Over lunch at Nanobusiness 2006, Steve Jurvetson, VC pioneer in nanotech at Draper, Fisher Jurvetson, really hit the "triple helix" of innovation (what I call the convergence of infotech, nanotech and biotech) on the head.
Jurvetson's company has invested in some of the most promising nanotech companies, in areas as diverse as molecular memory (ZettaCore) to low-cost, plastic based solar material (Konarka). But he focused his remarks on an area right up my (and, I trust, IBM's) alley... the boundless frontier where IT meets biology: in particular, the emerging ability to design and build useful new, sythentic cells, created from scratch from customized DNA.
Scientists have already built simple virus and other structures from the "bottom" up by assembling the organism's DNA letter by letter. But Jurvetson was talking about being able to draw on a vast DNA database to build customized biomachines engineered to produce energy, clean up toxins or pollution and solve other commercial challenges.
Such "life software" is becoming increasingly plausible, especially in the wake (pun intended) of the round the world voyage by Craig Venter (of the Human Genome project fame) to harvest and sequence the staggering diversity of genomes in marine microorganisms, bacteria and viruses.
Venter's new company, Synthetic Genomics, aims to enable the production of such biomemetic (nature imitating), self-assembling cellular factories. One of the first goals is to produce an artificial chromosome engineered to produce hydrogen or ethanol, in ways similar to how living plants turn sunlight into energy by photosynthesis.
This work epitomizes the ways in which lab sciences, such as biology and chemistry, have blurred into information sciences, and how nanotechnology points to a future in which matter will be turned into code, and code into matter.
So here's my epiphany: IBM has enormous skills and decades of expertise innovating information technology. In the last fifteen years, it has developed deep knowledge and a growing portfolio of IP in various areas of nanotechnology. And in only the last five years, IBM has become deeply involved in advancing life sciences and healthcare, one of its most dynamic areas of growth. We have the assets to build the triple helix at hand.
I believe IBM must now find a way to more fully integrate these three strands of opportunity to serve the "mega-innovation" that experts see at the crossroads of info, nano and bio. Moreover, it must find a way to become a global enabler of the ecosystem for this triple helix. Perhaps this mammoth objective could be advanced through a new consulting practice, cross-disciplinary group in Research, or the development of an entirely new set of services or solutions.
Of course, I'm sure that many of my colleagues throughout IBM, who represent the full spectrum of business and technology experts, almost certainly agree that IBM should marshall its resources at this inflection point (and technological convergence) to accelerate these advances. For all I know, such a sweeping initiative may already be on someone's drawing board.
Moreover, such a moonshot would demand the collaboration of many other institutions, companies, universities and governments, and have a global reach.
How could IBMers spark and support such a cross-disciplinary, open, global and collaborative business initiative to integrate IT, nano and bio? How could your external input and insight catalyze such a world-changing meta project to leap from this page to a worldwide reality?
The field is wide open, and so is my interest in hearing your thoughts.
Jack Mason, IBM Strategic Communications, HealthNex Producer
IBM HealthNex life sciences nanoparticles nanotechnology synthetic biology innovation convergence convergence
As I read this post I thought "Does this finally mean corporate America actually getting it." Followed by the thought " if not IBM who will make covergence a reality?" It certaily not going to be a unversity with all their tenured silos, grant driven research and lazy tenured professors. Only corporate willpower and endgoal project/application driven thinking (and let's be serious, deep pockets)will move forward the completely disruptive collaborative approach needed to turn the wonder of Jurvetsons visions and theories into reality. With IBM's leadership in emerging technologies --it, nano, bio -- are they up to the challenge? I hope so.
Posted by: FM Modzelewski | May 18, 2006 at 12:44 PM
Envisioned by Steve Jurvetson about five years ago, the
"triple helix" is coming together now.
Craig Venter's "Synthetic Genomics" will deliver. The
hitherto "missing link" of understanding of 8% "junk DNA"
in the tiny DNA of the bacterium he is to tweak to produce
hydrogen is boosted by showing a "FractoGem" (http://www.fractogem.com)
in it - using a "Pyknon-type" patterning. ("Pyknon" is by
Rigoutsos at IBM Watson Ctr, for the connection between
Pyknon-s and FractoGene, see http://www.pyknon.com).
Yes, it is all happening in the private domain...
"FractoGem Miner" is the service product by the newly established
business unit "FractoSoft".
I like the "moonshot" analogy - but that was a colossal
undertaking by the government (as a former scientist at
NASA can say, costing way too much), while moonshots did not
really make much difference for our daily life.
"The triple helix" will - as it should make a difference.
Understanding of the tiny sliver of non-coding DNA might bring
a "hydrogen-based economy" closer. Hundreds of millions sick
of "non-coding DNA diseases" need help ASAP - and no "gene
discovery" will help with those diseases that are not caused
by genes - but "misregulation" by "junk" DNA.
Yes, it will be "software for Genomics": FractoSoft.
Dr. Pellionisz
Posted by: Andras Pellionisz | June 16, 2006 at 12:52 AM