Japan & Innovations

The Economist: The future of Japanese business Competing through innovation

"Japan's style of innovation failed it in software and biotechnology in the 1990s. It might work better in robotics, aerospace and other burgeoning technologies."

Tech Innovatios and Company Co-operation in Research

NYT: Three Technology Companies Join to Finance Research

"With federal funds for basic computer science research at universities in decline, three of the industry's leading companies are joining to help fill the void. University of California computer scientists plan to announce on Thursday that the companies - Google, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems will underwrite a $7.5 million laboratory on the Berkeley campus. The new research center, called the Reliable, Adaptive and Distributed Systems Laboratory, will focus on the design of more dependable computing systems. The Berkeley researchers say that under the terms of their agreement with the three companies, the fruits of the research will be nonproprietary and freely licensed. Each company has agreed to support the project with $500,000 annually for five years. Although the companies are frequently rivals and only occasionally allies, they have concluded that they can operate most effectively by bringing technology innovations to market quickly."

Science on Web/Awards

Journalism.co.uk: Newscientist.com scoops top editorial award

"Newscientist.com editor Damian Carrington has been awarded web editor of the year at the 2005 British Society of Magazine Editors awards. Mr Carrington, who previously worked at BBC News Online, was praised by judges for the speed and quality of Newscientist.com - now one of the most popular science websites in the world. Since Mr Carrington helped launch Newscientist.com in 2000, traffic has risen to more than 1.7 million unique users each month and the web team is about to recruit its eighth editorial team member."