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Inside ECO:nomics (part 1)– Dr. Phyl Speser talks golf, education and the energy crisis

For an inside look at ECO:nomics, I’ve turned to one of the conference’s most vocal participants, the co-founder, CEO, and CTO of Foresight Technologies, Inc., Phyl Speser.

As you can tell from the video below (and this one and this one and this one), he’s a fairly animated guy.

In a room brimming with money and influence, this inquisitive Ph.D from “humble” Rhode Island stood head and shoulders… and arm and hand (his hand raisin’ rivaled only that of Amory Lovins during the 3 day event) above the fray.

I have successfully parlayed his fondness for questions into a response to one, very important question of my own: What steps need to be taken to ensure that our young people (researchers) are properly equipped to inherit our current energy crisis?

Needless to say he was not shy. Read the rest of this entry »

Globe by _fLeMmA__

Global Cooperation: From outer space to virtual reality, Collaboration brings us together

Special thanks to all the IRA interns (Cyrus in particular) for helping to put on a seamless show at this week’s Eco:nomics Conference held here in beautiful Santa Barbara (I know you’re jealous).

It was an inspirational experience and it’s got me looking towards the future and ready to talk innovation.

Innovation, as you know, is exploding through our internet cables, in our research laboratories and universities and beyond.

Cisco Inc. and NASA have formed a partnership to create a collaborative global monitoring Read the rest of this entry »

Entrepreneurial Trailblazing: How to Stimulate a Dwindling Economy

President Obama’s approval rating is already down, the stock market has not hit this sort of low since ’97, and many are fearful for their jobs.

Not to sound like a character from the computer game Oregon Trail, but morale is low.

The silver lining, however, is that there are entrepreneurs aplenty that are optimistic about turning all this around.

How? Innovations, of course.

There are many up and coming entrepreneurs that are bringing new ideas to the table, such as Shai Agassi and Rob Shields. Each has a long term strategy that will work with the economic flow, and draw consumers.

Agassi’s concept is Read the rest of this entry »

The WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM: TED and Innovation a silver lining?

The World Economic Forum (WEF) saw top business leaders, politicians, thinkers and journalists come together to discuss the current global economic situation. They all tried their best Nostradamus impressions and as a result the relative theme of this year’s event was a real downer; something to the effect of– problem-based problems for the world’s catastrophic economic calamity.

Yeah, I’m pretty sure I saw a few PBPWCEC t-shirts and beanies in the audience.

Though the overall discussion was fairly gloomy there were a few bright spots… Read the rest of this entry »