RainDance Technologies has been selected as a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer. Technology Pioneers were nominated by the world’s leading technology experts and final selection from 273 nominees was made by a panel of leading technology experts. Technology Pioneers are invited to participate in the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland
Dr. Jonathan M. Rothberg, co-founder and chairman of RainDance Technologies was selected to represent RainDance as a 2008 Technology Pioneer at Davos this year.
“We started RainDance with an amazing group of co-founders and advisors with the mission to have a profound impact on the way life science research is undertaken, we wanted to create the laboratory equivalent of the personal computer”, said Dr. Rothberg. “Our vision “A RainDance Professional Laboratory System in every lab” has attracted an active scientific advisory board including three Nobel Prize winners. It is great to have RainDance recognized by the World Economic Forum as a company with the potential to change people’s lives – to improve the way people do research from fields as diverse as the life sciences and bio-energy.”
While RainDance has affected the way it’s academic and industrial partners do research, RainDance is now focused on delivering its products to the world’s market in 2008. RainDance designed the Professional Laboratory System (PLS) to be the biochemical equivalent of a personal computer. The key to this innovation is the novel combination of microdroplets and microfluidics to create and route digital packets of biochemical information called NanoReactors. The PLS is a versatile lab-on-chip, able to perform laboratory functions at speeds and complexities not possible with existing instruments. Like a computer manipulates bits of information, the PLS enables the programmable handling of fluid samples for innovative assay and screening applications.
Technology Pioneers are companies that have been identified as developing and applying highly transformational and innovative technologies in the areas of energy, biotechnology and health, and information technology. To be selected as a Technology Pioneer, a company must be involved in the development of life-changing technology innovation and have the potential for long-term impact on business and society. In addition, it must demonstrate visionary leadership, show all the signs of being a long-standing market leader – and its technology must be proven. Previous Technology Pioneers have included Business Objects, Cambridge Silicon Radio, Corel Corporation, Encore Software, Google, Mozilla Corporation and Napster.
Twenty-three of the Technology Pioneers 2008 are US-based companies. Israel and the United Kingdom each boast three; Sweden and Switzerland two each; Canada, France, Germany, India, the Netherlands and Russia, one each. Technology Pioneers are nominated in three main categories: Energy/Environment, Biotechnology/Health and Information Technology.
“This year the World Economic Forum received a record number of applications from companies around the world to become a Technology Pioneer. From a highly competitive field, we are extremely pleased to have a community that is using innovation and technology to dramatically affect the way society and business operate and doing so in a markedly collaborative manner. We are excited to welcome the Technology Pioneers class of 2008 to the larger community of the World Economic Forum and we are looking forward to the fruits that their collaboration will bring,” said Peter Torreele, Managing Director of the World Economic Forum.