great article! Clean tech perseveres in tough economy

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David Anthony speaking to a crowd in Seattle WA - USA



Without further ado, give you my latest article:

Clean tech perseveres in tough economy

By Efrain Viscarolasaga

The pre-holiday Fourth Conference on Clean Energy at the Hynes Convention Center is long since over, but the event has traditionally proven to be a litmus test for the local clean energy industry.

Surprisingly, the event maintained at least a slight feeling of optimism for the long-term prospects of the local clean technology community, despite the plunging stock market, tightening financial environment and plummeting price of oil. If nothing else, its success bolstered the industry’s position among the region’s traditional industry heavyweights such as telecom, biotech and finance, and left attendees feeling that the industry has a future beyond next year’s event.

Some notes:

• Stealthy portable battery maker Lilliputian Systems Inc. of Wilmington made an appearance at the conference, with new vice president of business development and marketing Mouli Ramani walking the halls. Though the company had a small presence at the show, its big announcement came from its Wilmington facility, where Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick attended an event and helped the company announce the addition of 100 new “green collar” jobs through a planned expansion of its manufacturing plant.

The expansion comes as the company finally put a target date — 2009 — on the release of its portable fuel cell for wireless devices.

For the uninitiated, Lilliputian was founded out of MIT on research developed by Samuel Schaevitz and Aleks Franz, Lilliputian’s co-founders. In 2003 they added CEO Ken Lazarus, and despite raising more than $60 million in funding, the company has remained fairly quiet about its technology.

Over the past few months, a slow stream of information coming out of the company seems to indicate that it has solved the technology issues, and units could be forthcoming as soon as next year.

While such miniature, portable fuel cells have been researched both here and in Asia for years, they have always been “some time away.” If Lilliputian has indeed solved the technology issues, and has a device that can penetrate the $50 billion portable power market, it is no surprise the governor turned out for its expansion announcement.

When you consider the applicability of such power sources on everything from cell phones and music players to GPS units and laptops, 100 new jobs to get them out the door may be just the beginning.

• Two local companies used the conference to announce new funding. Cellulosic ethanol microbe developer SunEthanol Inc. announced its name change to Qteros Inc. and brought in $25 million, while alternative engine technology maker ReGen Power Systems LLC added $5 million to its coffers.

What’s interesting about the two deals is that despite the Chicken Little syndrome that has many in the industry saying no “new money” is coming out of the VC community, both deals included new investors. Qteros’ new investors include Cambridge-based Venrock, New York-based Soros Fund Management LLC and energy giant BP PLC, joining previous investors Battery Ventures,Long River Ventures and Camros Capital.

For ReGen Power Systems, the investment represents the firm’s first private funding, though it previously received $500,000 from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative. It’s new investors are New York-based 21Ventures LLC and the Quercus Trust.

Despite being held during the heart of one of the worst financial weeks in recent history, the economic outlook of the clean energy sector was positive among attendees of the conference. The financial sections of the event, including the annual “investor pitch” sessions, where budding entrepreneurs pitch their company to potential investors, were among the most-attended sessions of the event.

• The atmosphere was likewise positive at the conference’s job fair, where a handful of companies still hiring people (rather than laying them off) fielded questions from a room packed with potential employees. According to Matthew Richards, the founder and managing director of renewable energy recruiting firm DanePartners, which sponsored the job fair, the abundance of job seekers wasn’t all that surprising, given the economy. The number of companies hiring, however, including Conservation Services Group of Westborough, Satcon Technologies Corp. of Boston, Konarka Technologies Inc. of Lowell, Evergreen Solar Inc. of Marlborough and Second Wind Inc. of Somerville, was encouraging.

Among the areas that were most active, said Richards, were green-collar jobs, those that require hands-on knowledge of technologies, both new and traditional. Sectors most active on the recruitment side included energy efficiency and demand-response companies, as opposed to core technology research companies in the wind, solar or biomass sectors.

Taking Control of International Waterways

Waterways are, of course, vital to the economies of so many countries around the world. Their protection is of the utmost importance. Remember the attack on the USS Cole?

U.S. naval forces and port security directors have learned their lesson and work harder than ever to protect their water-based assets. An intelligent video analytics platform can monitor and detect vessels entering into prohibited space. Patrolling vessels are immediately notified of the breach and can respond before the damage is done.

Top 10 Reasons for Incorporating Intelligent Video Analytics

10. With the right software, existing closed circuit surveillance systems can be easily upgraded to include intelligent detection and analysis capabilities, which minimize the chance of human error in preventing security breaches or execution of suspicious activities.

9. Appropriate authorities are notified of suspicious activity in real-time so as to prevent any issues from escalating due to personnel response capabilities.

8. Able to detect numerous activities at once, intelligent video analytics, such as that offered by AgentVi, can increase the effectiveness of security personnel by allowing them to accurately monitor large areas.

7. Intelligent video analytics nowadays can be integrated into thermal or night imaging to detect suspicious activities any time of day in any type of weather condition.

6. Video analytics significantly boosts monitoring accuracy for security personnel.

5. AgentVi knows that scalability is a huge concern, and as such, has developed the appropriate technology to maximize the scalability of existing security systems.

4. Because intelligent video analytics is a software solution and can be integrated into existing surveillance systems, the costs for upgrading are much less than revamping an entire closed circuit system.

3. Even cameras of mid-range quality can be as effective as high-range cameras because of the capabilities provided by intelligent video analytics

2. Intelligent video analytics requires little training time for security personnel because of the intuition of the software being integrated.

1. AgentVi’s security solutions can be tailored to the very specific needs of its customers

Intelligent Video Tracks Terrorist Border Crossing

Under the cloak of darkness, intruders try their best to infiltrate borders, buildings and security infrastructures. Thermal imaging and night vision does a decent job at eliminating surprise at night, but with large areas to monitor and analyze, sometimes security systems falter. Combining existing thermal imagery with advanced, intelligent video analytics, security personnel can now comb large swaths of land with more effectiveness.

The Israeli military has integrated video analytics and thermal imagery to track terrorists looking to cross into Israel. The camera, with its intelligent processing, can track a number of suspicious individuals in the field without overwhelming security personnel monitoring the activity. Additionally, with the ability to track their path of movement, soldiers can maneuver into the area without stumbling across planted booby traps or ambushes.

The New Meter Maid

Everyone has spent time driving around their respective cities looking for that ideal parking space only to be let down after twenty minutes of circling. In despair, risk is taken by parking in a spot less than ideal, often times illegal. We ask, is a parking enforcement officer going to come around this corner? Come to this side of town? Peer into this alley for an illegally parked car? We gamble and hope that the person checking for parking violations is having a good day.

Meter maids and parking enforcement officers can now become a thing of the past. Intelligent video analytics is taking over, informing authorities remotely of illegal parking, and even suspicious street activity. Here, a New York City camera, equipped with state-of-the-art video analytics and intelligent processing has identified a vehicle that has stopped illegally in front of a judicial building.

Dam Security Upgrades

Securing a population’s water supply is something we seem comfortable leaving up to those who know best – the authorities. But with the increasing threats of terrorism, how can we be so sure that the infrastructure supplying our water is indeed being protected all the time?

To counter terrorist and criminal threats, security experts around the world are turning their attention to tech-centric water management and security solutions, such as advanced video surveillance systems with integrated intelligence, not just mere analytics capabilities.

Such video surveillance systems are used to monitor thousands of cameras effectively with the intelligence embedded right into the camera. IP Bandwidth is only used when the intelligent video analytics draws attention to suspicious activity which is then further analyzed by a central server while a live human being determines the next course of action.

Remember the days when city engineers ran a tube along a road to count the cars?

Back in the day when we only had computers in dark corners of school libraries, cars where counted using a pressure tubing physically strewn across a road or highway and bolted into place. Thanks to computers and the modern wonder of video analytics, cars can be counted in each line without bolting any pressure tubes. Now we just need to teach this computer to find us an open parking spot, we'd be all set...

...Intelligent security cameras allow for a cheaper safer public environment and also reduce costs in other civic tasks. Big brother is watching, but he is also helping out.