This webcast will explore how the fruits of basic research are critical to fueling applications. Dr. Chalfie will give examples from his own research developing Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) as a biological marker, as well as from work by others, to demonstrate that the application of basic research into fundamental problems in biology is important for its own sake and, fuels the development of various new applications.
While research is typically focused on one industry, great discoveries generally provide value for multiple industries.
Dr. Chalfie is a Professor of Biological Sciences and former chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at Columbia University. In 2008 he shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Osamu Shimomura and Roger Tsien for his introduction of GFP as a biological marker.
Following the conclusion of State of Green Business 2012, I boarded a plane to Vancouver with Stephan Dolezalek, Managing Director, VantagePoint Venture Partners and one of my fellow panelists at the San Francisco conference, to ask that other “greenish city on a bay” similar questions that were pondered in San Francisco. (As some of you already know, these two cities enjoy a friendly rivalry to see who can be more sustainable and prosperous while still being hip and cool).
The Cities Summit, hosted and organized on February 1-2 by Vancouver’s city government, assembled an interesting group comprised of hundreds of international business and urban leaders. They focused on the design of creative, practical solutions for a sustainable urban future. The city invited me to moderate a session entitled, “City Finance 2.0: Next Generation Urban Infrastructure.” The invitation arose for one good reason: the focus of this Vancouver discussion — the business of city building — closely mirrors the focus of the “2012 Meeting of the Minds,” which Toyota and Cisco and others will convene in San Francisco in October. Read More »
Two events on the North American west coast, set apart by two days, each helped to set the tone for this year’s big debate about the future of cities.
Where exactly is the big debate, you might ask? Looking at the Presidential election season The New York Times Op-Ed columnist, Tom Friedman, bemoaned in early January, the fact that he just doesn’t “remember any candidate being asked in those really entertaining G.O.P. debates, ‘How do you think smart cities can become the job engines of the future, and what is your plan to ensure that America has a strategic bandwidth advantage?’”
At IBSG we know some of the most important elements of that alternative future for US cities. And we are engaged in intensive projects with our customers — cities like Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Vancouver — to shape it. Read More »
Nusajaya is a nascent city located on the South-western tip of Peninsula Malaysia and just a short drive away from Singapore. Nusajaya is also one of the crown jewels of Iskandar Malaysia, the special economic zone in the state of Johor and one of the flagships of the Malaysian Government’s national development plan.
Soon, Nusajaya could also become the catalyst for Smart City development in Malaysia and beyond. Yesterday, two of the area’s largest property developers, UEM Land Holdings Berhad and Iskandar Investment Berhad, signed agreements with Cisco to develop a master plan for a Smart+Connected Nusajaya.
“We’re seeing smart cities being built around the world and we think that Nusajaya has the potential to become a benchmark for smart cities. This is just the beginning, we want Cisco to help us plot the path for us towards a Smart+Connected Nusajaya,” said Dato’ Wan Abdullah Wan Ibrahim, managing director and chief executive officer of UEM Land Holdings.
Anil Menon, President for Globalisation and Smart+Connected Communities, shared with the Malaysian media the forces that are driving smart city developments around the world:
Residents in Songdo International Business District will soon be able to learn a new dish or take a yoga class in the comfort of their homes. A managed services company called U.Life Solutions has been set up by Cisco, Gale Internatonal, POSCO E&C and LG CNS to deliver Smart+Connected Community Services in the newly established city.
At the launch event for the new entity on July 4, 2011, celebrity Korean chef and restaurateur, Soojin Choi (picture below), taught the audience how to make a chicken salad over Cisco TelePresence.
