Scan Monthly No. 050April 2007 |
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Signals of Change
Customizing Nutrition
SoC231
Researchers are discovering that the way people metabolize the food that they eat varies dramatically from one person to another. Customized nutritional-modeling capabilities are emerging for managing diet as part of lifestyle management. Such capabilities will provide a platform for a broader range of opportunities that include diagnostics and health-careinformation advisory services, customized recipes and foods, and new food concepts through cross-sector alliances.
Leveraging Internet Innovations
SoC232
Companies looking for innovative tools to increase efficiency and lower business costs without spending a fortune continue to turn to the Internet for possibilities. Three recent initiatives prove that the Internet continues to expand its role as a source, means, and executor of innovation.
The New Energy Environment
SoC233
Climate change resulting from human-caused greenhouse-gas emissions is today's front-running environmental issue. The convergence of public attention, developments in alternative-energy technology, and private-sector investment in such technologies is reaching critical mass, making it clear that a rapidly changing energy environment is the only certainty that companies can depend on.
Potential Cancer Breakthroughs
SoC234
Recent Scan abstracts point to breakthroughs in the detection and treatment of cancer that are notable for being both low in cost and effective in preliminary tests. These developments have the potential to usher in significant changes in the economics of medicine.
Creating Sensual Foods
SoC235
Whether through combining ingredients in novel formulations or transforming food ingredients using unconventional preparation methods, the food industry is expanding and amplifying the sensory and experience components of foods to provide consumers with interesting new dining experiences as well as pleasure, comfort, health, and wellness.
Instant Online Translations
SoC236
After many years of development and only limited success, new attempts to develop machine-translation systems that use statistical methods and large amounts of computer processing are now offering more useful output, without requiring excessive human labor.
Insights
| Crowdsourcing: Benefits and Drawbacks | View full summary |
| D07-2548 | Download this Insight |
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Crowdsourcing is the process of outsourcing a task to a large, fairly undifferentiated group of peoplea crowdand selectively harvesting the results. Crowdsourcing is increasingly becoming an integral part of the business environment, and although the concept is still at a nascent stage, more and more companies are using it to access the power of previously untapped pools of talent. Risks and potential drawbacks exist for the practice, however. This study outlines recent developments in the area and points out benefits but also cautions by calling attention to potential drawbacks of the concept. 8 pages. |
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| Scan Meeting Digest: 21 March 2007 Meeting | View full summary |
| D07-2549 | Download this Insight |
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This document is a digest of the Scan abstract clusters that participants in the 21 March 2007 Scan meeting identified. The digest includes a description of the Scan process for people who have never attended a Scan meeting, a list of the clusters that meeting participants identified, and a one-page description of each cluster's premise and supporting abstracts. The document has active links that allow the reader to access the supporting abstracts for each cluster in Scan's online abstract database. The document also has links to previously published Scan documents relating to the particular cluster. Clusters of abstracts for this March meeting include human appetite for self-destruction, modern lifestyle killers, drugless Rx, food integrity and identity, the green tightrope walk, new frontiers of virtual worlds, planet India, cleansing techs, $6 million grandma, individualized nutrition, go east for wellness, DNA as smart material, metabolic treatment models, and timely frameworks. Compiler: Martin Schwirn. 37 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:
- 23 May 2007 at 9:00 am
- 18 July 2007 at 9:00 am
- 19 September 2007 at 9:00 am
- 17 October 2007 at 9:00 am
- 23 January 2008 at 9:00 am
- 19 March 2008 at 9:00 am.