India and China are major guests at TRETC

I don't think that there has been a single session here that goes without a discussion of the situation in CHina and India and their arrival on the world stage of technology. Is it a threat (there are thousands of engineers graduating each year) or an opportunity (all those new customers with rising buying power)? Nobody really seems to agree. All recognize the changes ahead and the possible impact of every American. The challenge seems to be communicating those massive changes to the general public to reenergize the public here.

Link to the conference:
TR ETC 2006

6 webs according to Bill Joy

Bill Joy is on stage at the Emerging Technologies conference at MIT. He is talking about 6 webs that define our interaction with information and are here to stay. They are sources of entrepreneurial opportunities. This article lists the 6 webs. Mr. Joy sees opportunities at the crossroad of entertainment and ubiquity and cites Japan as a place that has innovation in this space. Interesting comment also on the last web, the device to device: mesh networks and sensors giving info on everything in a city.

How to make engineering sexy is big question

Almost each session at this year's Tech Review Emerging Technologies' conference had a question on why the US may be losing its edge in science & technology. There were some alarmist comments and some interesting facts, f.ex. that the US graduates as many sports managers than engineers. In an afternoon session dedicated to the question, the panelists (including two deans of engineering schools) discussed the roots of the problem - and it's not only that the World is Flat (see article on Friedman's book) - and some of the solutions. All panelists agree that there is an urgent need to make science & engineering more exciting for possible graduates. The skills of those engineers are also important, not only the numbers where the US is frequently outnumbered.

Live from TRETC - emerging technologies conference at MIT

So what are some technologies that will change the world? We've got some answers this morning.. It seems like there is a big concern about the state of US engineering graduates and Mr. Bushnell thinks he can help change education with new games. Dean Kamen also mentioned the need to bring luster to technology and presented a box that basically purify water. Prof Langer presented new ways to use tissue engineering to help heal skin and limbs problems. Finally, Prof Lieber gave an overview of major development at the nanoscale level, including a novel way to build an interface between the brain and a computer.