text:
The Electoral College Map (9/7/08)
We have had just enough of a trickle of polls released over the last two weeks to have kept FHQ from putting up the same ol' map with no means of change. [And during a change election, too!] I would expect a steady stream to start coming out on Monday -- despite the fact that the recent trend has been away from weekend polling and especially releases -- and by the middle of the week we'll begin seeing a vastly larger number of polls. The conventions are over and state polling, like all the other polling, will kick into overdrive as this presidential race enters the home stretch.
New Polls (Sept. 3-7)
(With Leaners/ Without Leaners)
Howey-Gauge
Democracy Corps
The trickle of polls during the latter half of the week included releases from a trio of McCain states. And that adds a nice symmetry to the week's polls. The first half of the week saw three polls from states favoring Obama. We have to be careful about how we treat the trends we see in each due to the timing of the polls. In other words, Indiana, for example, is close -- closer than one might think -- but it was done in the two days after the Democratic convention. Yes, that is during the time when Sarah Palin's selection was rolled out, but still, the caveat should be added. In the case of the North Carolina poll, it was conducted over the course of a week, the end of which overlapped with the first two days of the Democratic convention. There may, then, be some respondents in the poll who heard Hillary Clinton's speech, but that certainly would have been a late hour for polling firms to have been making their calls. Regardless, this is around where the Old North state has been for much of the summer -- right around the 3 or 4 point range.
Changes (Sept. 3-7)
Alaska Toss Up McCain McCain lean
And that leaves us with Alaska, the home of the GOP vice presidential selection. The Last Frontier has been much closer in the polls than history would otherwise tell us. With the selection of Governor Sarah Palin, though, that closeness -- real or just simply in the polls -- seems to be disappearing quickly. Granted, this is just one poll, but this trend will likely continue. What else could come out about Palin to shift things back toward Obama, and even if it did, it seems that most people have made up their minds about her. On average, only 17% of respondents in recent favorablility polls which have added in the Alaska governor failed to view her either favorably or not. That is the lowest of any vice presidential nominee over the last three cycles. Palin also has, again on average, the highest favorable and unfavorable ratings among that group of VP selections. Even with all the bombshells thus far, perceptions appear to formed.
[Click Map to Enlarge]
So Alaska moves into the McCain lean area and will likely continue to move even further to the right of the Electoral College Spectrum, becoming even more intensely red. This may change some in the coming weeks, but, as of now, the underlying distribution of electoral votes is the same. There is an equal distribution of electoral votes between the McCain and Obama toss up and lean categories, but the real difference is between the strong categories, where Obama still holds a 70 electoral vote advantage. That is built on California and New York being firmly on Obama's side. But that is a large part of Obama's -- and any Democrat's -- electoral math. The truth remains that Obama is ahead but not irreversibly so.
The Electoral College Spectrum*
HI-4
(7)**
CO-9***
KS-6
VT-3
NH-4***
SC-8
NE-5
RI-4
AK-3
OR-7
NV-5
TN-11
CT-7
ID-4
ME-4
IA-7
ND-3
KY-8
MD-10
NM-5
NY-31
(87) WI-10
IN-11
WV-5
OK-7
AZ-10
WY-3
LA-9
UT-5
*Follow the link for a detailed explanation on how to read the Electoral College Spectrum.
**The numbers in the parentheses refer to the number of electoral votes a candidate would have if he won all the states ranked prior to that state. If, for example, McCain won all the states up to and including Pennsylvania (all Obama's toss up states, but Michigan), he would have 299 electoral votes. Both candidates numbers are only totaled through their rival's toss up states. In those cases, Obama's number is on the left and McCain's is on the right in italics.
***The line between Colorado and New Hampshire is the where Obama crosses (or McCain would cross) the 270 electoral vote threshold to win the presidential election. That line is referred to as the victory line.
We can talk about this cushion that Obama has based on the comparison between his and McCain's strong category electoral votes, but this election is still based on what is going to happen in those toss up states and to a large extent independent voters in them. The top five states in the Spectrum's middle column above are still the states where much of the action will take place. It is no coincidence then that Obama/Biden and McCain/Palin have been in Virginia and Ohio and Colorado. But the race certainly stretches beyond those boundaries. Florida, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are also targets. All four are toss up states as well with the exception of Wisconsin, which is, as you can see both above and below in the Watch List, on the line between being a lean or toss up state favoring Obama.
The Watch List*
Georgia from McCain lean to Strong McCain
Minnesota from Obama lean to Strong Obama
Mississippi from Strong McCain to McCain lean
Nevada from Tie to Toss Up McCain/Obama
Ohio from Toss Up Obama to Toss Up McCain
Virginia from Toss Up McCain to Toss Up Obama
Washington from Strong Obama to Obama lean
Wisconsin from Obama lean to Toss Up Obama
*Weighted Average within a fraction of a point of changing categories.
Once again, the Watch List shrinks by one this week. With Alaska moving off, and more firmly into the McCain side, the list is down to just eight states. And only three of those states are on the verge of switching partisan sides and just one additional state -- Wisconsin -- is near moving toward being more competitive. The remaining four are either in the high single digits or low double digits. This is one indication that the list of competitive states for these final two months of the campaign are solidifying. What was talked about early on as a map-changing election, then, has narrowed, as can be expected to some extent approaching election day, to the regular group of swing states with a few exceptions (Colorado, Indiana and Virginia to name a few). We will have to see in the coming weeks whether either campaign expands or contracts its operations, as was the case with Georgia recently. That will provide an even clearer indication of where the fight will take place moving forward.
On to the Debates! -- And a Note on Compression
Presidential Primary Reform: Still Alive with the GOP?
Why Attack the Community Organizer?
Posted by Josh Putnam at 7:50 AM
Labels: 2008 presidential election, electoral college projections, September updates, state polls
The map is still quite different from previous elections: all you have to do it is note the states that are closer than Florida and Missouri, two "traditional" sqing states: Virginia, North Dakota, Montana, and Indiana. That's kind of a wacky group.
On another matter, there's something I've been wondering but I've been too lazy to find the data. Is there a correlation between how much the Presidential nominee outshines the VP nominee in favorability rating and success in non-incumbent elections? Anecdotally, that seems possible. In 2000, Lieberman generated as much enthusiasm as Gore; not so with Cheney. In 1988, Quayle was a laughinstock, while Bentsen was well-liked. I was young in 1976, but Dole probably had pretty good favorables compared to Ford; was that true with Mondale compared to Carter? 1968 had Sprio Agnew--enough said.
It does seem possible that it's a bad idea to have your VP outshine you.
You're right of course. That was more talking point than anything. Yes, there are those traditional swing states, but there are some extras thrown into the mix that are different from the usual list. Demographic changes have brought Colorado and Virginia into play. They have come on the scene as states like Iowa and New Mexico have been pushed to the left.
North Dakota is a tricky one. I've been saying, and will continue to do so, that it is one of those states where we need more evidence. Yes, we had the poll out there this week that had Obama up three, but that was a partisan, union-funded poll conducted primarily for the House race.
But that brings up an interesting question: to what extent does an election deemed a "change" election bring unusual states into play for the out-party? 1992 was such an election. Montana, Georgia and Colorado were among the states the GOP traditionally did well in that Bill Clinton was able to win 16 years ago. 1976, in the post-Watergate era was another example. Carter's candidacy was able to pull in much of the South, the same region splintered during 1968 -- another election that could be considered a change election.
Of course there are two problems with this question.
1) How do you define a "change" election?
2) This speaks toward the VP question you posed as well. It has to deal with the small N problem that plagues research on the presidency and presidential elections. I mean, we can think of a handful of incidents where a VP outshone the presidential nominee, or of a "change" election, but there are so few that it is difficult to separate whether the changes we see are based on any one of those factors or some other variable unique to that election.
Both are worth exploring though, but with that limitation in mind. It is ultimately just a generalizability issue. I'll have to think a bit more about both.
A little historical note here. Although Spiro Agnew is now considered a joke, he was a strong pick for Richard Nixon in 1968. He was considered to be a a moderate/ liberal Republican who had a strong, positive civil rights record, a sort of Charlie Crist of his day. Despite that, Baltimore had experienced civil unrest, and Spiro, as Governor of Maryland, had brought in the civil rights leaders to his office and given them a very public scolding. In an era of riots and other unrest, this was considered bold and viewed favorably by much of the country. He was a very effective attack dog against the Humphrey-Muskie ticket. His act got old, however, while he was VP, and he became an impeachment insurance policy for Nixon when Watergate burst on the scene. I remember distinctly one night when I came home to watch TV that at 7:30 there was an announcement to the effect "To Tell the Truth will not be shown tonight so that we can present an important new story." The story was Spiro Agnew announcing his resignation. We all figured that Nixon was cooked. According to a chapter in "Hard Call" by John McCain and Mark Salter, Nixon nominated Gerald Ford as Agnew's replacement because he belieived that (1) Congress would easily ratify his nomination and (2) they would never impeach him to make Ford President. He was right on the first count but wrong on the second.
McCain is definitely getting a convention bounce. Will he drop back down, or is Obama in serious trouble?
I think that is the question of the hour (...day, week, month, etc.). I'll have a partial, yet tangential, answer up in a little bit.
If McCain wins this one, you won't ever get me believe that VP picks don't matter.
VP's don't matter.
...except for that one time way back in aught eight.
McCain and Palin may have a post-Convention lead, but to win they must keep it. They must deliver fresh messages, lest they get dull -- and they must avoid drawing unwelcome attention to their campaigns. Remember that the Republicans had the stage last week.
The current President is extremely unpopular, and McCain absolutely cannot win by seeming to be a continuation -- something that the Obama campaign seeks to establish. To win, McCain must succeed at creating fresh, positive, and relevant images of himself. But should he get dull, Obama takes over because he keeps creating fresh, positive, and relevant images of himself. That is his great strength as a campaigner.
Americans want change -- major change. The economy is shaky and everyone knows that. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are getting unpopular. But change means more than a war record or a quirky biography.
There are three sure ways to lose this campaign for the McCain/Palin team. The first is to be dull. The second is for either to appear extreme. Obama and Biden are running as moderates -- and the majority of Americans are no longer Hard Right. The third is some personal scandal, something that nobody can ever predict.
I won't live long enough to be able to say "way back in Aught 8", but I can always refer back to Spiro Agnew.
To win this election, McCain has to convince the social conservatives that he is really a social conservative (he is banking on the Palin selection to do that) and convince the swing voters he is really a moderate (he is using the maverick adds to do that). So far it seems to be working. Can he keep it up for then next 55 days? We will see.
The Bristol Palin story being embraced by the Christian right is mind boggling to me. Can you imagine what they would say if Bristol's last name was Sibelius and the Democrats had an Obama-Sibelius ticket?
The Electoral College Map (10/1/08)
The Electoral College Map (9/30/08)
Is McCain Right? Does a Tie Go to the Runner?
Open Thread: First 2008 Presidential Debate
Who You Callin' Underpolled?
Nothing to see here, folks.
Now They're Trying to Take Away My Debate!?!
The Links (9/23/08): Debates and Nightmares
The Electoral College from a Different Angle
About Those Zogby Interactive Polls...(The McCain ...
Today's Agenda
How Big Was McCain's Bounce?
The First Presidential Election Votes Get Cast Tom...
The Links (9/17/08): Debate Edition
Questions About the Current State of the President...
The Links (9/9/08): Advertising Call and Response
2008 vs. 2004: Glass is Half Empty/Glass is Half Full
Presidential Primary Reform: Still Alive with the ...
A Follow Up on the 50% Mark: The View from 2004
Obama Cracks 50% in the Daily Trackers. What Does...
And What About the Green Party?
It's Never as Easy as Taking Away Half the Delegates


Grab a mug of coffee and a slice of this Cookie Butter Pound Cake for a delicious holiday treat!
What is your favorite 'big' vacation that you've taken recently? I don't mean piling in the car to visit the in-laws for the holidays. I'm talking about a pure vacation. One where you put your feet up and stare at the ocean waves for hours on end. Oh, who am I kidding? We don't do ocean vacations around here. That's far too relaxing! Whenever we plan 'big' vacations, we always pack the days full of exploring the towns and countryside. And we may or may not plan our vacation around good food, too.
Over the past several years, we've been lucky enough to make trips to Scotland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy. Oh, and Canada, too…I always forget about Canada since we can drive there now that we live in upstate New York. You'll notice that there are no Caribbean islands on this list. I'm not opposed to the Caribbean, but it's just that exploring Europe sounds like so much more fun to me!
Our last big vacation was two Springs ago, but it was an awesome one. As I mentioned in this Speculoos Cookies post last year, my wife and I got the chance to go on a private tour of the Biscoff factory. The factory is located in a small village about an hour(ish) outside of Brussels, Belgium. This was hands-down one of the most unique experiences ever!
After wandering the factory floor (and sampling Biscoff cookies straight off the conveyor belt), we chatted with the head baker about concepts for new Biscoff products. They had just released a chocolate covered Biscoff cookie shaped like dinosaurs. We might have sampled a few of those. (Delicious!) But I was particularly intrigued when he told us how Biscoff Spread (aka cookie butter) was developed by accident. Talk about 'oops' in the best way ever!
The other day, I pulled some cookie butter out of the pantry. (I was actually looking for the olive oil, but I found cookie butter instead. Oops.) That cookie butter soon ended up in this delicious Cookie Butter Pound Cake…and I'm glad it did! My wife and I shared slices of this pound cake with friends. Nothing says good friends like sitting down with a mug of coffee and a slice of Cookie Butter Pound Cake!
What is your favorite holiday baking recipe?
Team Relaxing Vacation…or Team Explore-the-Countryside Vacation?
Grease and flour a standard bundt pan; set aside.
Add eggs; mix until well combined.
Add remaining ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, milk, sour cream and vanilla). Mix until well combined, scraping down the sides of the mixing bowl as needed.
Using a spatula, pour batter into greased bundt pan.
Bake for 65-70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into cake comes out mostly clean.
Let cake cool in pan for 30 minutes and then transfer to a baking rack until completely cool.
Pour Glaze on top of cooled cake and garnish with crumbled speculoos (i.e. Biscoff) cookies.
I'm on team explore! The last trip we took was this fall to Munich, which I fell head over heels in love with.
I really wish I could try Speculoos! Darn this wheat allergy, this cake sounds delectable.
Dude, LOVE cookie butter! Love this idea of putting it in cake! Heck yea!
Cookie butter is kind of the best thing ever! Love this cake- so buttery and rich!
It totally is the best thing ever…at least one of them! Thanks so much, Medha!
Dude – this pound cake is simply decadent -just looking at it through this dusty screen of mine shows me how moist it is! Amazing job!
Haha…you and lil Shashi are just on Team Vacation. Team I don't care where, but let's just go on vacation! 🙂 You are totally welcome to come explore our pantry on your next vacation, but don't be surprised when you find obscene amounts of cookie butter hanging out in random places! Have a great weekend, Shashi!
I have to admit, I've never heard of cookie butter! How can I be sooooo in the dark? I obviously need to start exploring some factories!
Oh my gosh! You totally need to stop what you're doing and go get some cookie butter today! Biscoff Spread is the classic, but a couple other companies now make their own versions. Seriously. Go get some. 🙂 Thanks, Kathy!
I'm drooling over your cake! You mad genious! I love pound cake and go nuts for Biscoff. There's a doughnut shop here in Chicago that makes doughnuts filled with cookie butter. Heaven! You know what else is heaven? St Martin! I've spent day after day rolling in the waves in a tiny, secluded St Martin cove, sipping rum punch until it's eventually time to wander back to the guesthouse for French wine, pate, and unpasteurized cheese. I'm envious of your trip to Brussels – particularly the factory tour … what??? But I hope you get a chance to experience the Caribbean one day.
Doughnuts filled with cookie butter? Say what? I wish you hadn't told me that, Jeff. I totally had a nice, relaxing day planned…but now I will be driving to Chicago to get some of these aforementioned doughnuts. Also, St. Martin, too? Can I go to St. Martin and eat doughnuts stuffed with cookie butter? That sounds like a pretty awesome vacation to me!
I do indeed travel to Canada, Ben! It's been a couple of years, and I really want to go back to Montreal again. Plus, there are a bunch of curling tournaments I want to go to in Canada! 🙂 And clearly a slice of this cake would be 20 inches…anything less would just be a disappointment!
Arghhh….this post makes me miss our international travels. Love experiencing and learning about other cultures through food! 🙂 Thanks for the drool-worthy, cookie-butter-inspired post!!
Do you know that cookie butter isn't even a think over here in the UK??? I KNOW! That is why you guys have all of the best food. Eat some cookie butter for me please?
Vacation? What's that? Yours sound AWESOME! I would love to tour the Biscoff site! What a great idea to use the cookie butter in a pound cake! Can I come over for some if I change the baby and do the 3 am feedings?
This looks scrumptious! I was making another round of your cinnamon twists to bring in to my office tomorrow (after making more than a few of them at Thanksgiving – mine don't come out looking as nice, but they taste great) … and decided to just hit your home link and check out other recipes. Uh oh. I'm going to have to table more browsing for a lunch hour. This, the toasted coconut rum cake (which sounds like it could make wonderful cupcakes as well!) … I know I'll enjoy spending time exploring your site. Thank you!
Wow, thank you so much for your kind comments, Bonnie! You totally just made my morning after I read your note. 🙂 I'd forgotten about those cinnamon twists…it's been a while since I made a batch. Clearly I need to get on that! And I bet the toasted coconut rum cake would indeed make good cupcakes. Plus, smaller cakes are always better, right? I appreciate your comment so much. Without awesome folks like you, I wouldn't be able to keep this crazy site going! Thank you!
Dude, I can't ever fathom those people just go overseas and lie on a beach….Most of my mates do it like that and I'm like…you're in Thailand go explore!
Finding the infamous Biscoff was definitely a European highlight at the start, until you travelled by plane and rail and they served those cookies and they just didn't live up to it! Big fist bump for packing it into a pound cake- Yum!
Heck yeah! Go explore. Get lost in some random city where you can't speak the language. Ok, maybe not lost lost. Just kinda lost. This pound cake was seriously delicious! They should start serving slices of this one on the plane!
I'm with you, we don't sit around the pool or beaches, we live next to one – so it's all about exploring and adventure time on our vacations. Last one was Turkey, three years ago and we traveled 2,300 miles cruising all over from Istanbul to Troy and down to Ephesus and up to Ankara. Beautiful people, country and the food? Wow, I never had so many different grilled meals, lentil soups and THE best flavored tomatoes of all time. India is fast approaching in March, can't wait!
That's right! You guys already live in a vacation spot pretty much. Man, that trip to Turkey sounds like it's right up my alley. I would love to go to Troy!! I forgot you guys are going to India soon. I suspect I'm going to really jealous of all the delicious foods and sights from that trip. 🙂 Wait. Never tried cookie butter. Go get some now. It's like peanut butter…but it's cookies. Seriously. Go now.


text:
Dudley Seers (né en  et mort le ) est un économiste britannique du  spécialiste de l'économie du développement. Il enseigna à l'université d'Oxford puis travailla au sein de plusieurs institutions des Nations unies. Il dirigea également l'Institute of Development Studies (institut des études sur le développement) de l'université du Sussex de 1967 à 1972.

Seers est notamment connu pour avoir remplacé le  des premières années d'après-guerre par un plus grand intérêt pour le développement social. Il insista aussi sur la relativité des jugements en matière de développement et remis en cause l'approche néoclassique de l'économie.

Travaux les plus importants

 1966 : Twenty Leading Questions on the Teaching of Economics in The Teaching of Development Economics
 1967 : The Limitations of the Special Case, in Martin and Knapp, Teaching of Development Economics
 1969 : The Meaning of Development. International Development Review 11(4):3-4.
 1970 : New Approaches Suggested by the Colombia Employment Program, International Labour Review
 1971 : Development in a Divided World
 1972 : What are We Trying to Measure? Journal of Development Economics
 1974 : Redistribution with Growth (avec Hollis Chenery)
 1977 : The New Meaning of Development, International Development Review
 1977 : Statistical needs for Development
 1979 : The Birth, Life and Death of Development Economics, Development and Change
 1979 : The Meaning of Development, with a Postscript.In Seers, Nafziger, Cruise O'Brien, & Bernstein
 1979 : with E. Wayne Nafziger, Donal Cruise O'Brien, & Henry Bernstein, Development Theory: Four Critical Studies. Ed. by David Lehmann. London:Frank Cass
 1981 : ed. Dependency Theory: A Critical Reassessment. London: Frances Pinter (Publishers) : Ltd.
 1983 : The Political Economy of Nationalism. New York: Oxford University Press.
 Also Editor of several key journals, including Oxford Economic Papers, The Economic Journal, Journal of Development Studies and IDS Bulletin.

Liens externes

  Archives des publications de Dudley Seers

Source

Naissance en avril 1920
Décès en mars 1983
Économiste britannique du XXe siècle
Lieu de naissance inconnu
Décès à Washington (district de Columbia)
Décès à 62 ans

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Archtober 2016 Building of the Day
Tuesday, 15 March 2016 / Published in Art, New York
Archtober is accepting nominations for projects to be included in New York City's month-long festival of architecture and design. Each day in October 2016, the event will feature a Building of the Day as a noon-time, architect-led tour.
Building of the Day tours are the centerpiece of Archtober. With the goal of making exemplary architecture and the work of architects more accessible to the general public, the lunchtime tours, led by the project's architect, generate international publicity and provide a platform for engagement in important issues in the New York City built environment.
The building can be located in any of the five boroughs of New York City and does not need to be a recently completed project. The building must be available for a lunchtime tour during October 2016. The building should be nominated by the architect, who is responsible for clearing the copyrights of the images submitted. The deadline for submissions is Friday, April 29.
Mir is a creative studio that specialises in portraying unbuilt architecture.
CLIO Image Awards 2016 Event Images
Evolo Skyscrapers: Limited Edition Book
© 2016 KaransKloset. All rights reserved.

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text:
Imperial water technology startup Inflowmatix acquired by SUEZ
by David Silverman 09 November 2021
A smart control centre. Photo: SUEZ
Imperial startup Inflowmatix will continue to accelerate the digital transformation of the water sector after its acquisition by SUEZ.
Inflowmatix, which uses digital technologies created at Imperial to improve the resilience of water networks, has been acquired by SUEZ, a worldwide provider of environmental services, which will use the company's technologies and analytical methods to boost its position as a leading provider of digital solutions to the water industry worldwide.
A water network under pressure
Water utilities are facing increasing demand for the secure supply of potable water because of climate change, population growth and urbanisation. In addition, the UK, like many countries, has an ageing water infrastructure that is being used well beyond its planned lifespan. New technologies and approaches could help water companies to respond to this pressure.
Many countries have ageing water infrastructures that are being used well beyond their planned lifespans.
Inflowmatix, which was founded in 2015 by Dr Ivan Stoianov in Imperial's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and his then PhD student Dr Asher Hoskins, uses novel sensing and control technologies combined with mathematical optimisation methods to improve the functioning and resilience of water supply networks.
Inflowmatix produces ultra-low power, high-speed pressure monitoring devices that are robust even under hostile conditions to continuously monitor and analyse the pressure in water supply networks.
The technology could help bring the water industry closer to the ideal of a 'digital twin', a virtual representation of a physical system that can be used to predict its real-life behaviour.
The long-life devices provide data with a very high spatial and temporal resolution that is then used to predict the effect that operational decisions in areas such as pump scheduling have on pressure fluctuations and consequently the deterioration and failures of pipes. For example, dynamic pump scheduling designed to improve energy efficiency by adapting water pressure to demand could increase failure rates in pipes.
The company's most significant innovation is its use of modelling and mathematical optimisation techniques that allow decision-makers to find an optimal trade-off between competing objectives, for example between dynamically adapting water pressure and maximising the lifespan of the infrastructure.
The analytical methods Inflowmatix uses draw on Dr Stoianov and his research group's academic expertise in hydraulic modelling and mathematical optimisation, and Dr Stoianov's understanding of the water industry, which he has collaborated closely with for over two decades.
Dr Peter Collins, prior Chairman of Inflowmatix, says: "When industrial companies start monitoring facilities, whether they are water distribution networks or oil refineries, they suddenly find themselves drinking from a firehose of numbers, a tsunami of data, which is very difficult to interpret. Academics like Ivan have an opportunity to address this challenge, using applied mathematical expertise to make the journey from measurement to data to information to insights."
The installation of the InflowSense devices for advanced pressure control in a water supply network in Nottingham
Digital twinning for the water industry
When companies start monitoring water networks, they find themselves drinking from a firehose of numbers, a tsunami of data – which is very difficult to interpret. Dr Peter Collins
The team hopes that its technology will help bring the modelling used by the water industry closer to the ideal of a 'digital twin', a virtual representation of a physical system such as a water network that can be used to comprehensively monitor and predict its real-life behaviour, and adaptively change control to accommodate multiple competing operational objectives.
Dr Stoianov says that Inflowmatix's technology is a strong complement to others in SUEZ's portfolio. "SUEZ is a very advanced company that is bringing together sophisticated sensing and monitoring technology and optimisation methods. They have acquired several companies over the last five years that have complementary expertise in intelligent automation, optimisation and cloud computing for different applications such as pump scheduling, design decision and, in the case of Inflowmatix, near real time operations. Certainly, they have a huge ambition of taking on and delivering the digital twin challenge for the water utilities."
The installation of InflowSense devices in dedicated pressure monitoring installation locations
A pipeline to commercial success
When Dr Stoianov and Dr Hoskins launched Inflowmatix, their contacts in the water industry were already asking for access to the technology, but the team lacked a vehicle for making it commercially available. One option was to license the technology to a water company, but Dr Stoianov decided to establish a startup to retain ownership of the technology's development.
Dr Collins believes this was the most appropriate route. He says: "It took Ivan and colleagues years of hard graft to turn the concepts that he envisioned into something useful in an industrial environment. That level of effort means you need a team of people who are very committed and really own the challenges to be overcome. That is ownership both in the sense of people caring about it, and in the sense of owning shares and patents."
"Sometimes CEOs think the job is done when they've raised the money," he continues. "It really isn't. The important thing is to win customers and begin generating revenue. That's what founders need to live and breathe to beat the odds of failure. With revenues, you've got a business – until then it's a project."
It took Ivan and colleagues years of hard graft to turn concepts into something useful in industry. That effort means you need a team who really own the challenges to be overcome. Dr Peter Collins
By the time SUEZ took a minority stake in the company in 2019, a first step toward the recent acquisition, Inflowmatix had built up a customer base and several years' worth of data and insights. Dr Collins says that this made the company mature enough for acquisition. He also attributes the team's successful exit to Dr Stoianov's existing relationship with SUEZ as a research partner, and his focus on addressing commercial needs such as cost reduction.
"The technologies in my experience that are the least difficult to get commercial traction with are the ones where you can reduce cost even before you can enable people to do things they weren't doing before. Ivan understood what kinds of costs might be reduced because he had worked for so long with SUEZ," he says.
Inflowmatix benefitted in its early days from having a home at the Imperial Incubator, then located in Imperial's South Kensington campus. Dr Stoianov points to an entrepreneurial environment at Imperial that makes it possible for researchers to draw on commercial expertise like that of Dr Collins. "We have to recognise that the College has a unique network of external advisors, like Peter, who have a huge level of expertise in technology transfer. Engaging that level of external expertise is very difficult to do on your own."
Enterprise ecosystem
Imperial uses research partnerships such as the ongoing partnership with SUEZ, startup companies like Inflowmatix, and other forms of entrepreneurship and industry collaboration to translate academic expertise into world-changing innovations. In 2019, the College launched Transition to Zero Pollution, a major College-wide initiative to find solutions to climate change by introducing greater systems thinking. Companies that would like to partner with Imperial to address sustainability and other industry and societal challenges should contact the Enterprise team.
David Silverman
Email: d.silverman@imperial.ac.uk
Enterprise, Entrepreneurship, Comms-strategy-Entrepreneurial-ecosystem, Sustainability, Big-data, Artificial-intelligence
Dr Ivan I Stoianov
Suez acquires Inflowmatix