The issue of public trust “roughly describes the level and type of vulnerability the public is willing to assume with regard to business relations,” according to a 2009 study by Arthur W. Page Society and Business Roundtable’s Institute for Corporate Ethics.
Medical advances – devices, diagnostic tools, drugs, facilities, and virtually all of the basic mechanics – are improving every day. We are better at medicine, know more about medicine and have an R & D infrastructure that holds the promise of solving many, if not most, of the intractable problems associated with basic human health. We seem to be in a near-Golden Age.
But the cool factor of 3D printing sometimes obscures a movement in manufacturing that could have an even bigger impact: platforms that help us share ideas, suppliers and marketplaces. That emerging network is why I’m optimistic that 2014 marks the rise of the hardware startup.
Over the past century, new product development hinged on access to expensive machines that were generally out of reach for the individual. Thus, only companies with the cutting edge equipment could achieve new production development and innovation.
Rice’s comments came in a wide-ranging video conversation with former U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte last week during the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos.