Solar Exports from Africa

When will Africa begin exporting Solar-generated power? Are there grid integration problems with EU? What would it take to establish power transport corridors? More than an oil pipeline across Azerbaijan?

Robotics field: SIGINT

There are daily, incremental advances in the field of robotics that will rapidly tip the flywheel over for rapid monetization and utility. It is incredible how many non-linear technologies are conspiring. Hopefully, there are companies paying attention at the SIGINT level who can begin rapidly integrating and level-set robotics in mass market.

http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/industrial-robots/robot-uses-supersonic-jets-of-air-to-stick-to-almost-anything?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IeeeSpectrum+%28IEEE+Spectrum%29

Smartgrid implementation challenges

Deployment of new technology is always a challenge. The real question on this implementation, particularly given the scale, is why they didn't allow for alternate field-unit technologies to ensure maximum deployment penetration?

http://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/energy/the-smarter-grid/smart-grid-developments

Basis for automotive network effects geometric growth

A very exciting aspect to the growth of EV's and Hybrid Vehicles is the underlying telematics service structure that enables reliable consumer use of these vehicles. As these vehicles gain a solid distribution scatter (number of EV/Hybrid's scattered among a floating car fleet), there are some very exciting possibilities: caravan, mesh, NFC, etc.. Hopefully, this report is on target:

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110503007286/en/Strategy-Analytics-Automotive-OEMs-Electric-Hybrid-Vehicles

EV Mass Transit and Individual Transit

It is interesting to see the first mass Taxi rollout of EV's. Given the rapid changes and requirement for maximum time on-the-road, it is surprising. Although it is likely more of a marketing pronouncement, designed to mark territory and call attention to a national champion, the market is definitely moving this way. Hopefully, they are instrumenting the service and the back office to provide a basis for collaborative improvement.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110428007512/en/BYD-Announces-EV-Fleet-Results-Anniversary-Green-Taxi

Insurance Actuarial Monetization of Telematics Data

It is nice to see more insurance companies embracing telematics and related data to evaluate actuarial models and package more relevant solutions to customers.

These preliminary steps are positive, but there is a great deal of money under the cost curve that can be captured and returned to customers as well as fund innovation. Unfortunately, actuarial data is historical in nature, which poses a problem.

The more companies that put in the mathematics, the faster this will come.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110427006724/en/Hartford-Helps-Fleet-Managers-Reduce-Risky-Driving

Analytics aiding charitable effectiveness

It is interesting to see the counter-intuitive results that yield when newly reliable data is crunched under newly "cheap" analytic tools. Hopefully, this leads to more effective spending and less waste.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/04/25/more_than_1_billion_people_are_hungry_in_the_world

Robotics are poised for exponential growth

Robotics appears at the nexus of most/all technological innovation that is currently underway. It would be difficult to find any other market that is more exciting at this point in time. Within a handful of years, it is a safe bet that there will be a sonic boom in robotics that will be a flywheel for all component technologies. Couple this with a renaissance in American manufacturing and there will be some extraordinary opportunities in the next decade. Exciting stuff:

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/05/13/friday_photo_robots_theyre_just_like_us