Scan Monthly No. 026April 2005 |
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Signals of Change
A (Predictive) Model of Health
SoC099
A combination of technical and scientific advances is contributing to the development of more predictive models of disease that shift value toward preemptive care and health management. Chief among the advances is the ability to model increasingly complex systems for predictive purposes.
Mezzo-Tech Solutions
SoC100
We're all familiar with high-tech solutions and low-tech solutions. But another conceptual category, mezzo-tech, will be useful in designing and marketing products and services for some long-standing markets. Mezzo-tech solutions leverage high technology into low-cost, easy-to-use devices suitable for technologically nave users of limited financial means.
Real-World Search Online
SoC101
Can Google help you locate your car keys? Not just yet, but the ability to use the Web to find objects in the real world is developing rapidly thanks to aggressive initiatives by Internet search-engine companies and rapid advances in RFID technology and GPS systems.
Spin, PR, and the Evolving Media Landscape
SoC102
Public-relations professionals are using new media and new methods to advance their causes. Consumers are using the same media to engage some PR folks in a battle of wits for the high ground and for an advantageous position in the evolving information landscape.
Syndromic Surveillance
SoC103
Stopping the spread of disease has become a high priority with the emergence of deadly diseases such as avian flu, ebola, and AIDS. Syndromic surveillance systems take into account an expanded number of signals and variables to establish the probability of a disease outbreak and to help contain its progress.
When Form Is Function
SoC104
For many phenomena in nature (proteins, for example), form relates so closely to function that the two traits are indistinguishable. So it comes as no surprise that researchers who mimic nature in developing new materials and processes are adopting and implementing the form-is-function premise.
Insights
| The World According to Google | View full summary |
| D05-2504 | Download this Insight |
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Google has set a high standard with both the ambitious scope of its innovation initiatives and its rate of success in extending its reach into a wide variety of computing arenas in a very short time. This study examines recent Google innovations and speculates about what benefits those innovations will bring for companies and consumers in the coming years and how Google's innovations may change the face of computing. Author: Thomas M. McKenna. 8 pages. |
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| How Much Risk Are Consumers Willing to Take? | View full summary |
| D05-2505 | Download this Insight |
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Now more than ever, consumers are taking on risk, knowingly or unknowingly. (See SoC064, "Downloading Risk to Consumers.") Particularly evident is the risk that consumers are taking on in the arena of finance as they become more active with stocks and instruments based on stocks such as mutual funds, variable annuities, and insurance with cash value. Before the 2000 stock market correction and the prolonged economic downturn that followed, many consumers did not realize how much risk they were taking with their investments. SRI Consulting Business Intelligence's Consumer Financial Decisions (CFD) program surveys consumers in the United States every two years concerning the financial services they purchase. CFD's 2004 MacroMonitor analysis indicates that four years after the peak of the stock market bubble, consumers are more aware of the risks associated with their investments than they were before or during the bubble. This study, based on one of CFD's recent MacroMonitor reports, highlights the changes in consumers' attitudes toward risk concerning financial services. The study pays special attention to how these changes could influence the outcome of the Social Security-privatization issue currently facing the United States. Author: Larry Cohen and the CFD program. 11 pages. |
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Calendar
Scan™ Abstract Meetings
Scan abstract meetings (in which SRIC-BI [now SBI] staff participate in a free-form discussion of current Scan abstracts) are open for client observation/participation on:
- 18 May 2005 at 9:00 am
- 20 July 2005 at 9:00 am
- 21 September 2005 at 9:00 am
- 19 October 2005 at 9:00 am
- 25 January 2006 at 9:00 am
- 22 March 2006 at 9:00 am.