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NanoWater, September 2004
pdf version The aim of the NanoWater conference is to examine how nanotechnology can help address the issues facing the world’s water supplies. According to Unesco, although 70 percent of the world’s surface is covered by water, only a fraction of that – 2.5 percent – is freshwater, of which 70 per cent is frozen in ice caps. The remainder is present as soil moisture. This leaves less than one per cent of the world’s freshwater resources accessible for human use. Nanotechnology, while providing only a few radical new technologies for desalination, purification or waste water recovery, does have the ability to tilt the economic balance of many existing water related technologies in favour of large scale use. NanoWater will provide insight on those nanotechnologies and how they can be leveraged into the Water Industry to make them not only economically feasible but desirable. September 27th 08:30-09:30 Registration 09:30 Opening and welcome SESSION 1: The Big Picture: Where Nanotechnology Gets Wet 09:40 Nanotechnology & Water: Revolutionary and Evolutionary Developments SPEAKER: Kevin M. McGovern, Chairman and CEO of McGovern Capital LLC 10:10 An Overview of the State of the Art in Nanotechnology and where it Provides Greater Efficiencies and Cost Reductions for the Water Industry SPEAKER: Tim Harper, CEO, Cientifica, Executive Director, European NanoBusiness Association 10:40 Examining the Applications of Nanotechnology within the Water Industry SPEAKER: Uri Sagman, Executive Director, Canadian NanoBusiness Alliance, Founder & Director, C Sixty Inc. 11:10 Coffee Break SESSION 2: Clean Water 11:30 Detection and Monitoring SPEAKER: Dr. Bob Carr, Chief Technology Officer, NanoSight 12:00 Contaminant Removal SPEAKER: David E. Reisner, President & CEO, The Nano Group, Inc, President & CEO, Inframat Corp., President & CEO, US Nanocorp, Inc. 12:30 Filtration SPEAKER: Fred Tepper, President, Argonide SESSION 3: Affordability 13:00 How Nanotechnology Can Introduce Economic Benefits and New Efficiencies: Will these be Incremental or Disruptive? SPEAKER: Dr. Ir. Jeroen Boom, Project Design and Build Manager for Membrane Filtration, Rossmark Waterbehandeling B.V. 13:30 GWRI’s Activities in Applying Nanotechnology to Water Processes SPEAKER: Professor Raphael Semiat, Director, The Stephen and Nancy Grand Water Research Institute, Head, GWRI Rabin Desalination Laboratory, The Chemical Engineering Department, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology 13:30 Lunch Break 15:00 OPEN PRESENTATIONS (15-20 minute presentations):Nano and Micro Engineered Water Filtration MembranesSPEAKER: Dr. Cees J.M. van Rijn,General Manager, Aquamarijn Research BV SESSION 4: New Sources 16:30 Nanotechnology & Desalination SPEAKER: Dr. Eric Mayes, CEO, NanoMagnetics Ltd. 17:00 Nanotechnology & Groundwater SPEAKER: Dr. Philippe Rychen, Head of Environmental Systems, Centre Suisse d’Electronique et de Microtechnique (CSEM SA) 17:30 Nanotechnology & Energy=Sustainable Water SPEAKER: Diederik Jaspers, Senior Consultant, Altran Technologies Netherlands BV 18:00 Conclusions and Open Discussion. 18:30 Close of conference Speakers’ Bios Dr. Ir. Jeroen BoomProject Design and Build Manager for Membrane Filtration, Rossmark Waterbehandeling B.V.The Netherlands Working ExperienceJanuary 1989 till May 1989Trainee period at Heineken Nederlands Beheer B.V., Zoeterwoude, The NetherlandsStudy of technical and economical feasability of clarification of beer by means of microfiltration. August 1989 till September 1990Master thesis conducted at the Research Group Membrane Technology, Faculty of Chemical Engineering; University of Twente.Study into the relation between molecular structure and gas separation properties of poly-oxadiazole and polytriazole membranes December 1989 till March 1990Research fellow at X-flow B.V., Enschede, The Netherlands.Synthesis and characterisation of poly-urethane membranes to be used as artificial skin.Synthesis and characterisation of asymmetric poly-imide ultrafiltration membranes. October 1990 till October 1994PhD study at the Reseach group membrane Technology, Faculty of Chemical Engineering; University of Twente.Promotors prof.dr.ir. C.A. Smolders and prof.dr. H. Strathmann.Promotion date 11 November 1994Improvement of polymeric membranes for the separation of liquids and gases by means of incorporation of zeolites and the moddeling of transport through these type of structures. February 1995 till March 1996Post-doctoral fellow at Institute of Physical Chemistry, National Research Centre Demokritos, Athens, Greece“Study on the diffusion of small molecules in glassy polymers” May 1996 till February 1998Consultant membrane technology at the foundation “Membrane Application Center Twente” Enschede, The Netherlands.Activities are: consultancy, feasibility studies, pilot studies and project management for the implementation of membrane technology in industrial processes. February 1998 till March 1999Director MACTbv.Continuation of the activities of Membrane Application Center Twente on a commercial basis. Besides the activities mentioned above acquisition and general management were a part of the function. March 1999 till nowProcess engineer at Rossmark, Ede, The NetherlandsDesign of water treatment installations based on conventional techniques as well as membrane technology. Supervision of pilot studies and PhD students. From October 2001manager of the Process Engineering dept.http://www.www.rossmark.nl Dr. Bob CarrChief Technology Officer, NanoSight UKDr Bob Carr is founder and CEO of Macranal Ltd having previously led an optical detection and biosensor Research Group at Porton Down for 19 years. Recently acting as lead coordinator for a DTI BEP programme on the exploitation of MicroSystems Technology in the Biosciences, Bob is a committee member of the Microsystems Manufacturing Association. Bob will be CTO post funding.http://www.nanosight.co.uk Kevin M. McGovernChairman and CEO of McGovern Capital LLCUSA Mr. McGovern’s firm, McGovern Capital, is one of three owners of the largest manufacturer and worldwide seller of carbon filters for air and water purification, KX Industries (KXI). KXI has developed a revolutionary nanotech microbiological water filter (MB) that incorporates anti-bacterial and anti-viral agents into its structure.http://www.mcgoverncapital.com Tim HarperCEO, CientificaExecutive Director, European NanoBusiness AssociationSpain Tim Harper is the founder of CMP Cientifica, Europe’s largest nanotechnology information company, the Executive Director of the European NanoBusiness Association and an advisor to the US NanoBusiness Alliance.Before founding CMP Cientifica, Tim was an engineer at the European Space Agency’s research and development centre in Noordwijk, The Netherlands. He managed the micro and nanoscale characterisation facility, and has published extensively on analytical techniques and characterization of advanced materials.Tim lives in Madrid, Spain, with his family, after working in the UK, US, Germany, and the Netherlands. Originally from the UK, he also speaks French, Spanish, and Dutch.http://www.cmp-cientifica.comhttp://www.nanoeurope.org Diederik JaspersSenior Consultant, Altran Technologies Netherlands BVThe Netherlands Diederik Jaspers was born in 1965 in The Netherlands. At the Delft University of Technology he studied Chemical Technology and graduated in 1991. He worked on inorganic and physical chemistry, and did research on ceramic membranes and solid oxide fuel cells. This resulted in three patents. After that he studied further at MBA, at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands, where he did technology and ICT management orientation (MBI). Currently, he is the Specialist Consultant in the Skill Center Sustainability and Hydrogen at Altran Technologies Netherlands BV.http://www.altran.net/nl Dr. Eric MayesCEO, NanoMagnetics Ltd.UK Eric founded then served as NanoMagnetics’ chief technology officer until being appointed CEO in 2003. Dr. Mayes brings seven years of experience in technical management and the commercialization of nanomaterials. He holds a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Bath and a BS in Physics from Arkansas State University. He is the author of over a dozen refereed academic journal articles and eight primary patents, and also serves on the UK’s LINK Information Storage and Displays Programme panel to advise the DTI and EPSRC on information storage related funding. He was recently named ‘Entrepreneur of the Year 2003’ by the Royal Society of Chemistry.http://www.nanomagnetics.com David E. ReisnerPh.D.President & CEO – The Nano Group, IncPresident & CEO – Inframat Corp.President & CEO – US Nanocorp, Inc.USA Dr. David Reisner, a 1978 University Honors graduate from Wesleyan Univ, received his Ph.D. at MIT in 1983 in the field of chemical physics. In 1996, Reisner co-founded both Inframat® and US Nanocorp® as a vehicle to develop nanostructured materials technology. Since founding, Inframat and US Nanocorp have been funded over $20 MM in Government Contract R&D. Both Companies have been recognized in both Y2002 and Y2003 for their fast revenue growth as Deloitte & Touche Connecticut Technology Fast50 Award recipients, the first time that two companies under the same management have won as well as being the first two nanotech winners in the U.S. He is head of The Nano Group, Inc. a recently formed holding company. He is also Chairman of US Nanocorp’s commercialization spin off, Battery IntelligenceTM Incorporated. Reisner is very active on the Board of the Connecticut Venture Group and has recently joined the Board of the Connecticut Technology Council. He is a member of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering. Reisner is serving a 3-year term as a Technology Pioneer for the World Economic Forum.http://www.inframat.comhttp://www.usnanocorp.com Dr. Philippe RychenHead of Environmental Systems, Centre Suisse d’Electronique et de Microtechnique (CSEM SA)Switzerland Mr. Philippe Rychen, Swiss and French citizen, began his studies in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at the University of Technology in Strasbourg (France) in 1982 and continued in Aalen (D). In 1986 he received his degree in Chemical engineering (equivalent to master’s degree in Science) in Aalen (D). In 1987 He started his industrial career at Christ AG, CH-Aesch, a well-established water treatment company in Switzerland with international Businesses. He started in the company as a process engineer then he became responsible as R&D director. In parallel, during two years, he built up a brand new production facility for the production of a novel product (SEPTRON Moduls) developed in House under his direction. Before joining the CSEM team, he gained one year in Business development as a product manager at ZEOCHEM in Uetikon (CH), selling Molecular sieves (Zeolites) for the oil & gas process market. In 2000 he finally joined CSEM as a manager in order to develop the sensor and Nano-Diamond technology for the water treatment market. This activity will be spin-off CSEM beginning of 2005 in a start-up company called “Adamant Technology” under his direction.http://www.csem.ch/fs/water.htm Uri SagmanMD, FRCPCExecutive Director Canadian NanoBusiness Alliance (Toronto, Canada)Founder & Director, C Sixty Inc.Canada Dr. Sagman is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Canadian NanoBusiness Alliance, an association dedicated to the promotion of the nanotechnology sector in Canada. The Canadian NanoBusiness Alliance has a diverse membership, which includes representation of government agencies, academic centers of excellence, industry and the investment community. Dr. Sagman is cofounder and President of C Sixty Inc. At C Sixty, Dr. Sagman has recruited some of the world’s leading scientists, including the 1996 Nobel Prize awardee and co-discoverer of fullerenes, to advance the development of fullerene-based technology for biomedical applications. To that end, Dr. Sagman has enlisted a comprehensive R&D network, based at leading academic centers, which include Rice University, UCLA, Columbia University, Dartmouth University, the University of Toronto, Erlangen University in Germany, and the University of Taiwan. Dr. Sagman is the Chairman of GRN Health International Inc., a globally based academic research organization dedicated to medical research and development.Dr. Sagman is currently engaged in the development of strategies for National Nanotechnology Initiative programs in several countries, specializing in the development of paradigms for public and private sector alliances. In addition, Dr. Sagman’s efforts are focused on the application of nanotechnology to problems of global scope.Dr. Sagman is a medical oncologist, a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and a fellowship recipient of the Medical Research Council of Canada. He is a recognized researcher in the field of clinical oncology, tumor biology and immunology. Dr. Sagman obtained his training at McGill University, The University of Calgary, The University of Toronto and Oxford University. Dr. Sagman is the recipient of numerous awards and citations including the Young Investigator awards of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). He has organized and participated as keynote speaker at numerous nanotechnology-based conferences. Dr. Sagman has been extensively profiled in numerous journal and press publications, including Time Magazine, Newsweek, the Economist, the New York Times, Red Herring, Technology Review, Chemical Engineering, the National Post, the Houston Chronicle, and The Toronto Star amongst others.http://www.nanobusiness.ca Fred TepperPresident, ArgonideUSA Fred is a former Vice President for the Mine Safety Appliance Company (MSA) of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. When he retired in 1996, he had almost 40 years with MSA, starting out as a chemist/materials scientist in respiratory filter development and water purification. In 1970 he was promoted to General Manager of the Catalyst Research Corp, where he led the team that developed the long life lithium pacemaker battery. He was promoted again to General Manager of the Instrument Division of MSA that included several additional profit centers including the Callery Chemical Company. While his responsibilities covered all the facets of a profit center (manufacturing, marketing, accounting), Fred was never far from the research lab.http://www.argonide.com Professor Raphael SemiatDirector, The Stephen and Nancy Grand Water Research InstituteHead, GWRI Rabin Desalination Laboratory, The Chemical Engineering Department, Technion – Israel Institute of TechnologyIsrael Research Topics Water TechnologyDesalination using evaporation and membrane processes. Development of scale free desalination evaporator. Problems of membranes fouling, pre and post treatment. Uses of membranes for water quality problems and waste treatment. Separation ProcessesDevelopment of improved method for phase separation in liquid-liquid settlers.Modeling of liquid-liquid settlers. Investigation of effective properties of concentrated suspensions. Mechanisms of heat transfer enhancement. Membrane processes.Crystalliztion. Nano crystallization. Industrial ProjectDouble falling film evaporator for solution concentration.Crystallization of aluminum chloride.Water treatments. Optical measurements techniquesUse of Laser Doppler Velocimetry for two phase-flow.Development of Laser Grating Velocimetry technique for relatively large particles.Study of liquid-liquid jet breakup by laser grating velocimetry.Study of drops motion in printing heads.Shear induced migration in concentrated slurries.http://wri.technion.ac.ilhttp://www.technion.ac.il/rdl
Club of Amsterdam Journal, May 2004, Issue 25
Content Q&A with Jelle Feringa about the future of Architecture News about the Future Media Lab Europe Recommended Book Paul Holister Upcoming Events Club of Amsterdam SearchSubmit your articleContactSubscribe Q&A with Jelle Feringa Jelle Feringa, Architect, researcher, EZCT Architecture & Design Research Club of Amsterdam: What is EZCT?Jelle Feringa: EZCT was created in 1999 and is an architectural research practice formed by an international and multi-disciplinary team. Due to the ever-increasing complexity of science and technology, EZCT uses new methodologies that are defined by cross-disciplinary interactions. As such EZCT established a network organization that allows specialized inputs and active involvements of outsourced theoreticians and academics. This rather unusual structure leads to an approach that considers architecture and design as a form of scientific research, as well as a part of a technological convergence process and information flux. What are you researching in the context of EZCT?Architecture occupied itself traditionally with the production of descriptions; drawings. By producing digital architecture we produce definitions; code which is not interpret by a person, but by a machine. In digital architecture architectural intentions are however still defined in lines, surfaces and volumes. Computational architecture defines these intentions in code instead of geometry. In many so called blob architecture projects, the relation between architectonic intention and resulting form seems rather indirect. In computational architecture, an absolute relation exists between intention and resulting form. Architecture is formalizing an intention and this is exact what you do writing code. Jelle Feringa speaks at our Club of Amsterdam Event about‘the future of Architecture’ on Wednesday, May 19, 18:30-22:15! about the future of Architecture Green Building StudioGreen Building Studio, a web service provided by GeoPraxis, Inc ., is the world’s first web service that gives 3D-CAD users quick, reliable, and free estimates of a building’s energy costs during the early stages of conceptual design.Behind the scenes, Green Building Studio relies on a proprietary data management architecture and a voluminous but tightly integrated system of relational databases containing hourly weather data, design data, and regionally relevant libraries of default building characteristics with common energy code baselines. Exploring a Virtual Futureby Pete Evans, AIAThe architecture profession is challenged by digital technologies on many fronts. Some of these technologies expand the way we practice and what we build. Some even reduce society’s reliance on built architecture. Yet the pace of change can be overwhelming and may tempt us to take too a narrow view of these issues.How do we appropriately embrace substantial changes digital technology is bringing to the practice, product, and teaching of architecture? How can we prepare for even larger and more unpredictable challenges in the future?I believe we need to broaden our understanding of practice to include the tools, methods, and knowledge of other fields. We can get a glimpse of that future by looking at how some architects are already exploring it. News about the future White Box RoboticsWhite Box Robotics is a group of visionaries with their sights set on dynamic commercial robotic products. White Box Robotics mission is to become an industry leader and innovator of PC based mobile robotic platforms for the entertainment, educational, and personal robotics industry.White Box Robotics has been working very closely with VIA Technologies, Inc. to create and define an entirely new industry called PC-BOTS. These robots are powered by an industry standard VIA Mini-ITX mainboard. This mainboard along with other hardware (hard drives, CD-Burners, DVD drives, web cams, etc.) are then installed in the White Box Robotics 912 mobile platform. The end result is an amazingly high-tech, functional mobile robot! Center for Chemical Hydrogen StorageAccording to Thomas J. Meyer, Associate Director for Strategic Research at Los Alamos, “Hydrogen storage has been a key technical barrier to developing a hydrogen economy in the United States. This new partnership will bring together expert researchers from the Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories, with industry and academia experts to develop the science and technology needed to enable chemical hydrogen storage.”The new center is a step toward the development of a “hydrogen economy” — an economy based not on the fossil fuels we use today, but on clean, abundant hydrogen fuels. Media Lab Europe Media Lab Europe Leveraging the innovative and entrepreneurial operating model of the world renowned MIT Media Lab, Media Lab Europe adopts an interdisciplinary approach to developing new ways in which technologies can expand human potential.Media Lab Europe was founded in July 2000 as a collaborative venture between the Irish Government and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Modeled on the Media Laboratory at MIT, Media Lab Europe was established as a hybrid between academia and the corporate world, to create a unique new centre of excellence in digital technologies. Some research areas: Adaptive Speech Interfaces The Adaptive Speech Interface group explores new ways for humans to interact with complex systems. We are exploring the use of multiple, coordinated, parallel modalities, with an emphasis on speech and language used together with more traditional tools such as keyboards and mice. Humans communicate with each other using many simultaneous modes, such as language, gesture, poise, etc. We believe that communication with machines will be facilitated by allowing a richer palette of interaction channnels operating simultaneously. We do this already, when we grumble threateningly at the computer, pointing to its error, saying “Don’t do that!!! I wanted you to put that there!!”. Someday, the computer will apologize and then do the right thing! Human Connectedness Humans have a fundamental need for contact with other humans. Our interactions and relationships with other people form a network that supports us, makes our lives meaningful, and ultimately enables us to survive. The Human Connectedness research group explores the topic of human relationships and how they are mediated by technology. Our mission is to conceive a new genre of technologies and experiences that allow us to build, maintain, and enhance relationships in new ways. We also aim to enable new kinds of individual bonds and communities that were not possible before but may be beneficial or fun. Story Networks Imagine the stories we would tell, if we could construct video movies as easily and playfully as we now use spoken language. The Story Networks group explores storymaking principles and technologies that enhance cinematic story creation and sharing as activities of intelligent play and seeks to discover the empowering and framing constraints of designing these experiences for digital delivery over emerging networks in contemporary social contexts. Research complements, informs and is informed by research on Media Fabrics at the Interactive Cinema group at the MIT Media Lab. Recommended Book Asymptote: Fluxby Lise Anne Couture (Author), Hani RashidAsymptote, an award-winning New York City-based architectural firm, expands the boundaries of traditional practice with work that ranges from buildings and urban design to computer-generated environments. Recognized internationally as both cutting-edge architects and virtual-reality artists, Asymptote partners Lise Anne Couture and Hani Rashid have designed and written the first book to document their ‘real world’ (as opposed to virtual) projects completed since 1995. It includes work as diverse as a trading floor for the New York Stock Exchange; a multimedia research park in Kyoto, Japan; a modular furniture system for Knoll; and a centre for art and technology for the Guggenheim Museum in Soho, New York.Rashid and Couture’s work is intriguing because it draws inspiration from a wide range of sources not traditionally associated with architecture – among them the design of airline interiors, sporting equipment, and organic systems like seashells and honeycombs; and various means of communicating and disseminating information. Asymptote presents a seamless trajectory of projects organized in a non-linear fashion and illustrated with installation photographs, collaged photographs, and computer-generated diagrams and environments. The projects are interspersed with descriptive text and the speculative writing that Asymptote is known for.Both partners combine architectural practice with teaching, Rashid at Columbia University and Couture at Columbia and Parsons School of Design. Supporter of the Club of Amsterdam event about ‘the future of Healthcare & Technology‘ on Wednesday, April 28, 2004 is: Paul Holister Paul Holister, CMP Cientifica (Research Director, director, shareholder); Cientifica (CIO/CTO, director, shareholder, co-founder); European NanoBusiness Association (Research Director, co-founder). The opportunity to write something on a future-related subject of one’s own choosing offers up an embarrassment of riches for anyone who has been close to technological developments of late. These days the future’s not so much bright as kaleidoscopic. Given the growing fashion for prognostication, and efforts to approach the future systematically and proactively, maybe a cautionary note is in order. This particular note concerns our tendency to underestimate complexity, especially in biological systems. Artificial intelligence offers a classic example. The 1950s saw predictions of the imminent arrival of computers that could understand natural language. Yet decades after that dream was supposed to have been realised, Sony is boasting a robot that can, er, jog. Don’t even think about striking up a conversation with it. And mastering bipedal perambulation is a universe away from making a machine you can chat with. Consider the following exchange. He says, “I’m leaving you.”She says, “Who is she?” Got the picture? Sure you have – it’s simple. No it isn’t, it’s hugely complex. Think about it. We make the mistake not just with the brain but biological systems in general. For how many decades has a cure for cancer been just a few years away? And why hasn’t the mapping of the human genome produced the torrent of treatments that some predicted? Because life is rarely as simple as we imagine it. There’s more to genes than just genes (and ‘junk’ DNA was such a convenient simplification; pity it was wrong). So to those who suggest we will soon be able to build computers more intelligent than ourselves, tell them to come back when they’ve built a robot as sophisticated as an ant. To those who suggest that our growing ability to manipulate the world at the molecular level will automatically lead to a cure for cancer or even aging, tell them to come back when we’ve found a cure for the common cold, baldness and chronic acne. Never forget that we are here as a result of Mother Nature running billions of parallel experiments over billions of years. That’s one helluva R&D effort to match. Club of Amsterdam Upcoming Events May 19, 2004 the future of Architecture June 23, 2004 the future of Culture & Religion September 27, 2004 NanoWater January 26-28, 2005 Summit for the Future
Club of Amsterdam Journal, May 2004, Issue 24
Content Q&A with Kas Oosterhuis about the future of Architecture News about the Future International Society for Complexity, Information, and Design Questionnaire about ‘the future of Healthcare & Technology’ Recommended Book Round Table: Claudia Rodriguez Upcoming Events Club of Amsterdam SearchSubmit your articleContactSubscribe Q&A with Kas Oosterhuis Kas Oosterhuis, Architect, Professor, Technical University Delft Club of Amsterdam: How do you make use of real-time data in your architecture? What are the parameters you address, how do these interact with the building?Kas Oosterhuis: All the work of ONL [oosterhuis_lénárd] is based on parametric concepts and design. Parametric design basically means the building of relations between all actors in real time. Actors are the building elements, but also the users of a building. Building relations in the end means building communication between a building and their users, between various building elements, between one building and another building, between buildings and other vehicles digesting information. Anything can connect to anything as long as they send and recieve data in real time. The parameters are created by being there and doing your thing, sensored by a variety of input devices into the communication processing system. What is the agenda of the hyperbody research group? What specific knowledge is being developed here?Kas Oosterhuis: The Hyperbody Research Group [HRG] main topic is to develop tools for collaborative design and engineering and prototypes for programmable architecture. The HRG uses game development software because that software is prepared to work in a multi-player fashion. many stakeholders in the design process are connecting to one continuously evolving reference model in real time. When the designer / stylist proposes a change in the geometry, the engineer will immediately see the changes in the proliferation of forces, and vice versa. Other stakeholders we are building interfaces for are: the ecologist [calculating in real time the diffusion of light and heat], and the economist [calculating in real time the costs and return on investment of the building body in progress. Not only has the digital paradigm changed the way you conceive architecture, it’s also changing the way your projects are executed. Can you elaborate on how you regained control over a building process?Kas Oosterhuis: ONL [oosterhuis_lénárd] has developed an effective file to factory [F2F] process to control the execution of the project. The parametric 3d model of the designer connects directly to the machines cutting, welding and bending the raw material. ONL has written in-houde special procedures, routines and scripts to extract the data from the point cloud geometry of the design proposal into a database which is scrutinized by another script at the manufacturers end. The Saltwaterpavilion [partly], th WEB , the TT Monument, and now the Cockpit and the Acoustic Barrier are all built according to the F2F process. ONL now controls both the geometry and the budget. ONL is able to build complex non standard geometries within standard budgets. Kas Oosterhuis speaks at our Club of Amsterdam Event about‘the future of Architecture‘ on Wednesday, May 19, 18:30-22:15! about the future of Architecture Archigram, the Original BlobmeisterWill Alsop: “This fantastic, hovering blob will be Archigram’s revenge for its many earlier disappointments, for competition-winning schemes that were never realised. […] And to me it is Archigram at its best. […] At last we will have a building worthy of their true spirit, albeit 35 years too late. Of course part of Archigram’s potency was its ability to initiate by going beyond what was possible, and some might argue that its ideas and messages were not intended to be built. But I believe the fact that this will be built, after so long, gives credibility to Archigram’s mid ’60s predictions. The amorphous quality of the form, internally and externally, manages to escape the language of a building type, which was one of the major points of Archigram in the twentieth century.” SmartGeometryThe SmartGeometry Group aims to furthering advanced education and research in the area of advanced 3D CAD applications. The group is dedicated to educating the construction professions in the new skills which will be required to use new systems effectively. The SmartGeometry Group includes Lars Hesselgren (KPF), Hugh Whitehead (Foster and Partners), J Parrish (Arup Sport) and Robert Aish (Bentley) They all have background in parametric modelling as applied to architecture and their work has resulted in some of the most admired buildings of the 21st century – Swiss Re and GLA in London, the Sydney Olympic Stadium in Sydney, the Waterloo International Station. News about the future EU Changing City Spaces: New Challenges to Cultural Policy in Europe“We explore new social and cultural dynamics in Europe, with particular reference to migration, xenophobia and multiculturalism. We propose that an innovative way of addressing contemporary change in Europe is through a metropolitan perspective. Our research centres on seven cities – London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Vienna, Ljubljana, Belgrade. It addresses questions of multiculturalism within the urban space, and also the growth of new transnational flows and nexuses between cities. The empirical focus is on culture: new cultural practices, developments in cultural industries, the status of cultural policies.” NASA’s advanced “spaceship” — Starship 2040 “Starship 2040” is a full-sized, hands-on mock-up of what a spacecraft might be like 40 years from now. The exhibit demonstrates NASA’s vision for a space-age future – based on concepts and technologies now being studied.Housed in a dramatic 48-foot tractor and trailer rig, “Starship 2040” is touring the nation with stops at major events in several cities over the coming months. It will be open for visitors to experience future technologies and commercial opportunities in space.Visitors will see the control, passenger and engineering compartments of a giant spacecraft and learn first-hand how NASA and its partners are building a highway to space.Automated vehicle health monitoring systems, high-energy propulsion drives, navigational aids, safety systems and emergency systems are also featured. International Society for Complexity, Information, and Design International Society for Complexity, Information, and Design The International Society for Complexity, Information, and Design (ISCID) is a cross-disciplinary professional society that investigates complex systems apart from external programmatic constraints like materialism, naturalism, or reductionism. The society provides a forum for formulating, testing, and disseminating research on complex systems through critique, peer review, and publication. Its aim is to pursue the theoretical development, empirical application, and philosophical implications of information- and design-theoretic concepts for complex systems. Complex systems research involves investigating the origin of systems with multiple interacting parts whose collective behavior cannot be simply inferred from the behavior of the individual components. In addition, complex systems research considers how parts of a system give rise to the collective behaviors of the system, and how the system interacts with its environment. Some example problems for complex system research are: How the neurons of the brain give rise to consciousness and other mental activitiesHow the individual parts of a society give rise to an economyHow non-life gives rise to the first living systemHow molecules control and regulate the development of whole organisms Research in complex systems concerns the nature and consequences of interactions and non-linearities in systems of many objects. The field of complex systems cuts across all traditional disciplines of science, as well as engineering, management, and medicine. Complex systems includes topics such as artificial life, cellular automata, chaos, criticality, evolutionary computation, fractals, parallel computation, self-organization, and others. Questionnaire about ‘the future of Healthcare & Technology At our recent Club of Amsterdam evening about ‘the future of Healthcare & Technology‘ we asked the audience some questions: 1. Are you satisfied with the current healthcare situation in The Netherlands? 33 % yes67 % no 2. Do you think the government should spend more money for ICT in healthcare? 67 % yes17 % no 3. Do you agree that technology in healthcare will improve the quality of life? 92 % yes0 % no 4. Should there be done more to empower the patient? 100 % yes0 % no 5. Would you like health data and medical record online? 83 % yes17 % no 6. Does the government – in your impression – know and follow the right path for the future in healthcare? 25 % yes67 % no 7. There is new EU without borders – do you prefer also a united EU healthcare market? 75 % yes17 % no Recommended Book Towards a New Architectureby Le CorbusierThis pioneering proclamation by the great architect expounds Le Corbusier’s technical and aesthetic theories, views on industry, economics, the relation of form to function, “mass-production spirit,” and much more. Profusely illustrated with over 200 line drawings and photographs of Le Corbusier’s buildings and other important structures. Supporter of the Club of Amsterdam event about ‘the future of Healthcare & Technology’ on Wednesday, April 28, 2004 is: Round Table: Claudia Rodriguez Claudia Rodiguez, founder & ceo, contineaEconomics and education are the main drivers of demand for sustainable architecture and design. Heating, cooling and lighting of buildings represent a significant portion of all energy consumed in the industrialized world. Rising resource costs and the opportunity to improve the efficiency of building energy use are creating a huge demand for sustainable building in the marketplace. In response to this demand, improved building designs make use of natural lighting and ventilation; new technologies such as efficient appliances and light fixtures reduce energy consumption; and new construction materials and processes such as high performance insulation are achieving a higher level of thermal comfort and reducing the impact of buildings on the environment and human health. Cost savings come not only from lower electric bills, but from water conservation, waste minimization, low-impact use of land and improved indoor air quality. Education is also a key factor to moving architecture projects toward sustainability. As people become aware of the economic, environmental and health benefits of sustainable approaches they seek ways to embrace these strategies into their projects. With the combination of high-performance design, improved efficiency, economic benefits and increased awareness, there is little doubt that sustainable building will become a more fundamental factor in the future of Architecture. Club of Amsterdam Upcoming Events May 19, 2004 the future of Architecture June 23, 2004 the future of Culture & Religion
the future of Culture & Religion, June 2004
pdf version SupporterPricewaterhouseCoopers TO BE AND NOT TO BEAbout religion and God in a secularised society We live in a paradoxical world. Numerous religions and cultures provide people a sense of belonging and identity. At the same time they alienate people from themselves and each other. In Western Europe the historical religious institutions evaporate. Societies and daily life secularise continuously. At the same time religions live on as a wide variety of products, presented on a market of well-being, tailored to the personal needs of individuals. In each bookstand, at street corners and in railway stations, spirituality is a major topic. Four central questions arise: Can religion survive without the domain of the institutes? More and more churches are being used for differed purposes. Is there a critical size for religious communities? Can the actions of politicians and moreover world leaders be legitimised by their religious convictions? Is separation of state and church becoming a world standard? What are people in the future looking for, spiritually wise? Is there an overkill of religious and spiritual supply in modern society? Will all those different rituals widen the gap between groups and people? Is it a too easy playing field for sectarian organisations? What is the meaning of Muslims in Europe for the secularised western culture? The individualised experience of religious activities went far. Islamite newcomers bring in a total different set of standards. How do we think about freedom of religion and scholarship and acceptance of Muslims in general now? Has religion evolutionary roots or is it a temporally phenomenon in human behaviour? Is religion an inevitable thing for the human kind that survives anyhow? Or is it just a sideshow that does not really matter and will eventually disappear? You can download the presentations by: Jacques Janssen [*.doc] Ruud Peters [*.doc] Anton van Harskamp [*.doc] 18:30 – 19:30Registration, drinks, snacks, networking & great music featuring Russian singer Marynka Nicolai and her band ‘Some Lovely Girls’! 19:30 Welcome by our Host Homme Heida 19:45 Part I: Floor Wittink, saxophone Soliloguy…Pinter (1998) for altosaxophone solo by Shane Fage (*1964, Canada) British Playwright Harold Pinter is famed for the invention of a rather unusual theatrical construct…..the Pinter pause. At the ends of lines of text (in the script), Pinter will often include a series of periods which are intended to give the actor a sense of how long his or her “pause?should be. In other words, each period may represent a moment of silence which can be as long as a second, or even 2. Ultimately, this pause can be as long as 10 to 15 seconds. The reason Pinter uses these pauses is that he wishes to create an atmosphere of incredible tension…not just for the actors on stage, but more importantly for the people sitting in the audience. 10 minutes each for Jacques Janssen, Professor of Cultural Psychology and the Psychology of Religion, section of cultural psychology and psychology of religion, University of Nijmegen Joep de Hart, Scientific Worker, Social and Cultural Planning Office Anton van Harskamp, Professor, Social and Cultural Antropology, VU Amsterdam Rudolph Peters, Professor, Faculty of Humanities, University Amsterdam Floor Wittink, saxophone Billie (2003), for alto saxophone and ghetto blaster by Jacob ter Veldhuis (*1951, The Netherlands) Billie is about the life of Billie Holiday; her struggle with drugs, discrimination and her love for music. Jacob ter Veldhuis used samples of Billie’s voice and added rhythm and melody (played by the saxophone) to give her words a new dimension. The result is a fascinating dialogue between Billie and altosaxophone. 20:45 Coffee break 21:15 Part II: Panel with the Speakers and our Host Homme Heida. The panel is followed by an open discussion. Jacques Janssen Professor of Cultural Psychology and the Psychology of Religion, section of cultural psychology and psychology of religion, University of Nijmegen Jacques Janssen is professor in the psychology of culture and religion, University of Nijmegen. He got his Ph.D. in 1978 on a study on student activism. Published books and articles on youth culture and the survival of religion in secularized society. Recently he is doing psychological research on praying, meditation and religious experience in line with the new cognitive science of religion. http://www.socsci.kun.nl/psy/cultuurenpersoon Joep de Hart Social and Cultural Planning Office Joep de Hart is a senior researcher at the Dutch Social and Cultural Planning Office. His Ph.D. (University of Nijmegen) was on the religiosity of Dutch youth. His publications include books on youth subcultures, religion, time budget surveys, social participation after retirement, public opinion and morals, social cohesion and civil society. http://www.scp.nl Anton van Harskamp Professor, Social and Cultural Antropology, VU Amsterdam Anton van Harskamp is researcher at the Blaise Pascal Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and professor at the same university teaching on religion, identity and civil society. Got his Ph.D. in 1968 at the University of Nijmegen. He published on 19th century theology, social theory and the Soah. Recent publications are on secularization, new religiosity and (Christian) fundamentalism. http://www.vu.nl http://www.bezinningscentrum.nl Rudolph Peters Professor, Faculty of Humanities, University Amsterdam Rudolph Peters (1943) teaches Islamic studies and Islamic law at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Amsterdam. He has published extensively on Islamic law (both its history and its present-day application) and on the political aspects of Islam. From 1982 to 1987 he was the director of the Netherlands Institute for Archaeology and Arabic Studies in Cairo, Egypt. His dissertation, Islam and Colonialism: the doctrine of jihad in modern history (1979) analysed the modern interpretations and the mobilizing force of the jihad doctrine. http://www.uva.nl Homme Heida Homme Heida is a generalist by heart, who worked as a journalist for several mass media like Algemeen Dagblad, Tros Aktua and publishing group VNU. After ten years he started his own bureau Promedia: company journalism, which slowly changed into business journalism. Now back again with larger media, he is editor-in-chief of Global Dutch, a magazine for Dutch entrepreneurs, who are active in foreign countries. Homme Heida has a continuing interest in a more philosophical approach of ‘being there’. His views on the future are very much based on new technologies. “Humans change only slowly by evolution. Technology will speed it up”, he argues. His credo is: ‘living body and soul’, which means to him a sportive challenge as well as an intellectual one. From the Amsterdam marathon till the Club of Amsterdam. Floor Wittink Floor Wittink (1976, the Netherlands) studied classical saxophone with Karel Bruin and Johan van der Linden. During her study, Floor has had masterclasses from Arno Bornkamp, Claude Delangle and others. After earning her Second Phase degree in 2002 she studied three months at the Banff Centre of the Arts in Canada. At the Banff Centre Floor worked with resident composers and musicians, focusing on contemporary music. As a result of inspiring artistic collaborations, the idea was born to record a solo cd. Her study in Canada had not been possible without the Henri Fock fund. Currently, Floor is playing in the Esquire Saxophone Quartet and with the pianist Marina Grigorowicz. Besides playing chamber music, Floor freelances in orchestras such as the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. http://www.esquiresaxofoonkwartet.nl Shane Fage Shane Fage (*1964, Winnipeg) is a Canadian composer of orchestral and chamber works (including music for film and documentary) that have been successfully performed in North America and Europe. Mr. Fage began his formal musical training at the University of Calgary and has completed his MMus in composition (which he studied with Allan Gordon Bell, David Eagle and William Jordan). During the course of his studies, he was the recipient of the Province of Alberta Graduate Scholarship, the Dean’s Special Master’s Scholarship, three graduate research scholarships, a Graduate Teaching Assistantship, and the Louise McKinney Prize. He has been a composer-in-residence at the Banff Centre several times and was the faculty ensemble coordinator for summer residents in 1999. He was a guest lecturer at the Esther Honens International Piano Competition and participated at the Krzysztof Penderecki Symposium and Festival in Kraków. He was also a liaison between the Banff Centre and the Penderecki family from 1998-2000. Mr. Fage was one of fifteen accepted to attend the International Young Composers Meeting and competition in Apeldoorn, Holland in 2000. He was also one of the winners of the Ottawa International String Quartet Festival’s Strings of the Future Composition Competition in 2001 and his String Quartet No. 1 was chosen for public reading by the Arditti String Quartet. His works have been performed by numerous Canadian and European ensembles and soloists, including the Arditti String Quartet, the Aurelia Saxophone Quartet, ensemble de ereprijs, the Gelders Fanfare Orchestra, the National Youth Concert Band of Canada, cellist Shauna Rolston, and the Satie Quartet, among others. Jacob ter Veldhuis Jacob ter Veldhuis (1951) began his career in rock music, studied composition and electronic music at the Groningen Conservatory and was awarded the Dutch Composition Prize in 1980. He made a name for himself during the 1980s with melodious and effectful compositions, straight from the heart. From his past as a rock musician he kept his interest in sound and a lively stage presentation as means of expression. He is a virtuoso in using electronics and sampling techniques involving items like the Gulf War, Chet Baker or the Jerry Springer Show, as can be heard on his new CD Heartbreakers, a colourful mixture of ‘high and low culture’. Sold out concerts last year in Rotterdam during the four day ‘Jacob ter Veldhuis Festival’ show the growing reputation of this composer. His Goldrush Concerto became a hit, as well as the Third Quartet. Several choreographers like Hans van Manen were inspired by his music. Still a controversial figure amongst some established exponents of Dutch musical life, he has become one of the most frequently performed composers of the Netherlands today. He makes a stand against the ‘faded avant-garde’ and tries to escape from the isolated new music getto by writing in a straight – sometimes even provocative – style , banning the ‘worn out dissonant’, a completely devalued means of expression to his ears. His ‘coming out’ as a composer of ‘ultra tonal’ sugar-spiced music, has been brought to a temporary climax in the video oratorio Paradiso. At the moment ter Veldhuis is working on orchestral works for the Residentie Orchestra and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.
the future of Architecture – Architecture, a new kind of Science? / May 2004
Club of Amsterdam pdf version SupportersPricewaterhouseCoopersSurprising Switzerland Architecture and scientific research are assimilating into a new architecture. Methods such as generative and evolutionary design are changing the way architects plan and shape the future. What does the computational paradigm bring to architecture? The Club of Amsterdam invites leading researchers and designers in this field to clarify the implication of their work. 18:30 – 19:30Registration, drinks, snacks, networking and live music by Salvatore, the s(w)inging cook from Abbuffata! 19:30 Welcome by our Host Philippe-Marie Morel, Architect, theoretician, EZCT Architecture & Design Research, Paris 19:45 Part I: The Speakers are: Jelle Feringa, Architect, researcher, EZCT Architecture & Design Research, Amsterdam Kas Oosterhuis, Architect, Professor, Technical University Delft Ludger Hovestadt, Professor for Architecture and CAAD, ETH, Zurich 20:45 Coffee break 21:15 Part II: Panel with Keynote Speakers and the Challengers Flip Wegner, Partner, Eden Design & Communication Remko Scha, Professor for Computational Linguistics, University of Amsterdam and our Host Philippe-Marie Morel. The panel is followed by an open discussion. Jelle Feringa Architect, researcher, EZCT Architecture & Design Research, Amsterdam As a partner in EZCT based in Amsterdam Jelle is focussing on the research EZCT is conducting on the relation between computation and architecture, accumulating in the upcoming publication ‘Computational Architecture’. By this research EZCT is developing a close relation to scientists in fields such as evolutionary design, cad/cam and mathematics. EZCT has held workshops at university Malaquias, Paris and more recently at the technical university Delft, and has been participating in the ‘Architecture Non Standard’ and ‘Performative Architecture’ exhibitions earlier this year. In terms of research Jelle is focussing on dissolving the computational gap between conception and production, researching an integral approach to computing architecture. http://www.ezct.net Kas Oosterhuis Architect, Professor, Technical University Delft Architect kas oosterhuis and visual artist ilona lénárd are directors of the multidisciplinary design office ONL, where architects, visual artists, web designers and programmers work together and join forces, practicing the fusion of art, architecture and technique on a digital platform · ONL is an office where reality and virtuality meet · The portfolio of ONL exists of a variety of projects in divergent fields of experience · This includes housing projects, exhibition pavilions, corporate business buildings, city planning tools, online experiences, interactive installations, theoretical studies and much more · ONL has won many national and international awards for the realized buildings: the Garbagetransferstation elhorst/vloedbelt, the saltwaterpavilion, and the web of north-holland · http://www.oosterhuis.nl Flip Wegner Partner, Eden Design & Communication Philippe Wegner is partner of Eden Design & Communication, a leading design consultancy in corporate and consumer identity development, communication strategy and e-media, He studied industrial design at the University of Technology in Delft and was one of the first dutch designers active in the field of user interface design. After his study he worked for six years at Philips corporate design where the merge of the physical and virtual domain was an important theme in a number of advanced development projects in which he participated. These varied from electronic workplaces to environmental control within offices by means of ubiqitous computing. Philippe also participated in the development of the Interaction Design curriculum for the Utrecht School of the Arts. Later on he lectured New Media at the Rietveld Academy and was one of the masters at the Roelof Kiers masterclass organised by the VPRO and the Berlage Institute. Subject was the exploration of the relationships between Media and Architecture. At the moment he combines Eden with lecturing at CMD (Communication & Multimedia Design) at Avans Higher Professional Education Breda. http://www.edendesign.nl Ludger Hovestadt Professor for Architecture and CAAD, ETH, Zurich Ludger Hovestadt has been full professor for Architecture and CAAD since July 1, 2000 at the ETH Zurich and partner in the firm Digitales Bauen in Karlsruhe (D). He was born in 1960 in Gelsenkirchen (D) and studied architecture at the RWTH in Aachen (D) and at the HfG in Vienna (A) under Professor Holzbauer. Upon completion of his Diploma in 1987, he worked as a scientific researcher with Professor F. Haller and Prof. N. Kohler at the Technical University Karlsruhe (D) and received his doctorate there in 1994. Between 1997 and 2000, Dr. Hovestadt was a visiting professor for the department ³CAAD² at the University of Kaiserslautern (D). He has expertise in various disciplines (Architecture, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Robotics, Mathematics, Cognition Psychology) and has carried out research and development in the areas of CAD, Artificial Intelligence, Multimedia, Virtual Reality, Computer Supported Co-operative Work and Intelligent Building. In 1998, he co-founded Digitales Bauen, a company which focuses on internet based building documentation, building programming, computer supported individualised building component production, and the integration of building automation, facility management and eCommerce. http://www.caad.arch.ethz.ch Remko Scha Professor for Computational Linguistics, University of Amsterdam Remko Scha studied Physical Engineering at the Technological University of Eindhoven. He managed research projects in Language Technology and Artificial Intelligence at Philips’ Research Laboratories (Eindhoven), and BBN Laboratories (Cambridge, Mass.). Currently, he is Professor of Computational Linguistics at the Institute of Logic, Language and Computation (ILLC) of the University of Amsterdam. Remko Scha has built an automatic electric guitar band (“The Machines”), designed an image generation algorithm (“Artificial”) and developed a theory about language processing (“Data-Oriented Parsing”). In the Institute of Artificial Art Amsterdam (IAAA) he collaborates with Arthur Elsenaar, Jochem van der Spek and others on algorithmic approaches to art, music and theatre. In their joint venture Artificial Design BV, Remko Scha and Jos de Bruin investigate the possibilities of automatic design in graphics and architecture. For Eric Vreedenburgh (Archipel Ontwerpers) they developed an algorithm for random architecture; a penthouse designed by this algorithm will be built in Rotterdam later this year. In collaboration with the Dutch Design Institute Premsela and several large corporations (Oce, KPN, NS), they are working on software for interactive corporate style management. http://cf.hum.uva.nl/computerlinguistiek Philippe-Marie Morel Architect, theoretician, EZCT Architecture & Design Research, Paris Architect Philippe Morel is a founding member of EZCT Architecture & Design Research. Created in 1999, EZCT is an architectural research practice formed by an international and multi-disciplinary team. Due to the ever-increasing complexity of science and technology, EZCT uses new methodologies that are defined by cross-disciplinary interactions. As such, the team established a network organization that allows specialized inputs and active involvements of outsourced theoreticians and academics. This rather unusual structure leads to an approach that considers architecture and design as a form of scientific research, as well as a part of a technological convergence process and information flux. In the field of theoretical research, Morel’s work focuses particularly on new concepts of Neuromarketing and Integral Capitalism. In the field of applied research it focuses on panelization systems based on newly defined concepts of pattern. http://www.ezct.net
the future of Healthcare & Technology – “the patient empowered”, April 2004
Club of Amsterdam pdf version SupporterPricewaterhouseCoopers For the quality of a person’s life good health ranks very high in priority. Good healthcare to cure health problems and care for those that suffer temporary or chronic diseases or disabilities is a prime requirement in society. Today and tomorrow. We spend approx. 10 % of GNP on healthcare. When we look ahead to the future (some 10 -15 years) many questions can be raised about the healthcare and technology. What impact will science and technology have on healthcare services, the role of the professional healthcare worker and the patient? If technology and science enable us to lengthen our lifespan, will that enhance the quality of life? Will technology take over the functions of our body? Will we be able to live to the age of 150 or even 200? What ethical questions can be raised when we breathe and our heart pumps, but we are no longer able to function in society? Will there still be a natural death or will we all use a pill to end our lives when we feel life is no longer worthwhile living? Will science and technology (for instance biotech) give us full insight in the functioning of our genes? Will we be able to manufacture medicines to solve diseases like cancer and will we be able to fight viruses like sars? When the world’s population growths according to forecasts, how will we be able to provide basic healthcare services for all? How can we prevent children dying? How can we prevent elderly to suffer from heath and malnutrition? The Club of Amsterdam aims to bring visionary speakers together on the 28th of April to address these questions from a variety of perspectives: the patient’s perspective, the health workers perspective, the science and technology perspective and the organizational perspective on healthcare services. Based on these experts’ inputs a lively discussion is triggered to generate fresh ideas on how to shape the future of Healthcare & Technology to enhance the quality of our lives? The conference presentations are now online: by Wouter Keijser *.ppt (207KB) 19:30 Welcome by our Host Bernard Vast, M.D., Healthcare ICT Specialist, 2Cure 19:45 Part I: The Speakers are: Wouter Keijser, e-health specialist, Wacomed, Baarn Graham Smith, Chief Scientist, Telbotics Inc., Canada Rineke Rust, Member of the Board, Marketing & Communications, The Health Agency 20:45 Coffee break 21:15 Part III: Panel with Keynote Speakers and the Challengers Hans ter Brake, Director, PinkRoccade Healthcare Maarten Boon, Director of Strategy and Innovation, Agis Zorgverzekering (Agis Health Insurance Company) and our Host Bernard Vast. The panel is followed by an open discussion.
Club of Amsterdam Journal, April 2004, Issue 23
Content Q&A with Graham Smith about the future of Healthcare News about the Future The Computer History Museum Society of Rheology Recommended Book Club of Amsterdam Experts Group: Jan Thie Upcoming Events Club of Amsterdam SearchSubmit your articleContactSubscribe Q&A with Graham Smith Graham Smith, Chief Scientist, Telbotics Inc., Canada Club of Amsterdam: One of your views is that technology for some time now is made by technicians and scientists, not by artists. Somewhere on the line we lost what Leonardo da Vinci combined in one person. What is it then we are constantly missing and why is it important?Graham Smith: I think that it is more a question of optics as both artists and scientists seek to answer questions about how and why the world exists. Science seeks to define the world, art seeks to express. Scientists take an approach that is based on engineering and artists take one based on philosophy yet both ask the same general question and use technology to express their ideas. What we are constantly missing by not encouraging co-operation between the 2 is the fact that both science and art use creativity to define new questions, explain results and express ideas. If the level of co-operation between the 2 can be increased it will help expand their respective fields in new and more innovative directions. Looking at your artistic work, your Pebbles robot – that enables a diseased child to have a real-time presence in and communicate with its classroom – is suddenly a striking functional device. How do you feel about Pebbles: a nice side-effect, or an important application?Graham Smith: PEBBLES is an important application as it demonstrates that healing the mind is critical in healing the body – the 2 are linked. We have performed dozens of clinical studies in Canada, the US and The Netherlands on the effects of PEBBLES and the results are amazing as it helps the students in ways I never imagined. A few examples- students do better academically when using PEBBLES compared to the same student back in class, there is no fear of returning to school due to the feeling that “they never left the class”, parents taking care of children recovering at home feel they can relax as their “child is at school”. The most surprising result has been that the sick students take on the role of educator and teach their classmates about the reality of being ill, this has created a unique reversal as the remote student becomes empowered rather than isolated. I knew the technology was revolutionary the moment I watched a sick student at home play a board game with friends at school using the hand on PEBBLES to role the dice. The mind plays an important role in healing and until this is better understood and dealt with our health care systems will continue to be crippled. In the 5-10 year future, how do you feel could and/or should technology help citizens and patients in staying healthy and managing their own diseases?Graham Smith: In the next 5-10 years you will see technological ideas like PEBBLES become more mainstream as the cost of entry drops and more research studies are completed. By keeping long term patients connected to their social network (students back to their class in school, people to family) we have shown that patient stress levels drop dramatically. This reduction in stress is a key to lowering health care costs in the future as depressed, isolated people heal at a reduced rate compared to socially connected ones. The real challenge is convincing the health care industry of this fact as they still look at it as an infrastructure issue and not a social one. The problem is changing the minds of the people running these organizations as it does not fit into the current paradigm of a healing technology and thus will take time to change. Graham Smith speaks at our Club of Amsterdam Event about‘the future of Healthcare & Technology’ on Wednesday, April 28, 18:30-22:15! about the future of Healthcare Captain Picard’s “com badges” ready for hospitalsFor many healthcare institutions, wireless LANS have become a key component of the IT infrastructure. Instant communication-anytime and anywhere-between mobile and dispersed hospital staff is critical to improved quality of patient care.Vocera Communications System is a wireless platform that provides hands-free, voice-controlled communications throughout any 802.11b networked building or campus. The Vocera Communications Badge is a wearable “com badge”. Visible Human ServerThe Visible Human Server at the EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) offers a virtual anatomic construction kit on the web using the Visible Human dataset. The applets available on this site provide the following features:a) Extract slices, curved surfaces, and slice animations from both datasets (male and female)b) Interactively navigate by slicing through the male dataset in real-timec) Construct 3D anatomical scenes using combinations of slices and 3D models of internal structures from the male dataset, and extract 3D animationsd) Add voice comments to video sequences generated using the appletsThe 3D datasets originate from two bodies that were given to science, frozen and digitized into 1 mm horizontally spaced slices (0.33 mm for the female body) by the University of Colorado (Dr. Victor Spitzer) under contract of the National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Maryland. News about the future Sony, Toppan Printing develop paper optical diskSony Corp and Toppan Printing Co. have developed an optical disk made primarily from paper and capable of storing large volumes of high-definition images.The 25-gigabyte disk is based on Blu-ray Disc technology, which Sony and other high-tech firms in Japan and abroad are promoting as the next-generation standard for optical disks. The disk is capable of recording more than two hours of high-definition images.The paper disc is based on a version of a blue-laser DVD technology, called Blu-Ray, that is supported by a consortium of electronics makers including Sony, Matsushita Electric Industrial and Dutch firm Philips.Engineers create search engine to retrieve results with an image Purdue engineers developed a search engine that retrieves results based on a sketch. When users draw a hex nut, the program searches a database and retrieves all images that match the drawing.Karthik Ramani, professor of mechanical engineering and director of the Purdue Research and Education Center for Information Systems, thinks everyday Internet users will perform image searches in 10 to 15 years. However, the project began to help manufacturers keep tabs on the plethora of components they’ve bought or designed.“Just a single commercial airliner has more than a million unique parts,” he says. “Such a search method could save millions of dollars annually by making it unnecessary to design parts anew and enabling you to mine for other knowledge, such as past decisions regarding costs and design advice about the part.”Designers spend about six weeks per year looking for information on parts, he said. The search engine seeks to cut that time by 80 percent.To cut time, the group designed an easy-to-use interface.Users can select an inventoried part or ask the system to find clusters of parts. Users can also sketch the part from memory or choose a part that looks similar from the company’s catalog and then sketch modifications. Computer History Museum The Computer History Museum Established in 1996, the Computer History Museum is a public benefit organization dedicated to the preservation and celebration of computing history. It is home to one of the largest collections of computing artifacts in the world, a collection comprising over 4,000 artifacts, 10,000 images, 4,000 linear feet of cataloged documentation and gigabytes of software. Society of Rheology The Society of Rheology The Society of Rheology is composed of physicists, chemists, biologists, engineers, and mathematicians interested in advancing and applying rheology, which is defined as the science of deformation and flow of matter.Rheology, a branch of mechanics, is the study of those properties of materials which determine their response to mechanical force. The word rheology was coined in the 1920’s to represent the science of the deformation and flow of matter, and The Society of Rheology was officially formed on December 9, 1929. Recommended Book Knowledge Media in Healthcare: Opportunities and Challengesby Rolf GrutterBecause the field of healthcare reflects forms of both explicit and tacit knowledge such as evidence-based knowledge, clinical guidelines and the physician’s experience, knowledge media have significant potential in this area. Knowledge Media and Healthcare: Opportunities and Challenges is an innovative new book that strives to show the positive impact that Knowledge Media and communication technology can have on human communication within the field of healthcare. Supporter of the Club of Amsterdam event about ‘the future of Healthcare & Technology‘ on Wednesday, April 28, 2004 is: Club of Amsterdam Experts Group: Jan Thie Jan Thie Physician, specialised in public health. The Hague, we have a problem….. We are facing an aging population, shortage of qualified staff and costs of healthcare that is rocketing sky-high. By now we have seen that the traditional solutions are far from enough. It is time to rethink healthcare in a way we will be able to meet patients’ expectations in the future. Technology, especially Information and Communication Technology does offer tremendous possibilities to support the changes needed. In The Netherlands it was only some 15 years ago that telemedicine was regarded as an interesting feature for solving healthcare delivery problems in vast rural areas like in Australia or supporting healthcare delivery offshore, aboard planes and during military actions. So not for us. Today we now much better. Many successful pilots demonstrate the possible contribution of ICT to quality of care, to access of care, to efficiency of care, to self management, to name a few. Despite these successes there still is a huge gap between pilots and implementation in every day healthcare practice. It is not happening yet. Legislation, regulation- and reimbursement issues seem not to be the main hurdles. Though innovations could be made easier and more attractive by easing the pressure on especially financial issues. The main reason lays in all those involved in healthcare delivery. A cultural change in the way we work together throughout the service will be needed. We have to redefine the roles of all involved, including the patient’s role. ICT offers many possibilities but it is only going to happen when all involved want to make it a success. Here lays the real challenge. The Hague and all involved in healthcare go for it… Club of Amsterdam Upcoming Events April 28, 2004 the future of Healthcare & Technology May 19, 2004 the future of Architecture June 23, 2004 the future of Culture & Religion
Club of Amsterdam Journal, May 2005, Issue 48
Content Human-like NASA Space Robot Goes Mobile with Leg, Wheels News about Robotics News about the Future Next Event StoryCast: simple, digital storytelling with photos and narration Recommended Book: Natural-Born Cyborgs: Minds, Technologies, and the Future of Human Intelligence First Commercial Wave FarmAgenda Club of Amsterdam Open Business ClubClub of Amsterdam SearchSubmit your articleContactSubscribe Human-like NASA Space Robot Goes Mobile with Leg, Wheels Human-like NASA Space Robot Goes Mobile with Leg, Wheels Human-like hands, fingers and even television camera eyes have been hallmarks of NASA’s Robonaut, but recent work seeks to give the nimble robot legs, or at least a leg, and even wheels. Robonaut took its first steps recently during tests at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, using a single “space leg” to move around the outside of a simulated Space Station. Other recent tests put the humanoid robot on wheels, a Segway scooter to be exact, and let it take to the road. In either configuration, Robonaut’s head, torso, mechanical arms and hands maintain their ability to use the same space tools as humans. In the tests using its “space leg,” Robonaut commuted like a futuristic construction worker hand-over-hand outside a mock spacecraft. Aboard the gryo-stabilized wheels, it glided from one test station to another as its descendants might someday on the surface of the Moon or Mars. Tests with the leg confirmed that Robonaut could climb around the outside of a spacecraft using handholds and plant its foot at a work site to make repairs or install parts. NASA’s goal is to build robots that could ‘live’ on the outside of spacecraft, ready for routine maintenance or emergencies. Humans inside the spacecraft would operate Robonaut with wireless controls. The wheeled tests provided initial proof of concept for planetary Centaurs that merge humanoid robots with rovers. Those tests put Robonaut through its paces while mounted on a Segway Robotic Mobility Platform. They showed that a single teleoperator could simultaneously control both the robot’s mobility and dexterity with a wireless control system. The climbing tests were a significant step in Robonaut’s development, proving the system’s capability for climbing, stabilizing and handling extravehicular activity (EVA) tools and interfaces in the space environment. The test featured a battery-powered, wireless Robonaut system mounted to an air-bearing sled, floating on a cushion of air, to eliminate friction and emulate the sensations experienced by astronauts working in zero gravity. Robonaut climbed using EVA handrails and plugged its stabilizing ‘space leg’ into a standard space station WIF (Worksite Interface Fixture) socket, while its operators drove Robonaut’s multiple limbs using innovative new telepresence controls. “This test proved Robonaut can be operated wirelessly using an interchangeable base for different stabilization and locomotion systems — and it did it in a frictionless, space-like environment,” said Test Conductor Dr. Robert Ambrose of JSC’s Automation, Robotics and Simulation Division. “These are all key capabilities needed for the development of future ‘EVA squads’ that leverage the combined talents of humans and robots to make vast improvements in spacewalk productivity.” The Robonaut Project, which Ambrose leads, is a collaborative effort with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and has been under development at JSC for several years. There are two Robonauts, each with highly dexterous hands that can work with the same tools humans use. Operators remotely control movements of the Robonauts’ heads, limbs, hands and twin cameras through a combination of virtual-reality interfaces and verbal commands, relayed either through dedicated cabling or wireless systems. In order to move about in a zero-gravity environment, a robot must be able to climb by itself, using gaits that smoothly manage its momentum and that minimize contact forces while providing for safety in the event of an emergency. To access worksites aboard the International Space Station and future spacecraft, robots must interact with spacewalking aids designed for humans including tethers, handrails and work anchors. “The tests were very successful,” Ambrose said. “The Robonaut team learned which climbing maneuvers are more feasible than others, and tested automated software safety reactions using the robot’s built-in force sensors. We also identified new opportunities for using these sensors in semi-automatic modes that will help operators across short (1-10 second) time delays. Our team will continue to tackle these challenges as NASA looks forward to applying human-robotic interaction to the tasks associated with returning to the Moon and going on to Mars.” News about Robotics Roboclimber prevents landslidesThe Roboclimber robot can secure slopes without endangering human lives. It has been constructed using expertise and technology from Europe’s space programmes. Weighing 3800 kg, with four legs and with a square base of 2 metres by 2.5 metres, Roboclimber is one of the largest robots in the world, yet still very agile and easily controllable. The on-board control system includes algorithms based upon ESA advanced methodology for controlling satellites in space. Cornell researchers build a robot that can reproduceOne of the dreams of both science fiction writers and practical robot builders has been realized, at least on a simple level: Cornell University researchers have created a machine that can build copies of itself. Admittedly the machine is just a proof of concept — it performs no useful function except to self-replicate — but the basic principle could be extended to create robots that could replicate or at least repair themselves while working in space or in hazardous environments, according to Hod Lipson, Cornell assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and computing and information science, in whose lab the robots were built and tested. News about the Future Nanoparticles used in dentistryDr. Reifman has a new, painless, needle-free way to treat receding gums. It goes like this: A jet of fine air mixed with minute sand particles are focused on the receded area to clean and sterilize it. This procedure is totally painless and requires no anesthesia at all! A moment later, the area is then gently rinsed off with water, briefly dried, and a strong liquid adhesive is applied. A new, white bonded filling material containing nano-particles to make it strong and longer-lasting is applied to fill the area (see images below). This tooth-colored, state-of-the-art nanomaterial is then hardened with a high-intensity blue light. Any excess material is gently removed and the treatment is done. As the earth evolvesBy Discovery CommunicationsHow will Earth look 5 million, 100 million, even 200 million years from now? Listen to professor Stephen Palumbi, a Stanford University biologist, explain as you watch the transformation in the movie slide show. Next Event: Wednesday, April 27 the future of RoboticsWednesday, June1, 2005reception: 18:30-19:30, conference: 19:30-22:15location: PricewaterhouseCoopers, Prins Bernhardplein 200, Amsterdam [next to Amstelstation], free parking. Léon Rosenkrantz: AIBO as an intelligent robotBart de Boer: Robotics for AI and AI for RoboticsChristoph Bartneck: Social Robots StoryCast: simple, digital storytelling with photos and narration StoryCast: simple, digital storytelling with photos and narrationby Hewlett-Packard Development Company StoryCast is an experimental digital storytelling service that lets people use their camera phones and other mobile devices to easily create and instantly share stories with friends and family. Each story consists of a sort of narrated slide show of photos accompanied by the storyteller’s voice. StoryCast is spontaneous. Users don’t have to wait until they arrive home or travel to a WIFI hotspot to create and share stories. Just as the Polaroid made it easy to snap informal pictures that could be viewed instantly, camera phones present the opportunity to instantly share narrated photo journals. How it worksComposition is radically simple: Using the mobile phone handset as a microphone, users speak into the phone while clicking on thumbnails of photos they want to describe or that illustrate a story. The user experience is similar to recording a traditional voicemail, with the benefit of allowing users to augment the audio track with pictures. Once the handset has recorded both the audio track and the corresponding sequence of pictures, it sends the whole message via email, HTTP or MMS. The team implemented this prototype on a iPAQ h6315 camera phone running the pocket PC phone edition operating system. The organizational structure of a story can be represented in SMIL or MPV (XML formats for multimedia presentations). Related workWe explored another implementation of this service based on a voice interface delivered by a server-side voice application, which uses the HP Opencall Media Platform. To invoke the service, called Storymail, users call a number corresponding to their personal story mailbox. A voice menu offers a choice between recording, sending or playing back StoryCasts. During the recording phase, the voice message is transmitted live over the phone’s dedicated voice channel. Photos are transmitted afterwards over the separate data channel. At playback, the the photo sequence is shown in synchronization with the voice narration, which is played by the voice server. Our implementation uses VoIP protocols (SIP and RTP) to transmit voice and SMTP to transmit the data. The client part consists of a software-simulated cell phone running on a PC. Recommended Book Natural-Born Cyborgs: Minds, Technologies, and the Future of Human Intelligenceby Andy Clark From Robocop to the Terminator to Eve 8, no image better captures our deepest fears about technology than the cyborg, the person who is both flesh and metal, brain and electronics. But philosopher and cognitive scientist Andy Clark sees it differently. Cyborgs, he writes, are not something to be feared – we already are cyborgs. In Natural-Born Cyborgs, Clark argues that what makes humans so different from other species is our capacity to fully incorporate tools and supporting cultural practices into our existence. Technology as simple as writing on a sketchpad, as familiar as Google or a cellular phone, and as potentially revolutionary as mind-extending neural implants – all exploit our brains’ astonishingly plastic nature. Our minds are primed to seek out and incorporate non-biological resources, so that we actually think and feel through our best technologies. Drawing on his expertise in cognitive science, Clark demonstrates that our sense of self and of physical presence can be expanded to a remarkable extent, placing the long-existing telephone and the emerging technology of telepresence on the same continuum. He explores ways in which we have adapted our lives to make use of technology (the measurement of time, for example, has wrought enormous changes in human existence), as well as ways in which increasingly fluid technologies can adapt to individual users during normal use. Bio-technological unions, Clark argues, are evolving with a speed never seen before in history. As we enter an age of wearable computers, sensory augmentation, wireless devices, intelligent environments, thought-controlled prosthetics, and rapid-fire information search and retrieval, the line between the user and her tools grows thinner day by day. “This double whammy of plastic brains and increasingly responsive and well-fitted tools creates an unprecedented opportunity for ever-closer kinds of human-machine merger,” he writes, arguing that such a merger is entirely natural. A stunning new look at the human brain and the human self, Natural Born Cyborgs reveals how our technology is indeed inseparable from who we are and how we think. First Commercial Wave Farm First Commercial Wave FarmOcean front land owners concerned about preserving their expansive – often expensive – view of the ocean will likely put up fight against the construction of offshore wind farms in their view, even though the turbines might be only an inch tall on the horizon. Sometime they’ll win in court and the windfarm won’t get built. But there are other ways to harness the power of offshore wind that probably can’t be seen from shore – ocean wave energy. And that technology has suddenly become commercial. Ocean Power Delivery (OPD) of Edinburgh, Scotland has received its first order for its Pelamis P-750 Wave Energy Converters. The company will deliver three of the 750-kilowatt devices for the first phase of an ocean wave farm being developed by Enersis off the coast of Portugal. For a total capacity of 2.25 megawatts, the wave farm, to be built 5 kilometers off shore (about 3 miles) will generate enough power for up to 1500 homes. The project is valued at EUR 8 million ($10 million). OPD expects Enersis to eventually buy up to 30 wave energy converters, up to 20 megawatts capacity, in 2006 if the first units operate as promised. Pelamis ocean energy converters are a series floating cylinders connected together at power conversion modules. (They look like huge, red, floating snakes.) As the cylinders roll in the waves hydraulic rams, sliding at the connecting joints of the power conversion modules force hydraulic fluid to run hydraulic motors which, in turn, run electric generators. Power is cabled to shore. Each 750-kilowatt Pelamis snake is 120 meters long and 3.5 meters in diameter (394 feet by 12) and is moored to the ocean bottom. The Pelamis Wave Energy Converter has been chosen by the internationally-respected Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) as the best and only wave energy device currently recommended for deployment off the U.S. coast. Enersis is a Portuguese renewable energy developer with 500 megawatts of wind capacity and 100 megawatts of microhydro in its portfolio. Another 500 megawatts of wind capacity is being developed by the company. Club of Amsterdam Agenda Club of Amsterdam Season 2004/2005 .June 1, 2005 the future of Robotics .June 29, 2005 the future of Philosophy Club of Amsterdam Open Business Club