\u00a0A Day at the Science Festival<\/p>\n
Part 2<\/p>\n
I watched a man make instant ice cream<\/strong> with milk and syrup and liquid nitrogen.\u00a0 And when the clouds of Nitrogen dissipated (who would have thought that I could write that sentence outside of a novel about visiting Triton) it was ice cream and creamy and sweet.\u00a0 The crystals were a little uneven but I imagine that this could be solved through more effective, high shear, agitation.<\/p>\n I loved the display of ancient books in a bright airy room off the gallery of the new library building and the mechanical devices and pictures of medieval pharmacopeia<\/strong> and botanical drawings all beautifully and informatively curated.<\/p>\n I could not for the life of me engage with that time honoured but completely boring thing which is the PhD student\u2019s poster display\u2026 I walked past several with their attendant authors and graphs.\u00a0 It feels like walking past a Big Issue seller.\u00a0 In one of the courtyards Aberdeen University has a round enclosed pavilion.\u00a0 Made of wood with a stage in the middle, space for chairs, booths and red velvety and high up stained glass windows all around.\u00a0 Glorious Victorian structure.\u00a0 They were offering some razzmatazz but I had to forgo the scientific can-can because I had booked myself onto\u2026<\/p>\n I liked that they had fresh Jugs with water and cups for speakers, rather than bottles of mineral water.<\/p>\n \u00a0Lab bench to market….<\/strong><\/p>\n Eleanor Mitchell, Commercialisation Director at Scottish Enterprise introduced their organisation and allowed two of their currently on-going successes to present their businesses.\u00a0 Both had received proof of concept funding from Scottish enterprise for two years.<\/p>\n This is to help entrepreneurial academics commercialize their ideas.<\/p>\n I asked Eleanor… How do you find these academics, make them come forward, identify these ideas? Is there a large uptake?\u00a0 She says that they do road shows, taking success stories such as the two who presented for us to present their work at universities.<\/p>\n The want to turn ideas into companies.\u00a0 Look for a strong market opportunity and a real ambition to create a company……..<\/p>\n Proof of concept programme, Enterprise fellowships, Entrepreneurial support.\u00a0 Technology entrepreneur helps.\u00a0 Universities want their research to have Impact<\/p>\n \u00a0Harald Hass of PureVLC<\/strong> is working on turn Wi-Fi into Light-Fi.<\/p>\n Light frequency range is a lot bigger than radio range \u2013 they are using LED lights to up and download.<\/p>\n Insignia…<\/strong> Putting signalling dyes into food packaging.\u00a0 Dyes that change colour when packaging is breached or when gas is released from rotting food.\u00a0 Proof of concept was funded for 2 years. Then they started a spinout and almost immediately merged with a small company doing work in the area that they are working in.<\/p>\n Why did you decide to commercialise your idea<\/strong>, Harald? A jury went around German universities looking for 100 ideas that will change the world. Harald’s idea was one that was chosen and that was very enthralling.\u00a0 He would simply be bored if his ideas are left in an academic paper.<\/p>\n Someone wanted to know \u2013 Why not just license? The answer is that the value would have gone off to multinationals\u00a0\u2013 the commitment is that, if you take an investment from Scottish Enterprise, you will keep the business in Scotland.<\/p>\n So I was thinking\u2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n In a country that has mines, that country is always being encouraged to refine and apply the mineral.\u00a0 Beneficiation.\u00a0 Iron ore into steel, steel into stainless steel and into pots and railway carriages and those little screws that they ship with my flat pack furniture.<\/p>\n Do we beneficiate research when we take the raw thoughts and heat them and discard the bad, publish the good in a four star journal.\u00a0 Do we add value to knowledge when we commercialise our inventions?<\/p>\n The last talk<\/strong> that I attended was \u2013 for me \u2013 very light on science and heavy on a commercial plug and I didn\u2019t enjoy it.\u00a0 John Crossland\u2019s program Let\u2019s Think is a form of reflective learning, group sharing of ideas and physical activity based thinking for children which shares many elements of Philosophy for Children (P4C), and shares many of the same benefits.\u00a0 In some way we repeat the embodiment ideas through activity and allowing children to have multiple experiences with physical objects \u2013 I would call it guided play \u2013 to accelerate cognition.\u00a0 Successful learning is about feelings, then thinking processes and, finally, actions.<\/p>\n So I was thinking\u2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n Does imagination and reading fiction improve the ability to think symbolically?<\/p>\n The train ride home was a direct one and, even though it stopped for twenty minutes on a dark black invisible stretch, uneventful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0A Day at the Science Festival Part 2 I watched a man make instant ice cream with milk and syrup and liquid nitrogen.\u00a0 And when the clouds of Nitrogen dissipated (who would have thought that I could write that sentence outside of a novel about visiting Triton) it was ice cream and creamy and sweet.\u00a0 … Continue reading It\u2019s Boring to leave my ideas in an academic paper<\/span>