Wednesday, September 16, 2009 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories:
Business,
Environment,
Media,
Technology
| Tags: entrepreneurs,
links,
Cirque du Soleil,
Innovation,
music
From the reef-like nature of innovation and new ideas, to innovation lessons from the Cirque du Soleil, here’s what the Grant Thornton Innovation team has been reading about this week…
Monday, September 14, 2009 | Posted by: Brian Maguire
Categories:
Media,
Technology
| Tags: technology,
FT,
Twitter,
fashion,
IFA,
Berlin,
Netbook,
Scott Schuman,
Ralph Lauren,
3-D home cinema,
Dell,
pay-per-click,
The Sartorialist,
The Times,
Sascha Pallenberg,
Samsung,
consumer technology,
Gap, Blogging
Berlin’s brand ‘n’ blog gateway opened to a flood of technology innovation last week. The annual IFA, one of the world’s largest tech exhibitions, served as the launch pad for streams of new consumer devices, not least of which is the 3-D home cinema experience. At the hotdog stands, the buzz was all about Samsung’s giant exhibition space, the heart of which was a thirty metre tall entertainment dome. It was all very sci-fi, and I’m still not sure if there was a point to it, other than to elicit hundreds of thousands of “Wow” sounds from visitors, and to create a buzz, around the hotdog stands.
Tuesday, September 08, 2009 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories:
Business,
Environment,
Media,
Technology
| Tags: government,
James Caan,
iawards,
BIS,
innovation awards
Is your organisation British and inventive? Does its innovative products, practices and projects deserve wider recognition? Then the
Friday, September 04, 2009 | Posted by: Brian Maguire
Categories:
Healthcare,
Technology
| Tags: Nano-science, Robots, science, innovation, medical, technology, healthcare
Evolution and progress, they’re not always on the same page. This week, cute little simian features announced the arrival of the mammal with two mums. This is not smart science. Some years from now, teenage Cheetah will be confronting three biological parents. Married Cheetah will bring two mother-in-laws to the wedding. Researchers are considering this genetic modification for humans – they think it’s a good idea, but have they really thought it through? Spare a thought for the Yiddish kid from Brooklyn whose two mothers are disappointed he’s not a doctor or a pilot; life should not be this cruel or unusual.
Thursday, September 03, 2009 | Posted by: Grant Thornton
Categories:
Business
| Tags: R&D, Tax, innovation, investment, government, funding
The Grant Thornton team is aware of revised HMRC thinking in the following areas:
Production costs
Perhaps the most significant of changes relates to HMRC’s stance on costs which relate to the production of products and services for supply to customers. HMRC’s new approach appears to prohibit claims for any production costs where there is the prospect of producing goods or services to customers, even if as part of that production the company is seeking technological advancement through the resolution of technological uncertainty. This is understood to exclude claims in respect of prototypes and ‘first of classes’ that are subsequently sold for use rather than scrapped.
We commissioned The Economist Intelligence Unit to survey UK executives on how assumptions on business models have changed, and how companies are planning to adapt over the next 18 months.
