Toluu

Innovators Network

Innovators Network Blog

Estonian Entrepreneurs Clean Up Their ActsYesterday

The Next Web: Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are an up-and-coming group of vibrant and entrepreneurial states bordering the Baltic Sea where youth and innovation have replaced Soviet-style 5-year plans. One recent project aimed to clean up the thousands of illegal dumps in Estonia using good old-fashioned volunteer elbow grease and a little bit of the tech-know how for which the Estonians are increasingly famous. Toivo Tänavsuu writes on this successful venture: "This week it was announced that Estonia’s most innovative person of 2008 is Rainer Nõlvak (pictured) – entrepreneur and visionary, who came up with the idea of a nationwide cleanup campaign titled Let’s Do It! 2008. About 10.000 tons of illegal waste was lying around all over Estonia, but Nõlvak and Co had this outrageous plan to clean it all up on one day! So on the 3rd of May this year more than 50.000 volunteers – about 3% of Estonian population - came out to clean up forests, roadsides and other public areas." The technical end of the project involved using Google Earth and custom piece of software authored by one of the founders of Skype, Ahti Heinla, that located the illegal dumps to be cleaned on the day of the event. For more on this excellent Estonian effort, read Estonian Innovation of the Year: 50.000 People Cleaning the Country.

Tesla Motors Now Has Hand Open For Taxpayer MoniesNovember 20

PEHub.com: Tesla Motors, maker of sporty all-electric cars and darling of Silicon Valley, looks like it is standing in line with the Big Three American automakers for a handout from the taxpayer to keep the lights on at the home office according to a recent piece by Connie Loizos, Tesla Motors Counting on $400 Million Government Package of Its Own. Loizos reports on her talk with Diarmuid O’Connell, vice president of corporate development at Tesla Motors. " O’Connell says that Tesla hasn’t received a penny from Uncle Sam, and hinted that if it doesn’t soon, the company may be forced to close shop. (The company has raised nearly $200 million from private investors since its 2004 launch, including a $40 million convertible debt financing from existing investors earlier this month.)" Oops! Just a short while ago Tesla CEO Elon Musk was touting his promise to pay for the manufacture of pre-ordered Tesla Roadsters with money from his own pockets, but methinks times are tougher than Mr. Musk imagined. The cash and credit crunch is finding its legs and many businesses are beginning to hit the wall in the early stages of this marathon of economic failures.

CrunchGear.com: An ongoing medical study finds nanotechnology can help rebuild missing or severed parts of the human body. The m

ReGen Lands VC Funding To Build Proof-of-concept SystemNovember 19

VentureBeat.com: An waste-heat energy recovery startup received a round of funding that should help it build a real-world, proof-of-concept system, according to a recent piece by Chris Morrison. Need more power? Try recycling what you’ve already used details the news for us: "Another significant funding deal for the energy conservation crowd was announced this morning, with ReGen Power Systems taking $5 million for an engine that converts waste industrial heat into power. That may sound a bit boring, but the investment and technology are a harbinger of big changes to come." The first installation will be a smallish 10KW engine with plans to increase the size to 500KW should the concept work as intended. As an investment, the technology used by ReGen seems like a good one. Morrison writes, "the heat recyclers they’re building aren’t just for the largest, hottest smokestacks, but will instead address nearly all industries. Ultimately, that could save gigawatts of energy, and generate billions of dollars in revenue yearly."

In a separate piece from VentureBeat.com, Camille Ricketts reports on the purchase of Transmeta by a video chip company. Ricketts notes, "Video processor developer Novafora announced today that it will acquire microprocessor and semiconductor company Transmeta

Greenbox To Unite Utilities And Technology For Efficient Energy UseNovember 18

ArsTechnica.com: As energy prices continue to increase, consumers are looking for ways to reduce their consumption of their major energy costs, including automobile fuel and household electricity. Enter Greenbox, a company that aims to help utilities and consumers get the best possible bang for their buck with a comprehensive set of cost-metering tools. Glenn Fleischmann reports: "The goal of the Greenbox system is to pair actual usage with utility pricing in an understandable way. The company's system handles all manner of electrical pricing, whether static, with a fixed rate for a month or for tiers of usage; dynamic, where the price can change at multiple points during a day based on demand in the spot-power market; or zoned, where different times of day have fixed rates to promote peak shaving, or offsetting use during periods of highest demand." With lower costs on the relatively fixed expense of electricity, businesses should be able to put their money to work elsewhere in their ventures for more expansion and increased profitability. Read Greenbox: saving power and cash in a flash for more shocking energy-savings.

Also from ArsTechnica.com comes news of the necessity for businesses to start looking at efficiency as the way to survive in a Darwinian environment, that is to say, one where onl

Venture Capitalists Suffer From "An Excess Of Optimism"November 17

ValleyWag.com: What's causing venture capitalism to appear less and less attractive to investors?  Owen Thomas thinks he might know the answer: "The problem has been an excess of optimism. To a bullish venture capitalist, every investment looks like it might be the next Google; to a pension fund manager, every VC firm might be the next Kleiner Perkins or Sequoia Capital. That optimism has been turned from liquid cash into illiquid hope, to the tune of billions of dollars." Adeo Ressi, he of the controversial VC-rating website, TheFunded.com, agrees with this sentiment and suggests that "[v]enture capitalists are clubby, insular, and unimaginative, passing up 9 out of 10 deserving companies. And as a result, hundreds of their funds return no money to investors[.]" Not such a good deal, after all! Check out Why venture capital won't save your job for other insider musings on the decline of venture capital.

Entrepreneur.com: That old Dale Carnegie chestnut about a person's favorite word still rings true these days and there are always opportunities to network with your fellow Earthlings and put some of the tenets of "How To Make Friends..." to use for great benefit. Jessica Chen offers some suggestions on how and where to approach potential business con