DOHA, QATAR—Futuristic health technologies often first benefit patients in the U.S. and Europe. Now an ambitious plan backed by high-flying entrepreneur Richard Branson to start a national public-private cord blood bank in the Arab emirate of Qatar might help to ensure that the evolving science of regenerative medicine will also be able to find applications quickly within the Middle East.

The newly formed Virgin Health Bank will collect and store stem cells drawn from the umbilical cords of infants, with the permission of their mothers. A portion of those cells will be banked for that infant’s future use in the event of medical need, with the remainder going to a national public bank for research and assistance to any patient with a matching tissue type.

BOSTON (March 11, 2009) -- In most discussions of energy and climate, coal figures prominently as one of the villains. Burning coal is responsible for more than a third of all energy-related U.S. carbon dioxide emissions and 80 percent of those from electricity production. It is also one of the largest contributors of air pollution, acid rain and even toxic environmental mercury. But because coal is so inexpensive and plentiful—at the current rate of domestic demand, the U.S. has enough coal to last for 250 years—nations find it hard to abandon the fuel without risking economic ruin. 

The clean-coal technology developed at GreatPoint Energy (with offices in Chicago and Cambridge) might represent a solution to that dilemma, however. CEO Andrew Perlman advanced that argument in his keynote speech here last night at the GoingGreen East conference in Boston. (Here are our previous posts on Going Green East.) GreatPoint Energy was just named overall winner in the GoingGreen East 50 Top Private Companies list, which recognizes exceptional organizations based on clean technology.

BOSTON (March 10, 2009) -- None too surprisingly, the business and financial communities generally foresee a continued slump in capital investment for most segments of green technology—although the energy sector may do relatively well. That seemed to be the message emerging from a survey of more than 300 venture capitalists, executives, entrepreneurs and bankers conducted over the past two months by KPMG, reported here last night at the GoingGreen East meeting.

(Scientific American is a partner with the AlwaysOn network in presenting the meeting, which is the first East Coast edition of an event held twice before in California.)

BOSTON (March 10, 2009)—If tomorrow's economy is to be sustainable both environmentally and economically, many new “clean tech” technologies and companies will need to arise. But where will they come from and how will they attract the capital they need to mature, particularly in the short-term during the financial crisis?

I’m here at the AlwaysOn Going Green conference this week to find out. I'm here both as a curious audience member and as the moderator of a panel this morning on sustainable biochemistry. The conference aims to help incubate those new enterprises by bringing together greentech CEOs, investors, researchers and others “to identify and debate emerging trends, build high-level relationships and create new business opportunities.”