Touring technology
Throughout my academic life, I reveled in labs. No matter how abstract I found a concept in chemistry or physics lectures, I could always get it once it was applied in a laboratory setting. Between the Bunsen burners and the Van de Graaff generator, I spent a lot of time in labs exploring the science of things.
So it was tremendous fun for me to take a tour of the Maine Advanced Technology and Engineering Center a couple of months ago. The center, housed at Brunswick Landing on the campus of Southern Maine Community College, is a living laboratory for composites research. Composites technology students use the more than $1 million in specialized equipment to test theories about composites, and just as importantly, to help manufacturers find solutions to their problems.
When I was there in December, students had fashioned a special composites brace designed to attach to the side of a boat. The brace was a customized mount for an underwater camera that was being used to map the ocean floor. It was resistant to salt water corrosion and designed to keep a camera steady in water.
Since it was founded less than two years ago, the lab has tackled many problems for business, such as the brace design. Senior Writer Jim McCarthy reveals others in his story on the lab and the unusual relationship it has created between academia and the for-profit world in “Lab results,” part of this issue's focus on technology.
Also part of the focus, Online Editor Darren Fishell touches base with a Sanford company that has skin in the space race. Applied Thermal Sciences is working on technology to create a rocket that uses an air-breathing jet to carry small satellite payloads at a fraction of the per-launch cost of the huge rockets made by Boeing and others. See what's up at ATS in “Rocket Science."
We also offer some advice on applying new technology in your office from Matt Stein, a partner in Pierce Atwood's intellectual property and technology group. In his article, Matt lays out the opportunities and the risks associated with using the cloud, social media and big data.
But before you get too deep into the issue, make sure you stop to read Senior Writer Lori Valigra's cover story on the rise of food co-ops here in Maine. The five new co-ops ready to launch this year will nearly double the number of food co-ops around the state. And as the drought extends its crippling control of Southwest farmers, you can bet that local produce this summer will be a lot more affordable in your nearby food co-op than what you're likely to find trucked in to supermarkets. Lori takes a look at the economics of food co-ops in “Strength in numbers.” (And take a few moments to revel in Tim Greenway's photo cover. You can almost smell the apples and feel the crunch of the carrots. A great respite to this winter that refuses to end …)
And finally, make sure you grab the March 24 issue of Mainebiz before anyone else in your office. In it, we'll reveal our 2014 Business Leaders of the Year, an impressive class of exceptional executives. You'll be inspired by their profiles, and you'll have the chance to join in celebrating their accomplishments when we have our recognition reception in May.
There's nothing abstract about that concept.
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