A few insights on the whole Coronavirus and handsanitizer story and why the next time you have an alcohol-free beer or wine…. you will have helped the fight against COVID-19.
My interest in this field in the last 15 years has been the development and improvement of processes for the efficient screening of ideas in a structured manner. The Peer Review Process as developed by the UK research councils is a prime example of this and there are many different models and platforms for open innovation. In the last 5 years, this has focussed on digitalisation of innovation processes and making the user experience as efficient as possible; both for the submitters and the reviewers of ideas.
Laboratories consume data, generate data and that data is used in decision making. Whether it’s property data for a new chemical entity; a standard test to determine levels of impurity in a material; or targeted experiments optimising a formulation to satisfy a customer’s specification - data is critical at every point. It may be data such as instrument parameters, or a standard operating procedure required to conduct a test or experiment. It may be instrument-generated data, like a UV/visible spectrum or a melting point.
The longstanding challenge for backlit Liquid Crystal Displays or Organic Light Emitting Diode Displays is that they are not easily readable in bright sunlight. In 2006, the emergence of the first e-readers based on e-ink’s electrophoretic display technology spurred my quest for the display industry’s Holy Grail: the full colour, video frame rate reflective display which looks as good as printed paper and is manufacturable, durable and cost competitive. Many technologies have come and gone over the years. Some have come close to making it; some never got beyond a first proof of concept.