2020.AU

Netherlands biotech to open major biopharmaceutical facility – Austrade

Mordy — Wed, 26 May 2010 00:29:27 +0000

Investor Update: Netherlands biotech [Royal DSM] to open major biopharmaceutical facility – Austrade.

This month the Australian government and Royal DSM NV announced to invest in establishing a major biopharmaceutical facility in Queensland. Being familiar with this company, I know that this is an exciting development for Queensland and Australia. According to the press release, DSM is providing patented technology, whereas the Australian government funds the facility. I am looking forward to hearing how this project will influence the economics and R&D in Queensland.

Open Course Ware

Mordy — Mon, 24 May 2010 03:21:24 +0000

The mission of the OpenCourseWare Consortium is to advance education and empower people worldwide through opencourseware. Open course ware offers people around the globe to learn from the teachers at world renown institution, such as MIT and Stanford. Interesting environmental related open course ware include:

Environmental Impact Assesment (with contributions by RMIT)
Strategic Environmental Assesment
Overview of environmental related courses offered by MIT

Recycling of Rare Earth Elements

Mordy — Mon, 17 May 2010 09:51:03 +0000

Last week I attended the Cleantech Science and Solutions conference in Melbourne. One of the points I took home, is the relevance of rare earth elements for many modern-day applications, particularly with “green” technologies. China is the main supplier of rare earth elements and keeps the export under strict control. Within this context, I noticed the following press release of the US Department of Energy, announcing a Request for Information. The DOE is developing its first-ever strategic plan concerning rare earth metals and other materials in energy components, products and processes. The European Union is developing its strategies as well. More information about Australia and rare earth elements can be found on this web site. Obvious, the importance of this class of elements, its scarcity and recycling after usage are increasingly important.

Rare earth magnets are used in computer hard drives, bicycle dynamos, magnetic levitation trains and high performance magnetic motors. Hitachi announced last year a R&D project on rare earth magnet recycling. The challenge is to recover small amounts from these devices at the lowest cost. The quantity of rare earth metal in some applications is so limited that recovery might not feasible. The concept of Urban Mines or Urban Ores relates this recovery of materials.

Thanks to Jaco Huisman for the link to the HCSS report: Scarcity of Minerals

Visiting Holland

Mordy — Mon, 19 May 2008 11:40:47 +0000

Currently, I am visiting The Netherlands together with my wife and little daughter. We are here to have a good time with my family and to catch up with everybody.