fourth-generation (4G) wireless networks, new health care information technology and a modernized electrical grid—is critical to our long-term prosperity and competitiveness.

The President is committed to ensuring America has a thriving and growing Internet economy. The Internet has become a global platform for communication, commerce and individual expression, and now promises to support breakthroughs in important national priorities such as health care, education and energy. Additionally, the Internet and information technology can be applied to make government more effective, transparent and accessible to all Americans.

Examples of Progress

• Cybersecurity and Internet Policy
• A Modernized Patent System
• Bringing Technology from “Lab to Market”
• 21st Century Digital Infrastructure
• Creating an Open and Accountable Government
• Learning Technologies
• Advanced Manufacturing
• Robotics
• Federal Chief Information Officers

Cybersecurity and Internet Policy

President Obama has pledged to preserve the free and open nature of the Internet to encourage innovation, protect consumer choice, and defend free speech. The Administration has created an Internet Policy Task Force to bring together industry, consumer groups, and policy experts to identify ways of ensuring that the Internet remains a reliable and trustworthy resource for consumers and businesses.

In July 2011, at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Obama Administration joined with representatives from business, civil society, and Internet technical communities from 34 countries to reaffirm the importance of Internet policy principles that have enabled the open Internet to flourish with innovation and human connections beyond our wildest expectations.

Americans deserve an Internet that is safe and secure, so they can shop, bank, communicate, and learn online without fear their accounts will be hacked or their identity stolen. President Obama has declared that the “cyber threat is one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation” and that “America’s economic prosperity in the 21st century will depend on cybersecurity.” To help the country meet this challenge and to ensure the Internet can continue as an engine of growth and prosperity, the Administration is implementing the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace. The Administration also released the International Strategy for Cyberspace to promote the free flow of information, the security and privacy of data, and the integrity of the interconnected networks, which are all essential to American and global economic prosperity and security.

President Obama has responded to Congress’ call for input on the cybersecurity legislation that our Nation needs, and the Administration will continue to engage with Congress as it moves forward.

The Obama Administration has also prioritized the cybersecurity of federal departments and agencies. In addition, the Administration has matured the government’s implementation of the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) away from a static, paper-based process to a dynamic, relevant process based upon continuous monitoring and risk assessment.
A Modernized Patent System

President Obama signed the America Invents Act into law on September 16, 2011 after nearly a decade of effort to reform the Nation’s outdated patent laws. The new law helps companies and inventors avoid costly delays and unnecessary litigation—letting them focus instead on innovation and job creation. Many key industries in which the United States leads, such as biotechnology, medical devices, telecommunications, the Internet, and advanced manufacturing, depend on a strong and healthy intellectual property system.

The newly-signed law has a number of important reforms that build on reforms already underway under the leadership of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director David Kappos. The law gives the USPTO the resources to reduce patent application waiting times significantly, building on the great strides the patent office has already made, including reducing its backlog by 75,000 during this Administration even as the number of filings per year has increased. The USPTO will now be in a position to implement an innovative program to speed up the processing of the patents that are likely to create good jobs right away.

Under the prioritized examination process, the USPTO will offer start-ups and growing companies an opportunity to have important patents reviewed in one-third the time with a new fast-track option that has a guaranteed 12-month turnaround. The program builds on the Green Technology Pilot program that accelerates patent applications involving reduced greenhouse gas emissions and energy conservation — at no cost to the inventor. More than 2,407 petitions have been granted to green technology patent applicants since the pilot began in December 2009, and USPTO has issued a total of 470 patents under the program.

Excessive litigation has long plagued the patent system. The America Invents Act offers entrepreneurs new ways to avoid litigation regarding patent validity, without the expense of going to U.S. District Court, and will also give the USPTO new tools and resources to improve patent quality. The new law also will harmonize the American patent process with the rest of the world to make it more efficient and predictable, and make it easier for entrepreneurs to market products simultaneously in the United States and for exporting abroad.
Bringing Technology from “Lab to Market”

Leading up to the President’s signing of the America Invents Act, the Administration worked with Federal agencies and private-sector partners to launch a series of new “Lab to Market” initiatives. The initiatives are aimed at helping to achieve the President’s goal of strengthening “commercialization of the nearly $148 billion in annual federally-funded research and development”, as first proposed in January 2011 at the launch of the White House-led Startup America campaign. These efforts encouraged Federal agencies to streamline their technology-transfer procedures, support additional government-industry collaboration, and encourage the commercialization of novel technologies flowing from our Federal laboratories.

21st Century Digital Infrastructure

Wireless Infrastructure: President Obama’s National Wireless Initiative will make high-speed wireless services available to at least 98 percent of Americans. The availability of new wireless broadband services will allow more Americans to use the Internet to learn, work and play—regardless of where they live. One aspect of the President’s plan is to make more airwaves available (in scientific terms, some 500 Mhz of spectrum), to be available for enhanced cell phones and other wireless services—including dedicated public safety networks—over the next ten years. The President’s plan also supports advances in security, reliability and other critical features by investing in research and development in wireless technology. And through the auctioning of airwave space to companies that will develop the next generation of wireless services, the initiative will further R&D investments and deliver an estimated $10 billion for deficit reduction.

Broadband: High-speed internet infrastructure is key to a 21st century information economy. Through $7 billion in targeted investments from the Recovery Act, the Administration has expanded broadband access nationwide, improved high-speed connectivity in rural areas and public computer centers, and increased Internet capacity in schools, libraries, public safety offices, and other community buildings.

A Smarter Power Grid: A 21st century electric system is essential to America’s ability to lead the world and create jobs in the clean-energy economy of the future. As part of the Recovery Act, this Administration invested $4.5 billion in electricity delivery and energy reliability modernization, with total public-private investment amounting to over $10 billion To ensure that all Americans benefit from these smart grid investments, the Administration released a policy framework and a series of new initiatives in June 2011 that will empower consumers with tools to better manage their electricity and cut costs, improve the reliability of the electric grid, and help utilities recover from natural disasters faster. A first generation of innovative consumer products and services—such as thermostats that can be controlled from a smart phone, or websites that show how much energy a house is using—are already helping Americans save money on their electricity bills.

Creating an Open and Accountable Government

Government is more accountable when it is transparent. That’s why President Obama signed the Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government on his first full day in office, ushering in a new era of open and accountable government to bridge the gap between the American people and their government. The Administration has taken unprecedented steps to make government more efficient and effective, including the following actions:

Launched in May 2009, Data.gov has increased access to information that the public can readily find and use. The purpose of Data.gov and Data.gov communities is to increase public access to data and information generated by departments and agencies in the Federal government. For example, you can find monthly data on U.S. oil refinery utilization and capacity back to 1985 or value of mineral production by state. With more than 385,000 such datasets currently online, and more coming all the time, the Administration is continuing to create a more participatory government by expanding access and encouraging creative ways for data to be used.
Through the U.S.-India Open Government Dialogue, the two countries have partnered to release “Data.gov-in-a-Box,” an open source version of the United States’ “Data.gov” data portal and India’s “India.gov.in” document portal. It will be available for implementation by countries globally, encouraging governments around the world to stand up open data sites that promote transparency, improve citizen engagement, and engage application developers in continuously improving these efforts.
The Administration has increased tracking of how government uses Federal dollars with easy-to-understand websites like Recovery.gov, USASpending.gov, and the IT Dashboard.

The Administration is spurring innovation by using challenges and prizes to motivate greater citizen participation in the quest to meet national challenges. In September 2010, the Administration launched Challenge.gov, a one-stop shop where entrepreneurs and citizen solvers can find public-sector prizes. Prizes are a great way to inspire a wide range of potential problem solvers to take aim at problems through innovation. Unlike the case with many conventional grants, the method for achieving success is not narrowly defined and the government pays only for results. For example, the Department of Defense sponsored a challenge aimed at stopping uncooperative fleeing vehicles without causing permanent damage to the vehicle or its occupants, and got a winning solution from someone who might otherwise never have appeared on that department’s grant-making radar.

In June 2011 President Obama issued an executive order to cut waste, streamline Government operations, and reinforce the performance and management reform gains the Obama Administration has achieved.
In July 2011 the Obama Administration announced the launch of the Government Accountability and Transparency Board. The Board, first announced by the President and Vice President in June as part of the Campaign to Cut Waste, will focus on rooting out misspent tax dollars and making government spending more accessible and transparent for the American people.

The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Task Force on Smart Disclosure is working to promote better disclosure policies and aid in the timely release of complex information in standardized, machine-readable formats that enable consumers to make informed decisions in numerous domains.

The White House launched We the People, a new platform that gives all Americans a way to create and sign petitions on a range of issues affecting our nation. And if a petition gathers enough online signatures, it will be reviewed by policy experts and you’ll receive an official response.
In September 2011, President Obama and President Rousseff of Brazil hosted the formal launch of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) at an event with Heads of State and senior officials from 46 countries. This meeting focused attention on the shared challenge of improving governance, and demonstrated a strong political commitment around the world to the kinds of reforms necessary to enhance transparency, fight corruption, and strengthen mechanisms of democratic accountability.

Learning Technologies

Technology can be a powerful tool when it comes to teaching and learning. To help realize its potential, in September 2011 the Department of Education and private foundations launched Digital Promise, a new national center for advancing learning technologies. Digital Promise will harness the efforts of everyone from educators to entrepreneurs to spur the research, development, and adoption of breakthrough technologies that can help transform the way teachers teach and students learn. Learn more here.
Advanced Manufacturing

In June, 2011, President Obama launched the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP), a national effort that brings together industry, universities, and the Federal government to invest in the emerging technologies that will create high-quality manufacturing jobs and enhance our global competitiveness. To launch the AMP, the President announced $300 million of government-wide investment in domestic manufacturing capabilities, $100 million in research and training investments to develop and deploy advanced materials, $70 million in robotics research and development, and $120 million of investment in innovative energy-efficient manufacturing processes.

The AMP is based on a recommendation of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) in its report “Ensuring Leadership in Advanced Manufacturing.” The AMP is led by Andrew Liveris, Chairman, President, and CEO of Dow Chemical, and Susan Hockfield, President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

For more information: President Obama Launches Advanced Manufacturing Partnership Robotics

President Obama’s National Robotics Initiative is part of a broader effort to promote a renaissance of American manufacturing through the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership.

This initiative focuses on developing robots that work with or beside people to extend or augment human capabilities, taking advantage of the different strengths of humans and robots. In addition to investing in the core technology needed for next-generation robotics, the initiative will support applications such as robots that can:

• Increase the productivity of workers in the manufacturing sector;
• Assist astronauts in dangerous and expensive missions;
• Help scientists accelerate the discovery of new, life-saving drugs; and
• Improve food safety by rapidly sensing microbial contamination.

As part of this initiative, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, NASA, and the Department of Agriculture are funding $70 million of research for next-generation robotics.

For more information: Developing the Next Generation of Robots
Federal Chief Information Officers

In this 21st century Information Age, virtually all big businesses find it essential to have a Chief Information Officer (CIO)—someone who specializes in making sure that information is flowing smoothly within the business’s various components and also between the business and its customers and suppliers. Early in his Administration, President Obama made the important recognition that government, too, could benefit from having a CIO, and he appointed the first in the Federal government’s history. (A number of departments and agencies have since appointed CIOs as well.) One of the bigger responsibilities for the Federal CIO has been to find new efficiencies relating to the many information technology projects going on in the government—projects that stand to save taxpayers dollars and make government services more efficient, but which need to be coordinated with one another to achieve these goals.

Toward that end, on December 2010, the Administration released a 25-Point Implementation Plan to reform the way the Federal government manages information technology projects. Office of Management and Budget Director Jack Lew followed up on that Plan in August by issuing a CIO Authorities Memo, which spells out in detail how the CIOs in various departments and agencies should go beyond mere management of information technology projects and focus in addition on making sure they get the highest return on investments in information technology; being transparent and accountable for the status of projects on Federal websites such as the IT Dashboard; and ensuring the security of electronic information.

Part of being efficient involves shutting down projects that are no longer performing, and one responsibility of the Federal CIO and his office has been to use so-called TechStat sessions to look into such projects and figure out how to either fix them or terminate them. The Administration has said it intends to terminate or turn around at least one-third of all underperforming information technology projects by June 2012. The Federal CIO is also working to consolidate Federal data centers and move more and more information from individual computers and physical data centers to “the digital cloud”— part of a cloud-first strategy that promises big gains in efficiency. Finally, CIOs must ensure we are continuously improving our efforts to safeguard Federal data through cybersecurity.

Technology-related policies reflect management’s intent to control their information system – the absence of policies usually reflects poorly in court of law and public opinion: if management never communicated a position on a technology governance to employees, customers, or vendors, then “Due Care” obligations could be considered ignored. Thus, it could be seen that management was negligent in their handling of an issue which extends liability, making it difficult to prove that “reasonable” precautions were taken in preserving customer data, securing network resources, or terminating an employee due to cause.

1. Write or revisit your Technology Plan (TP). The TP is a complementary document to your overall business plan and would traditionally be prepared by the executive responsible for technology strategy. It is usually 24 months in scope and identifies how tech spend complements your business strategy. It is an evolving document that lays down principles in how technology will be used and managed within your firm, and how tech relates to your success. This document should help guide your purchasing, management, and deployment of tech indefinitely, and should evolve over time as technology issues continue to shape the macro economy.
2. Write or revisit your Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plan (DR/BCP). Think about how critical software and hardware is to the execution of your business strategy. Think about how important the years of electronic data is to your ability to do your job. Now think about this stuff being wiped out in a flood, burned in a fire, or just the victim of bad luck – a hard drive failure. After Hurricane Katrina, more than 20,000 small businesses folded on the Gulf Coast because they didn’t have a way to recover their electronic data to resume business operations. Now is precisely the time to revisit how data is stored, how it is backed up, how it is moved off-site, and services would be restored in the event of an emergency.
3. Write or revisit your Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). The AUP is the most critical policy in your Administrative arsenal. It outlines to employees and others who use your electronic resources what rights and obligations they have in using your resources. It is usually the principal document that is signed at the employee hire that outlines what is good and bad behavior in using your resources, and is the governing document allowing employers to terminate for cause. If an AUP doesn’t exist, it’s difficult to suggest that expectations of behavior was communicated to employees and a wrongful termination defense could be mounted. An AUP should be an evolving document as threats in IT change every 24 months. Now’s the time to really take a look at this again.
4. Write or revisit your privacy policy and legal liability towards protecting personal private information (PPI). Your firm may be subject to federal or state regulations governing the security and privacy of electronic information – of patients, consumers, job applicants, or financial records. Fines are usually bestowed on a “per incident” basis, and if you have thousands of records outside of compliance, the liability is enormous. Further, it’s best practice these days to communicate to stakeholders up front how you manage PPI and secure it. If you don’t have a privacy policy, “Due Care” concerns could be raised that management was negligent in managing the private information of a party, which could result in civil tort for damages. Over 31 states have individual laws governing PPI; that in addition to the federal laws governing protected classes of information demands a thorough investigation in your compliance obligation.
5. Write or revisit your procedures governing employee terminations and audits. Finally, keep in mind the number one security risk for you during these economic times. It’s not hackers, viruses, or malware. It’s employees, and specifically, terminated employees who’ve still access to your confidential intellectual property. Now’s the time – if any – to revisit those procedures and verify that employee access restrictions are performed, documented, and reviewed.

Policies, procedures, work instructions, and plans are Administrative Controls that reflect management’s _intent_. If management’s intent isn’t communicated, and technology is governed by assumption and intuition, then management isn’t “managing” technology – they are hoping for the best without taking on responsibility to effectively govern it. Now is your chance to reflect upon how your intent is reflected in the workplace and how well you’ve addressed technology “Best Practices” and regulatory compliance issues as a management team.

By Russell Mickler

Product Management is all over the map in High Tech. Most often it resides in the marketing department. Sometimes, it’s in the engineering/product development department. Occasionally you will see it as it’s own function. And again, what does the term mean in a High Tech company? Sometimes it is used interchangeably with the term “Product Marketing”. In this case, it means responsibility from cradle to grave of the product planning and marketing functions for a particular product or product line. In other words, working with the developers to define the product (product planning), as well as driving the other “3Ps” for the product–setting pricing, distribution strategy and promotional strategy.

In larger companies you will often find this function separated into two distinct jobs: Product Management as the Product Planning portion, and Product Marketing as the function that manages the product once it is released into the market–driving pricing, promotion and distribution. In this case both functions may still reside in the marketing department, or the Product Planning portion is sometimes in the engineering department.

The last variance on this theme that is sometimes seen is that the Product Management resides in the engineering department, but it only vaguely resembles the traditional definition of the term. In this case it is “Product Planning”, but the job and skill set more closely fit the definition of an engineering project manager, with very little weight put on exploring the market to match marketplace needs with engineering capabilities.

In High Tech, the Product Management function is most typically a “matrix” position: lots of responsibility for a product’s success, with very little actual authority to ensure that success. Normally a Product Manager’s success will be decided based upon his/her ability to convince other stakeholders in the organization that the path laid out is the best thing for the company (and the individual stakeholders as well!) People skills are therefore as important as having a technical grasp of the job in a Product Manager’s ultimate success.

In consumer markets, the Product Manager typically holds much more direct power–often much like a mini-GM for his product line. Often product development will even work for him. The term Brand Manager is often used in consumer businesses instead of Product Manager. (In a big High Tech company, a Brand Manager will fulfill more of a Marcom role).

So what’s the best way to structure the Product Management role in your business? Well there really isn’t one best way. It depends upon your business, culture and personnel. But I do have my biases. I believe strongly that most high tech businesses would benefit by structuring the Product Management function to be strong. Tthere is much to gain by putting a strong, experienced Marketer with a strong technical background in a Product Manager role where they are graded and compensated by the results of the P&L of their product line. I wouldn’t go so far as to suggest that Product Development should report to the Product Manager in a High Tech company, but I would give them discretionary budgetary authority on at least a portion of the marketing budget for the product line. I would also make sure they have management backing to deal with the developers from at least an equal position of strength. This lack of product management strength is a huge problem in many High Tech companies, particularly those founded by product developers.

The Product Manager’s mentality should be that of a “mini-CEO” with his product line analogous to the overall company for a real CEO. Too often in technology companies the Product Management/Marketing functions do not have the ability to stand up to Engineering. This leads to a culture of building what suits someone’s fancy, not building what the market will buy–a very dangerous thing in the long term. A strong Product Management function will lead to an advocate for that product line whose sole business “purpose in life” is for his product to succeed. This outlook ensures that the big picture will always been looked out for, eliminating the potential for a product line’s performance to be reduced by turf wars– or sub-optimal tactical moves due to poor inter-department communication. The Product Manager is there to rationalize and orchestrate to ensure the product line has the best chance of success.

By Phil Morettini

On Friday in Pittsburgh, Obama is to call for a joint effort by industry, universities and the federal government to help reposition the United States as a leader in cutting-edge manufacturing, including biotechnology, robotics and nanotechnology — the development of new materials at the molecular level.

The initiative represents yet another effort by Obama to promote job-creation in the midst of an economic slowdown that has reduced hiring and weakened his job approval standing with the public. The president has tried to elevate his profile on the economy with weekly job-related trips to states that are key to his re-election.

In 2008, Obama beat John McCain, his Republican opponent, by a 55-45 percent margin in Pennsylvania. But presidential elections are usually competitive there, making the state a 2012 battleground.

He is to launch his new high-tech plan at Carnegie Mellon University, one of six universities in what the administration is calling the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership. The plan also features 11 manufacturing companies, including Ford Motor Co., Caterpillar Inc., Procter & Gamble Co. and Northrop Grumman Corp. Leading the effort will be Andrew Liveris, chairman, president and CEO of the Dow Chemical Co., and Susan Hockfield, president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“The idea here is that we’re bringing together all of the key players in a collaborative partnership to help identify these promising technologies, to invest in these promising technologies and to use them to drive a revitalization of American manufacturing,” said Ron Bloom, assistant to the president for manufacturing policy.

Obama will be touring the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute, which is building machines that can help with bomb disposal, brain surgery, lawn mowing and paint scraping. Ultimately, some scientists at the institute are trying to figure out whether robots and humans can “treat each other as equal partners or teammates.”

The administration’s plan includes $70 million for a robotics initiative. It also is aiming $300 million toward national security industries and $100 million for research and training to more quickly develop advanced materials at lower costs. Some of the $500 million would come from existing allocations to government agencies, but other money is only reflected in Obama’s 2012 budget request and would require approval by Congress.

Bloom envisioned nanotechnology that could create stronger but lighter materials.

“And what that means is, if we can be the leader in creating these kinds of materials, then we’re going to have cars that are lighter, but yet as strong; we’re going to have airplanes that are light and consume less energy in order to power them,” he said.

The initiative is the brainchild of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. In a report issued Friday, the council warned that U.S. leadership in manufacturing is at risk. It said the United States has been losing research and development associated with manufacturing to other countries. Most importantly, the council noted, the United States is losing the manufacturing competition for products that were invented in the U.S., including laptop computers, flat panel displays and lithium ion batteries.

In a teleconference with reporters, Bloom rejected a suggestion that the effort could be criticized because it could single out beneficiaries at the expense of others

“We’re not trying to pick a winner,” Bloom said. “We just want to give entrepreneurs and innovators tools to work with.”

The use of high technology is often directed to the one with the most potential for advancement and growth in the future. This is true with economy’s technology sectors, which develop advanced technology. This perception leads to investment that can also come as a risk when expectations fail and the potential is not realized. In this case high technology can also become a high risk at the same time, opening doors for high profits.

High technologyhas become an international phenomenon all over the world through the information technology and the Internet. Today’s businesses all are able to connect with each other 24/7. High technology sectors include Aerospace, Artificial Intelligence, Electrical Intelligence, Computer technology software, Nuclear Physics, Telecommunications, Robotics, and Nanotechnology.

High technology is also apparent in today’s competition between and within industries. An example of this is the manufacturing of sports footwear apparel and the growing competition between the brands involved. In catering to the needs of its market, top sports brands for footwear also grow competitively in terms of producing products from general shoes to different kinds of sports shoes, evolving from their looks and engineering, catering from the young market to the older ones. Even its services and packaging have developed to address both market needs and to position respective brands ahead in the game. The development of technology in this industry has even adjusted to the needs of the market. Today, brands tap into their fashion and style requirements. This competitive scenario contributes to growth not just of target market, the brands and their industries but also to science and technology as a whole.

High technologyand modern progression of discovery is motivated by capitalism and industrial evolution as well as the patent system. The varied forms of capitalism have made it possible to market products for a substantial return of investment. Thus, there are more means and opportunities to produce and market more products. With advancements coming from all sectors in society the market is bigger and larger. Technology in manufacturing also makes mass production possible, which cannot be compared to manual production.

Urbanization and industrial revolution found people moving to urban cities with larger population widening the chances for profits. The patent method protects the investors in terms of intellectual properties and trademarks, which is important in achieving their business goals and developing their merchandise. High technology has indeed made an impact in the current era driving healthy competi in personal and business advancements.

By James J Bellavia

All indicators are calculated for particular companies, in specific technologies over a time period. Because patent citation rates differ by technology, comparisons should be made only within similar technology groups.

Basic Indicators

• Number of patents
• Patent growth percent in area
• Percent of company patents in area

Patent Citation Indicators

• Cites per patent
• Current impact index (CII)
• Technology strength (TS)
• Technology cycle time (TCT)

Science Linkage Indicators

• Science Linkage (SL)
• Science Strength (SS)

Basic Indicators

Tech-Line uses three indicators based on patent counts:

Number of Patents – A count of a company’s patents issued in the U.S. patent system. Because the U.S. is such a large market, even non-US companies seek the protection of a U.S. patent for their most important innovations. By tracking number of patents, growth in patenting and distribution across technology areas, you can monitor and compare the evolution of companies’ R&D activity by technology area. Number of patents tracks R&D spending but can be disaggregated across technologies whereas R&D spending usually cannot.

Patent Growth Percent in Area – The change in the number of patents from one time period to another, expressed as a percentage. This identifies technologies receiving increasing emphasis and those in which innovation is slackening off. It also identifies companies increasing their technological development, and those whose R&D is played out.

Percent of Company Patents in Area – The number of patents in a technology area divided by the total number of patents for that company, expressed as a percentage. This tells you which technologies form the core of a company’s intellectual property portfolio.

Patent Citation Indicators

Four Tech-Line indicators are derived by analyzing the references on the front pages of patents, or “patent citations.” References are placed on patents to help establish the novelty of the invention. Inventions must be novel to be awarded a patent. To enable the patent office examiner to assess the novelty of the invention, a patent document lists “prior art” in the form of references to previous patents in the same area. Patent citations also play an important role in patent infringement litigation by delineating the domain of the patent.

In counting citations, we reverse the perspective and count how many

citations a patent receives from subsequent patents. This is a way of counting how many times a patent becomes prior art in future technological advances. Research has established that highly cited patents represent economically and technically important inventions. Details on the history and validity of patent citation analysis are in the Tech-Line background paper.

Cites Per Patent- A count of the citations received by a company’s patents from subsequent patents. This allows you to assess the technological impact of patents. High citation counts are often associated with important inventions, ones that are fundamental to future inventions. Companies with highly cited patents may be more advanced than their competitors, and have more valuable patent portfolios.

Current Impact Index (CII) – The number of times a company’s previous five years of patents are cited in the current year, relative to all patents in the U.S. patent system. Indicates patent portfolio quality. A value of 1.0 represents average citation frequency; a value of 2.0 represents twice average citation frequency; and 0.25 represents 25% of average citation

frequency. In a Tech-Line company report, you can identify the technologies in which companies produce their best work. In a Tech-Line technology report you can benchmark a company’s technological quality against other companies and against the average for the technology. (CII’s vary by technology. For example, they are high in semiconductors, biotechnology, and pharmaceuticals, and low in glass, clay & cement, and textiles.) CII has been found to be predictive of a company’s stock market performance.

Technology Strength (TS) – Quality-weighted portfolio size, defined as the number of patents multiplied by current impact index. Using Technology Strength you may find that although one company has more patents, a second may be technologically more powerful because its patents are of better quality.

Technology Cycle Time (TCT) – Indicates speed of innovation or how fast the technology is turning over, defined as the median age in years of the U.S. patent references cited on the front page of the company’s patents. Companies with shorter cycle times than their competitors are advancing more quickly from prior technology to current technology. In semiconductors, cycle times are short (3-4 years); in shipbuilding they are long (more than 10 years).

The average is 8 years. In fast moving technologies, TCT allows you to identify companies that may gain the advantage by innovating more quickly.

Science Linkage Indicators

Two Tech-Line indicators are derived by analyzing the front page of patents. Patent documents must cite relevant prior art (see patent citation).

Increasingly, patents are citing non-patent documents as prior art, and many of these are papers in scientific journals. Tech-Line’s Science Linkage and Science Strength indicators are based on counts of patent references to scientific papers. Patents that reference many scientific journal articles are different from patents that reference none. For example, a patent on a genetically engineered seed, or on a neural network based process control may reference 10 or more scientific articles. In contrast, an improved design for a part of a motor may reference none. Tech-Line’s indicators build on this difference, differentiating companies and technologies that are high-tech from those that are not. This is particularly useful in areas like agriculture, where patents for plows are mixed in with advanced agrobiotechnology. Science Linkage can differentiate between the two.

Science Linkage (SL) – The average number of science references cited on the front page of the company’s patents. High science linkage indicates that a company is building its technology based on advances in science. High-tech companies tend to have higher science linkage than their competitors. Science Linkage enables you to pick out the high-tech players in even traditional areas such as agriculture or textiles. Science Linkage has been found to be predictive of a company’s stock market performance.

Science Strength (SS) – The number of patents multiplied by science linkage.

Indicates the total amount of a company’s science linkage activity. Science strength reminds us that although a small biotech firm may use science very intensively, a big pharmaceutical firm in fact has a greater reliance on science because it makes use of research across a much larger R&D effort.

By Vinod Kumar Singh

Put simply, given the remarkable efficiency and knowledge management improvements possible with electronic patent file management systems, there can be no viable excuse for either corporate or law firm patent attorneys not to adopt such systems. When viewed in the best light, patent attorneys who decline to adopt an electronic system are doing their clients and themselves a disservice. Viewed in the harshest light, these attorneys are unintentionally cheating their clients out of innovative methods that improve the quality of patent legal service while reducing its cost.

My Awakening

My awakening to the value of electronic patent file management systems occurred recently while leading a team of patent prosecution experts for an Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) enterprise software vendor. For this project, my team conducted a detailed time comparison between a fully electronic patent file management system and a traditional paper-based system. By assigning times to each of the administrative steps involved in eleven common patent prosecution tasks, we discovered that use of an electronic patent file management system markedly reduced the amount of administrative time involved. Specifically, the amount of administrative time (as opposed to substantive legal effort) required for each task was reduced from roughly 60 percent to as much as 85 percent, depending on the prosecution matter. These administrative tasks represented functions such as pulling and moving files from office to office, uploading, retrieving and saving documents into department computer databases and inefficient communication between in-house personnel and outside counsel. Adoption of an electronic patent file management system can save anywhere from $150K to $220K per year.

Our analysis demonstrated that for a fully staffed corporate patent department (e.g., docket clerk, paralegal and attorneys) that files about fifty patent applications and engages outside counsel for patent preparation and prosecution, adoption of an electronic patent file management system can save anywhere from $150K to $220K per year (see the Appendix). For a fully staffed corporate patent department filing a similar number of patents but which handles patent prosecution matters primarily in-house, the cost savings range from $50 to $75K per year. Because the tasks eliminated by an electronic patent file management system are repetitive and routine, these savings are fully scalable to organizations with higher or lower filing levels.

Further cost savings will also follow from a corporate patent department’s adoption of an electronic patent file management system because having the appropriate documents readily at hand in electronic form greatly increases communication efficiency between patent staff and internal business clients regarding their patent matters. For example, while employed as a senior IP attorney at a multinational corporation, I conducted periodic patent committee meetings with my business and R&D teams. To collect and present the information necessary for the teams to make informed decisions, the paralegal and administrative staff were required to spend considerable effort copying, sorting and binding relevant patent documentation. Moreover, because the information in the thick binders stayed static, while the relevant patent matters did not, these binders became obsolete as soon as the periodic meetings ended. The binders therefore needed to be re-created from scratch for every meeting. Multiply this effort over multiple businesses, each with frequently changing patent filings, and one can see how much work was required to keep my business and R&D teams up to date about their patent portfolios. Had the management of my corporate IP legal department invested in an electronic patent file management system, countless paralegal hours (and reams of paper) would have been saved by providing the same information to my organization’s business team for review on their laptop computers. With an electronic system, our department’s staff could have avoided the repeated pulling of patent files to copy relevant documents and prepare binders. The time-intensive nature of patent committee preparation alone would have justified the adoption of an electronic filing system.

Information to the Right People at the Right Time

A further, perhaps immeasurable, benefit of electronic patent file management results from the greatly improved access to valuable corporate patent asset information.

With traditional, paper-based patent file management systems, patent staff necessarily controls access to patent information. Those with important business interests in a corporation’s patent matters-that is, business and R&D teams–must first ask their patent staff for permission to access such information. For organizations where patents are recognized as valuable corporate assets, the requirement is like needing to ask your banker for your bank balance. For those responsible for managing corporate assets, such limited access to information is unacceptable.

No More Gatekeepers

When a corporation views its patents as assets, those responsible for managing corporate assets must be able to readily access relevant information.An electronic patent file management system is a critical component for those managers seeking to better capture and protect their intellectual property. When a corporation views its patents as assets (as opposed to legal instruments); those responsible for managing those assets must have ready access to relevant information. Under traditional paper-based patent filing systems, patent staff serves as gatekeepers of the information for the entire corporation. With an electronic patent file management system, those with a need-to-know can be granted access to the patent information on an as-needed basis. This reduces the workload of the patent staff and improves the engagement of others in the organization with the patent process.

Managing the Cost of Transition

Given the large cost savings, increased efficiencies, and greatly improved corporate knowledge management possible with adoption of an electronic patent file management system, there would seem to be little reason for corporate patent departments to retain the traditional method of managing patent documentation. Of course, the task of scanning active patent files into electronic form may seem daunting. But there are ways to minimize the entry-level cost. First, technology makes it easier to go paperless than ever before. Most organizations already file patent applications and other patent documents electronically. This means that most patent documents are present in electronic form and do not need to be separately scanned into an electronic file. In the next several months, the US Patent Office will be introducing electronic Office Action reporting, to be followed later by electronic reporting for other official documents. The effective elimination of paper from communications to and from the US Patent Office today will make it easier for forward-thinking organizations to eliminate paper-based patent file management systems. When combined with modern document management systems typically in place at corporate and law firm settings, most organizations will be able to convert to electronic patent file management systems today for a reasonable price and with minimal effort. To further reduce the entry-level cost, legal managers can select only currently pending applications for entry into a new electronic patent file management system. Of course, newly docketed matters should also be made fully electronic from their inception. Issued cases can later be added to the system if time and resources allow. By taking a measured approach to the adoption of an electronic patent file management system, the cost of moving from a paper-based file management system to an all-electronic patent management system can be minimized.

The Role of Outside Counsel

Outside counsel saves money by electronically communicating with clients, and it is inexcusable for them not to pass such savings on to their clients.Corporate patent managers should expect their outside counsel to be willing to provide them with electronic patent-related communications on a low- or no-cost basis. Corporate patent managers should also be prepared to discuss with their outside counsel where inefficiencies can be removed from law firm operations and communications to reduce overall patent procurement costs. If an outside counsel wants to charge a client additional fees for electronic communications, the client should seriously consider vetting new patent counsel who is more willing to adopt innovative solutions. Outside counsel saves money by communicating electronically with clients, and it is inexcusable for them not to pass such savings onto their clients.

It’s Time for All IP Departments to Adopt an Electronic IP Management System

Although we represent technology savvy companies, patent attorneys often are somewhat resistant to change. This conservative nature could explain why, to date, conversion to electronic patent file management systems has been slow. With the remarkable efficiencies and improvements over traditional paper-based patent file management systems more and more evident, however, there is no reason for patent attorneys not to adopt electronic patent file management systems today.

By Jackie Hutter