Innovation Studies Centre - note and links

'The Innovation Studies Centre (ISC), conducts research on the innovation process from knowledge creation to commercialisation.'  It aims to influence policy and practice by working at the inter-face of science, engineering and business management..


'Innovation has never been more important as organisations face fierce global competition, rapidly developing technologies and diminishing world resources.

Led by Professor David Gann, the ISC was established in 2003 at Imperial College London and funded by the EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council), to develop, test and launch new research projects and programmes.'

BERR UK Energy flow charts - a useful resource

The Energy flow chart 2008[filetype:pdf filesize: 376.24Kb] illustrates the flow of primary fuels from home production and imports to their eventual final uses. DECC shows them in their original state, and after being converted into different kinds of energy by the secondary fuel producers. The flows are measured in million-tonnes of oil equivalent (mtoe), with the widths of the bands approximately proportional to the size of the flow they represent.

The next update, in summer 2010, will contain the 2009 UK energy flows.

According to Wikipedia  1 MWh = 0.086 toe, therefore 1 TWh = 0.086 mtoe. 

So an annual year output of say a Cardiff-Weston Tidal Barrage at 17 TWh would be equivalent to 1.5 mtoe. This is above the same as the consumption of the UK's Iron and Steel industry but perhaps not all generated at the right time!

NB Best place to view chart is PDF on BERR website above but it is shown below to show concept.

Runkeeper - the place to log sports

I'm impressed with this site, even if I don't own an iPhone or any other Apple gadgets.
1) It allows you to add in all types of activities

2) then you log details
3) and you can compare to previous matched or similar activities

Kerb Games has many viral games - including one for Construction Industry Training Board (CITB)

The Construction Industry Training Board game is at this link CITB Blocsmart viral (puzzle) game. It felt quite difficult to me but then I am not very experienced in playing games. 

ConstructionSkills

There might be alternative viral games I would go for before this ConstructionSkills one - see Move on Up (below); I've inserted this as it doesn't make too much noise up front!
NB all the links in this post will result in a Kerb Games sounds being heard!
RAF Global Rescue (Royal Air Force - Be Part of It)
Bat Out of Hell
Killawatt
NB Clicking on Read More >> below will bring up an embedded flash game, Move on Up, and play 2 seconds of Kerb Games sound. The sound can then be toggled on and off from the flash picture.

Tidal and wave technologies - The Guardian

Ten sites named in £4bn UK marine energy project | Environment | The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/16/wave-and-tidal-power-scotland

Crown estate and Scottish government name 10 wave and tidal power installations around Orkney islands and Pentland Firth

The Crown Estates Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters Round 1 Development Sites

Live Help - test

Smartcodes - experiment

Reads easily on SE W995 and I've reduced size of picture significantly.

Route visualisation with cycle routes

Link to free cycle maps at opencyclemaps.org >> National and international cycle maps
Local runs and cycle routes

Marine energy firm trawls for £17m to stay on crest of wave - Herald Scotland

Aquamarine Power, one of the front-runners in the wave energy race, has secured £6 million to develop its next prototype – but is seeking a further £17m to get it finished.

Virgin Brand Values - aide memoire

based on information available on the group's website

The Virgin brand revolves around delivering 
- value pricing, high quality, fun, great customer service and innovation 
whilst at the same time being 
- authentic, people-oriented and hip 
and associated with 
- Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson and his personal reputation.

Virgin Group Brand Values

Fun = enjoyment and humour, not offensive and incompetent

Value for Money = simple, not cheap

Quality = attention to detail, not expensive for the sake of it

Innovation = challenging convention, not different for the sake of being different

Competitive Challenge = responding to consumer needs, not being irrelevant

Brilliant Customer Service = empowered, not unprofessional people

sounds great - what can I do to help...

First UK concrete gravity platform, built in the UK for the North Sea.

Change reaction

Heavy-lift and ultra-heavy-lift hybrid aircraft

There appear to be an increasing array of vehicles in a class of hybrid aircraft which derive more than half of their lift by Helium buoyancy and the balance via aerodynamic lift produced by aerodynamic shaping.


These would appear in effect to be modern day successors to airships. 


A short list of websites include

• Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) with a range of their own SkyCats. Website link include video of test flight. Powered by gas turbines the 200 model will carry payload of 200 tonnes and has dimensions of  185m x 77m x 47m.  Their Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) range will take payloads spanning 20 to 1000 tonnes and operate at heights up to circa 3,000m at speeds between 160 and 200 km/h, with endurance up to 5 days. They further note that the SkyCats consume as much as 70% less fuel per tonne kilometre than conventional aircraft.  

• SkyFreight - heavy lift cargo from World SkyCat. Their website claims that 'at under $0.20 per ton/km, and given the vehicle’s relatively high speed (155 kph), the SkyCat-220 becomes directly cost-competitive with trucks and other forms of overland freight.'

• Lockheed Martin P-791 a long-endurance multi-intelligence vehicle (LEMV)

Additionally in November 2009, Flight Global reported that US Army revives hybrid airship interest in LEMV for Afghanistan. 


Recent history and issues
Patent and design issues surrounding recent developments appear to be an issue in some reports. Anecdotally there are appear to several companies with similar designs and brand names and is not clear what if any is the association between them.


It was reported that in July 2005, the Advanced Technologies Group Ltd went into administration under Part II of the Insolvency Act 1986. The article in aerospace technology includes examples of model, referred to as SkyCats, and their use. 


The German Cargolifter project was abandoned in 2002. The three people in the bottom left of the picture give a sense of the scale of this hangar. 

Vote BIKE! agenda is on

low carbon economy agenda for 2010 general election bicycles are important!!

Logistic options for 21st Century - leading future infrastructure requirement?

The Transport Act 1947 nationalised the road haulage industry and resulted in British Road Services delivering most requirements through a number of operating units.
I'm told this meant that outlying villages and towns would get 

• one delivery per day from one organisation that knew the area and people well
• haulage was optimised so that trucks were rarely without a load of some sort!

How real that recollection is, there is no doubt that demand from the movement of goods must be running at a higher level today than it ever was 60 years ago. The nature (size, weight and packaging) of the goods to be transported more specialised and sophisticated that it was.
On the other hand, there is something to be said for a more open market (do branded supermarket share space in their HGVs) to optimise loads of each vehicles and avoid empty truck movements.

Low Carbon Construction - Innovation & Growth Team - Emerging Findings

....a couple of recent HMG reports to look at - links are in the titles

Contents

1. Executive Summary.
2. Introduction
3. Industry-Wide Issues
4. Major Projects
5. Housing
6. Non-Domestic Buildings
7. Distributed Energy
8. Infrastructure
9. 2050 Group
10. Future Work
11. Industry Engagement
12. Acknowledgements


Annexe A: A process map for market transformation
Annexe B: Summary of recommendations and propositions
Annexe C: Members of the IGT Steering Group and Working Groups

Strategy for National Infrastructure - March 2010

.......Infrastructure UK has three key objectives:

• enabling long term investment;• developing effective long term plans and priorities; and• improving delivery.


In the last five years an estimated £150 billion has been invested in the economic infrastructure
of the UK, predominantly by the private sector. The demand for investment in economic

infrastructure in the UK is expected to be in the range of £40-50 billion per annum until 2030,

and possibly beyond. This is significantly above historic levels.

Electric charging point - models

Reference: http://www.electriccarsite.co.uk/electric-car-charging-points.
This is clearly moving on a pace with a fair number of charging points already in London.
Other UK resource has a searchable map of charging points.
In the news Government puts up £30m for electric car chargers Independent

Electromotive has already installed their system in the City of Westminster 

The Right Track - High Speed 2 (HS-2) paper by Bow Group

This is a good read. The proposed accelerated timetable over current HMG plans is good as is the intent to take the route via a Heathrow Hub and to maximise regenerative benefit to UK as a whole.

The Right Track – a 100 page report by the Bow Group brings together a range of option studies on HS-2 to create a commentary on ‘Delivering the Conservatives‘ Vision for High Speed Rail in UK. This envisages a start in 2015, 2 years earlier than the current government’s plans. A copy of the report can be found here 

Peak Energy - Tapping source of power from oceans

Interesting blog covering range of topics including some tidal ideas - although loading on this tidal flow structure must be immense. 

Tidal Power - Woodshed Technologies Ltd, TGL and other links

Info mainly sourced from websites.......

CleanTechCom Limited is a Scottish registered company formed in 2006 by John Griffiths and Steve Hastings. This company is today wholly owned by Woodshed Technologies Limited.
They are involved in the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) Severn Embryonic Technologies Scheme (SETS) funded support into Severn Tidal Fence through the Severn Tidal Fence Consortium.

The STF Consortium is headed by IT Power. CleanTechCom has brought additional co-financing to the study, which is also supported by technical expertise from Marubeni (Europe), Metoc, NaREC, BMT Fleet Technology, Edinburgh University, and Sigma Offshore.

Meeting Essentials - good practice

PLAN
Make sure your meeting has
- a purpose and is necessary
- the right people - who need to be there
- an agenda in advance - with clear timings including the start and end times++
- people with clear roles for chairing, note taking and time keeping

DO
Meetings must
- start on time
- have action points recorded and distributed promptly
- stop when the purpose is achieved
- lead to positive, timely action and outcomes

CHECK and ACT
Individually we can all help :
- Arrive 5 mins early
- Be committed and involved – use our values
- Keep the meeting on topic – all other things are offline
- Leave the room as you would expect to find it

Learning - chinese proverb

"Tell me and I'll forget;

show me and I may remember;

involve me and I'll understand."

Alternative ....in terms of Personal Learning Journals

I hear and I forget

I see and I remember

I write and I understand

UK - Blake's Parliamentary Year Book 2010 - "All Change" rail editorial

Editorial written in March 2009.

photos from top

1. St Pancras station

# southeastern highspeed snaps

2.Chatham Station - May 2009 (not in service!)

3. Ebbsfleet International Station - August 2009

Southeastern is owned by Govia, which is itself jointly owned by Go-Ahead Group and Keolis, who also operate the neighbouring Southern operating company which overlaps with Southeastern in some areas. The company’s formal name, under which it mounted its bid for the franchise, is London and South Eastern Railway.

Keolis was formerly an investment of 3i. 
Groupe SNCF and a consortium comprising AXA (acting through AXA Private Equity) and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, agreed to acquire a majority participation (55%) in Groupe Keolis. Within the consortium itself, the shareholding will be shared equally between the two partners. Groupe SNCF retains its current equity participation (45%) and remains the Group’s key industrial shareholder.
Early in 2010, there was consideration in the press of a potential merger between Keolis and Arriva.

NTNON Gramophone (not quite SPIN selling - click here))

......What do I do with my old 78s?

SPIN stands for Situation, Problem, Implication, Needs

NTNON = Not the Nine O'clock News

Magnetic boards over Skype

Each section is printed on magnetic A4 paper

Risk headings - aide memoire

EXTERNAL RISK SOURCES
Political
Economic/Markets - Financial and monetary
Social
Technological
Environmental/Ethical
Legal

INTERNAL RISK SOURCES
Systems
Security
Structure
Strategy
Skills & Staff
Style & Shared Values (Culture)

Cold calling emails

Personalisation and context
Focus: emphasis is on the value for reader, making it worth reading.

A call to action: suggests action to contact to set up a call; a self-confident approach that can contrast with impression given with more desperate overtones in an email.

Clear language: well written and error free, taking the time to care, which makes reader feel more respected

Thinking

A great many people may think that they are thinking; however, most are merely rearranging their prejudices.

Energy requirements of different forms of passenger transport.

more Sustainable Energy - without the hot air David JC MacKay
Figure 20.23. Energy requirements of different forms of passenger transport. The vertical coordinate shows the energy consumption in kWh per 100 passenger-km. The horizontal coordinate indicates the speed of the transport. The “Car (1)” is an average UK car doing 33 miles per gallon with a single occupant. The “Bus” is the average performance of all London buses. The “Underground system” shows the performance of the whole London Underground system. The catamaran is a diesel-powered vessel. I’ve indicated on the left-hand side equivalent fuel efficiencies in passenger-miles per imperial gallon (p-mpg).Hollow point-styles show best-practice performance, assuming all seats of a vehicle are in use. Filled point-styles indicate actual performance of a vehicle in typical use.See also figure 15.8 (energy requirements of freight transport).

Analysts: 'The recession has ended'; the continuing revolution

I really don't think we have seen the full impact of the major structural changes that are continuing to be necessary to address issues arising from the internet and climate change; reduced transaction costs impacting on supply and demand challenged through optimising/prioritising energy and water use.

During the 'debt decade', as I believe we are stuck in, we will have to learn to severely curtail our expenditure to pay off the excess of the past, and that may help us set off on the right path. It is going to mean a radical change in leadership, expectations and behaviour to make sure the UK pulls through which I'm not sure many of us fully realise and the government its really in a position to be too open about.

For me we need to be really taking out waste in the economy - including excessive consumerism, inefficient energy cycles and unfettered long distance travel - plus we need to put more detailed thought into the full life cycle cost of assets and services. At the same, we have processes and organisations which need radical overhaul; e.g. aspects of local government which is by anyone's measure in need of becoming more efficient and effective and simpler to access.

This implies revolutionary change in employment models, forms of employment itself, our use of transport modes and in our wider economic activity internally and globally. We are ill prepared for this change as we know as little about the direction of travel and the means to get there as people did at the start of the industrial revolution!

The good news is that I believe the UK has many strengths in our favour;
- a temperate maritime climate in a relative benign region free from material, sudden climatic and seismic events
- a reasonably secure source of potential future energy and fresh water supply
- a free-ish market based and educated democracy that values participation in society
- being on a naturally attractive and fertile island!

Memory tips - DOMINIC O'BRIEN'S

The three pillars to learning are

1. good memory techniques, one memory technique for languages is "gender zones". Visualise feminine nouns such as "la cantina" (cellar) in your home or home town; masculine nouns such as "il campo" (field) elsewhere
2. speed reading and to improve speed reading, use a pointer such as a pen to trace along the lines as you read
3. note-taking take effective notes, make mind maps from key words and crystallise original notes down to helpful reminders

If you learn something new, review it within 24 hours to help lodge it in your memory

RSA David Eagleman 21 April - The Brain and the Law

Dr David Eagleman considers some emerging questions relating to law and neuroscience, challenging long-held assumptions in criminality and punishment and predicting a radical new future for the legal system.

www.neulaw.org

RSA James Boyle 10 March The Public Domain: enclosing the commons of the mind

Event: Social Brain.
Professor James Boyle, Duke University, argues that our culture, science and economic welfare all depend on a delicate balance between intellectual property and the public domain.

Persuasive Text

Customer Benefits
Affinity with customer needs
Technical Solutions
Evidence you can do it

Leveraging successful partnerships to win and manage major projects

Various Reports & Papers

NCE Scottish Transport Conference (2009)
Planning Cycle (2008)
BP (2008)
European PPP Business Network 20 November (2007)
DD 1 (2003)
DD 2 (2003)
Aston MBA Paper - Spanish rail opportunity (2002)
ICE Experience Report (2001)
ICE Project Report (2001)
Mersey Barrage Paper (Tidal Power) (1992)

Confidence, Clarity, Compliance and Competitiveness - key ingredients in winning

Evaluators look for the following in tender submissions
confidence
- this comes across in the language used
clarity
- is about keeping the message simple and relating to their requirements
compliance
- is vital and can only be achieved by ATFQ both accurately and fully (whilst also following the guidelines in an ITT which may seek that the structure of each response includes 'Benefits', Challenges' and' Evidence'
competitiveness
-In addition to the above, it is also vital to be 'competitive' by including what is better about OUR proposal over that of our competitors'. Always remember the strengths and weaknesses of having an incumbent position

Readability index - aide Memoire

Readability Index (RI); average sentence length (ASL) + % long words.

Target technical tender submissions 30-35; FT 41, Sun <20.

ASL = {no of words} ÷ {no of sentences}; e.g. 650 ÷ 20 = 32

%LW = {no of words 3 syllables or more} ÷ {no of words}*100; e.g. 108 ÷ 650 x 100 = 17

RI = ASL + %LW; e.g. 32 + 17 = 49

NB Strictly the Gunning Fox Index is then calculated by multiplying this by 0.4 which is meant to indicate how many years of formal education needs to read this with ease. On line tool available.

Defence. Investment Appraisal Board (IAB)

(extract from 2001 document - link above)
The Investment Appraisal Board is responsible for central scrutiny of equipment requirements, major capital works and Information Technology projects. It makes recommendations to Ministers on the procurement of major defence equipment.

The IAB is

• chaired by the Chief Scientific Adviser (MoD CSA) and includes
• the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff (VCDS),
• 2nd Permanent Secretary (2PS),
• Chief of Defence Procurement (CDP) and
• Chief of Defence Logistics (CDS), reflecting the key Departmental stakeholders.

Professor Mark Welland FRS FREng busy in his new role as MOD Chief Scientific Adviser.

Google Powermeter

Google.org home Energy Information Home Smarter Power What We're Doing Demo Project FAQs Work with Us Energy Saving Tips Join the mailing list:

What Google is Doing Google PowerMeter, now in prototype, will receive information from utility smart meters and energy management devices and provide anyone who signs up access to her home electricity consumption right on her iGoogle homepage. The graph below shows how someone could use this information to figure out how much energy is used by different household activites. Analyze: Get better information about how you use energy and what you can do to be more efficient. Save: Reduce your energy bills and carbon footprint by making smart decisions about your energy use. Share: Strike up a little friendly competition to see how your energy consumption compares to your friends and neighbors.

The Conservatives' plan for a 'Green technology recovery'

George Osborne has set out a series of measures that could be introduced in next week’s Budget and would bring about a green technology revolution in Britain.

The Shadow Chancellor stressed, “The Budget is not just an opportunity to help people now; it’s also a chance to chart a new course for the future.”

And he outlined a series of policies to “kick-start a green recovery” built on new technologies developed and manufactured in Britain:

• A £6,500 energy efficient entitlement for every home in Britain
• Funding at least three carbon capture and storage pilots (2)
• The introduction of feed-in tariffs (4) and smart meters (3) to encourage homes to microgenerate using wind turbines and solar power
• A national recharging network for electric vehicles (5)
• Beginning work on a new high-speed rail network (6)
• Investing in the creation of an electricity internet (7)
• Providing government loan guarantees to companies investing in green technologies
• Creating the world’s first environmental trading market
• Introducing a network of Marine Energy Parks
• Building an offshore DC cable network (10)

George stressed their plan “could transform Britain”: “It would unleash £30 billion of new private sector investment, without adding a penny to the national debt. It would lay the path to a greener future. And it would help build a future economy where we save and invest for tomorrow instead of borrow and spend for today.”

Download their plans for 'A Green Technology Recovery'