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.