UC Berkeley’s CITRIS Lab: a Haven for Startups Tries to Solve Big Problems
Summary posted by Meridian on 5/7/2009
Source: VentureBeat
Author: Dean Takahashi
The Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) at the University of California at Berkeley was built with a budget of US$300 million over the last eight years and now consists of a 15,000 square-foot nanofabrication facility focused on tackling society's biggest problems. The facility is available to startups, big technology companies, and will have 500 researchers and thousands of students rotating through it, as they work on innovations in semiconductors, new materials, biotechnology and nanotechnology. The center will also house law professors, public policy experts and researchers who are focused on alleviating poverty in developing nations. The nanofabrication facility comes with a clean room and chip equipment that can be configured for a variety of applications, including nanotechnology and cleantech. The goal for the facility, according to the article, is to produce "wafers, not papers." Weili Dai, chief operating officer of Marvell Technology Group, a nearby company that donated US$20 million to the creation of the facility, said that "...researchers have to create new technologies that are simple and smartly designed for everyday use." CITRIS showed off some its new projects this past week, including one that allows health information to be transmitted wirelessly for remote populations in developing countries, and a thermostat that detects when you are home. The article can be viewed online at the link below.
The original article may still be available at venturebeat.com/2009/05/06/uc-berkeleys-citris-lab-seeks-to-use-technol...
As tagged by Meridian Institute:
Energy:
Energy, Petroleum, Climate Change
Health And Medical:
Diagnostics, Devices, Diseases
Implications:
Human Enhancement, Governance, Economic Competitiveness, Socio-Economic Effects
Materials And Manufacturing:
Electronics, Manufacturing, Materials
Nanomaterials:
Carbon Nanoparticle, Metal Nanoparticle, Naturally Occurring
Regions:
North America
Stakeholders:
Government, Industry, Academia, Donors
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