12 (or more) Things Different

Going through the list beside - does something resonate with your own behaviour?

Success for one sure thing is not an overnight speed-train journey. It may feel harsh at some points in it, and surprisingly positively overwhelming at other times.

In the article "12 Things Successful People do Differently" you'll perhaps find further inspiration to find your inner destiny.

OECD WORKSHOP ON NATECH RISK MANAGEMENT

(Natural Hazards Triggering Technological Accidents)

I believe it is good, before I start my article, to explain the meaning of the words OECD and NATECH.

OECD : Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

(A useful definition for) NATECH: A “Natech” accident is a “chemical accident” caused by a natural hazard or a natural disaster. “Chemical accidents” include accidental oil and chemical spills, gas releases, and fire or explosions involving hazardous substances from fixed establishments (e.g. petrochemical, pharmaceutical, pesticide, storage depot), and oil and gas pipelines.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/usnavy/5523450134/

Now let’s get started.

Not many people and not many facilities are aware of the impact natural hazards could have on environment and on people’s life. This theme as well as the strong connection between natural events and potentially dangerous technology-related-facilities, was the subject of a workshop held 23^rd - 25^th May 2012 in the Congress Zentrum in Dresden (Germany).

The city of Dresden, severely damaged by the flooding in August 2002, wants to be as much as possible prepared in case a new flooding should occur, a possibility that seems to be not so remote as one could imagine.

The continuous and quick climate changes the world is facing in the last few years, leave no doubts that new and more frequent  weather-related events could occur.

Let’s think at the hurricanes and tornados that created above the ocean near Africa move towards the American’s states, or at the frequent earthquakes that are hitting  the north of Italy since the beginning of this year, or at the earthquake that hit Japan and Fukushima last year, causing a nuclear power disaster. Nevertheless, countries like the Philippines are continuously subjected to natural hazards: earthquakes, tsunamis, volcano eruptions, floods are part of the daily life.

What would happen if these natural hazards, whose strength goes well beyond the human control, would hit and destroy facilities engaged in working and storing chemical or toxic substances?

What would happen to the population living there, to the fields, the rivers, the flora and the fauna of these places and to the whole eco-system?

Are the facilities involved in producing and/or storing dangerous substances aware of these risks? And most important of all, are they ready to cope with natural events (or even with bush fire), whose destroying power could go beyond our prediction?

Disappointingly, the present situation is not as good as we could expect. Many facilities involved in producing or transforming dangerous substances, would not be able to cope with natural hazards whose strength is stronger than usual. In other words, they are not ready to face a potential (not-yet-experienced)-natural disaster.  

Most of these facilities have been built many years ago in respect of the various needs and requirements of the time. In the course of the years, however, things have changed and they are going to change further. These facilities, therefore, need to be put in “safety”, need to re-think at the dangerousness of the substances on the view of present and forecasted future natural hazards.

Natural hazards do not make any difference among OECD member countries and not OECD member countries, therefore, these problems are of same relevance for all countries.

At the end of a very interesting and well organized workshop some conclusions and recommendations on Natech Risk Management were drawn:

• Methods and tools for industrial Natech risk analysis and territory mapping with help of GIS (Geographic Information System) for identification and monitoring of Natech risk locations are extremely important
• Elaboration of guidance, strength co-operation and experience exchange among  OECD member countries and not OECD member countries have to be promoted
• Environmental insurance against Natech Risk for facilities and installation already existing and/or in construction is of great relevance
• Natech risk analysis should be taken into consideration when locations for new facilities are chosen

New scenarios open in front of our eyes, a lot of work needs to be done and an even stronger co-operation among experts, governments and facilities needs to be promoted and supported. The earth belongs to all its inhabitants and it is in the interest of all to protect it and to keep it as safe as possible.

Interesting could be to give a look also to:

IEEE TTM: Technology Time Machine

Abundance: Future is better than you think

Singularity University

Angela Incampo

Rossendorf Lounge - A "cultural island"

RoDoLounge - unpublished (yet)

Exactly 365 days ago (one year ;-)), I personally handed over a freshly printed version of our action research paper "RoDoLounge - Rossendorf Innovationstreffpunkt" to the rector of the Technical University Dresden, Prof. Dr. Hans Müller-Steinhagen.

The paper itself describes the chances that are ahead of the local community, specifically Dresden, that will face a dramatic lowering of German government and European Community funding starting with 2015 (in less than three years), and the complete elimination of the "Solidarpakt" from 2019 on which in quite a bit, is used to finance infrastructure in the formerly GDR states.

We built the case around the successful Fraunhofer FEP Lounge, where in a relaxing surrounding researchers, managers, students, and interested citizens meet. Shouldn't that be the foundation to make true learning about emerging technology possible?

The documentary about Singularity University co-founder Ray Kurzweil "Transcendent Man" (released in spring 2011) made us feel, that the time would be ripe to go one step further in bringing the vision of LockSchuppen (an interdisciplinary innovation accelerator) into being.

... and yet all moved on differently. As Kurt Lewin (1890-1947), a German-born psychologist, coined, "If you truly want to understand a system, try to change it", and we learned it the "hard way".

Even though with good intentions, and working along-side with the financial constraints that will hit (for sure) the Free State of Saxony in a couple of years, the reactions of already positioned players in research, education, and business/ consulting can be disturbing. At present the action on bringing innovation into being will be probably started only when there is public funding on the horizon. So any activity on the "periphery" or "edge" of the "running system", and with a different value proposition, is seen as a potential threat to currently based business processes. Surprising!

Should therefor the efforts to create a new kind of education especially on emerging technology be stopped? - "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." -- Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977. (Dead wrong as we by now know)

There is true abundance in the various ways of learning. An elegant, and free-floating interconnection between the traditional ways of teaching, and new forms combining art and science such as DzWk e.V. (center of arts and science) with the concept of a Science Center to bring research into public by letting citizens play, and experience what hightech is; Werk.Stadt.Laden (a local hacker space), OpenCoffeeClubDresden (a social innovation space); .....

May the two books be the accelerators of thought, and action on the way. Thanks a lot Peter Diamandis and Otto Scharmer for all the inspiration on the way, which has led to totally new experiences along the way :)

..... are you in making the future what it is capable to be with our joint help?

PS.: BlueFuture2012 is just another perspective, and approach for making the above reality. What is your vision for 2020, 2056, or beyond?

Technologieforen sind zum Beschleunigen

... von Innovationen!

Staatsminister Sven Morlok führte gestern Abend im Internationalen Congress Centrum Dresden in das 7. Technologieforum der FDP Fraktion im Sächsischen Landtag ein.

Neue Materialien und deren Anwendungsbereiche standen im Mittelpunkt,. Insbesondere die drei renommierten technischen Universitäten der Standorte Freiberg, Chemnitz und Dresden und deren immanent wichtige Forschungsaktivitäten standen im Mittelpunkt. Es zeigte sich, dass die Forschungen in diesem Bereich überraschende Anwendungsbereiche finden, wie z.B. Snowboards aus Chemnitz zeigen.

Ein Projekt aus Dresden war das Science Center, das als Projektstudie des DzWk e.V. (Dresdner Zentrum für Wissenschaft und Kunst) für Interesse sorgte. Insbesondere die in der Studie dargestellte exponierte Lage am "Wiener Loch" in unmittelbarer Nähe zum Hauptbahnhof und der belebten Einkaufspassage "Prager Straße" sorgte für Interesse einiger teilnehmender Institutionen und Unternehmen.

Fazit des Abends: Sachsen hat sich in sich und Technologie liegt auf der Hand. Einzig die Vermittlung dessen, was neue Materialien ermöglichen, ihr künftiger Einsatz und eine verständliche Darstellung benötigen entsprechende Räume.

In diesem Sinn können wir bereits auf das 8. Technologieforum gespannt sein, wenn es vielleicht heißt: Dresden als Ort der Zukunft*!

*Beispiele gibt es ja in Projektskizzenform bereits einige, so auch die Gartenstadt Hellerau (heute mit der Entscheidung zum Weltkulturerbe aufwartend), wo seit über 100 Jahren Innovationen umgesetzt werden.

PS.: ... ein passendes Bild von gestriger Veranstaltung wird noch gesucht. Bitte melden.

Digital Icon Talking with his Daughter

Lass' Dich nicht überfluten.

Lerne, mit den neuen Medien umzugehen.

Das geschieht, sobald Du dich traust und Du es alleine

probierst.

Aus Mainz, der Heimatstadt des Erfinders des 

Buchdrucks mit beweglichen Lettern, 

Johannes Gensfleisch zu Gutenberg, 

stammend ist mir das, was Howard 

beschreibt seit frühester Kindheit 

bekannt.

Früher waren es Bücher, heute sind

es andere Medien, wie Google, Twitter,

Facebook, LinkedIn, XING, ...

Lass' Dich nicht unterkriegen, nutze die Chancen, die vor Dir liegen! >> Abundance

BMW meets the Change Accelerators

Meeting the Change Accelerators, and it's not just this one ;-) More on the WIRED UK & BMW i featured stories.

Salim Ismail (2nd, lower row), Global Ambassador of Singularity University, a multi-disciplinary think tank bringing together the brightest minds for a 10-week summer bootcamp from around the world at #GSP12

Rachel Armstrong (3rd upper row), Living Material Innovator, TED Fellow, living and researching in Venice, where in June 18 - 22 June the IoT (Internet of Things) Week 2012 takes place

.. to just name the two who have inspired me quite a bit, and last but not least BMW Plant Leipzig. The five years there, 2003-2008, building up processes from scratch, and most certainly often by using disruptive, and innovative approaches still stick, and shape my thinking, and acting towards #abundance.

On board for building a connection with Silicon Valley, and scale your business up? What's bothering you?

http://www.abundancethebook.com/about-the-book-cover/

The Uncanny Opera Surprise

Opera singer Malesha Jessie - connecting with the crowd, the community, and future audience. Just amazing, and breathtaking.

When the soul gets touched :)

Abundance is Everywhere!

For all who try to figure out, and understand who they truly are.

Für alle, die versuchen zu verstehen, wer sie wirklich sind.

Source: http://www.builttoinspire.com/

A Creative Realitator, believing in the possibility of abundance 

enabling human creativity facilitating the collective acting towards a bigger goal.

Ralf Lippold, 2012-04-05

GLOBALFOUNDRIES edging towards 20nm

Dresden, 2012-03-13 #DATE12

Mojy Chian, Senior Vice President Design Enablement at GLOBALFOUNDRIES, and Antun Domic, Senior Vice President and General Manager of synopsys gave a short press conference on the sideline of the ongoing DATE12 (Design, Automation & Test in Europe) this evening for a multinational press audience.

The main topic was the past and ongoing cooperation between the two companies, especially the  implementation of the forthcoming 20nm-technology, to be expected roughly coming to mass production around 2014, as Mr. Chian mentioned. He also mentioned, that cycles of new technologies roughly being in a 4-year-frame, with CPU producers being the earliest and most demanding customers, next to following mobile application producers. In order to get the ramp up smooth and in accelerated pace, once the technology is set for mass production the cooperation with chip designers, and testing facilities such as synopsys are essential. From the technology information given by the customer the design phase (including testing) is the most relevant part in the value chain, before manufacturing in large scale can begin.

Presently roughly 500 engineers work at GLOBALFOUNDRIES -scattered all around the three plants in Malta, USA, Dresden, Germany, to Singapore, and other facilities around the Globe- using remote work environments using the virtual collaboration tools the Web provides (and in which often chips from GLOBALFOUNDRIES can be found). The aim is, as Mr. Chian and Mr. Domic stressed to work on more and more standardized information technology formats, in order to make automated design, and testing easier. "As there are 1.001, no 1 Mio + 1 things to be in place", Mojy Chian mentioned, and almost made the room laugh, "it is crucial to work to together early on in the process."

EUVL tool, Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory
(Wikipedia)

During the hour there came up the question on whether the EUV (Extreme ultraviolet lithography), which opens future chances, yet brings along quite some challenges that are not easy to overcome in short time, so it will not be applied for the forthcoming 20nm-technology, as Mr. Chian pointed out. He also stressed, that in context of the ongoing collaboration with synopsys "the amount of creativity what has been applied has been incredible", and there will be routes to be found that will tackle the upcoming challenges.

What we all could take from that hour is that chip design & manufacturing clearly define a next level in collaborative iterative learning, as ramping up of new production nears, and GLOBALFOUNDRIES and synopsys could very well be new role models in the context of "Lean Thinking".

Ein William Forsythe Ballettabend

by Angela Incampo & Ralf Lippold

The Premiere, and so just one performance, of 'Ein William Forsythe Ballettabend' at Semperoper was not enough. A new attendance as a follow-up performance was needed to understand and appreciate the choreografies created by the great choreogrepher Forsythe, and brought on stage by an always incredible ballet company, such as the Semperoper Ballet truly is. Everybody probably knows that Aaron S. Watkin is a former Forsythe dancer, and therefore more than every other ballet director can understand the difficulties, the efforts, and the great concentration these pieces require.

In a completely full theater (so full has been the Premiere as well) the music starts and the curtain rises. On stage the whole company starts with "Artifact Suite" a piece already performed to Semperoper's audience last spring in 2011 within a variation rich, and not thematic programme. Last spring the ballet company was asked to dance a classical piece (George Balanchine - 'Emeralds'), and two modern pieces (Mats Ek - 'She was black', and William Forsythe - 'Artifact Suite'). In this occation, the Ballett Company proved again their ability to switch from a classical piece to a modern piece and the dancing maturity they are capable to put on stage (for more information, here the relevant links to the articles). Not many companies are able to perfectly combine the movements typical of classical dance with those required by modern dance.

Photographer: Costin Radu

"Artifact Suite" on music by Eva Crossman-Hecht and Johann Sebastian Bach, is an extremely beautiful piece. The green-coloured costumes of all the dancers are interrupted by the white-coloured suit of one single dancer, Vanja Vitman. She is the guide, she controls all movements of the Corps de Ballet and sometimes also the two dancing couples performing the pas-de-deux (Elena Vostrotina with Oleg Klymyuk, and Yumiko Takeshima with Raphäel Coumes-Marquet). She is the master who "leads the puppets", helped by a big lightspot. She decides when they have to move, and when they have to stand moveless. Homogeneity and heterogenity are both performed. The whole ballet company is involved in this huge choreography. The lack of coordination among the dances in some scenes and the strong coordination in other scenes are wildly interrupted by the curtain falling continuosly down. Is what we see performed on stage, the lack of co-ordination we experience in our daily life as personal individuals, and as members of the society? Is it a clear sign of the difficulties we always meet? A smooth life, with the different seasons coming quietly one after the other finds no room in today's human life. Also the movements, sometimes so slow and sometime so fast, mirror the current times.

Photographer: Costin Radu

William Forsythe has created and new arranged, expressly for the Semperoper Ballet, the second piece "New Suite". On music by Georg Friedrich Händel, Johann Sebastian Bach, Luciano Berio, Gavin  Bryars, Thom Willems are brought on stage, one after the other, seven couples (Chantelle Kerr* with Claudio Cangilosi*, Elena Vostrotina with Oleg Klymyuk, Julia Weiss and István Simon, Anna Merkulova and Jiří Bubeníček, Duosi Zhu and Pavel Moskito, Yumiko Takeshima with Raphaël Coumes-Marquet, Anna Merkulova and Jón Vallejo). The costumes, for this second piece are plain and perfectly co-ordinated between the dancing couples. No curtain falls down to interrupt the scene. The stage is completely free. They can perform in an open-space, in movements of pure harmony and disharmony, shaping the relationship between the sexes, expecially on Berio's music.

The third and last piece is "Enemy in the figure". The whole choreography is illuminated by a big spotlight free to be moved around on stage (a main figure on stage, as it gives more or less emphasis to the scene). The spotlight is continuously moved around by the dancers according to their internal needs. A rope cuts the stage in two and so does also a wavelike wooden wall, that "hides" the sight on what's happening behind it. Depending on the position in the audience, one gets a totally different picture of the scene, and what is visible from one side, appears invisible from another position. Very much in flow with reality, that can differ vastly from your own position, and perspective - seeing reality is not what one sees on the surface.

Photographer: Costin Radu

The dancers (Chantelle Kerr*, Raquel Martinez, Anna Merkulova*,  Ana Presta, Elena Vostrotina, Julia Weiss, Jiří Bubeníček*, Claudio Cangialosi, Raphaël Coumes-Marquet, Maximilian Genov*, Fabien Voranger) wear totally white, totally black or white and black (pierrot-like) costumes. Looking at the dancers moving on stage and hearing the rough music, the viewer can physically feel the dichotomy on stage. The dancers movements are strong. They cut through the air like sharp knives, they seem forced to move by some unseen force, acting like under fever. They restlessly try to free themselves from a force that is hosted inside themselves, deep in their bodies, and in their souls. Their fast movements show the need to re-create the lost balance, the harmony between all parts. The elements on stage (rope and wooden wall) are a clear further sign of the dichotomy the dancers are living in. All metallic and rough sounds, the dissonances are created ad hoc - very strongly in need!

Also in this piece the difficulty to live a quiet life can be seen; the forces that move our souls and our bodies, and that keep us away from acting in free-will. The desperate search for peace in all different moments of life, private and public, is strongly threatened by the difficulty to find the right balance between being our true selves, and play our roles according to the "outer world". The dancers are merely a mirror of our own experiences, so strong that sometimes people in the audience are overwhelmed, like the couple sitting beside us, leaving the house after 'Artifact Suite'.

Yet the creative process overwhelms the conformity every time. People like conformity in the sense of stability, which makes life easier, and yet everyone of us has experienced the moment when we move out to the edges, performing different due to our own thinking, and will to express thoughts.

A great power can be seen in the modern dance and especially in William Forsythe's choreographies. In opposite to classical dance and choreographers, a major pillar in dance history and dance movements, modern dance empowers each single viewer to discover in the pieces a meaning, an idea that in classical ballet is not possible to see (being the audience guided step by step through the execution of the piece).
In modern ballet, the audience is free to give pace to the own ideas, reflections and comparison with personal and social situation. Modern pieces are not fairy tales made to let people dream, they are a door opened into the inner soul and into the society soul.

A performance that really deserve to be seen!

* - Dancers on the picture beside; more pictures to be seen on Semperoper.
To explain the role of art and artist we recommend the following article by Edgar Schein.