Is there a step-by-step procedure, which can assist the innovation process? Several experts tend to support a theory, which describes how a good idea should quickly be converted into an economic activity. There are others who feel that lateral thinking is a gift & all that we need to do is to create the right ambience.

There is a need for a platform to encourage the innovative process from the idea stage till a working a working model.

IRIS-Initiative for Research & Innovation in Science blends both schools of thoughts. IRIS is a joint project of Department of Science & Technology, CII and Intel Technology India Pvt. Ltd. The initiative aims at facilitating the ideas from young minds to reach the market place.

• FDA to explore safety of nanotechnology
  
  
  ASSOCIATED PRESS
  
  Federal regulators said yesterday they want to get a better handle on the burgeoning use of nanotechnology in everyday products, as their German counterparts struggle to understand why nearly 100 people suffered respiratory problems after using a novel cleaning product made with the submicroscopic particles.
  
  The Food and Drug Administration said it plans an October meeting to discuss the new kinds of nanotechnology materials being developed for use in the products it regulates, including drugs, foods, cosmetics and medical devices. FDA-regulated products account for about 25 cents of every dollar spent each year by U.S. consumers.
  
  Nanotechnology involves the manufacture and manipulation of materials at the molecular or atomic level. At that scale, materials are measured in nanometers or billionths of a meter. Nanoscale materials are generally less than 100 nanometers in diameter. A sheet of paper, in comparison, is 100,000 nanometers thick.
  
  Officials with Germany's Federal Institute for Risk Assessment continue to probe 97 cases of intoxication, some of them severe, in people who had used a recently introduced aerosol cleaning product called "Magic Nano."
  
  The product, which is not sold in the United States, has since been withdrawn from sale in Germany. Officials there said they assume inhalation of the aerosol droplets caused the respiratory problems, but they cannot rule out whether the nano particles it contains also contributed.
  
  "These incidents have demonstrated that the introduction of new technologies in consumer products must be coupled with an assessment of the possible risks arising from their use. It is incumbent on science to communicate this message to consumers as well," institute President Andreas Hensel said.
  
  The FDA said the October meeting would help alert the agency to any scientific issues about nanotechnology.
  
  "They seem to be more open about finding out what's going on rather than saying they have everything under control," said Andrew Maynard, chief science adviser to the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, which was established jointly last year by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Pew Charitable Trusts.
  
  The project has released a catalog of more than 200 products on the market that include nanotechnology.
  
  Nano materials, because of their special properties, can pose safety issues different from their larger-sized counterparts, the FDA said.

  http://washingtontimes.com/business/20060413-105214-5381r.htm

  
  
  
• Small Wireless Device may Improve Cancer Treatment'
  
  
  (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A new wireless device the size of a grain of rice may help improve cancer treatment.
  
  Engineers at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., are creating the technology. It could be implanted in tumors to tell doctors the exact dose of radiation received during treatment and the exact position of tumors.
  
  So far, researchers at Purdue's Birck Nanotechnology Center have tested a dime-size version of the device. They expect to have the miniature version by the end of the summer.
  
  "Currently, there is no way of knowing the exact dose of radiation received by a tumor," says Babak Ziaie, an associate professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue. "And, because most organs shift inside the body depending on whether a patient is sitting or lying down, for example, the tumor also shifts. This technology will allow doctors to pinpoint the exact position of the tumor to more effectively administer radiation treatments."
  
  The wireless device will be placed into the tumor with a needle. It will be activated with electrical coils placed next to the body that can track the tumor.
  
  The technology is similar to that in the common electret microphone, which contains a membrane that vibrates in response to sound waves.
  
  "It's basically like a very small tuning circuit in your radio," Ziaie says. "This will be a radiation dosimeter plus a tracking device in the same capsule. It will be hermetically sealed so that it will not have to be removed from the body."

  http://www.ivanhoe.com/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=13554