PARC Innovations Update (2008 #6)

This is the archive entry for our e-mail newsletter, PARC Innovations Update. [subscribe]

• Spotlight: Portable, flat, digital x-ray imaging
• Case Study: Translating a vision into a marketplace reality
• Recruiting: Highly qualified students invited to apply for 2009 internships
• On the Road: Optical sensors in biomedical applications
• PARC in the News: staying on the edge of innovation; materials challenge; spam & AI; more

Links are not provided for older items in the archive.

Spotlight: Portable, flat, digital x-ray imaging

PARC was awarded a U.S. Government contract to develop a portable, digital x-ray, flat-panel imaging system for the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency. The project leverages PARC expertise in amorphous silicon (a-Si), which represents PARC’s large area electronics work. This rapidly growing field is dominated by current and emerging applications in flat-panel displays for TV, monitors, laptops, and cellphones; solar cells and x-ray detectors; radio frequency ID; and e-paper and signage, among other industry uses. PARC has a versatile process line that allows rapid prototyping of large area electronics concepts, with a full range of large-area processing for a-Si, LTPS, and organics. More at… Please contact pr@parc.com for a brochure about PARC’s large-area electronics R&D services and facilities, ideal for materials suppliers, manufacturers, and novel display companies.

Case Study: Translating a vision into a marketplace reality

The founders of startup Powerset, Inc., were convinced that there had to be a better way to search the web instead of inputting isolated keywords and hunting through a list of results to find relevant information. PARC’s natural language technology patents and research collaboration enabled Powerset (recently acquired by Microsoft) to develop and deploy a breakthrough consumer search engine within just 24 months…

Recruiting: Highly qualified students invited to apply for 2009 internships

We invite highly qualified graduate, MBA, and undergraduate students to apply to be interns at one of the most prolific innovation centers in the world. PARC interns are fully integrated into the daily activities of our highly collaborative, multidisciplinary culture. Interns will have the opportunity to work with leading scientists in the physical, computer, biological, and social sciences; engage in different stages of the research or business-development pipeline; and receive authorship on publications or patents…

On the Road: Optical sensors in biomedical applications

PARC organized a symposium on materials for optical sensors in biomedical applications at the recent Materials Research Society Meeting in Boston. Our scientists also presented a fundamentally new design of an optical detection system for flow that delivers high effective sensitivity (i.e., high signal-to-noise discrimination) without complex optics or bulky, expensive light sources. Unlike flow cytometers that are currently used in research and clinical laboratories, PARC’s technology enables compact, low-cost performance appropriate for point-of-care diagnostics in resource-limited settings — such as CD4 monitoring required for proper treatment of HIV-infected patients…

PARC in the News

Staying on the edge of innovation — ZDNet “CIO Sessions”
“As a separate company…we now have a much broader charter to look at new areas,” Scott Elrod, PARC vice president, said to Dan Farber when interviewed about what it takes to stay on the edge of innovation. Topics include strategies for maintaining a culture of innovation; how low-cost cleantech is enabled by printing competencies; and how innovation problems are defined and solutions developed.

Materials are a tough challenge for ultraviolet diode lasers — Laser Focus World
How Spam is Improving AI — Technology Review
Cheap, lightweight plastic strip that can be worn to help diagnose brain injury — Technology Review
Powerset Gives Microsoft Semantic Search Tools — Redmond Developer News
The Paper Chasers — Newsweek
Black Swans and Greenwashing — Greentech Media
Gamer Girls: More females flocking to video games — TMC News