Tesla Motors, leading seller of luxury electric vehicles, is directly located at the intersection of nanotechnology and cleantech (even though few associate Tesla with nanotech). For exampe, lithium ion batteries found in the Tesla cars will continue to advance only with continuing advances in nanotechnology and advanced materials. This week, Tesla’s IPO after two days is off to a good start – good ! But….
Monthly Archives: June 2010
Florida Innovation Hub
Posted in LicensingThe University of Florida has started construction on the “Florida Innovation Hub.” This building will house a number of growing high-tech businesses in Florida. It also has drawn a number of companies that could provide services to these start-up companies, such as venture capitalists, lawyers and other tech inventors. The Hub will likely incubate 15 to 20 University of Florida spin-off companies at a time, in addition to a tech licensing group and six to eight service providers.
This follows Florida’s trend in attracting high tech businesses and start-up companies to Gainesville. Gainesville’s high concentration of intellectual talent, low cost of living, climate and quality of life all translate to an ideal place for transforming great ideas into tangible and functional technology.
Supreme Court Rules Indecisively in Bilski – What the Fuss is About
Posted in CleantechToday, the Supreme Court ruled in an important case with energy implications and in a way that raises an ounce of nostalgia (see below). The case is Bilski v. Kappos, 561 U.S. ____ (2010). Informally, in a nutshell, a patent applicant led by one innovator Bilski et al. attempted to patent a business method style claim with application in energy markets. The PTO ruled he could not patent this invention because the subject was not within the scope of the patent system. The Federal Circuit agreed. Now, the Supreme Court also agrees. With all this agreement, why the "fuss"?
Invent a Solution to the Water Crisis
Posted in Cleantech; Water"Water promises to be to the 21st century what oil was to the 20th century: the precious commodity that determines the wealth of nations." (Fortune Magazine, May 15, 2000)
For most people in the world, turning on a faucet in the kitchen to obtain unlimited clean drinking water is an unavailable luxury. As noted by FreeDrinkingWater.com, the World Health Organization states an alarming fact that 3.4 million people die each year from waterborne diseases. With oil-tainted bays and rivers and ever depleting fresh water supplies, the world is starting to truly appreciate that water is, indeed, a precious commodity. The demand for water continues to grow because of population growth and industrial expansion. Meanwhile, the world’s fresh water supply is shrinking due to pollution, draining of underground aquifers, and climate change. With increasing demand and decreasing supply, water is quickly becoming one of the largest economic growth sectors in the world.
Big Idea Inventions and Implications for Nanotechnology and Clean Tech
Posted in Book ReviewsBooks on inventions and innovation are a dime a dozen. However, one nifty, little book recently penned by Alex Hutchinson shines over others:
Big Ideas: 100 Modern Inventions [That Have Transformed Our World]. Hearst Books, 2009.
This book, Big Ideas, is relevant to nanotechnology because it spells out the importance of size – small size! – when viewing innovation over the span of decades. We too easily become used to modern technology and easily forget that many modern feats approach the miraculous (or at least science fiction) from the vantage point of decades. Today, we can pull out from our pocket a small but very smart wireless device and type in any geeky question like “what is electroosmotic flow?” – and get a credible answer in seconds! Science fiction in 1947?
Oil Spills, Costner, and Federal Laboratory Research
Posted in CleantechTechnology transfer – which sometimes some might venture to be a dry, legal subject for lawyers – is now close to a major news story. Kevin Costner, of course, has been in the headline news concerning his company’s technology for separating oil and water for help in the current, still growing Gulf disaster.
Costner’s company (or companies) apparently owns or licenses a series of patents related to the centrifugation technology (e.g., see US Patent Nos. 4,959,158; 5,571,070; 5,591,340; 5,762,800; 5,908,376; and 6,363,611). The original ’158 patent traces back to the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory and inventor Dave Meikrantz. The technology transfer from federal lab to Costner’s company was even highlighted as a leading example in the book Technology Transfer for Entrepreneurs: A Guide to Commercializing Federal Laboratory Innovations by Clifford Gross and Joseph Allen (2003). These patents were commercialized in 1990′s in response to the Valdez oil spill disaster.
Of Oil Spills and Patents
Posted in CleantechThe cleantech movement will continue to be "fueled" by negative events such as the current, unprecedented oil “spill” disaster in the Gulf. The public continues to watch this spill with profound interest and strong emotion. The million-billion-now trillion-dollar question: How can technology be used to solve problems related to oil spills? Worse yet: Oil spills from thousands of feet below the water surface? Hopefully, relevant persons in industry and government regulatory agencies are reading the patent literature. Hopefully, the patent system can provide the right incentives to develop technology for the public good and for protection of the environment.
For example, a preliminary review showed that only 68 U.S. patent publications – not many really – recite the term “oil spill$” in the abstract or claims. Of these, only ten use the term “offshore.”
Patent publications range from “Sea Dragon” (USPatPub 2002/0161272) to “Containment Boom” (USPatPub 2004/0120770) to “Submersion Drum Skimmer” (USPatPub 2002/0000411). Some interesting reading can be found here.
One caught my eye, for example. The patent publication “Quick Actuator” (USPatPub 2009/0152487) is succinctly drafted with one claim and few words. It says (emphases added):
Abstract
“An actuator designed to open and close valves easier. Preferably metal, a user can engage the actuator by either a rotating means or manually by hand. Thereby making it possible to engage a stuck actuator in the event of an emergency. Its unique star patterned sleeve makes it impossible easily possible. Simply by slipping and impact gun’s socket over the star patterned sleeve and engaging the impact. It’s designed mainly for underwater use in the ocean, where salt water corrodes and jams virtually everything it comes in contact with. Thus will help in the prevention of a major oil spill or natural gas leak. …
Conclusion, Ramifications, and Scope
Accordingly, the reader can see that the Quick Actuator closures of the various embodiments can be used to open and close valves more efficiently, can help in the prevention of major spill, it can be turned either by rotating means or manually by hand. Major oil companies will want the Quick Actuator in their oil spill. It will prevent disasters and save money on paying a diving company to go underwater and operate these valves.
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Indeed. Perhaps – one can hope – solutions to disastrous problems could flow from one or more patent descriptions. We can anticipate a boom in oil spill-related patent filings?