Signals of Change

First World 2.0 SoC321

The business world may be ready for a new version of the categorization of developed economies: First World 2.0. Rather than discussing the developed economies of nations such as Japan, Germany, and the United States, company planners may want to discuss the developed economies of cities and regions such as Shanghai; Silicon Valley, California; Bangalore, India; the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Ruhr region in Europe; the Boston, Massachusetts-Washington, D.C., corridor; or the São Paulo-Rio de Janeiro region in Brazil.

Opening Up Science SoC322

The early posting of data and findings (conclusive and inconclusive) online, Internet-mediated collaborative efforts, public participation, and cash-prize incentives capable of tapping a vast pool of talent are all techniques indicating that the concepts and procedures of the scientific method are evolving. The changes present companies with challenges as well as benefits.

Leveraging Physical Infrastructure SoC323

In an era of high product-development and materials costs, an increasing number of companies are developing strategies that leverage existing physical infrastructures from cell phones to sewer lines.

The Next Round of Collaborative Tools SoC324

Developments in collaborative technologies are enabling ever more complex forms of cooperative human thought and action. Corporations are using collaborative tools as platforms to introduce and develop new ideas, products, services, and practices. In today's competitive global landscape, the need exists for more sophisticated information technology to modernize corporate structure in order to continue to deliver high business value.

Piece-by-Piece Commerce SoC325

New technologies, new media platforms, and changing consumer behavior are creating completely new forms of commerce in which companies are delivering products or services in smaller and smaller pieces. Instead of distributing a finished product (such as a book), companies are delivering parts or pieces of products (for instance chapters) and then expanding deliveries given sufficient consumer interest.

Niche Manufacturing Competing Globally SoC326

In the face of pressures associated with globalization, small manufacturers in industrialized countries are leveraging niche-manufacturing principles to compete. Niche manufacturers typically have a design or engineering specialty and a high-quality manufacturing process that allows fast response to customer design requests, to changes in fashion, or to local-market requirements.

Insights

Mixed Realities D08-2578

The term mixed realities describes an entirely new class of computer applications that exist and function neither completely in the virtual world nor completely in the real world. Mixed realities blend elements of and information from the real world into virtual worlds to optimize any of a variety of functions, including communication, information access and analysis, and entertainment. Such blended realities result in a merging of the real world and the virtual world in a way in which the boundaries that separate each world are less defined or—in some cases—nonexistent. Rapid advances in computer interfaces, software, and technological devices currently foreshadow an acceleration of the development of mixed realities. Author: Aster Peng. 9 pages.

Scan™ Meeting Digest: 23 July 2008 Meeting D08-2579

This document is a digest of the Scan™ abstract clusters that participants in the 23 July 2008 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 July meeting included measure twice, designing for fun, innovative funding, ecocycling, governance by corporations, organic user interfaces, the doctor tech gap, liability running amok, your ZIP file is open, first world 2.0, gene-based job competition, and the age of envirogees. Compiler: Kimberly H. Wiesbrock. 36 pages.

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:

• 17 September 2008 at 9:00 am
• 22 October 2008 at 9:00 am
• 21 January 2009 at 9:00 am.
• 18 March 2009 at 9:00 am
• 20 May 2009 at 9:00 am
• 22 July 2009 at 9:00 am.

Please contact your SRIC-BI (now SBI) marketing representative to schedule participation in any of the Scan Abstract Meetings.