September, 2011
September 29, 2011
Thought of the day
Technological innovation and society
This report argues that economic improvement is largely a result of the application of knowledge in productive activities and the associated adjustments in social institutions (Rosenberg and Birdzell 1986; Mokyr 2002). It uses an innovation systems approach that attributes economic growth to interactive learning involving government, industry, academia, and civil society (Edquist 1997). It focuses on the importance of learning or continuous improvement in the knowledge base and institutional arrangements for development (Conceição and Heitor 2002). Technological innovation is therefore not simply a matter of installing devices, but of transforming society and its value systems (Sagasti 2004).
September 10, 2011
Thought of the day
Technology for the developing world: an approach perspective from Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University Cambridge, MA 02138 (USA)
The development of technology for use in resource-poor countries encounters a specific type of challenge not ordinarily faced in academic science: the technology must be inexpensive and it must work with minimal infrastructure. This challenge is particularly severe when the problems being solved are, by their nature, ones that require high-technology solutions. In these kinds of problems, the elegance of the solutions must lie in the use of science to guide the assembly of readily available components into a simple, workable, and well-integrated package…… A top priority for improving health in developing countries is technology for simple, affordable diagnosis of infectious diseases……. Application with these requirements is detection of infectious diseases in the field in developing countries…….other potential uses include point-of-care diagnostics by first responders and in health clinics…….and detection of biological warfare agents in the field. [REF 1]
The Biotech tropicana "LIFE BOX” overcomes the cost and complexity barriers. In lieu of point-of-care systems, our Life Box reach out to remote areas by placing standard PCR and ELISA labs, into a motor vehicle. [REF 2]
September 6, 2011
Thought of the day
Technology for the developing world: an approach perspective from Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University Cambridge, MA 02138 (USA)
The development of technology for use in resource-poor countries encounters a specific type of challenge not ordinarily faced in academic science: the technology must be inexpensive and it must work with minimal infrastructure. This challenge is particularly severe when the problems being solved are, by their nature, ones that require high-technology solutions. In these kinds of problems, the elegance of the solutions must lie in the use of science to guide the assembly of readily available components into a simple, workable, and well-integrated package…… A top priority for improving health in developing countries is technology for simple, affordable diagnosis of infectious diseases……. Application with these requirements is detection of infectious diseases in the field in developing countries…….other potential uses include point-of-care diagnostics by first responders and in health clinics…….and detection of biological warfare agents in the field. [REF 1]
The Biotech tropicana "LIFE BOX” overcomes the cost and complexity barriers. In lieu of point-of-care systems, our Life Box reach out to remote areas by placing standard PCR and ELISA labs, into a motor vehicle. [REF 2]
September 5, 2011
Thought of the day
Environment and Sustainable Development
Our lives on this planet depend on nature’s provision of stability and resources. Current rates of human-engendered environmental destruction threaten those resources and leave death and misery in their wake. But we can avoid this. To do so, we must act in concert and with a sense of urgency to make the structural and policy changes needed to maintain ecosystems and their services, control water and air pollution, and reverse the trends leading to global warming. This must be done if we are to achieve the level of environmental sustainability necessary to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals addressing poverty, illiteracy, hunger, discrimination against women, unsafe drinking water, and environmental degradation.
By environmental sustainability we mean meeting current human needs without undermining the capacity of the environment to provide for those needs over the long term. Achieving environmental sustainability requires carefully balancing human development activities while maintaining a stable environment that predictably and regularly provides resources such as freshwater, food, clean air, wood, fisheries, and productive soils and that protects people from floods, droughts, pest infestations, and disease. Therefore, environmental sustainability is necessarily a fundamental objective in the pursuit of the seven other Millennium Development Goals.
In Environment and Human Well Being: A practical Strategy
UN Millennium Project
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