Final Reflections!

The beauty of this course TWC is that it gives insight in to technology and innovation and its significance in broad range of areas. It shows how an individual is not a subscriber of technology only if he/she carries smart phone, ipod, or have access to computers and internet. In one of the sessions we discussed the revolution of ICT and in the next session we had a discussion on BioBusiness. I loved how in session on emerging technologies we had the freedom to bring any interesting technology of area we are interested in to class. This sort of freedom and flexibility allowed us to look at technologies that look at possibility of living on water for example and the possibility of tooth regeneration. Not only, have we covered broad range of areas where technology is applied or used but also the impacts both negative and positive of such changes. Again I hope with the interdisciplinary approach I have learnt to evaluate and analyse an innovation from different angles - social, political, legal, environment and economic. I can undoubtedly say that this has been a unique experience.

The course concluded with our group projects that involved us to work in teams and make a website on our area of interest. I and my group chose to make a website on car safety technology. I have always been interested in car’s technology and as a group we realised that few people know about the safety features of the cars that they drive. So we chose this topic. This was the first time I worked on a project which involved making of a website and while working on the website I learnt many things about making website. This also included many challenges. Often I found the website quite complex but I think I am quite satisfied with our product. Here’s the link to our website - http://www.wix.com/2011twc/cars. Feel free to surf the site and leave any comments or queries on contact us page.

The other groups also made websites on many interesting topics ranging from technology that aids the disable to revolution in arts because of technology, social media and ICT. Through the websites not only the groups delivered the relevant content but also added a personal touch and perspective to their websites. I enjoyed looking through each website because there were many areas such as technology and visual arts which I was interested in. I have always had special interest in visual arts but I do not remember thinking about the impact on technology on it. Hence, it was interesting to look at the website on technology and how it influenced arts.

Besides I really enjoyed exploring the website on information and communication technology. I liked how the group extended their scope from development of ICT from past to present to future’s further developments like possibility of transmitting information through light. They also their personal take on future communication technology by looking at possibility of communicating such that emotions of another individual can also be understood.

On the whole I believe it’s been a fun and an enriching course. My personal rating on this course would be 9.9 /10.  :)

Session 10

Week 10 was about technology assessment and forecasting. This session basically sums up the course TWC. Basically, in the past few weeks we looked at how technology has brought changed in our world in different areas such as communication, healthcare, education and even our food/nutrition. Along the way, both positive and negative impacts of technology were explored. The different approaches that individuals or companies may take towards innovation were also highlighted. After looking at the past, present and emerging technologies what holds most importance now is the future. What next? In order to answer this question, we need to carry out technology assessment and forecasting.

The different strategies of forecasting and assessment of technology is essential because that guides us while we make decisions about where to invest our time, money and resources. This can we explained through a quote by Benjamin Franklin.

  

“Look before, or you'll find yourself behind” - Benjamin Franklin

The quote is relevant to us and very true. If we do not think about our future, we will be left behind. We need to imagine and be creative to innovate and make our future. There is a need to stop and evaluate the emerging technologies and then make decisions accordingly.

Technology forecasting is important for everyone, every company and every government. Yet, it was realised that forecasting and technology assessment may not even make to priority list of many governments especially the less developing countries. Technology assessment can be most beneficial for poor countries because by assessing and forecasting the future trend, governments can make budgets more efficiently; however there are always problems like corruption which may still result in misallocation of resources.  I realised this when I was researching for my presentation of Health Technology Assessment (HTA) in Canada. Canada being a rich and developed nation is investing a lot in HTA. In my presentation I focused on the horizon scanning approach in HTA. Horizon scanning is about recognising new emerging technologies and evaluating them, to determine which technology is best eligible for further funding. Unlike making strategies after looking and observing our past, strategies should be made by having futuristic vision. Hence, planning may be more efficient when working backwards from future to present.

Another presentation was done on kids forecasting the future. The presentation reemphasised the need to be creative and imaginative. If we think like children then we can come up with more interesting innovations. The presentation made me curious about what happens to our imagination when we grow older. :D

Previously, I think I was quite very unsure about this area of forecasting and assessment but after the session I think I understand the importance and various ways of conducting technology assessment and forecasting. The session was a good introduction to the topic. My personal rating of this session is 9/10

Session 9

This week was a much awaited one by me and my class mates. This is because it was about Emerging and future technologies. Technology is a world without boundaries and this makes it an area full of excitement. The exponential rate of change in technology has seen many disruptive and evolutionary changes. Gone are the days of buying music CDs and Walkman because iPod and iTunes is in. everything nowadays is more compact and faster than ever. So where are we moving towards?

One of the videos that we saw in class was about clay tronics. The plastic chips an electronics may eventually results in extinction of silicon chips. plastic technology can be very helpful in future because it is less fragile and can result in electronic goods such as phones and television screens that are flexible. A possibility of application of plastic chips and sensors can be on medicines casing, where the packing can let an individual know the time at which them medicine should be taken. The video also mentions the possibility of having plastic sensors in contact lenses so that one can browse internet too easily. I personally think such a technology can be quite freaky. These technologies can raise privacy issues. For instance, the plastic chips and sensors may easily be transplanted or rather fused in to one’s body, so someone else can keep track of where you are. Here’s the link to the video – Plastic electronics! - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_Tv5Ox_U90

Meanwhile, the drivers of change and development of technology were explored. One of the drivers is the unmet demand in the market. There is a gradual move towards technology driven opportunities from market driven opportunities. Furthermore, the technology driven opportunities are resulting in supply of goods that can create demand. Apple exemplifies this point very well. The existence of iPhone and iPad has created demand for such products. Mass media also plays a vital role here. Then there is confluence of 4 ‘Smarts’ – Smart people, Smart money, Smart ideas and Smart alliances and partnerships. More importantly, imagination is the secret ingredient that is required to be able to innovate.

Other technologies that we looked at included augmented reality, artificial intelligence and robots. As we looked at different technologies, several problems that it may result in were recognized. For example if are reliance on robots rise in the knowledge economy, then we may have social problems because employment in previously labor intensive industries would rise. If robots would be designed to do low skilled jobs then what will people with low skills do. Also, problems like income distribution may rise. Though the robots can help do risky tasks such as working in coal mines, they would create unwanted unemployment.   

Another, issue that crops up with technologies such as robots with artificial intelligence and robots that are made to look like humans is where to draw a line to tell difference between a human and a machine. Can machines become smarter than human beings? If humans begin to interact with robots such as Milo of project Natal and AI Robots in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2wYWAlg8Do, the definitions of relationships may change. To what extent will we get engaged with such technologies?

Another technology which interested me was the augmented reality. Augmented reality blurs the line between what is real and what computer is generated by enhancing what we see, hear and smell. Augmented reality may be seen in our smart phones, laptops and even the windshield of cars.

Like every session, we had presentations in class. The presentation which I enjoyed the most was about living on water. Presentation explored possibility of living on water and the ongoing projects of floating islands around the equator. It is an interesting because it may help solve our problem of growing population and overcrowding in cities. But there are many obstacles to overcome, which may include the legal issues and other socio-cultural impacts.

My personal rating of this session is 9.5/10

Session 8

Session 8 was about one of my favorite topics – Energy! Today, the world is facing challenges to meet sustainability and energy is one hot topic. How fast can we reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and increase use of renewable energy sources?

The session began with an interesting observation. “If everyone consumed as much energy as the average Singaporean and US president, the world’s oil reserves would be depleted in 9 years.” This observation is firstly very alarming. The amount of consumption of energy is that high that it can result in depletion of the oil reserves in such short amount of time. Secondly, having lived in Singapore for four years now, my personal perception of the city was that it is very clean and green. However, to my surprise it is not at all green. Singapore is a developed nation and is yet reliant on oil and coal for energy.

Energy is a pressing issue as the world consumption is increasing rapidly and our natural resources such as oil and coal are depleting at a rapid rate. In such times, countries such as Brazil are setting examples of sustainable development. Brazil does it by its Proalcool Gasohol Programme. In Brazil, car engines have been refined such that they can run on ethanol/gasohol. Brazil is a very good example because even though it is a developing country, it is taking initiatives towards economic growth and development sustainably.

The need to innovate and that change is the sole constant was reemphasized in this session. Countries and businesses, who would invest in clean energy today, will benefit and be leaders in their fields tomorrow. Germany exemplifies this point very well. I found it inspiring when we saw a video about Germany and the way they are integrating solar energy in their energy systems. It is inspiring because Germany is a cold country. It does not have access to a lot of sunlight. Yet, steps are being taken to promote solar energy. Furthermore, governments often see reluctance to change among people. Perhaps, due to cost related issues. Germany overcame such issues by awareness programs and incentives such as tax credits to common public. Can countries like Singapore follow Germany’s steps? When Singapore does have money to invest in clean energy then why I sit still heavily reliant on oil?

Another interesting observation made in this session was that there has been an inverse relationship between petrol prices and research and development in innovation. The present economic crisis explains this point well. The economic slowdowns not only see changes in consumer behavior but also cut in country’s budgets in areas concerning clean energy such as in USA.

This week we had interesting presentations on topics such as Tar sands and energy from trash. Both the topics were new to me. Tar sands found in Canada involves taking out oil from the sands. It is a unique area because it can possibly solve our problem of depleting oil. However, there are many potential environmental hazards such as pollution. On one hand we have a pool of lot of energy; on the other hand there are many potential negative consequences. Such issues are hard to handle as people and government confront dilemmas between the practical and ethical issues.

The next presentation was about energy from trash. This technology goes beyond recycle, reuse, reduce and also refuse. It is about extracting energy from the waste that we produce.

I enjoyed being part of this session. My personal rating of this session is 10/10 :)  

Session 7

Prof. starts every session with a quote.  This time the quote was by him -

“When we are able to grow the resources we need,

we will finally be on the road to sustainability”- Gurinder Shahi

I think this quote is very true and relevant to our generation.  If we are able to generate the resources that we need, then we can fulfill our both present and future needs.

This week we continued with theme on BioBusiness and changed our focus towards Agrobiology, Environmental life sciences and Industrial biotechnology. We looked at the rising trend of urbanization in cities and countries around the world and thus the rising demand for resources such as food.

In order to meet growing demand of food, we have seen Green revolution in countries such as India and China. By investing in research and development in this area, there are high yield and more nutritious crops. High bred and yield crops can help add value to agricultural goods and I think it can therefore, help move such crops from valley to summit opportunities. Furthermore, research in this area has allowed people to grow food where it was previously harder to grow food. The genetically engineered food such as rice is more nutritious. Also, technology has resulted in crops that are drought and pest resistant.

 But there are many controversies concerning genetically modified (GM) foods. Interestingly there is cultural resistance towards GM foods for example in Europe. Also, there are concerns about environment and sustainability as chemical pesticides are used to grow more food crops.

An area which intrigued me in one of the reading was the Biopharming. Biopharming refers to efforts to grow pharmaceuticals by using genetically modified plants and animals. For example, vaccines in genetically modified maize and potato and human proteins that can be separated from milk of cows and goats to be used for therapeutic purposes.

Furthermore, discussion took place on challenges and possibility of meeting sustainable environment and industrial development in developing countries. There are many obstacles in our way to achieve sustainable development. These include structural and financial hindrances.

At the end of session, we had presentations on GM foods, growth hormones in cows and bio plastic. Each presentation explored the various positive and negative benefits of concerned technologies. Something that interests me is the ethical questions that these technologies raise. For instance, in order to get more meat from cows or chicken, is it right to inject growth hormones in them? Is it ethical to let the animals suffer for the sake of our benefits? Can synthetic or artificial meat can be possible alternatives?

I would rate this session 8/10

Session 6

This week began with another fascinating theme of BioBusiness revolution with focus on healthcare and biomedical sciences. In this session we learnt about what constitutes Bio Businesses. BioBusiness is the commercial activity based on understanding of life sciences and life sciences processes. It makes up about a quarter of world’s GDP and employs some 40% of labour force. However, most of this work force is employed in subsistence level farming. Hence, now BioBusiness is moving towards more sustainability and high value goods and services.

Then we looked at few trends in healthcare industry. It was realised that we are living in a world where millions and millions of people are dying of communicable/nutritional diseases. Such problem is more prevalent in south Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. The other more developed countries are also not immune to the same problem but there the incidence of chronic diseases is much higher.

Never did I realise that BioBusiness has end number of opportunities. Some areas of opportunities include agriculture and biotechnology, industrial and marine bio technology, pharmaceuticals and diagnostics.

One of the key concepts learnt in this week was concerning the type of opportunities. Any given opportunity may be categorised into Valley, Summit and Cloud opportunity. Valley opportunities involve many competitors and low barriers to entry. Meaning there is an existent market for a particular product/service.  Summit opportunities are more technology and knowledge intensive, there is less competition and innovative ways of businesses can be used to make high profit margins. Cloud opportunities are also technology and knowledge intensive, with few competitors but there are high barriers to entry. Innovation in this area is likely to be technology driven as it applies to adoption and promotion of technologies that are still emerging. Unlike cloud opportunities, Summit opportunities are usually market driven. The innovation in concern is in high demand.

In class discussion, it was realised that a business should invest resource sin summit opportunities and then should move towards cloud opportunities. The possibility of moving from valley to summit opportunity was also discussed. It may be achieved by adding value to the product/service by innovative means. For example, traditional medicines that had lost their popularity some time ago are now seen as summit opportunities.

Furthermore, discussion took place on issues such as innovation systems and intellectual property (IP). For instance, previously, companies would use IP to protect themselves from others and transfer of knowledge was hard. The purpose to innovate and solve issues was somewhat lost because things like patents simply become means of incurring more profits. But new IP involves more sharing of knowledge and stresses on collaboration. This results in better access to products and more innovation. I think this is very significant to our present world as it may be one of the keys to solve many problems such as prevention of many preventable diseases and communicable diseases in less developing nations.

Besides that in healthcare industry, there is a move towards wellness management versus disease management. Also, there is a shift towards personal responsibility of health rather than state responsibility. We are seeing technologies such as diabetes glucose meters which save a lot of time and money. There is no more need to go to hospitals regularly to get the glucose tests done. This positive change/trend is best described by a video by Microsoft. Hence, I would put the link here, instead of talking about it. Video says it all - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74reJmMzV4&feature=related

The video is very interesting as it highlights the possible future of healthcare and wellness management. I see it as becoming possible in our near future. Do you?

My personal rating of this session is 8/10. I am just a bit curious about the negative impacts/consequences of technology in this area as to me everything seems very positive :)

Session 5

Exciting theme for this session was Information and Communicational Technology (ICT) and world change. ICT is one of the fields in technology which I believe our present generation is most familiar to. ICT includes technology concerning Internet, Mass media, Gaming, Wireless technologies and Cloud computing. Before, my perception of world of ICT was limited to internet, wireless technologies and mass media only. Through this session and recommended readings, I have broadened my horizons about ICT. I learnt how ICT’s application goes beyond entertainment and communication. ICT serves as a world changing tool as it has significant applications in field of education in form of e-learning and health care in form of telemedicine.

One of the technologies that intrigued me was gaming and cloud computing. I knew very little about these technologies and the potentials that they have to bring change in the world. I used to see gaming as an area of entertainment only. I never realised how game simulations can be used and applied in areas such as medicine and transportation technologies. Similarly, I knew little about cloud computing but this session has motivated me to explore this topic furthermore. Cloud computing is the delivery of computing as a service rather than a product, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices as a utility over a common network. A surprise element about cloud computing for me and a lot of my classmates was that almost all of us have been using this technology such as Google mail and Google docs, Yahoo! Mail etc but we did not know that it is called cloud computing!

These technologies have undoubtedly changed our world. Today, it is hard to imagine life without internet, without Google. Imagine doing research assignments without Google and with piles of books in a library instead. Technology has brought everything just a click away. Besides making our life more convenient, ICT has brought many positive externalities to the poor and to less educated. E-learning has allowed millions around the world to become aware of global issues, to empower. Similarly, telemedicine has allowed doctors to reach their patients in remote areas. Besides, wireless technologies have helped farmers too. Now they are more informed of the market prices of their crops and seasonal changes. Technology has allowed them to make better decisions. The scope of ICT is limitless. It has brought information sharing and communication to an entirely new level. Bulk of information can now be transmitted in seconds. Even in politics, one can say an increasing role of ICT. Instant interaction with ministers/world leaders on Twitter or Facebook was of course not possible before.

In class we watched various videos but the one that fascinated me the most was about Poject Natal Milo. Here’s the link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPIbGnBQcJY. Enjoy watching! :)

The video is fascinating because the technology can make the human looking figure, Milo in the screen so believable, to the extent that one can potentially interact with them.

This lesson also made me realise that just having a certain technology is not sufficient. For technology to be effective, its accessibility, understanding and adoption are essential. Therefore, government involvement in adoption of new technologies is significant in bringing the change in people’s lives, especially in lesser developing countries.

Another interesting observation mentioned by Prof was about the value of knowledge revolution. As mankind went through transition from being hunters/gatherers to agriculture and domestication of animals to industrial revolution, an increase in productivity of about 25 times was seen as we moved from one level to the next. Now, we are seeing time when we are moving from industrial revolution to ICT/ knowledge revolution and we have only seen five times rise in productivity thus, the question is how and after how long time will we be able to achieve further 20 times rise in productivity? When will we be able to capture the full potential of ICT/ Knowledge revolution?

My personal rating on this session 9/10