Dear all,
Here is a small report about the LENRG event made in Neuchatel, in Microcity.
It is rewritten from my notes, reorganized
After ICCF19 one question resonates, why was it not covered by media. It is really amazing, given all the tycoon, nationalities, and corporate representatives present...
In that context, LENR-cities organised an event to raise LENR awareness in Switzerland, in the very dynamic zone of Neuchâtel. Switzerland , like Japan, is a country without much natural resources that can only survive because of continuous innovation.
LENRG main message was that at the heart of LENR there will be nanostructured material (powders, surfaces), controlled by micro-engineered devices using phenomenons like cavitations, plasma, depending on the applications.
LENR-Cities explained that Switzerland, and Neuchâtel industrial ecosystem, have all the talent and assets to win a good share. And Microcity is one of such asset:
http://www.sccij.jp/news///art…ss-temple-for-innovation/
The attendance was varied, about 40 people, with many Swiss citizen mostly speaking French, but also some German speaker, and some international attendant. Some were there by personal interest to invest, curious, or interested personally or professionally.
This event was made mostly in French language, targeted to the Swiss industrialists, scientists and investors.
The opening was made by George de Montmollin, who is the CFO (Chief Finance officer), and who funded initially LENR-Cities.
The proposed ambition of LENR-City is to develop a scientific and industrial "technology cluster" (think of Silicon Valley, Toulouse) around nano-technologies applied to LENR in the region of Neuchâtel and Switzerland. Neuchâtel is already such a cluster for nano-technologies, and this gives sens to the idea.
The programs to develop LENR were presented in few directions :
- challenge to demonstrate LENR
- transmutations to manage radioactive wastes
- LENR batteries : developing universal source of energy based on lenr
The international context was described, showing that nearly all important countries have launched a plan toward LENR
- Japan have launched an initiative in Tohoku university, as they usually do in Japan, with startup, university, and big companies to support. Tohoku initiative is linked to HEAD and IMPACT programs.
- India made some move recently
- Russia too
- US also have a strategy, with small players like SRI, but also big players like militaries. LENRIA initiative seems part of that strategy. BTW has been recognized as a kind of IA in EU, even if LENRG is quite different, more business focused.
This was the occasion to talk of the interest raised by LENRG in the LENR community. The fact that LENR-Cities CEO was invited at ICCF19 is a sign of recognition.
Jean-Francois Geneste, who presented Airbus strategy at Oxford and Milan event was planned in Neuchâtel, was prevented to came because of a professional obligation. Anyway he sent slides that were presented by Michel Vandenberghe.
In those slides, it is clearly state that Airbus support LENR-cities initiative, because there is clearly "something at stake" in LENR, that it is a potential disruption, and because the logic of ecosystem is matching the need.
Finally he state that Europe have skills in the required domains and may be a dominant actor in LENR.
Airbus requires two approach in parallel : experimental and theoretical.
The experimental approach will be supported by the experimental challenge, and especially the thermo-acoustic engine (as described in Milan event).
The theoretical approach, is important for Airbus as theory is critical for engineering and to unlock massive investment.
Angelo Ovidi, the CTO of LENR-Cities, managing the "Scientific Functional Group" presented what is LENR. LENR is much more than cold fusion. It is superconductivity, transmutations, biological transmutations, catalysis, energy : a chemonuclear domain when nanoscale is the key. The products will be nanostructured material and micro-technology engineered devices which control those nano-materials.
This was the occasion to tell to Neuchâtel industrialists that at the heart of LENR technology there is engineering of materials at the nanoscale, like what Microcity, Neuchâtel, and Swiss industry already know well how to do.
LENR-Cities promotes LENR as a new domain of application of nanotechnology, with many scientific silo including CMNS, quantum &theoretical physics physics (QED,CQED), chemistry, plasma science, nanotechnology. LENR development will push great progress in physics, chemistry, biology, to new dimensions, increasing and requiring transdisciplinarity.
Luca Gamberale, CTO of LENRG, presented steps in LENR history. He reminded that first sign of LENR maybe be observed by Irving Langmuir in 1909, and that Niels Bohr advised Langmuir not to publish them because it could ruin his career. He reminded about exploding wires experiments by Wend&Irions around 1922... and finally Fleischman&Pons in 1989.
He remind that LENR is transmutation and huge heat, in the condensed matter. This is the difference with usual context of nuclear physics which is describing phenomenon in vacuum, with few particle , known theory, creating radioactivity, and which cannot be used in end-user appliance. On the opposite LENR happen in condensed matter, involving many particles, without high-energy particles, without recognized theory, but which can probably be used in daily application at home.
He remind that IF, and only if, we think in the context of nuclear physics usual assumptions, (vacuum, few particles), LENR is impossible.
The key is coherence and collective effects, that he call Collective-QED. Luca then describe the Electroweak theory of LENR developed by Widom, Srivastava, Swain, all present in the room.
At the heart of EW theory, there is patch of p+/e- coherently entangled with SPP (surface plasmon polariton) which appear on metallic hydride surface . This is where he explain that to create those patch, there is nanostructured material to design, competence of the companies in Microcity and around. Today people in many labs around the world can produce nanostructured material under complex specification (I have seen some like "brocoli", foams).
This need to design nanostructured material required also multidisciplinary team, as there is in clusters like Microcity.
Luca lists few example of nanostructured material for LENR, but which are uncontrolled and thus unreliable : Patterson cells, Celani wires, Arata electrodes.
Currently Luca Gamberale, CEO of LD-Brane company, CTO of LERNRG collaborates with some researchers in an Italian University who know how to engineer nano-structured material. LENRG is currently collaborating of developing collaboration with some Universities and labs in Italy and UK, with some startups.
LENRG scientific functional groups currently supports 4 projects:
- Project#1 is about nuclear waste remediation, and is supported by few governments, nuclear energy companies or agencies, in UK, eastern Europe, Scandinavia, but also by banks for investments. This project is currently under funding, and I have seen the great interest it raise.
- NB: for me it is strange, but this subject seems to attract more interest than energy... this is a debate to launch.
- Project#2 is the LENRG challenge to demonstrate LENR. Airbus have it's place providing the thermo-acoustic engine, but the scientists have to provide repeatable experiments. Yogi Srivastava presented this program. They have structured 11 experimental and theoretical teams around that program, in US, UK, Italy. They also build propositions for nuclear remediation (project 1).
- Project#3 is LENR battery, which is interesting people like car or plane manufacturer.(Airbus and a Japanese car manufacture... I let you guess), but also some actors in Finland and Russia... Allan Widom presented the technology challenge of Li Batteries, their risk, and LENR opportunities...
- Project#4 is a challenge inspired by the culture of challenge in Switzerland, like Solar Impulse. The idea would be to launch a challenge about maritime cargo transportation, based on LENR technology, to be tested on Neuchâtel lake.
Beside those project, as the core scientific team is all professors, there is a desire to educate young generation, develop awareness, at college level, or much younger.
John Swain presented some ideas to demonstrate to young people, not LENR, but key ideas supporting LENR , like catalysis.
To conclude they presented the concept of LENRG ecosystem.
Key idea is that LENR is a disruptive technology and that usual models of development don't work. This is the case for classic venture capitalism who assume that one startup you fund will own something that have huge value and is needed by everybody, while being controlled by one company. The problem with LENR is that it will be used by everybody and hard to control, but also that it create a huge risk for actors to be marginalized.
The secret to accelerate development and reduce actors risk is to provide intellectual property in volume, while measuring value with know how (and not IP like venture capitalist do).
To enter the ecosystem the condition is that one should bring something to the ecosystem, but also benefit from the ecosystem. this is not client-provider relationship.
It match an idea that is understood by modern big companies, that to participate to a new emerging market it is not easy to enter it once it is created, and you have to create the market yourself not to be marginalized. It is a new domain of business management, the "economy of disruption"... In the USA 650labs.com is a known actor. recently Cisco and a Swiss management school, IMD, joined forces on that subject to develop "
http://650labs.com/
http://www.imd.org/news/IMD-bu…siness-transformation.cfm
The model of funding that LENR-Cities push is a kind of "crowd investing" where mid-sized companies fund LENR development, while reducing their own risk to suffer from the transition by having access to what is produced. LENR-Cities value it's own neutrality in business, and it is important not to be controlled by a big company, but my a variety of members and funders.
LENR-Cities presented the opportunity for Neuchâtel region and for Switzerland industry, the goal to transform Neuchâtel and Switzerland into a technology cluster dedicated to LENR.
Neuchâtel, and more generally Switzerland already have great assets to be such a cluster, as it have great competence in nanotechnology and a good business environment.
