Indonesia’s Investment Climate by Rani Jarkas

Indonesia has become a favorite emerging country for international investors, as ongoing reforms in areas such as macroeconomic framework, banking supervision, accounting standards, transparency and governance issues by the government have enhanced the local investment climate. Moreover, the country possesses positive fundamental elements, including a huge population, growing middle class and young workforce, enormous domestic market, endowment of a wide variety and abundant natural resources like natural gas, coal, geothermal, palm oil, cocoa, tin, nickel and bauxite as well as a pool of diversified import export markets.

[caption id="attachment_26" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Map of Indonesia (ranijarkas.wordpress.com)[/caption]

Indonesia has regained the confidence of international investors after the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997‐1998. To get its economy back to a strong footing and increase its credibility, Indonesia has undertaken the following reforms: Making changes to the macroeconomic framework; Strengthening supervision of the banking industry and scrutiny of accounting standards, and Improving transparency, enhancing governance issues, and reducing corruption.

Through a more flexible exchange rate regime and an inflation‐targeting framework, Indonesia has created a more stable macro economy. The better banking system helps stabilize and lower non‐performing loans together with increasing the profitability and efficiency of banks in general. Furthermore, more transparency on information and data reduces investors’ concerns over governance and other issues, leading to increased confidence and investments.

The results of those reforms are evidenced from the positive growth in Indonesia during the global economic crisis in 2008‐2009. In 2009, Indonesia managed to grow its GDP by 4.6% when the advanced economies registered a negative growth roughly in the 3%‐5% range. Indonesia grew by 6.2% in 2012 and in 2014, stronger economic growth is expected around the lower end of the 5.8-6.2% range. Indonesia’s economy grew by 5.7% in 2013, making “The World’s Most Stable Economy in the Last Five Years” according to The Economist Magazine. Future economic expansion is expected to include more inclusive growth as nominal per-capita GDP is expected to quadruple by 2020, according to a Standard Chartered report.

拉尼.亚卡斯（Rani Jarkas）：绿色纳米技术在太阳能电池中的应用

绿色纳米技术是清洁技术的发展，“使用更环保的纳米产品代替现有产品，通过生产和使用纳米技术产品以减少对环境的破坏并降低对人类健康所造成的威胁。”许多科学家正在寻找方法来开发清洁、廉价和可再生能源，以较少对环境的破坏并尽可能地减少污染。

目前正进行的一个主要研究是如何把纳米技术应用到开发更高效的太阳能电池。太阳能电池的效率更高，而且是可再生能源。许多研究人员正在着手研究能减少能源浪费的高效太阳能发电。

[caption id="attachment_203" align="aligncenter" width="260"] Solar Panels [ranijarkas.wordpress.com][/caption]
斯坦福大学的研究人员发现了一种在有机太阳能电池中捕获光的方法。这个想法的原理很简单，光在太阳能电池中停留的时间越长，其所产生的电子将越多。研究人员发现，把比光的波长更薄的有机层夹在太阳能电池的反射镜和粗糙层之间，能使光在太阳能电池中停留更长时间，从而激发更多的电流。

密歇根理工大学的研究人员发明了一种独特的3D蜂窝结构石墨烯。这种新型且并不昂贵材料可替代太阳能电池的铂金材料，而且转换效率并不降低。这种3D蜂窝状石墨烯具有优良的导电性与高催化活性，因此它们能够用于储能及能量转换。配有3D石墨烯对电极的可将7.8%的太阳光线转化为电力。

美国洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室的研究展示了使用薄膜铜铟镓硒太阳能电池模组。它比传统玻璃做的硅片电池模组更加轻薄，且完全无含毒镉的成分。

美国麻省理工学院的研究人员研制出一种在柔性石墨烯片上涂覆纳米线的新方法。这种方法可以生产出低成本、透明以及柔韧性佳的太阳能电池，能够在窗户、屋顶以及其他物体的表面使用。

Green Nanotechnology in Solar cells by Rani Jarkas

Green nanotechnology is the development of clean technologies, "to minimize potential environmental and human health risks associated with the manufacture and use of nanotechnology products, and to encourage replacement of existing products with new nano-products that are more environmentally friendly throughout their lifecycle” As the growing needs to protect our environment are increasing, many scientists are looking into ways to develop clean, affordable, and renewable energy sources, with a smaller environmental footprint and minimise pollution.

[caption id="attachment_203" align="aligncenter" width="260"] Solar Panels[/caption]

One major project that is being worked on is the development of nanotechnology in solar cells. Solar cells are more efficient as they get tinier and solar energy is a renewable resource. A group of researchers are making solar power significantly more efficient by scooping up more of that wasted energy.

Researchers at Stanford University have found a way to trap light in organic solar cells. The idea is that the longer light is in the solar cell the more electrons will be generated. The researchers found that by making the organic layer much thinner than the wavelength of light and sandwiching the organic layer between a mirror layer and a rough layer the light stayed in the solar cell longer and excited more electrons.

Researchers at Michigan Technological University have developed a honeycomb like structure of graphene in which the graphene sheets are held apart by lithium carbonate. They have used this "3D graphene" to replace the platinum in a dye sensitized solar cell and achieved 7.8 percent conversion of sunlight to electricity.

Researchers at Los Alamos National Lab have demonstrated a solar cell that uses a copper indium selenide sulfide quantum dots. Unlike quantum dots containing lead or cadmium the copper based quantum dot is non-toxic as well as low cost.

[caption id="attachment_202" align="aligncenter" width="300"] A field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) image of 3D honeycomb-structured graphene. [ranijarkas.wordpress.com][/caption]
MIT researchers have made major strides toward developing solar cells that are inexpensive, efficient, flexible, and transparent using a design that combines two special components: nanowires and graphene. Tests with assembled solar cells showed that incorporating the nanowires pushed up device efficiency and that there was no performance penalty for replacing a conventional high-cost, brittle electrode with their version made of abundant, inexpensive carbon.

拉尼.亚卡斯（Rani Jarkas）：纳米技术在医学中的应用

在我之前写的博客中（http://ranijarkas.wordpress.com），我谈到了一些我在多年来从事与纳米技术相关工作中所获得的一些经验和见解。我相信你一定经常听到“纳米技术”一词，但不管我们对它多么耳熟能详，纳米技术仍然是一个谜。我们看不到它，我们也感觉不到它。而事实上，纳米技术已应用在消费产品、医疗、食品等更多的领域。今天让我们专注于探讨纳米技术在医学上的应用。

纳米技术被称为“ 二十一世纪的技术”，其在医药领域的应用可以彻底改变我们未来检测和治疗疾病的方式。有些技术是想象出来的，有些正在测试的不同阶段，而另一些我们今天已在应用。

纳米技术在医学上正在研发的一门技术是利用纳米颗粒向癌细胞等特定类型的细胞输送药物、热、光或其他物质。纳米颗粒可作为药物载体来吸引病变细胞，从而可以直接处理这些细胞。这种技术可减少对体内健康细胞的伤害，并可以在早期发现疾病。美国国家癌症研究所创造了癌症纳米技术联盟，希望可以吸引更多对纳米医学的投资以突破对各种癌症的检测、诊断和治疗。

纳米技术专家拉尔夫•梅克尔博士（Dr. Ralph Merkle）曾经说过，“如果我们能降低成本并利用纳米技术的进步提高医疗技术质量，我们就可以更广泛地解决医疗问题以减少人类的苦难。”

有一点是可以肯定的，未来纳米技术医学的发展将会有更广泛的用途，并可以挽救许多的生命。就像伯纳德.马库斯（Bernard Marcus）所说，“纳米技术在医学上的应用无疑会对人类的生存产生重大的影响。”

Nanotechnology in Medicine by Rani Jarkas

In my previous blogs (http://ranijarkas.wordpress.com/), I shared some of my thoughts and insights obtained from my work and experience in the nanotechnology industry. I am sure you must hear about “nanotechnology” a lot, but no matter how much we hear about it, nanotech remains something of a mystery. We can’t see it, and we certainly can't feel it. And the truth is nanotechnology has found a place in consumer products, medical treatment, the food industry and so much more. Let’s focus on the discussion on its application in medicine today. I will continue to write more about nanotech in the near future.

The use of nanotechnology, "the technology of the 21st century," in the field of medicine could revolutionize the way we detect and treat disease in the future. Some techniques are only imagined, some are at various stages of testing, while some are actually being used today.

One application of nanotechnology in medicine currently being developed involves employing nanoparticles to deliver drugs, heat, light or other substances to specific types of cells, such as cancer cells. Particles are engineered so that they are attracted to diseased cells, which allows direct treatment of those cells. This technique reduces damage to healthy cells in the body and allows for earlier detection of disease. The National Cancer Institute has created the Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer in the hope that investments in nanomedicine could lead to breakthroughs in terms of detecting, diagnosing, and treating various forms of cancer.

The nanotechnology expert Dr. Ralph Merkle once said, “If we can reduce the cost and improve the quality of medical technology through advances in nanotechnology, we can more widely address the medical conditions that are prevalent and reduce the level of human suffering.”

One thing is sure that nanotechnology medical developments over the coming years will have a wider variety of uses and could potentially save many lives. Just like what Bernard Marcus said, “Nanotechnology in medicine is going to have a major impact on the survival of the human race.”

拉尼.亚卡斯（Rani Jarkas）看中国的环保清洁技术

我在最近的一篇博客文章（https://ranijarkas.wordpress.com/2014/06/04/%e5%af%b9%e7%8e%af%e4%bf%9d%e6%b8%85%e6%b4%81%e6%8a%80%e6%9c%af%e7%9a%84%e4%b8%80%e4%ba%9b%e8%a7%81%e8%a7%a3-%e6%8b%89%e5%b0%bc-%e4%ba%9a%e5%8d%a1%e6%96%af%ef%bc%88rani-jarkas%ef%bc%89/）里解释过环保清洁技术的定义以及其重要性。读者可能也阅读过我的另一篇关于环保清洁技术的文章（http://www.briefingwire.com/pr/rani-jarkas-Cleantech-wisdom）。我很欣慰收到了许多读者的支持和正面反馈，因此我想在此继续和大家一起分享和探讨我对环保清洁技术的一些看法。

今天的主题是中国的环保清洁技术。

中国多年大规模的增长对环境和自然资源造成了巨大的伤害也为之付出了沉重的代价。中国政府现在决心要对清洁技术行业采取积极措施，计划通过落实并管理清洁技术，来应对全国的高污染问题，同时平衡其能源需求和经济增长。

早在2010年，中国全年能源消费总量达32.5亿吨标准煤，成为仅次于美国的世界第二大能源消费国。如今，中国在清洁技术的投资已超越美国和欧洲，成为清洁技术产业发展最活跃的国家。美国国家科学基金会科学和工程指标最近的一份报告指出，中国对清洁技术的商业投资已经从2007年的300亿美元上升到2012年的近1,600亿美元。

据跨国咨询公司安永会计事务所（Ernst & Young）发布的可再生能源吸引力指数季度报告，中国2010 年二季度在风能上的投资达100亿美元，占全球投资的一半。中国三季度在清洁新技术行业的投资达135亿美元，而欧洲仅为80 亿美元。中国还在安永发布的可再生能源国家排名榜上名列首位。2010年全球共有38家纯清洁能源公司完成首次公开招股（IPO），其中中国公司就占了20家，筹集了共47亿美元，占全球总清洁技术IPO募集资金的49％。中国经济的蓬勃发展和投资者的热情都会令中国清洁技术的IPO继续刷新纪录。上市公司中大部分都是经营太阳能、风能、能源储存和节能的公司，反映出这些领域是中国清洁技术发展的主力。

据新华网报道，国务院总理温家宝于2013年1月30日主持召开了国务院常务会议，提出加快形成能源消费强度和消费总量双控制的新机制。会议同意国家发展改革委提出的预期目标：到2015年，全国能源消费总量控制在40亿吨标准煤左右，用电量控制在6.15万亿千瓦时左右。

受到国家政策的大力支持，清洁技术将成为中国的下一次工业革命。随着中国能源消费的转型加速，全球各行业的企业、政府和纯清洁技术市场的领导者正在寻求更多的竞争优势。你准备好抓住这些机遇了吗？

Cleantech in China by Rani Jarkas

In my recent blog post (https://ranijarkas.wordpress.com/2014/05/21/cleantechnology-insights), I explained what cleantech is and why it matters to us. You might have seen my another cleantech themed article here: http://www.briefingwire.com/pr/rani-jarkas-Cleantech-wisdom. I am very happy to have received so much positive feedback and support, therefore, I would like to continue the topic and share some of my thoughts and insights that I have gleaned from my work and research in the cleantech industry.

This blog’s topic is Cleantech in China

After years of massive growth that took a heavy toll on the environment and natural resources, China now has an ambitious plan to tackle its energy needs by developing clean energy alternatives.

Back in 2010, China's primary energy consumption rose to 3.25 billion tons of coal equivalent, making it the world's second largest energy consumer after the United States. Today, China has a commanding lead in commercial cleantech investment past the US and Europe. Commercial cleantech investment had more than quadrupled from $30 billion in 2007 to nearly $160 billion in 2012, according to a recent report from the National Science Foundation on science and engineering indicators.

China is a market rife with opportunities for cleantech companies. According to Ernst & Young (EY)’s report, China grabbed the number one spot on its Renewable Energy Attractiveness Index and was the largest recipient of clean energy investment in 2010. China generated 20 of the 38 global pure-play cleantech IPOs completed in 2010. Raising US$4.7 billion, Chinese transactions accounted for 49% of total global cleantech IPO proceeds. Combined with strong investor interest in China's booming economy, these factors have led to a record-breaking spate of Chinese cleantech IPOs that is likely to continue. Solar, wind, energy storage and energy efficiency companies made up the majority of offerings, reflecting the major areas of cleantech development in China.

In January 2013, China Cabinet approved an energy control target. The government aims to keep total energy consumption below 4 billion tons of standard coal equivalent by 2015, with electricity consumption below 6.15 trillion kilowatt-hours, according to Xinhua News Agency after a State Council meeting presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao.

Cleantech in China will continue to be the next industrial revolution. As the transformation accelerates, global corporations across industries, governments and pure-play cleantech market leaders are moving quickly to gain competitive advantage. Are you ready to seize transformational opportunities in China?