World’s Largest Wind Turbine
Mar 10th
A Norwegian Company had developed the world’s largest wind turbine. “Wind energy is one of the more promising alternative energy sources”, and this wind turbine stands over 500 feet tall. Not only will this turbine stand the tallest but it will be the world’s most powerful turbine. Costing over $67 Million dollars, Sway, the company installing the device, plans to erect it in 2011. To read the full article, click HERE
Lawsuit Attacks Patent Giving Company Control Over Genetic Test For Cancer Risk
Mar 9th
Many people go through the day not being concerned with patents and their roll on human life. However, as described by the following article, patents do have a direct affect on our lives more importantly in the medical field. The article, written by Kari Lydersen, discusses a patent on a gene mutation test, which if found to be positive will show women that they are more likely to develop breast and ovarian cancer. Unfortunately the costs are keeping women from being able to gain access to the test.
Richard Marsh, Myraid’s executive vice president and general counsel has stated:
“The whole patent system is to incentivize people to go out and develop a product and make it more accessible. We’ve literally spent hundreds of thousands if not millions to convince physicians and insurance companies that if you can diagnose someone with a predisposition [to cancer,] you’ll save more money by paying for the $3,000 test than hundreds of thousands on chemotherapy and surgeries.” While this is true most women cannot afford $3,000 on a test.
Marsh knows that the patents expire in 4 years, at which point any company can offer the test for any cost, but how is it fair to the women from now until 2014 who become terminally ill? It isn’t. We need to take a step away from the proprietary world as we know it and begin to use technology to help save lives.
To read the entire article click HERE
G.I.C. Hits Colleges
Mar 8th
The Global Innovation Commons was featured in Goshen College’s Bulletin Magazine. To read the entire article click HERE
Now Featured: Tsunami Warning System
Mar 8th
Tsunami Warning System:
On Saturday, February 27, 2010, a magnitude 8.8 earthquake occurred 95 km off of the shore of Maule, Chile. The earthquake was felt in most of Chile and Argentina, as well as parts of Brazil, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. It produced a tsunami which struck the coastal town of Concepcion half an hour later and is believed to be responsible for much of the deaths and damage. At about the same time, a 40 meter wave hit the San Fernandez Islands, which are located 667 km off the coast of Chile with an approximate population of 700. Neither community received advanced warning.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART) is the most extensive network of tsunami forecasting equipment in the Pacific. Buoys and ocean-floor pressure sensors collect data which is used to model and determine the threat of a tsunami. The nearest DART buoy is located over 1,614 km north of Concepcion, despite a history of strong quakes in Chile (13 at magnitudes of 7.0 or greater since 1973). The buoy did not receive any abnormal data until three hours after the initial tremors. While this data was used to issue a warning to Hawaii, it was obviously much too late to prevent any of the deaths in Southern Chile.
We at M•CAM, Inc, believe that there are inefficiencies in the already deficient tsunami warning systems of the world. We have been working to compile a list of all patented tsunami warning technology with the goal of bringing attention to any open source innovation. The patent literature on these systems is sparse. This can be seen through the patent for the DART system, which was issued in 2007 and cites no prior patent art, despite the fact that there were international disclosures of similar technologies at least as early as 1996. This seems to imply that not enough attention has and is being paid to developing these technologies.
The lack of robust systems directly contributed to the number of lives lost in Chile. The existence of open source innovation for tsunami forecasting makes this all the more frustrating. As an initial step, in an effort to raise global awareness and help prevent future loss of lives, we are making available a list of all patent disclosures and open source technology for use in these systems.
We will be continuing our look into this issue with the goal of bringing far greater transparency and attention to these technologies. We ask anyone with knowledge or experience in the field of tsunami research to join our discussion and help prevent future disasters.
Within the Global Innovation Commons you can learn more about this issue and the open source technology which can solve it. Click HERE
Historical Commons Monday: The Great Charter of the Forest (Part 1)
Mar 8th
Historical Review: The Charter of the Forest is a charter sealed by in England by King Henry III and was part of the great constitutional reforms imposed by his barons upon King John. In contrast to the Magna Carta, it provided rights, privileges and protections for the common man against the abuses of an aristocracy.
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England, 1225- Great Charter of the Forest
The Great Charter of the Forest was issued as a supplementary document to Magna Carta; King Henry III issued several revisions of the base document. Excerpts dealing with commons rights are presented here.
Preface ———————————————
What it says: “That We, unto the Honour of Almighty god, and for the Salvation of our souls of our Progenitors and Successors Kings of England, to the advancement of Holy Church, and amendment of our Realm, of our meer and free will have given and granted to all Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, Priors, Earls, Barons, and to all Freemen of this our Realm, these Liberties following, to be kept in our Kingdom of England for ever.”
What it means: The King has agreed to this new charter concerning property rights that are granted to all the people of England, regardless of social class or occupation. The following rights are to be maintained in England forever.
Article 1 ——————————————–
What it says: “We will, that all Forests, which King Henry our Grandfather afforested, shall be view’d by good and lawfull men; and if he hath afforested any other Wood, more than his own Demesne, by which the Owner of the Wood hath damage, it shall be forthwith disafforested; and if he hath afforested his own Wood, then it shall remain Forest: saving the Common of Herbage, and of other things in the same Forest, to them who before were accustomed to have the same”.
What it means: Anyone who isn’t an outlaw can enter areas declared by the King to be forests for hunting game. If the King declared an area a forest, but the area is owned by someone else and that person would rather keep it standard open grazing land, he is allowed to do so. Within the land belonging to the King himself, any area he declared a forest will stay a forest, except that there must still be provided a common area for grazing livestock, for the benefit of the people.
Article 3 ——————————————-
What it says: “All Woods that have been made Forest by King Richard our Uncle, or by King John our Father, until our first Coronation, shall be forthwith, disafforested, unless it be our Demesne Wood.”
What it means: Any land that was turned into a forest (designated hunting area) by the kings since the establishment of the Magna Carta will be turned back into the type of land it was before, except land owned by the King himself. This could be done easily because the land itself was not physically altered to become a forest, but simply declared to be one.
Our Research has been taken from Peter Linebaugh’s “The Magna Carta Manifesto.” University of California Press, 2008.
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How are ideals like this in our current society? If not, could they be implemented to create a more valuable of quality of life?
Next Week: The Great Charter of the Forest (Part 2)
Fuel Cell Unveiled…
Mar 5th
Bloom Energy has spend over nine years developing technology for a fuel cell that “can generate energy by combining air and a wide rage of fuels without going through the process of combustion”. The Silicon Valley tech firm believes that this could change the way that the clean technology industry goes about business. However the Global Innovation Commons has the same technology in open source which can be used today! For more on Bloom Energy’s initiative click Here..
For more on the technology which could be deployed today look into the Global Innovation Commons.
Commons System In The Caribbean
Mar 3rd
“Placing the commons at the heart of community development: three case studies of community enterprise in Caribbean Island”
Written by Sarah McIntosh
Taken from the International Journal of the Commons, this article touches on how a commons system is used in in community-based enterprises in the Caribbean. If people in developing countries, can find ways to use a commons based system in their everyday life, one would assume that developed countries could do so as well. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Can we learn from the Caribbean people and try to make our lives more collaborative? Yes. Read More Below.
Abstract:
This paper examines experiences in developing, supporting and sustaining community-based enterprises that are based on the use of forest, coastal and marine resources in the insular Caribbean, with a focus on the eastern Caribbean, and draws lessons from that experience. The three cases reviewed include community-based enterprises involved in forest conservation, turtle protection, tour guiding and fisheries. Other experiences are also used to inform the lessons and conclusions of the paper. The paper first identifies some of the cultural, social or economic factors that have favoured or hindered the development of these enterprises, highlighting the conditions that are specific to Caribbean societies, where the majority of the people have throughout history been denied access to valuable natural resources, where production is largely driven by external markets, and where there is not a long tradition of community natural resource management. It then examines the extent to which the economic success of individual business ventures contributes to or hinders the achievement of the broader community social, political, cultural and environmental goals. On the basis of these analyses, the paper proposes a number of enabling conditions that may be required, in the context of the insular Caribbean, for these initiatives to flourish.
Global Innovation Commons = More Jobs
Mar 2nd
At all levels of government we can see a push for the use of technology in the field of clean energy. As we look into the future, it seems clear that one of the only ways to prosper is to take a step toward using “green” technology. Funding is beginning to flow for research and development at the academic level on these technologies. However, within the Global Innovation Commons we can conserve resources by including publicly available solutions to deploy the best of breed technologies and create jobs at every level by doing so. Are you finding yourself in a time of unemployment? Are you interested in a different type of profession than you are currently in? By looking into the G.I.C. you can find usable technology and begin to incorporate them into your work and life. Search today and find ways to change your life.
New To The G.I.C. Blog: Historical Commons Monday
Mar 1st
One of our colleagues, Ciara Pratt, has begun extensive research on the historical context of the commons systems. We have decided to feature a part of her research every Monday in an effort to broaden our readers knowledge base on the “Historical World Models of the Commons”.
Week One:
Roman Republic, 133 BCE- The Sempronian Law
Plebeian Tribune Tiberius Gracchus proposed this law in order to end the abuse of land ownership limit laws by the wealthiest Romans. While previous laws stated that no person could own more land than he himself was able to work, the rich often continued to buy up more of the public, or common, land than they were allowed, leaving too little to the common people.
Under the Sempronian Law (Lex Sempronia Agraria), the old laws limited the amount of public land that could be owned by one person would be enforced, cutting back on slave labor used by landowners with more land than they could work themselves. However, due to the Senate’s opposition to the reform, the law was not implemented.
This is one of the earliest documented examples of statutory protection of a Commons system in the world. We can think and compare how different the world is today.
Next Week: The Great Charter of the Forest
Radio New Zealand Interview On Sunday Morning With Chris Laidlaw
Mar 1st
Listen to M-CAM Executive Chairman Dr. David Martin’s interview with Radio New Zealand on Sunday Morning with Chris Laidlaw: HERE
Interview Date: Sunday, 28 February 2010: Intellectual Property
From Radio New Zealand site http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ideas/20100228: “This week we take a look at the issue of intellectual property and in particular the intellectual property of indigenous communities.
First up we hear from American intellectual property expert Dr. David Martin. Dr. Martin is the CEO of Intellectual Property Consultancy M-CAM which has identified more than 3000 cases of multi-national companies patenting compounds found in bio-prospecting trips around the Pacific.”
