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3D printing of human heart

Scientists in Israel have unveiled a 3D print of a heart with human tissue and vessels, a first and a “major medical breakthrough” that advances possibilities for transplants. Scientists hope one day to be able to produce hearts suitable for transplant into humans as well as patches to regenerate defective hearts. The heart produced by researchers at Tel Aviv University is about the size of a rabbit’s. It marked “the first time anyone anywhere has successfully engineered and printed an entire heart replete with cells, blood vessels, ventricles and chambers. People have managed to 3D-print the structure of a heart in the past, but not with cells or with blood vessels. But the scientists said many challenges remain before fully working 3D printed hearts would be available for transplant into patients. Journalists were shown a 3D print of a heart about the size of a cherry, immersed in liquid, at Tel Aviv University as the researchers announced their findings, published in the peer-reviewed journal Advanced Science. Researchers must now teach the printed hearts “to behave” like real ones. The cells are currently able to contract, but do not yet have the ability to pump. Then they plan to transplant them into animal models, hopefully in about a year. Maybe, in 10 years, there will be organ printers in the finest hospitals around the world, and these procedures will be conducted routinely. However, hospitals would likely start with simpler organs than hearts.

Smart cities in Southeast Asia

By Jonathan Woetzel, Diaan-Yi Lin, Mukund Sridhar, and Su-E Yap Cities are the engines of economic growth in Southeast Asia. But the breakneck pace of urbanisation has left many cities struggling to provide adequate housing, infrastructure, and services to meet the needs of a surging population. Now smart technologies that could tackle some of these issues have reached maturity. Recent research from the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) highlighted the fact that smart cities worldwide are incorporating data and digital technologies into infrastructure and services—and they are delivering tangible quality-of-life improvements as a result. Building on that work, Smart cities in Southeast Asia (PDF–4MB) takes a more focused look at how cities across the region can make better use of data, digital tools, and smart solutions to solve specific public problems and make the urban environment more livable, sustainable, and productive. MGI finds that smart cities could have substantial impact for the region as a whole. Among its findings: Smart solutions could eliminate up to some 270,000 kilotons of greenhouse-gas emissions annually. Some 5,000 lives lost each year to traffic accidents, fires, and homicides could be saved through mobility solutions, crime prevention, and better emergency response. Intelligent traffic and transit solutions could save up to eight million man-years in annual commuting time. Deploying smart healthcare solutions for the urban population could reduce the region’s disease burden by 12 million disability-adjusted life years—not only extending overall life expectancy but adding years of good health. By creating more efficient and productive environments for business and hiring, Southeast Asia could add almost 1.5 million jobs. Residents could also save as much as $16 billion annually as smart solutions contribute to better housing optionsand lower energy bills. There is already a wave of activity and innovation across Southeast Asia. It includes digital citizen apps, homegrown ride-hailing apps, data-driven transit planning, intelligent traffic systems, data-driven disaster-risk assessment, advanced construction […]

Will fine circuit traces soon become ubiquitous?

In the manufacture of industrial applications, more and more industry sectors are turning to a new technology as an alternative to classic PCBs. The revolution is called 3-D MID (Moulded Interconnect Devices or Mecha-tronic Integrated Devices) – injection-moulded plastic parts with conduc-tive traces integrated by using laser direct structuring (LDS). This technique adds power to the trend towards miniaturisation in the electronics industry and provides product developers with new design op-portunities. The projects from Multiple Dimensions, illustrates the diversity of possible ap-plications for 3D-MID. They simplify the operation of household appliances, improve driver experience in power steering systems and open new ways of saving space — for example in sensing and industrial electronics. These fine, golden traces on formed plastic are transforming industrial produc-tion. The basis of all 3D-MID applications is a thermoplastic material: Using injection- moulding, first manufacture the part to fit the customer’s application, using different types of thermoplastic, which contain an additive that can be activated by laser. A laser ray then engraves the surface of the plastic and activates the additive. A copper bath then follows, which lets the conductive traces form directly on the thermoplastic. Depending on the type of application, the MID parts may have to be extremely robust or temperature-resistant. Some even must be acid or sweat-resistant, for example applications for hear-ing aids or headphones. In a final step, a barrier layer of nickel is applied and then conditioned with a thin layer of gold to ensure good solderability. What differentiates the company from the competition is that it produces trac-es in almost microscopically small dimensions. Their manufacturing expertise can compete with anyone in the world, especially their uniquely fine trace width and the narrow spacing between traces. Most suppliers are currently working with 300 – 400 µm spacing between trac-es. At Multiple […]

Fourth Industrial Revolution book calls for upgrade to the way we govern technology

A new book by Klaus Schwab, Shaping the Fourth Industrial Revolution, highlights the urgent need for new action and thinking on the governance of emerging technologies. The speed at which technology is disrupting economic, political and social life means that leaders must act immediately to avoid negative impacts and harness its positive potential Adaptation requires governments and businesses to shift to “systems leadership” to ensure governance and values are developed alongside technology as part of a wider system Released at The World Economic Forum, the book aims to help leaders develop the techniques necessary to harness technological advances to solve critical global challenges. The book is a sequel to Schwab’s bestselling 2016 book, The Fourth Industrial Revolution. The new book provides a practical guide to understanding 12 sets of emerging technologies from a systems perspective and better appreciating the rules, norms, institutions and values that shape their development and use. Such an approach is necessary, Schwab argues, given the unprecedented speed at which technology is developing, which makes outdated and redundant the approaches of governments, regulators and companies on which we rely to manage the impact of technologies. Schwab’s response is for leaders to adopt a “systems leadership” approach to ensure that developments in technology are not able to occur without parallel consideration being given to rules, norms, values and infrastructure. Unless technology develops within an inclusive and sustainable governance system, the Fourth Industrial Revolution could exacerbate income inequality and leaving billions of people behind, while wasting the opportunity to deploy technology to help address global challenges. “It took the world more than a decade to develop a collective response to climate change. “If we take the same amount of time to respond to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, we will have lost the opportunity to influence the development of the technologies that shape […]

In view of recent events

Tim McLean, Lean Author, Consultant and Entrepreneur, TXM Lean Solutions Automation and “Industry 4.0” is not the right focus for most manufacturers, especially SMEs. I think it risks saddling them with capital costs, higher overheads for little return. Instead shorter supply chains, market disruption, more demanding customers and greater competition mean manufacturers need to focus on being more agile and on creating more engaged and empowered workplaces that can respond quickly to change. The emphasis of Industry 4.0 seems to be on improving the means of production, but for most businesses it is WHAT you produce and understanding WHO you produce it for is more important than HOW you make it.

Move Fast and Break Things

-Doug Green, publisher (Jonathan Taplin is Director of the Annenberg Innovation Lab and a former tour manager for Bob Dylan and The Band, as well as a film producer for Martin Scorsese. An expert in digital media entertainment, Taplin is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and sits on the California Broadband Taskforce and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Council on Technology and Innovation. Fake news. Digital monopolies. Stealth Marketing. This is the story of how the internet, which began as a dream, has become a nightmare and the people that did it. The modern world is defined by vast digital monopolies turning ever-larger profits. Those of us who consume the content that feeds them are farmed for the purposes of being sold ever more products and advertising. Those that create the content – the artists, writers and musicians – are finding they can no longer survive in this unforgiving economic landscape. But it didn’t have to be this way. In Move Fast and Break Things, Jonathan Taplin offers a succinct and powerful history of how online life began to be shaped around the values of the entrepreneurs like Peter Thiel and Larry Page who founded these all-powerful companies. Their unprecedented growth came at the heavy cost of tolerating piracy of books, music and film, while at the same time promoting opaque business practices and subordinating the privacy of individual users to create the surveillance marketing monoculture in which we now live. It is the story of a massive reallocation of revenue in which $50 billion a year has moved from the creators and owners of content to the monopoly platforms. With this reallocation of money comes a shift in power. Google, Facebook and Amazon now enjoy political power on par with Big Oil and […]

Letting our capes fly: Why engineers are awesome

This glimpse of the future was crafted by: Michelle Doolan You don’t have to sit a 5-year old down and teach her the physical and psychological benefits of building forts. Chances are she has wrecked your lounge many times before. Written into the defaults of our DNA is the impulse to create ̶ to bring something that never was into being. Take away the plastic weapons of mass destruction from your toy box, and watch your toddler turn his peanut butter sandwich into a gun. Beach sand becomes castles; snow days invite igloos; the world is a wonderful palette that kids just intuitively want to paint on. Essentially, the engineer is hidden inside all of us. The question for us engineers who still hold the title is, are we still living like one? Because we may need to be reminded from time to time, the job of an engineer is a great one. By comparison to some of the other professions, engineering is often not seen as the “cool” one. TV shows like LA Law and Boston Legal glamorise legal eagles battling it out in high profile court cases. ER, House and Scrubs bring the world of medicine into our living rooms. Even Grand Designs puts architecture on a pedestal. Isn’t it about time that TV producers got in touch with the profession that is shaping the future world we live in like no other? As a discipline, it lies at the very fabric of our society, shouldering the systems and spaces that give our world its meaning. Too often the profession is associated with hard hats and tool belts, viewed as difficult and esoteric. But in reality, engineering is a far cry from ‘restrictive’ and ‘routine’. It is alive and multidimensional, unleashing the power of connected societies to unlock […]

Forget driverless cars: sailorless ships are about to make waves

Sea change … unmanned electric cargo ships could be with us in three years. Norwegian company Yara will launch the world’s first electric cargo ship next year. Initially manned, the vessel will move to remote control in 2019, before becoming totally autonomous in 2020. Named Yara Birkeland, the vessel will sail between Yara’s main factory facility in Norway to some of the country’s bigger ports, carrying cargo which is currently transported by road. It’s estimated that the battery-powered ship will remove the need for 40,000 truck journeys a year. Making ‘drone’ ships a reality Although advances in driverless cars are getting more media attention, major advances have already been made in bringing artificial intelligence to the shipping and freight industries. Rolls Royce is also working on making autonomous ships a reality by the end of the decade, in conjunction with ship builders and researchers in Finland. Meanwhile, research body MUNIN – or Maritime Unmanned Navigation through Intelligence in Networks – has been part funded by the European Commission to develop the technology needed to make robotic ships. Back on land, Singapore earlier this year signed an agreement with trucking companies Scania and Toyota Tsusho to design, develop and build self-driving freight lorries to haul containers from one port to another. The idea would see one truck with a driver leading a convoy of driverless trucks; it’s being billed as a way to reduce congestion and boost productivity in the country’s already efficient ports. In 2016, a fleet of trucks from a host of leading manufacturers including Volvo and Daf drove their freight across Europe largely without drivers as part of a mission under the Dutch presidency of the EU to prove the potential of AI in the haulage industry. In a report into the driverless car revolution, the World Economic Forum estimated that $2 billion worth of value […]

Exponential Manufacturing Revolution

Diane Francis Member of Advisory Council at Hudson Institute Kleptocracy Initiative The train to Boston from New York speeds past stunning scenery as well as the blight of abandoned factories, scarred with graffiti. These empty buildings are the remnants of a New England that was the China of the Industrial Revolution based on cheap immigrant labour. Today, its towns languish economically, except for Boston, which is enjoying a resurgence as a technology, pharma, and advanced manufacturing hub. This week, American experts from industry, technology, and policy gathered at a conference in Boston, curated by Singularity University, to discuss the role of tech in manufacturing. America remains a manufacturing powerhouse, as well as the world’s pre-eminent technology nation, but marrying the two will take time. In global terms, the industrial sector represents one-third of all global economic output and represents half of the world’s energy consumption and renewables. “This year, offshore wind power generation matched the cost of natural gas power plants in Europe,” said Singularity’s energy expert Ramez Naam. “In windy parts of the world, wind power is cheapest, and in sunny parts of the world solar is.” In solar, record low prices were reached this year too. A major contract in Dubai at 2.91 U.S. cents per kilowatt hour, the world’s lowest — Ontario’s prices average 8 cents per kilowatt hour. India just completed the world’s largest solar farm (4.5 U.S. cents per kilowatt hour) and its federal government intends to have only electrically-powered vehicles by 2030 – completely bypassing fossil fuels. As these industries scale, costs plummet for solar panels and turbines. China is converting to renewables rapidly, but has also earmarked half a trillion dollars to become the world’s advanced manufacturing leader. This is a major pivot, necessary in light of the fact that cheap labour, in […]

Companies embracing, and finding value in, the circular economy

Shifting to the circular economy could release $4.5 trillion in new economic potential by 2030. The circular economy – an economic model focused on designing and manufacturing products, components and materials for reuse, remanufacturing, and recycling – promises big opportunities for the private sector to drive new and better growth and accelerate innovation. Shifting to the circular economy could release $4.5 trillion in new economic potential by 2030, according to Accenture. But how do we take that vision of a circular economy – which imagines a world without waste – and translate that into profitable and scalable action? Let’s look at how companies are translating their circular economy aspirations into action – and how that in turn drives greater resource productivity improvements, eliminates waste and inefficiency, and contributes to a stronger and more competitive economy. Aramark: Reducing food waste Food services provider Aramark has set a goal of reducing food waste by 50% by 2030 from its 2015 baseline, such as by setting standards for ordering, receiving, preparing, serving and tracking food production. Through its partnership with food waste reduction experts LeanPath, Aramark is accelerating its waste prevention and minimisation efforts by integrating LeanPath’s tracking and analytics technology platform into its largest 500 accounts. Since 2016, Aramark has rolled out LeanPath’s platform across 161 sites, slashing its food waste on average by 44% and reducing the amount sent to landfill by 479 tonnes. In instances of overproduction, Aramark donates unserved food to local food relief agencies or for composting. Eileen Fisher: The path to 100% circularity Eileen Fisher take-back programme, in which employees and customers can bring back unwanted Eileen Fisher clothing for $5 store credit per piece, started in 2009 under the name Green Eileen. Funds raised from the programme are donated to organizations that support women, girls, and the […]

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