Technology Innovations    

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Boston Metro Innovations

Operating Room of the Future
Massachusetts Human Services Online
Computerized Physician Order Entry System
eRx Collaborative
Nanogel
Solar Fabric
Artificial Bone
iRobot

National/International Innovations

Blacksburg Alert
OregonHelps!
Wi-Fi, San Francisco
OneCleveland
Virtual High School
Connecting Victoria (Australia)
Taipei CyberCity Initiative
Glasgow's Telecommunications Economy
Telecentros In São Paulo, Brazil

Technology -- Boston Metro       

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) is prototyping a new design in operating rooms which may be a benchmark for the future. The new design significantly enhances operating room procedures, saving time, improving patient care and reducing demands on the medical staff. The experimental operating room has adopted such basic improvements as larger sinks, more high-tech marvels like wall-mounted plasma displays, and novel workflow changes, such as the addition of adjoining rooms for preparation and recovery. MGH's "operating room of the future" is improving throughput while reducing stress on doctors and nurses.

• Wait times reduced from 29.9 minutes to 8.3 minutes
• Operations-per-day average increased from 2.5 to 3.2

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Technology -- Boston Metro       

In September 2004, Governor Romney announced a new website that streamlines government bureaucracy by creating a one-stop portal for citizens seeking to tap into the state's complex network of social and medical services. The website screens applicants, steers them toward appropriate programs and allows them to fill out a single application form for many services.

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Technology -- Boston Metro       

Massachusetts hospitals are adopting the Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) system, a computer application used to order medications that helps reduce medical errors. Currently, 10% of state hospitals use CPOE, while an additional 20% are in the process of implementing the system. CPOE provides physicians with a menu of possible medications for each patient, complete with default doses and a safe range of potential doses for each drug. The system also checks patients' medical histories for drug allergies and for potentially unsafe drug-to-drug interactions. Research shows that hospitals that implement CPOE save money and improve patient safety. According the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, fully implementing CPOE has the potential to create $275 million in net cost savings annually.

• Most common causes for medical errors are lack of knowledge about drug effects and lack of information about the patient
• On average, each prescription error adds $2,000 to $5,000 in hospital costs
• Boston study found that CPOE reduces serious medical errors by 55%

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Technology -- National/International

E-prescribing with a wireless PDA
(courtesy of  www.webbchappell.com)

Tufts Health Plan and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts teamed with ZixCorp® in October 2003 to form the eRx Collaborative, which promotes the widespread adoption of e-prescribing technology. ZixCorp®'s PocketScript software increases patient safety by safeguarding against prescription errors and saves time for doctors, pharmacists, and patients. It cross-references patients' drug histories with newly prescribed drugs to identify potential interactions and provides doctors with information on preferred, non-preferred, and generic medications. The eRx Collaborative is the first joint-initiative by major health insurers to help doctors adopt innovative new e-prescribing technology. Its goals are to enhance patient safety, reduce healthcare spending, and deliver a robust, secure e-prescribing system.

• Over 2,700 MA doctors agreed to participate by the end of 2004
• 27,000 e-prescriptions per week by MA doctors in December 2004
• Neighborhood Health Plan and DrFirst joined collaborative over the past year

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Technology -- Boston Metro       

indoor swimming pool insulated with Nanogel

Cabot Corporation has created a groundbreaking product for use in insulation and architectural lighting. Nanogel® is a translucent form of silica modified to create a unique microstructure of nano-sized pores. Because of their design, these particles form the lightest and best-insulating solid material in the world. Resulting products include translucent yet well insulating walls - like windows, but with superior heat retention. This technology offers exciting design possibilities for the construction business by improving natural lighting without sacrificing warmth.

• Particles weigh only 90 grams per liter, making them the world's lightest solid material
• Particles are larger in surface area than most nanoscale products (10 microns or larger)
• Recognized as most innovative energy savings product at Bau 2005 (Germany's leading building and construction exhibition)

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Technology -- Boston Metro       

A major reason why solar power is so expensive is the high cost of manufacturing photovoltaic cells out of silicon. Konarka has now eliminated this problem. Employing a nano-mixture of organic chemicals, they are able to print photovoltaic film without silicon. Large sheets can be economically manufactured in a process similar to that used by photographic film manufacturers. The film is flexible enough to be woven into clothing or integrated into roofing material. Konarka has a multi-million dollar contract with the Pentagon for solar products, including a tent made of photovoltaic material. Consumer products are scheduled by the end of the year.

• Photovoltaic threads could revolutionize the clothing industry
• Company spun out of the University of Massachusetts
• $36 million in funding from tier-one investors

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Technology -- Boston Metro       

Local biomaterials company Angstrom Medica has engineered a synthetic bone material that replicates the composition and performance of human bone. Currently, fractures and other skeletal injuries are treated by implanting metal screws, plates, pins or rods into the patient. These metal bone replacement materials can weaken the surrounding bone and cause infections. Angstrom Medica's synthetic bone alleviates these drawbacks. NanOss^TM is built out of nanocrystals of calcium and phosphate, the two main ingredients of human bone. These crystals are small enough to blend naturally into living bone cells, making the surrounding bone stronger. Gradually, the bone cells engulf the nanocrystals, break them down and remodel them into new bone.

• Nanocrystals are 100 nanometers across (one nanometer = one billionth of a meter)
• Future prospects include usint this technology to deliver drugs to fight bone cancer
• Secured $3.7 million in financing to complete development and initiate clinical trials
• Founded by MIT researchers in 2001

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Technology -- Boston Metro       

Local company iRobot is pioneering breakthroughs in robot mobility and autonomy with its PackBot line, designed to collect information and complete tasks that are dangerous or difficult for humans to accomplish. Using the latest advances in robot mobility, PackBot can traverse difficult terrain quickly and efficiently. Its Quickflip^TM dual rotating flippers and ToughTrack^TM polymer tracks let it quickly penetrate inaccessible areas. They can climb stairs and curbs, navigate around rubble or rocks, and maneuver through sand, mud and snow with ease. The robots are programmed with multiple modes of operation, from complete human control by wireless remote to full autonomy. The Pentagon is investing in iRobot because of the military applications of its PackBot line.

• Intelligent Power Management System constantly monitors battery life
• Can cover open ground at up to 14 km/hr
• Features include GPS receiver, absolute orientation and temperature sensors, and real time audio and video communications

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 Blacksburg Alert 

Technology -- National/International    

Innovation

Revolutionary government-to-citizen communications tool that lets the town share information with the public instantaneously and provides citizens with the option to receive updates on topics of interest by phone, fax, or e-mail.

Description

Blacksburg Alert is an innovative solution for improving communications between government agencies, citizens, volunteer organizations, and the general public. After registering for the free service, Blacksburg, Virginia residents can select which types of notifications they wish to receive. Many citizens value the service because of its immediacy and reliability, and the town staff sees the benefits of its efficiency and ease of information sharing. Notices are entered once into a web-based interface and are dispersed to all communication devices simultaneously. For the first time ever, citizens can receive timely information that is pertinent to their needs and in the format that works best for them. Blacksburg Alert has been recognized with a 2004 Government Technology Leadership Award.

• Topics include Traffic, Recreation, Refuse & Recycling, and Development News
• Emergency Notices let officials disseminate critical information
• Notifies parents when school lets out early due to bad weather
• Can receive weekly e-news synopses with web links

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Technology -- National/International    

OregonHelps! breaks the barrier to social service eligibility discovery by improving access for those families most in need. By consolidating Oregon's confusing social service application processes into a single form, OregonHelps! makes it easier for families to check if they qualify for social services from the privacy of their homes. OregonHelps! is a multilingual web-based tool that checks eligibility for twelve Oregon social service programs simultaneously. It assists citizens who want to privately and confidentially check their potential eligibility before doing the application paperwork, providing them with much more ease and dignity.

• Improves access to food, housing, and healthcare services
• A process that used to take hours in multiple locations now takes minutes
• Available in Spanish, Russian, Vietnamese, and English
• Recognized with 2003 Government Technology Leadership Award

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Technology -- National/International

San Francisco Mayor Newsom demonstrates
Wi-Fi service in Union Square

Visitors with wireless-enabled laptop computers, or other wireless devices, can now access the Internet anywhere in the Union Square public park area. The service uses widely available wireless fidelity, or "Wi-Fi," technology. The Wi-Fi services will encourage more visitors to the Union Square area and demonstrate how wireless broadband technologies can support economic development and increased public access to high-speed Internet service.

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Technology -- Boston Metro       

OneCleveland, a nonprofit provider of high-speed data networking services, has helped Case Western build one of the most advanced Gigabit Ethernet networks in existence, serving the campus and University Circle. University Circle is a concentration of cultural, research, healthcare and government institutions in a 550-acre park near central Cleveland with over one million visitors per year. The world-famous Cleveland Orchestra, the internationally recognized Cleveland Museum of Art, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Cleveland Institute of Art, the Cleveland Natural History Museum and the Cleveland Botanical Gardens are just some of the more than four dozen institutions linked together by a network of extraordinary bandwidth and an unprecedented 20,000 Gigabit Ethernet ports.

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Technology -- National/International      

Connecting Victoria is the blueprint by the government of Victoria, Australia for growing the State's information and communications technology (ICT) sector. It has six key planks with the overarching aim of bringing the benefits of technology to all Victorians: building a learning society, growing industries of the future, boosting e-commerce, connecting communities, improving infrastructure and access, and promoting a new style of government. Multimedia Victoria is the Government agency principally responsible for implementing Connecting Victoria. A key aim has been to foster an education system in which ICT becomes part of the everyday classroom. Victorian schools are now better equipped with technology than ever before. As a result, Victoria was recognized in 2004 as one of the world's seven most Intelligent Communities.

• Every teacher provided with a notebook computer and e-mail account
• Student-to-computer ratio is among the best in the world
• School curricula updated to emphasize technology skills
• "Skills.net" program has given 107,000 Victorians affordable or free technology training

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 Taipei CyberCity Initiative 

Technology -- National/International

Innovation

To address the rising congestion of Taipei's roads, the city decided to replace vehicle traffic with Internet traffic and base economic development on moving information instead of people and goods.

Description

Taipei was recognized in 2004 as one of the world's seven most Intelligent Communities.  One reason was the decision, made in 1998, to replace traditional thinking that "geographical space" should be the focus of Taipei's economic development efforts with a focus on "network space" to build Taipei's CyberCity.  The Taipei CyberCity Initiative's goal is offer equal access to Internet services for all and to view Internet services as public utilities.  The program's successes include putting a computer in every classroom and on every public employee's desk, creating a website for every city agency, and providing citizens with free Internet training and e-mail accounts.

• Provided 210,000 citizens with free e-mail accounts
• Provided 240,000 citizens with free training sessions
• Installed 800 public Internet kiosks
• Created electronic document system that saves $7.5 million per year

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Technology -- National/International    

Glasgow Science Centre
(courtesy of Greater Glasgow & Clyde Valley Tourist Board)

 Glasgow has become the focal point of regional and national policy initiatives by Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Executive to develop a broad-based knowledge economy for Scotland and obtain the maximum economic and social advantages from telecommunication technologies. Scottish Enterprise's strategic framework for Glasgow exploits the benefits of broadband technology, as this is the key to harnessing a skilled population, a healthy community and a competitive business base. Its use of state-of-the-art telecommunications technology to promote economic growth has made the city a major e-commerce hub in the UK. The city will continue to develop innovative ways of using new technologies to drive economic growth for the benefit of its citizens and the Scottish economy.

• Glasgow's unemployment rates dropped from 16.8% in 1996 to 6.9% in 2000
• Will become one of the first European cities to build a 3G wireless service
• British Telecom plans to build the largest Data Hosting facility in the UK in Glasgow
• Recognized as world's "Intelligent Community of the Year" in 2004

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Technology -- National/International    

The Electronic Government Coordination started the Telecentros project in June 2001 with the objective of providing low cost access to computing technology in São Paulo's outlying areas, classified as "Low Human Development" regions. Each community technology center, or Telecentros, has 10 to 20 computers with broadband Internet access. The Telecentros rely entirely on "open source" computing technology and have thus become one of the largest government sponsored open source projects in the world.

• 118 Telecentros presently operating around São Paulo
• Over 400,000 citizens served
• Each Telecentro serves approximately 3,000 people

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