Developing Rackets & Evolving Kudos

This week there are many kudos and congratulations to go around to friends of Lux. Last week, I quoted Lux Capital friend Bob Metcalfe, inventor of Ethernet, founder of networking giant 3Com and partner at Polaris Ventures. You can hear Bob speak at our annual Lux Executive Summit in October off Harvard Square (other speakers include famed inventor Dean Kamen and Sen. John Kerry). Here’s what Bob said, "I call it the global warming bubble. What bubbles do is they're an accelerator in technological investments to be made; they cause the status quo to be questioned. The trick of course...is to have a chair when the music stops."



Speaking of networking, scientist Albert-Lazio Barabasi published a paper this week (conducted in another country as such research would be illegal in the U.S.) that tracked 100,000 cell phone users’ behaviors. Over a six month period, they found that 50% of the people stayed within a 6-mile radius, 75% stayed within 20 miles of home and 83% stayed within 37 miles. The researchers noted: "individuals display significant regularity because they return to a few highly frequented locations, such as home or work.”



Yep, we are creatures of habit. But the really interesting implication is for using these patterns to predict and react to the spread of disease and epidemics.



Speaking of epidemics (and contagious success)—congrats this week go to Lux Venture Partner David Sinclair, PhD. As most know, David had a successful IPO and then sold his company Sirtris last month for nearly $750 million to Glaxo. David’s new startup Genocea, this week announced a major partnership with PATH and Children’s Hospital. As my Lux partner and Genocea co-founder Rob Paull said, “Genocea believes it’s important to address both the needs of the developed world and geographies where poverty, socio-economic challenges, and disease prevalence require public/private partnerships to bring innovative approaches to help those most in need."



Like Bob Metcalfe’s quote above, I’ve also spilled a lot of ink on the foolhardy behavior in chasing moonshine and sunbeams (ethanol and solar). As Eric Hoffer said, “Every great cause beings as a movement, becomes a business and eventually degenerates into a racket.” Or as 18th century French philosopher Voltaire said, “It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong”.



But here’s something on which the established authorities are clearly right about. Big congrats go to the team at the NanoBusiness Alliance, a group I co-founded nearly seven years ago. Executive Chairman Sean Murdock worked tirelessly and today he commended the House of Representatives for passing the National Nanotechnology Initiative Amendments Act of 2008. The bill reauthorizes and updates the successful federal interagency nanotechnology R&D program and it passed by an overwhelming bipartisan margin. "We are pleased that Congress continues to recognize the importance of nanotechnology," said Murdock. "It is imperative that the U.S. maintain its lead in the global nanotechnology race, and this bill will help make that happen." The bill updates the National Nanotechnology Initiative, first authorized in 2003, and adds new provisions in several key areas: addressing environmental, health, and safety (EHS) issues associated with nanotechnology; improving nanotechnology education; ensuring that new technology moves from the laboratory to the marketplace; focusing research efforts in areas of national importance such as electronics, energy efficiency, health care, and water remediation; and research into nanomanufacturing.



Monthly subscribers will find out which companies will be big beneficiaries and who stands to lose.