Bioinformatics is the application of computer technology to biology; a combination of techniques and models in statistical, computational, and life sciences to understand the significance of biological data.

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Biomanufacturing is industrial production using scalable, validated processes that use biotechnological and/or biochemical steps to produce molecules and materials for commercial purposes. (Note: Beta-Rubicon developed this working definition for the National Institute of Standards and Technology for our 2003-2004  Biomanufacturing White Paper project.)

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Chemoinformatics is the application of computer technology to chemistry; a combination of techniques and models in statistical, computational, and analytical sciences to understand the significance of chemical data.

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Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) is a method for transmitting simultaneous signals over a shared portion of the spectrum. The foremost application of CDMA is the digital cellular phone technology from QUALCOMM that operates in the 800MHz band and 1.9GHz PCS band. CDMA is less costly to implement, requiring fewer cell sites than the GSM and TDMA digital cellphone systems and providing three to five times the calling capacity. It provides more than 10 times the capacity of the analog cellphone system. CDMA uses a spread spectrum technique to assign a code to each conversation. After the speech codec converts voice to digital, CDMA spreads the voice stream over the full 1.25MHz bandwidth of the CDMA channel, coding each stream separately so it can be decoded at the receiving end.

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Computational Biology is the mutual application of computers and biology to questions of biological and medical importance. 

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Computational Chemistry is the application of computers in the physical sciences; an interdisciplinary approach involving theoretical chemistry, computer sciences, mathematics, and numerical analysis to define research needs and address challenging problems. 

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Computer Numerical Control (CNC) is the basis for automated machine tools, such as drills, lathes, and laser cutters that operate from instructions in a program and with control and response to feedback from the machine by a computer. Dedicated microcomputers are programmed using a high-level languages, such as APT, which automatically generate an appropriate tool path (physical motions required to perform the operation). CNC machines are used in manufacturing tasks, such as milling, turning, punching and drilling. 

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Digital Signal Processing (DSP) is a category of techniques that analyze signals from sources such as sound, weather satellites and earthquake monitors. Signals are converted from analog form into digital data and analyzed using various algorithms such as Fast Fourier Transform. Once a signal has been reduced to numbers its components can be isolated, analyzed and rearranged more easily than in their original analog form. 

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Due Diligence, in the conventional sense, is an in-depth analysis of the financial and operational conditions of a company targeted for investment, merger, or acquisition.  It may be as detailed as an accounting audit, but it is much broader in scope because the operational condition and efficiency of the target's assets are investigated as well.  Due diligence is used  to ascertain the economic values and results of operations and to express them in financial terms.  The objective is to find, to identify, and to estimate the impact of purchase price or investment conditions.

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e-Commerce (electronic commerce or EC) is the buying and selling of goods and services on the Internet, especially the World Wide Web.  In practice, this term and a new term, "e-business," are often used interchangeably.  The term "e-tailing" is sometimes used for online retail selling.

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Fuel Cells function in a manner similar to a battery in that both use an electrochemical conversion process. Fuel cells typically take in hydrogen and oxygen (from air) and convert them into electricity and heat. The waste product is water. Some predict fuel cells will be the basis of a large industry in this century, although there are substantial obstacles to overcome. Hydrogen is difficult to store and distribute, and installing hydrogen pumps in every gas station will be a very expensive undertaking. Natural gas, propane and methanol, all of which can be converted into hydrogen, may be candidate fuels as well.

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Genomics the scientific discipline of mapping, sequencing, and analyzing genomes, particularly the human genome, in an effort to understand the structure and function of genes.

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Information is stimuli that have meaning in some context for its receiver.  Some (if not all) kinds of information can be converted into data and then passed on to another receiver. Relative to the computer, we can say that information is made into data, put into the computer where it is stored and processed as data, and then put out as data in some form that can be perceived as information.

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Information Technology (IT) is a term that encompasses all forms of technology used to create, store, exchange, and use information in its various forms (business data, voice conversations, still images, motion pictures, multimedia presentations, and other forms, including those not yet conceived).  A convenient term for including both telephony and computer technology in the same word, IT is the technology that is driving what has often been called "the information revolution."  IT includes matters concerned with furthering computer science and technology, design, development, installation, and implementation of information systems and applications.

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Intellectual Property (IP) traditionally includes the three legal areas of patents, trademarks, and copyrights.  While not statutory, common usage of "intellectual property" also includes trade secrets, potentially patentable works-in-progress, and certain institutionalized practices and procedures that are maintained on a confidential basis and that contribute value to an enterprise.  As is true of most legal matters, intellectual property is complicated by overlapping with other legal concerns, particularly torts and property law.

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Metabonomics consists of metabolite identification dealing with theory and key experimental features of hyphenating NMR with chromatographic techniques for bioanalysis.

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Micro/Nanomachining involves making microminiaturized devices using the same or very similar manufacturing techniques as are employed by the semiconductor industry. 

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Nanotechnology is the science of building devices at the molecular and atomic level. For example, a single data bit might be represented by only one atom some time in the future. Beyond being used in computers and communications devices, nanotechnology could be used to build devices, change the properties of materials, and extensively in biotechnology.

Oak  "as an ook cometh of a litel spyr" -- an early variant, possibly the earliest in English, of 'mighty oaks from little acorns grow.'  Found in Geoffrey Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, 1374

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Photonics are systems that generate and transmit light (photons). Most photonic systems use electricity and electronic circuits as their source of energy. Photonics is related to electro-optic technology, that is, the combining of electronics and optics. For example, a laser is pulsed with electricity to produce modulated light pulses to transmit data.

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Proteomics attempts to catalog and characterize proteins derived from genetic code, compare variations in their expression levels under different conditions, study their interactions, and identify their functional role.  See also Genomics.

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Technology as used by Beta-Rubicon is carefully defined as applied science, that is, natural science and the scientific method applied to solving practical problems.  It usually considers   at least the potential for commercial exploitation.  Natural sciences, in this context, may include agricultural sciences, biology, chemistry, earth sciences, information technology, medical science, mathematics, and all fields of engineering.  The social and political sciences are excluded.

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Technology Assessment includes a detailed review and analysis of the technology development proposal documentation and literature, verification of the representations made by the proponent, and a reviewer's conference.  There must be a review of the technology plan; an evaluation of the depth of proponent's in-house expertise; and a search and analysis of state of the art in the proponent's area of technology.  In addition, there should be a search and analysis of related and competitive technologies; a detailed analysis of the technology and development plans, schedules, budget, and its management capabilities to respond to the opportunity; and structured interviews with key personnel.  Conclusions and recommendations must be formulated, and full details of methodology, sources, and references must be documented.

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Technology Due Diligence, as developed and used by Beta-Rubicon, is analogous to classical due diligence but focuses on opportunities that are primarily technology-based, technology-driven, or both.  Technology due diligence requires an intimate knowledge of the state of the art in technology, as well as of technology trends, R&D management, and management technology.  It requires a high degree of research and scientific sophistication, teamed with a well-developed analytical methodology to provide accurate evaluations of the relative risks and potential rewards of the acquisition of, the merger with, or the investment in technology-based enterprises.  Technology due diligence requires extensive data-gathering and information extraction capabilities, along with the ability to translate technical details into terms that make relative potential risks and rewards meaningful to the investment community.

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Transforming Technology is a technology used to implement radical redesigns of business practices to achieve dramatic improvements in measures of performance such as cost, quality, service, and timeliness.  Transforming technologies are providing the most important means for substantially modifying existing enterprise operations or for creating new enterprises by creating new opportunities.  A prime transforming technology is the application of information technologies, such as in the burgeoning area of e-commerce and in corporate infrastructure resource upgrading.  While there are no fixed rules for ensuring the effectiveness of transforming technologies, effectiveness consistently and critically depends on due consideration of human factors.  

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WCDMA (Wideband-CDMA) is a third generation (3G) technology that increases data transmission rates in Global System for Mobile (GSM) communications is the digital cellular phone technology systems by using the CDMA air interface instead of TDMA. In the ITU's IMT-2000 3G specification, WCDMA has become known as the Direct Sequence (DS) mode. 

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The 1-10-100 Rule is a software engineering rule of thumb that indicates that, if there is a flaw detected and corrected for $1.00 at the specification or design stage of product development, that same flaw will cost $10.00 to correct if first detected at the implementation stage and $100.00 to correct if not detected until after the product has been delivered.

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The 50-50-90 Rule holds that anytime there is a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there is a 90% probability of getting it wrong.

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The 80/20 Rule is a rule of thumb that implies that the first 80% of project development work typically takes only 20% of the time and resources, but the last 20% of the work takes 80% of the time and resources.

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