Cleaning windows gets hi-tech

A chance remark about the self cleaning glass in the roof of St Pancras station during the visit to London on Wednesday (see article on Aurasma visit) came back to me. I was chatting to Jamie Bartlett of My Little Cleaning Company, who takes on the window cleaning side of the business.

It turns out that self cleaning glass exists in several forms – it still does need the occasional clean but not as frequently as normal glass. A bit of internet research this evening revealed the principles.

I was already familiar with one form of treatment, silanisation, which makes glass non-stick and therefore water and dirt repellent. This was in the days when we made our own DNA sequencing gels in the lab (nowadays things are very different! See article on DNA sequencing). This method can be used to coat windows and even car windscreens.

The glass used for St Pancras is the opposite, it is water loving. An ultra-thin layer of titanium oxide is bonded with the glass surface during manufacture using a patented process. Small particles of organic dirt initially bind to the glass. Natural UV light and a catalytic action of the coating break down the organic dirt. Mineral dirt still sticks – until it rains. When rain hits the glass it spreads over it due to the water loving nature of the glass. The excess water then flows down the glass, taking the remaining dirt with it, off the glass.

Yet at some point, the windows will still need to be cleaned, even if at a much lower frequency per year – preferably by an equally hi-tech window cleaner.

What surprised me further was that Jamie uses the purest water possible, and no detergents, to clean the glass. In his van, the water for washing is first filtered, passed over activated charcoal, pushed though a reverse osmosis column and then de-ionised – very pure water indeed. When used with soft mono-filament brushes, the dirt is removed and the window rinsed, it can be left to dry without leaving any trace.

Furthermore, by using carbon fibre poles, it is possible to clean windows to a height of up to 20m, safely from the ground! No ladders or scaffolding required. This is crucial as ladder based accidents are serious – often fatal or debilitating – and are subject to financial penalties for both the window cleaner and the client.

All this technology is a far cry from the conventional image of window cleaners and I left the conversation with Jamie suitably impressed and better informed.

Jamie Bartlett of My Little Cleaning Company is based in the beautiful market town of St Ives, Cambridgeshire. Visit http://www.mylittlecleaningcompany.co.uk for more information.

The dramatic effect of projecting patterns onto a model

Projection onto a body or face for photography has been something I've been wanting to do since having the idea last year.

The trip by the Milton Photographic Club to Marty Rayner's “The Works Studio” near Croxton offered a great opportunity to give this a try. A particular help was the professionalism of the model Amber Tutton who was there for us that evening; she took to the idea with enthusiasm.

I selected a range of images taken through the microscope. They have relatively simple patterns and a limited colour range and were used in a slide show. The projector at the studio was available and was placed about two to three meters from the model.

A major worry was the intensity of the projector light as it appeared as a brilliant and constant point source of light . Placing myself in the full glare of the projector on its normal setting made my eyes stream. We therefore reduced the brightness considerably.

The reduced light meant that we were using exposures of between 1/10s to 1/4s at ISO400 or about 1/40s to 1/25s on ISO1600. A tripod was essential. Amber was also brilliant at moving into a pose and then freezing briefly for the shot. Nevertheless, of the total of 171 pictures a large number were blurred.

Where the photography worked, the results were fascinating. On the one hand, Amber's face and body moulded the projected patterns as I had hoped. The contrast was the effect of pattern variation in breaking up the face and creating unusual effects. A critical feature was to ensure that the eyes remained recognisable as they provide the visual cue for the viewer's eye and brain to seek out the rest of the structure.

Another useful prop was the mirror placed behind the projector, so that Amber could see the result of a pose and the impact of a pattern on her face and body, bringing out her creative streak through feedback.

This was successful beyond my expectations. The projected patterns could enhance, obscure or break up features. Colour also impacted – just look at the bruise like effect around the mouth and eye with the Arachnoidiscus image.

One of more of the images will be making their way into my Cambridge Open Studios exhibition on the second and third weekends this July!

Aurasma visit for Augmented Reality

Would you like your brochure or banner to come alive like the animated newspapers, paintings and posters in the Harry Potter films? It is a prospect that has generated a flurry of interest at the Huntingdonshire Business Network, ever since Mervyn Foster demonstrated the effect first to networkers using a £10 note and the Aurasma Lite app on his mobile phone.

Since then, I have delved deeper and begun to successfully create not only my own “Auras” as these animations are called, but several for HBNers. As with any new idea, more questions are generated than answered at first, so I organised the HBN outing to visit Aurasma’s offices in London. Our delegation comprised:

• Dr Chris Thomas (Milton Contact Ltd) - creative visual applications & international business support
• Gareth Howell (Business Continuity) – Strategic Company & Project Planning
• Mervyn Foster (HBN Chairperson, Nordic Walking Cambridgeshire) – Business networking
• Richard Wishart (Delivery Management) – International postal and logistic tracking technologies

Our host at Aurasma was Jake Grave, Sales & Marketing. The genteel surroundings of the offices in St James’ Square provided a counterpoint to the deceptively simple, visual technology of Aurasma’s Auras.

The technology is deceptively simple in principle, requiring four things:

1. A trigger image that will be present in print form
2. An overlay. This is a video is designed fit over part or all of the trigger image
3. A smart phone. Currently i-phones and Android based phones can be used, though the latter appear to have more limited functionality.
4. The Aurasma Lite app, available from www.aurasma.com, iphone and play store

The designer uses Aurasma hosted software to link the trigger image with the overlay video to create an Aura. Auras are managed in “channels”.

The user downloads the Aurasma Lite app onto their smartphone. Once the app is opened, the user can immediately use the smartphone to view so-called “Super Auras”. Super Auras are demonstration projects, often with large organisations – such as Top Gear magazine and several bank notes. You can test the Aurasma Lite using images at  http://www.aurasma.com/auras

Note: some of these will only work in certain countries – so look out for your country’s flag in the corner of each image. This is what happens on my phone – see video at top of page.

Currently Aurasma decides which Auras will be Super Auras.

For most other Auras, the user will need to search for and subscribe to (free) a channel containing Auras from a particular source. For example, I created the channels Milton Contact, HBN Huntingdonshire Business Network and Delivery Management. You can try out some of the images here (stop the slideshow at a convenient image:



Smartphone users can themselves generate Auras on their phones. These can be shared by sending friends a link. Mervyn was the first to generate an Aura in this way at HBN.

We had wide ranging discussions with Jake, about Aurasma’s strategy, what sort of marketing models and applications that we could envisage and how HBN and Aurasma could help each other. The ability to generate your own app incorporating Aurasma function and/or skinning the app (branding it as your own) gave us moe food for thought.

We left Aurasma brimming with ideas. To round off the day, three of us continued to the Natural History Museum to visit the “Animal Inside Out” exhibition.

Perhaps ironic that we had gone from looking at taking static images and bringing them to life – to go to an exhibition where formerly living organisms had been transformed into static (but equally wonderful) exhibits. We should state that no creature was deliberately harmed for the process.

If you want to know more about HBN and how we are looking at taking Auras further, come and join us. If you would like help in the creation of your own company or personal Aura – get in touch with me, Chris.

Looking back on Ecobuild 2012

This year’s visit to Ecobuild in March on behalf of Tollé Green Architecture extended to two days due to the size of the exhibition and the interesting talks and seminars. A few personal impressions and images above follow.

The dramatic increase in popularity of Ecobuild 2012 was immediately apparent in the increasing crush on the Light Dockland’s Railway leading to Excel, where the event was taking place. Now the largest “green” exhibition in the world, Ecobuild 2012 filled both the exhibition halls of the venue.

Ecobuild has matured over the years with larger international companies like Balfour Beatty and Schueko featuring as well as the venerable BRE. Renewable systems such as photovoltaics were very well represented. Water management was particularly relevant as the current drought is still extant despite the heavy rainfall. LED energy efficient lighting is also coming of age with larger LEDs offering alternatives to using groups or strips of smaller LEDs behind diffusers.

Energy management in domestic and commercial properties appears to be entering a second generation phase. The obvious choices of double glazing, better roof insulation and cavity wall filling are now well into maturity and acceptance in the UK. The the next big challenge will be the “Hard to treat” properties. The majority comprise solid wall buildings from some of the oldest housing stock, where external or internal insulation is the only solution.

More intelligent energy management both in construction, in day to day use and during the lifetime of the building was another item of future importance. Useful piece of information gained – the average pupil generates 65W energy just by sitting in a classroom!

Green roofing caught my attention for two reasons. First was the rationale for its use. I had originally thought that green roofing provided additional insulation, but apparently wet soil negates the beneficial effect of any additional layers on a roof. The true benefit lies in the provision of replacement or additional green environments or niches that would otherwise have been lost under the footprint of the building. Second was the sophistication of the layering and patterning of subsoil drainage onto which the green roofs were established.

Following on from the Exhibition there are three threads that I have been more aware of:

1. More sophisticated green solutions are available in a mature market
2. Looking out for the impact of the Green Deal over the coming year
3. The increasing use of BIM (Buildings Information Modelling) in building construction and lifetime management.

Tollé Green Architecture is interested in ethical and environmentally responsible UK partners for construction, housing projects and retrofitting. Contact Chris.

Baked Altenburger Ziegenkäse

Andreas Ebert, a friend and business colleague from Germany sent me this recipe to translate and we thought we could share this further.

Ingredients:

• 250g Altenburger Ziegenkäse (you can use Camembert if pushed)
• 1 peeled garlic clove
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh Thyme
• Honey (ca. 25g)
• 1 small baguette
• Coarse sea-salt

Preparation
Preheat oven to 200°C. Remove the Altenburger Ziegenkäse from the packaging and place in the centre of an A4 sized sheet of aluminium foil. Wrap the aluminium foil around the Altenburger Ziegenkäse to create a small bowl that supports the cheese in the oven. Place the foil bowl with the Altenburger Ziegenäse on a baking tray and then put in the centre of the preheated oven to bake for 5-7 minutes. Whilst the Altenburger Ziegenkäse is baking, peel the garlic clove, wash with the thyme and chop finely.

Cut the cheese surface crosswise and fold the corners outwards.

Place the chopped garlic and thyme on the cheese surface and sprinkle with the coarse sea-salt. Place back in the oven and bake for a further 8-10 minutes. When the surface of the cheese turns slightly brown, remove the cheese from the oven and place on a plate. Add some white bread and honey to the plate and enjoy.

Bon appètit!

For more information about Altenburger Ziegenkäse, contact Andreas Ebert
Feinkäserei Zimmermann GmbH
Karl-Marx-Straße 90  
04808 Falkenhain (Sachsen)        
Telephone:  +49 3 42 62 47 10                
www.kaese-zimmermann.de

Follow on tips from HBN Social Networking Workshop

The key elements introduced by Richard Wishart (Delivery Management) and myself at the HBN Social Networking Workshop last Friday included Richard Wishart giving a demonstration of using a preprepared blog article involving:

• Preparing a shortlink to the blog using goo.gl
• Broadcasting the shortlink to the blog on LinkedIn and Twitter
• Creating a discussion on in a Group on LinkedIn referring to the blog article

I showed my main routes  for information flow in social media via the illustration above.  They are:

• Incorporating photographs and videos into my blog articles where possible
• I have three different blogs for different interest areas (general, QR Codes, German business)
• The article is then broadcast mainly via Twitter
• Selective articles are passed on to LinkedIn, e-mail newsletters or Facebook

How you use social media to spread the word of interesting content will be your personal choice. Things to avoid are:

• Just advertising yourself
• Saturating the SAME content over ALL your social media

The practical part of the workshop involved:

• Each member of the audience finding Richard's blog, tweet or LinkedIn post
• Liking, retweeting or forwarding the item through their social media

In the discussion following the workshop, the key elements for using Social Networking effectively were:

• Being aware that social networking is tightly linked to you as an individual
• Broadcast selectively to your different interest groups
• Your contacts retweeting or forwarding your news
• Being Social – retweeting or forwarding useful information and conversations from your contacts to others
• Measuring the impact of your social networking.

Following on after the workshop, here are some further tips in brief on linking a blog post with other social media

• Use the blog software to automatically place a new post on a social medium of your choice
• Incorporate like icons and/or social media icons that allow visitors to post your item on their social media with the click of a button
• Link your blog to an automated e-newsletter.

For example, Ann Hawkins uses the plugin Livefyre on blog comments. People who comment are thn notified by e-mail of new comments since theirs, enabling a forum like discussion. Ann is also trialling s2Member to allow people join her group.

I have opt-in mailing systems that will send e-mails of the newest blog posts to subscribers. The blog's URL is collected by an online service called Feedburner. This gives me an RSS feed for the blog which I can link into my mailing system, Aweber.

To follow other peoples blogs at one single location, I use Google Reader.

What solutions can you recommend?

Titanic iceberg risks in the modern age

With the Balmoral recreating the Titanic's voyage Titanic route  (http://www.discovernorthernireland.com/Titanic-Route-Map-A1514), some interesting information on the current status and risks to shipping from icebergs.

Sitting in Cambridge at 52 degrees North, it comes as a bit of a surprise that the Titanic sank off New foundland at about 41.5 degrees North, i.e. a full 10 degrees further South (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Titanic#Wreck).

Ocean currents and Greenland are mainly responsible for these differences. Our milder climate is due to the beneficial effects of the warm Gulf Stream that originates from southern warmer waters and continues up to the arctic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Stream). On the other side of the Atlantic currents swirl around the southern tip of Greenland and then hug the coast direction North. The currents pass the Greenland glaciers that are calving icebergs in the Spring (http://webspace.webring.com/people/xa/aktaion/icetrack.htm).

The icebergs are carried towards the Canadian coast and then join a southward bound current that follows the contours of the North American continent. The combination of the size of icebergs, the cold current and the fact that it actually takes quite a lot of heat to melt ice means that sizeable icebergs still survive in the ocean as the current sweeps east and south of Newfoundland
(http://www.scribd.com/doc/62594241/10/Map-13-Iceberg-Routes-to-the-North-Atlantic).

Large icebergs can be detected by radar. However even "smaller" chunks of ice are more difficult to detect, being almost toally submerged. In addition to icebergs, the terminology of ice hazards includes Bergy Bits (about 5 to 15m in length) and Growlers (less than 5m long)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceberg). These are still hazards as even just cubic meter of water weighs a metric ton, so that growlers and bergy bits can range from 5 ton to 30 tons.

Icebergs themselves range from small (15m - 60m long) to extrememly large such as iceberg B-15. It calved in 2000, was larger than Jamaica at 11,000 square kilometers and weighed a cool three billion tons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceberg_B-15). B-15 still had not fully melted a decade later. It gradually broke up, with one piece making it as far as New Zealand in 2006.

According to a BBC article, icebergs still cause shipping accidents at a rate of about 2.3  year (57 between 1980 - 2005 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17257653). The causes are increased traffic in the acrctic waters due to search for mineral resources and ships risking travelling further North into iceberg affected waters to cut journey times and fuel costs by trimming up to 1000 miles off journeys.

Since the Titanic's fatal voyage, an international iceberg watch has been established. The International Ice Patrol issues charts of observed icebergs along the North American coast (http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=iipCharts). As I write this article, there are are about 173 icebergs off the coast of Newfoundland, between 46 degrees North and 55 degrees North
(http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?Do=popImage&urlRef=images/iip/data/2012/20120409_NAIS65.gif.)

I assume that the Balmoral, recreating the Titanic's journey, will be taking a safer course, rather than making any shortcuts, to arrive at the location of the Titanic at circa 41 degrees, 43.5 minutes North, 49 degrees, 56.8 minutes West, on 14th April - 100 years after the original event.

I'm not panicking about fuel, i'm rational!

Have you noticed that when people where interviewed in the petrol queues recently, it was not them that was panic buying just everyone else?

The strange thing appears to be that this is indeed the case for everyone. Each individual was not panic buying but making a prudent decision to ensure that they had some petrol for perfectly rational personal reasons. I too felt the mental tug to consider refueling. Had my car's tank not been three quarter's full, I might have done so.

What causes these individual choices that collectively have unintended consequences, like causing a fuel shortage that we were trying to avoid?

The plethora of psychologists commenting on the web had a common underlying message. Overall, the analysis is as follows:

We are told on the one hand that there will be a potential fuel tanker strike in the near future.
The government says, do not worry, just think ahead a bit and plan.
We think, if the government say there is an issue but we shouldn't worry, then there must be a slightly worrying issue, otherwise why would this have been brought to our attention.
The situation is now very much like the game theory of the "prisoner's dilemma" - we look at four potential choices:

1. I do not buy fuel, everybody else does not buy extra fuel, fuel stocks OK for the moment
2. I do not buy fuel, everybody else buys fuel, it runs out and I get none when I need it
3. I do buy fuel, everybody else does not buy fuel, so I'm OK
4. I do buy fuel, everybody else buys fuel, at least I'm OK for the moment

The temptation to buy earlier rather than later is there. Some people do go ahead and buy fuel. Others wait until we see what the rest are doing.

Then the media announces that there is an icrease in fuel purchases at the pumps.

So for those who have not bought yet, the balance shifts. Options 1 and 3 no longer apply. If I do not buy fuel now, I might not get any later. If I buy now at least I'll be OK.

More people arrive at the pumps - the media start talking of "panic buying". This reinforces my choices. If everyone else is panicking and looking out for themselves, it is only logical that I too buy if I have not already done so.

I'm rational - it is everyone else who seems to be panicking! Yet like me, they are making the same rational choice.

And so, with our ipeccable individual logic we collectively create the crisis we were trying to avoid in the first place!

Some links to psychologist's comments and the prisoner's dilemma here.


No panic for petrol
The logic of panic buying
Should you panic buy fuel? A true prisoner's dilemma
Media to blame for panic buying


Other advice on saving fuel:
Cheap Petrol & Diesel - Cut your fuel spend by a third


Ideas and concepts communicated simply.

Growing your own power plant on the roof in the future

We need more clean energy in our homes. There is a trend to micro-generation that can be used to ensure that the houses of the future are carbon and even energy neutral. The problem with two of the main methods solar and wind is that these only work when – the sun shines or the wind blows.

However, reading an article by Caroline Williams in New Scientist, I was alerted to the fact that growing plants can themselves be used to generate electricity. Marjolein Helder and David Strik in the Netherlands have founded the company Plant-e, aiming to develop commercially useful plant based energy generation systems.

The principle is remarkably simple. Plants take the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and fix it into sugars and carbohydrates. These are in part secreted by the roots where they are digested by bacteria. In the process of digestion, the bacteria generate hydrogen ions and electrons (see their figure here http://www.plant-e.com/technology.html). In a wet soil, these ions can migrate.

Add two graphite electrodes and you can draw a small current of electricity. Importantly, the current is generated day and night, without detriment to the growing plants.

Currently (excuse the unintended pun) research is underway to improve the power gain. There is an EU collaboration between different research groups and companies aiming to achieve this called PlantPower. Plant-bacteria power generation is likely to be  five times more efficient than using the same area to produce biofuel.

Visiting Ecobuild last week, I saw that there is an increasing interest in using green roofs on buildings, both to retain runoff water and also act as habitats. It now looks as if in the future green roofs could also be used for power generation.

A14 coffee morning science question on epigenetics

Forget the stuffy image of business networking being about serious suited business people selling to each other. At its best, it is about conversations and getting to know each other in a pleasant environment which,over time, often leads to unexpected business opportunities.

It also means that the most unexpected questions arise as when Rachael Orchard of Nu Skin turned to me and, hearing I had a science background, asked

“And what do you think of epigenetics?”

I was flummoxed and had to dredge my memory for some faint recollection to give an answer.

I was prompted to do a it more revision over the weekend.

So what is “epigenetics”?

Well, you may recall from news items that we have about 20,000 to 30,000 genes, which code for all the information that makes us human. The information being “written” in our DNA. Now, a cell in your big toe will have the same DNA as one of your brain cells, and yet they are obviously very different.

Soon after your parents created you as a fertilised egg cell, in their hopefully passionate encounter, you began to divide into more cells as you started to grow. As the process continued, certain genes were turned on, others turned off. The effect was different in different cell or cell lines. So gradually some of your cells became toe cells, others brain cells. And when a toe cell divided during growing up to help make a bigger toe, these too were now toe cells. This is true of cells in all the different parts of your body, heart, kidney, hair and skin.

The process of your (and any other organisms) development is called epigenesis. The study of epigenesis is – epigenetics!

OK, but why is epigenetics relevant in a business discussion?

The process of epigenesis, of you becoming you, is not just a pre-programmed inevitability. What you eat, where and how you live can also have an impact.

Rachael Orchard is part of Nu Skin, a company that produces anti-ageing nutrition and skincare. Nu Skin has been working closely with and also recently bought a company called LifeGen Technologies. LifeGen Technologies studies the epigenetics of ageing. They have a patent pending based on initial studies on mice.

LifeGen Technologies have identified genes that may be affected during ageing. This will lead to studies to understand how this happens. In turn, hopefully treatments or actions that can reduce or delay the signs of ageing will follow.

This would be gold for the Nu Skin anti-ageing company

Therefore in this business discussion, epigenetics was highly relevant!


If you need to communicate complex topics to your clients or business partners, let me help.

The science of ageing is a new and hotly debated research area. Calorific restriction (giving less food) is one treatment shown scientifically to work in extending lifespan for yeast, rodents and dogs. Studies on primates and humans are in progress.

Norwich Dentists Study Group discusses telescope attachments

A visit to an active group of East Anglian dentists who meet regularly to ensure their own continued professional development. Member Martin Sulo gave a presentation to Norwich Dentists Study Group, with case studies and a lively member discussion on the uses of telescopic crowns. German dental technician and German crown expert Ulrich Heker attended in support.

Telescopic attachments were originally invented in the late 1800s in the USA but have become known as German or double crowns, due to the expertise developed and routinely applied in the latter country. They are still relatively unknown and underutilised in the UK. One of the reasons being the need for a good partnership between dentist and dental technician.

Telescopic attachments provide dental replacement solutions where implants are contra-indicated. This can not only be due to the patients physical and health situation, the patients preferences and the current economic climate are equally important. Telescopic attachments fall midway between conventional prostheses and implants in cost whilst providing good aesthetics, and functionality. Telescopic attachments are prostheses that attach to a few existing teeth that are capped with a primary crown. The secure attachment is achieved via secondary crowns in the prosthesis.

Dentist Martin Sulo, Botesdale Dental Practice in Diss, had been collaborating with my business colleague, Ulrich Heker, owner manager of the dental technical laboratory Teeth'R'Us from Essen, Germany. Martin gave a seminar on his experience of using telescopic attachments as part of the continuing CPD of fellow members of the Norwich Dentists Study Group. Ulrich came over from Germany to be there and support Martin with any questions relating to the dental technician half of the work. Ulrich is very modest about his English skills, so I tagged along as facilitator if needed. The meeting was held in the impressive Georgian Assembly Rooms in Norwich.

The teamwork worked well. Martin Sulo was a calm and measured presenter, apparently unfazed by questions with which he was peppered during the talk; Ulrich Helker was able to jump in with technical detail. The Norwich Dentists Study Group came across as a relaxed yet highly informed affair. Martin had initially expressed concern that his well illustrated talk would only last half an hour at the most, he needn't have worried. The active questions and discussions of both dental and technical aspects of the case studies and the science behind the use of telescopic attachments, filled two hours that appeared to pass in a flash.

The new aspects that I really picked up from Martin's talk and the discussions were first, the importance of friction. Precise control of friction is required so that on the one had the prosthesis is retained firmly in the mouth whilst still being able to be removed by the patient. The second point was the balance between using precious alloys or non precious alloys. This was a matter that bounced around the discussion as the respective pros and cons in different situations were considered.

Two hours of technical discussion, no matter how interesting, generates a need for liquid refreshment. We gladly accepted the invitation to visit the group's post-meeting pub and spent the remainder of the evening in pleasant company before Ulrich and I took the late night drive back to Cambridge along now empty roads.

The relaxed teamwork between dentist Martin Sulo and dental technician Ulrich Heker was a winning combination and I thoroughly recommend them to other dental groups. If you are based within a couple of hours of Norwich, take a look at the Norwich Dentists Study Group program for the coming year.

Related articles:
http://miltoncontact.blogspot.com/2009/06/getting-our-teeth-into-glasgow.html
http://miltoncontact.blogspot.com/2010/10/women-shrouded-on-chairs-with-rictus.html
http://miltoncontact.blogspot.com/2011/10/entering-new-dental-market-requires.html

Five tips on how to start business networking, generally and in Cambridgeshire UK

This article is in answer to a friend who asked about starting business networking and what tips that I might have. The advice is both generic and includes comments relevant for Cambridgeshire.

In the UK, business networking is primarily a social activity which leads to business, as opposed to being subjected to someone’s sales pitch, or subjecting others to yours. This means finding a business network that suits your personality as well as your business.

Tip 1: Try out lots of different networks

The easiest ways to find your first network to visit are to ask a friend and or to Google for ‘business network {your region}’. Check out the websites and see if guests are welcome (they generally are), if there is a free event or a low cost pay at the door type event. If you can accompany a friend already in a network – even better.

Any good networking event will have a host or set of members looking out for attendees. There is generally some structure where people might initially mingle informally while registering, there can be an introduction round and some have presentations and buffets etc.

The important thing is to go to a first one and see what it is like and whether you feel comfortable there.

Do not join a network with an annual membership fee until you have been at least two or three times to events or meetings. Avoid being rail-roaded into joining. Some memberships come with a hefty fee and deliver little, whilst others can be very economical and be really useful to you.

Cambridgeshire has a plethora of business networks catering from microbusinesses to hi tech, here are some: The Huntingdonshire Business Network; A14 Coffee Morning (St Ives); Business Owners Breakfast (Cambridge); The Inspired Group (Cambridge), Toastmaster International (if you want to practise public speaking) Cambridge Network, Connected Cambridge, BNI, Business Club, Cambridgeshire Chambers, 4 Networking, Cambridge Businesswomen's Network and many, many more.

It is perfectly OK to be a member of several different business networks.

Tip 2: Ask new contacts you meet about where they network and why

One of the great things about business networking is that you can ask others for advice and often find it freely given!

You get to hear about events or organisations you might otherwise have missed that again could be to your advantage.

Tip 3: Using your mouth and ears in proportion

Once you are at a networking event, try to listen more to the people you meet than speaking to them. Listening is a key skill in networking. You learn more about the people you meet, personally and about their business, their needs and interests.

If you do this for a little while, you will find that you can naturally link the needs of a previous person met with a current speaker – this is a referral. Your conversation partners will also learn about you and in turn hopefully remember you and refer you to others. This is the real benefit of networking.

If you do hit the self-selling bore, excuse yourself after a little while (if someone else hasn't rescued you) to get a fresh coffee or meet another group - at least you have learnt who to avoid in future!

Tip 4: Networking as a long term marketing tool

Once you have become familiar with a set of networks that fit both you and your business, attend them regularly at a frequency that suits you. You get to know other businesses and get to be known. This not only generates business in the long term, it also gives you a great social environment to share experiences, learn from other people’s expertise and impart your own.

Whilst I have had business within a short term of one or two meetings, realistically allow for longer time-scales. The longest period between me talking to someone at a networking event and them following me up was 6 years! But when the moment was right, they remembered me.

Tip 5: Use social networking tools

Most good business networks now have a social network dimension, be it a LinkedIn group, Facebook page or Twitter feed. These are fantastic additions to the process of physical networking. You can exchange information or simply socialise online with other members you may have met or who you wish to meet in the future.

A whole different chapter can be devoted to social network. Again, the simplest first advice is to dip your toe in one or two different networks with the help of people you already know.

Conclusion

The five tips in this article will get you started in business networking, which is often the major hurdle. Once you have been to two or more events you will become familiar with the networking process. You will able to establish your preferences in the types of people and businesses you enjoy meeting – and doing business with.

I look forward to meeting you at a networking event in the future :-)

Do clicks and pops on internet Radio reveal BBC attitude to local radio?

Imagine being given a camera that persistently gives you blotches on your pictures, how long would you put up with this? Listeners to local BBC radio stations on the internet, such as BBC Radio Cambridgeshire have been putting up with the equivalent for over three months now. Is this due to an insurmountable problem or complacency on the BBC’s behalf? As I small business, I could not afford to let such a fault run for such a period of time – I suggest this is big organisation complacency and it does not bode well for the future of local BBC radio stations.

Irritating clicks and pops have been disrupting local BBC radio station broadcasts, occurring at a frequency of several times a minute. This phenomenon disappears when the night time broadcasts go over to a shared national broadcast.

When I first heard them back in December 2011 on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, I put this down to having a new PC and that there was an error there. That is, until I tried accessing listen again and finding that the clicks and pops were also present on the recordings of daytime BBC Radio Cambridgeshire programs. Using different PCs at different locations, the error was still there.

In fact, doing a further search revealed that this was occurring with local radio broadcasts across England, with irritated local listeners initially thinking this is just their local phenomenon http://catchupsupport.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=275&start=10.
Today I checked BBC Radio Newcastle, BBC Radio Manchester, BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, BBC Radio Devon, BBC Radio Hereford and Worcester and BBC Radio Jersey – All were bedevilled by the horrendous clicks and pops.

Finally I heard on a BBC Radio 4 Feedback broadcast in February (no clicks and pops on that) that this was due to a faulty unit through which all local stations were routed. It was a bespoke item and a replacement had to be made. The fault would be resolved early March. Well, it is coming up to mid-March and the latest round about news is that the fault is unlikely to be repaired till April at the earliest (01/03/2012 http://www.radiofeeds.co.uk/).

If a small business like mine was providing a service with the same persistency, irritation and length of a fault to its customers, it would very rapidly find itself losing business. It would be a matter of finding a more immediate solution, even if this meant a stop-gap until a major repair was effected.

Now I’ve established, with a couple of phone calls, that there are internet radio streaming providers in the UK and that they are perfectly capable of taking an FM stream and converting it into an internet radio broadcast. A good place to start would be UK & Irish Radio Stations broadcasting on the Internet at http://www.radiofeeds.co.uk/streamproviders.html. Whilst the companies contacted did not want to be quoted, they all felt that it would be straightforward to provide a quick solution if approached.

I find the fact that the BBC has not seen fit to quickly address a serious and persistent technical issue with local radio broadcasts on the internet surprising. Even if the proportion of local BBC Radio listeners on the internet is small, the impact on the perceived professionalism of the organisation could be disproportionate.

Most worrying of all, as a local BBC Radio Cambridgeshire listener, is the feeling that if the BBC as an organisation does not treat its local internet radio listeners seriously, is it really serious about local radio as a whole?

EMU and the Netherlands

Professor Klaas Knot, President of De Nederlandsche Bank gave us a calm view of the future of the EMU and the Netherlands' place in Europe in his talk in the OMFIF Golden Series on World Money, 17th February 2012.

Having the meeting in the auspicious environs of the Armourers and Braziers Hall in London, which had survived the Great Fire of London in 1666 and the Blitz in the 20th century, Professor Knot quipped, was surely an auspicious sign for this talk. Perhaps the small cannon facing his back merely reflected the frisson of uncertainty that the Euro-zone is currently experiencing.

The free trade with the rest of Europe is vital to the economy of the Netherlands as over 60% of its exports are to this area. Furthermore, its cautious economic policies have allowed the economy to broadly mirror that of the EUs powerhouse, Germany. The overall interest is therefore in the success of the EMU.

We were reminded that EMU stands for Economic and Monetary Union – a vital point as it is often confused with Europe in a more political sense. Historically, it initially worked very well as countries aiming to join the EMU put in place stricter economic domestic measures that meant a good convergence. The spanner in the works was the financial crisis, after which there was a dramatic divergence between different EU countries in how they responded. National Debt as a proportion of GDP also varied from 80%, the EU average, to over 140% as with Greece.

I was also fascinated to see how economic efficiency in terms of labour costs was an area where Germany had, in the long run, benefiter from the union of the former FRG and East Germany.

The current crisis has prompted governments into taking major actions to counter the situation. However, a more common and consistent approach is essential across the Eurozone, which naturally means greater EU integration. As Professor Knot pointed out, this could only happen with popular acceptance and a greater democratisation of EU institutions. It was also important that the financial measures or future firewalls were also matched by a consistent narrative that was able to tell the positive aspects of the EURO story, because, despite all the current perceived problems, the EURO is still a resounding success story.

We came away with the feeling that, in the Netherlands at least, there is a very strong interest in the stability and maintenance of the Euro-zone. There was also an inclusive approach to trying to keep Greece in the Euro-zone. For the moment, with the last weeks 3 month solution for Greece, it appears that the situation may match Professor Knots inclusive approach.

In a market with speculation rippling through any conversation by groups of two or more, Professor Knot's presentation was a good attempt of pouring oil on the troubled waters.

Previous OMFIF talk attended at Armourers Hall

The International Monetary System is to local crises like the climate is to weather

Practical examples of retrofitting in Verden, Germany

A talk on a practical German example on the benefits and practical ways of retrofitting communal housing stock, as successfully applied in Verden.

This was a talk given at a wider Anglo-German meeting of a group with a common goal of ethical and energy efficiency in construction . Our hosts and organisers were Sandra and Leif Tollé. The talk was followed by a team building exercise at Bredbeck House, an hours drive from the city. My visit took place during the extremely cold period in February 2012, with outside temperatures reaching minus 15 degrees Centigrade.

Verden (Aller) is a small Cathedral city famous for being the site of a major battle (massacre) by Charlemagne, for its long links with mounted regiments and with the British Hannoverian Crown.

The slideshow features Verden and the participants in general,

The Anglo German delegation attended a talk by Olaf Heitkamp of Verden's communal housing company, Kreisbaugesellschaft des Kreises Verden mbH (http://www.kreisbau-verden.de/). It was held in a cosy venue within the Holzmarkt, a historic military stables, renovated and converted into a cultural and shopping centre for the city.

The company has been in existence since 1922, providing housing stock for rent and of which some includes social housing. Currently, they are responsible for 1050 flats in houses. In Germany, properties are sized by the number of rooms, in contrast to the UK where we just count the bedrooms. The flats are described as being mostly three to four rooms in size, with an average of 2 residents per property.

They began retrofitting for energy efficiency in 1989, initially using wall insulation. However, this created problems with mould and so a full package including windows and roofs was included from 2011. Note that the lofts of these houses were 3m high and usable, the houses, like other German properties also have usable cellars.

From 2006 to 2010, the energy savings were already 37%.

Further specific examples were given. Base (or plinth) insulation and external insulation of nine houses with 6 flats each showed dramatic savings in heating oil use, from 104250 L in 2000 to 44000 L in 2010. Another project of six homes with five flats each that were heated using a gas fuelled generator for hot water and electricity reduced the 2010 gas use from 422000 cubic meters to 202800 cubic meters in 2011.

Another key lesson was whether it was better to retrofit or to demolish and rebuild. One project of three houses was costed at EURO 1.3m to retrofit, it was simply more economic to rebuild at the highest current standards, with the residents being offered housing elsewhere.

With the German national government giving subsidies for energy efficiency to the tune of EURO 1bn, the communal housing association is building more properties to an anticipated high standard, “EnEV 2012”.

The talk was extensive, with more examples. The overall tenor was of considerable experience in retrofitting and new-build to the highest energy standards suitable for each site or situation.

For more information and contact with author chris@miltoncontact.com.

For UK examples or Green build and retrofitting, see the following articles:

Miltoncontact: Can German Craftsmen give UK's Heritage a facelift?

Miltoncontact: NRW Green Building Services Companies on a ...

Historic buildings and future-proofing the skills to restore them: DE and GB experts meet in London

Bankers are not lending to SMEs, because it is not worth it

This was a key insight that I gained from an excellent presentation on Finance for SMEs by David Gill of the St John's Innovation Centre (SJIC). When you think about it, it is blatantly obvious as the extremely low interest rates, the necessity for bans to secure any loans that they have and the current distrust between banks, all conspire against lending money with a negligible return versus the effort and risk. If, as a lending bank, you require 20 good investments in a year to cover every company that is a loss, and your return is only 2.5% - where is the incentive?

There was a host of useful and current information on other sources of funding and also the best routes to take to work towards them. David Gill came across as a well informed speaker, as one might expect from the Managing Director of the SJIC, who won the UKBI award for Outstanding Contribution to Business Incubation 2011. 

Contact the SJIC if you are interested in the next talk on Finance from David Gill. 

See http://www.stjohns.co.uk/finance/workshop-format-and-dates/

Tollé Architects, visiting a great practice in Verden, Germany

Whilst Fritz-Dieter Tollé Architektur reads like a recommendation in German (Tollé looks like the German exclamation for Great!) it does happen to be apt, as I found out on my current visit to meet up with the next generation, Sandra and Leif Tollé on mutual business.

To get to Verden, I left home at five in the morning after the first really disruptive snowfall of 2012. Fortunately, both trains and planes at Stansted were unaffected (Heathrow had cancelled over half its flights the previous day!) and I arrived in a sunny but arctic Hannover (minus 7 to minus 10 degC!), a chill that bit through even the thickest clothing.

The company itself (see http://www.arch-tolle.de/) is located in the cathedral city of Verden an der Aller (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verden_an_der_Aller).

Sandra  Tollé, CEO for the recently opened Duesseldorf branch of the company,
first introduced me to her father, Fritz-Dieter Tollé, on a tour before we had our meeting. He had built up the family owned and run company from scratch 30 years ago into the thriving practice with over 55 employees to date. The company has a broad experience and impressive portfolio in city planning, industrial projects and restoration of historical buildings.

Their current building was created by sympathetically fusing a tobacco factory with a former large stabling block wih a central atrium and stairwell. The spacious interiors over several floors were tastefully decorated in large modern paintings, the occasional architectural model and a lovely display of old survey instruments.

One striking feature was the polite and friendly greetings by any of the staff who passed us by or who we met on the tour, an atmosphere that was borne out by the low staff turnover, with many being longstanding employees.

A constructive business meeting exploring mutual interests and opportunities with Sandra followed before we finished for the day and I explored the city.

Twinned with another historic city, Warwick, Verden has a picturesque pedestrianized and quaintly cobbled city centre, dominated by the romanic (pre-gothic) cathedral at one end and a Rathaus with a lovely 15 bell hourly chime at the other, which plays a familiar German lullaby (Der Mond ist aufgegangen - The moon has risen).

Walking around the city centre, Leif Tollé, Sandra's husband, revealed a deep knowledge of the city history. This included a famous massacre of 4500 heathen Saxons by Charlemagne. It also used to have a wall built right through the middle of the city to separate the secular hoi polloi from the elevated bishopric, resulting in a lucrative toll on churchgoers on Sundays; a situation only alleviated when the town was unified when taken over by the Swedish crown.

I felt quite at home in a city that was situated in an equally flat countryside to the Fens, doubly so when it turned out that there was a long tradition of links to England through the Hanoverians PLUS  a love of horses, reminiscent of Cambridge's neighbouring towns of Newmarket and Huntingdon.

I'm looking forward to another set of interesting meetings here tomorrow.

Exporting Huntingdonshire – Gateway to the World

From Wordle-images

With family budgets squeezed and the nation's GDP static or declining, the Huntingdonshire Manufacturer's Association (HMA) asked, where to next?

Stuart Gibbons, Chairman of the HMA competently chaired an excellent meeting with the following themes:

• Export! With UKTI Assistance 
• Export! How R&D Tax Credits worked for Tensor 
• Export! Emphatically with HSBC 
• Export! It worked for Encocam 
• Export! To Russia with Love 

Export! With UKTI Assistance 

First speaker Martin Keepfer (Regional Team Manager UKTI, East of England) pointed out that Government spending and reliance on British consumers were unlikely immediate sources in the current market. Exports, however, provide a viable solution.

In the year to December 2011, there was an 18% increase in exports, to a value of £25bn. Furthermore, we in the East of England are one of the three regions that are the net earners for the UK. From there on Martin gave a good overview of the comprehensive assistance that UKTI can provide the novice and experienced exporters – for a summary of the funding available for various programs, see article “How to Make Britain a more successful exporter. Part A”.

Export! How R&D Tax Credits worked for Tensor

Nigel Smith of Tensor PCL then ratcheted up the pace a gear with his enthusiastic presentation on the underutilised R&D Tax credits. The news that the credit was equivalent to 225% for 2012 had the interest of the audience so fired up that it could well have been the cause of the fire alarm which interrupted Nigel's speech.

Suitably refreshed by the break in the winter air, Nigel added some useful tips on ensuring good records of labour and of the ability to claim against subcontracted work. As a tax credit, the system was most suited for companies in profit.

In fact, for Tensor the facility stimulated the company to free up its accumulated capital and actively pursue R&D, to develop new energy management systems as another product stream.

Export! Emphatically with HSBC

We had barely caught our breath when Phil Spencer (International Trade Director South, HSBC) breezed into a talk at breakneck speed. Phil's view was robustly positive and pro-export.

A tough EU environment was contrasted with an anticipated 73% increase in world trade growth by 2025. HSBC was finding its international side was extremely active, with 360 international managers and trade teams having doubled in number this year.

Fact. If you are an exporting company you are SEVEN times more profitable than a domestic one. Even if the World economy is slowing down, there are still tremendous opportunities.

One of Phil's striking personal observations was the readiness of other countries and nationalities to think globally in terms of international trade. Don't wait, be proactive and challenge your bank for regular support for international projects and aim for government assistance with projects of higher risk. Check out “HSBC EasyTrade – importing and exporting made easier”.

Export! It worked for Encocam

Mike Ashmead (Encocam) returned us to a more measured pace as he provided a useful case-study of a successfully exporting business. The long term strategy was to build brand awareness for the seven different product areas.

The intent right from the start was to think like a big company, something that it has now become with 120 staff. Exports were an integral part of the strategy because of the ability to

• Spread risk
• Expand opportunities
• Increase credibility in other markets
• and for the sheer challenge and adrenaline generated that keep the organisation alive

The result – increasing growth to 18% to 20% last year due to exports.

I particularly liked his four point advice:

• Value your knowledge 
• Build your brand 
• inspire your team 
• Manage expectations

Export! To Russia with Love 

We had been enthused, educated and received good advice. Now it was time to open our minds to a market usually ignored due to misconception – Russia.

Tim Jelley of UKTI and Anthony Day of RBCC (Russo-British Business Club) pointed out that it was at present easier to sell to Russia than to the US or France. Contrary to historic prejudice, Tim's experience when he was in business with Russia was of prompt payment; Currently, the anti-bribery legislation in the UK is actually seen as a positive element by Russian partners; And Anthony pointed out that the UK brand was a highly desirable commodity in Russia.

Russia is the closest of the emerging BRIC countries; has warm welcoming and very honourable people who enjoy an annual growth of 4% GDP and has large financial reserves. The country's future focus is modernisation and diversification of the economy.

Of course problems still persist, with bureaucratic forms being one issue. However, this had not prevented major companies establishing a foothold in the country, e.g. Cadburys, BAT, Vodafone & BHS to name a few.

Networking is extremely important in Russia and the RBCC has 2 offices in the country with 6000 contacts, so it is well worth getting in touch with them.

Conclusion

The lively questions after the four hours of presentations and occasional break were moderated by Jan England, who hardly had to prompt for comments from both the floor and the speakers panel. Was China's economy really growing as fast as claimed? Should we not concentrate on building our domestic market before tackling international ones? These two questions alone generated a flurry of responses and counter views.

In the end, Stuart Gibbons rounded off a positive event before being swept away to the buffet when hunger finally won out.