Примеры из английского. Научный

Примеры из английского

Научный

Text 1

INNOVATION

The term innovation derives from the Latin word innovatus (to renew or

change). Although the term is broadly used, innovation generally refers to the

creation of better or more effective products, processes, technologies, or ideas that are accepted by markets, governments, and society. Innovation differs from invention or renovation in that innovation generally signifies a substantial positive change compared to incremental changes.

Inter-Disciplinary Views:

Due to its widespread effect, innovation is an important topic in the study of economics, business, entrepreneurship, design, technology, sociology, and engineering. In society, innovation aids in comfort, convenience, and efficiency in everyday life. For instance, the benchmarks in railroad equipment and infrastructure added to greater safety, maintenance, speed, and weight capacity for passenger services. These innovations included changing from wood to steel cars, from iron to steel rails, stove-heated to steam-heated cars, gas lighting to electric lighting, diesel-powered to electric-diesel locomotives. By mid-20th century, trains were making longer, more comfortable, and faster trips at lower costs for passengers. Other areas that add to everyday quality of life include: the innovations to the light bulb from incandescent to compact fluorescent and LEDs which offer longer-lasting, less energy-intensive, brighter technology; adoption of modems to cellular phones, paving the way to smart phones which meets anyone’s internet needs at any time or place; cathode-ray tube to flat-screen LCD televisions and others.

Business and Economics:

In business and economics, innovation is the catalyst to growth. With rapid advancements in transportation and communications over the past few decades, the old world concepts of factor endowments and comparative advantage which focused on an area’s unique inputs are outmoded for today’s global economy. Now, as Harvard economist Michael Porter points out competitive advantage, or the productive use of any inputs, which requires continual innovation, is paramount for any specialized firm to succeed. Economist Joseph Schumpeter, who contributed greatly to the study of innovation, argued that industries must incessantly revolutionize the economic structure from within, that is innovate with better or more effective processes and products, such as the shift from the craft shop to factory. In addition, entrepreneurs continuously look for better ways to satisfy their consumer base with improved quality, durability, service, and price which come to fruition in innovation with advanced technologies and organizational strategies.

One prime example is the explosive boom of Silicon startups out of the Stanford Industrial Park. In 1957, dissatisfied employees of Shockley Semiconductor, the company of Nobel laureate and co-inventor of the transistor William Shockley, left to form an independent firm, Fairchild Semiconductor. After several years, Fairchild developed into a formidable presence in the sector.

Eventually, these founders left to start their own companies based on their own,

unique, latest ideas, and then leading employees started their own firms. Over the

next 20 years, this snowball process launched the momentous startup company explosion of information technology firms. Essentially, Silicon Valley began as 65 new enterprises born out of Shockley’s eight former employees.

• Organizations. In the organizational context, innovation may be linked to

positive changes in efficiency, productivity, quality, competitiveness, market share,

and others. All organizations can innovate, including for example hospitals,

universities, and local governments. For instance, former Mayor Martin O’Malley

pushed the City of Baltimore to use CitiStat, a performance-measurement10 data and management system that allows city officials to maintain statistics on crime trends to condition of potholes. This system aids in better evaluation of policies and procedures with accountability and efficiency in terms of time and money.

In its first year, CitiStat saved the city $13.2 million. Even mass transit11systems have innovated with hybrid bus fleets to real-time tracking at bus stands. In addition, the growing use of mobile data terminals12 in vehicles that serves as communication hubs between vehicles and control center automatically send data on location, passenger counts, engine performance, mileage and other information. This tool helps to deliver and manage transportation systems.

• Sources of Innovation. There are several sources of innovation. General

sources of innovations are different changes in industry structure, in market structure, in local and global demographics, in human perception, mood and meaning, in the amount of already available scientific knowledge, etc. These also include internet research, developing of people skills, language development, cultural background, Skype, Facebook, etc.

In the simplest linear model of innovation the traditionally recognized source is manufacturer innovation. This is where an agent (person or business) innovates in order to sell the innovation. Another source of innovation, only now becoming widely recognized, is end-user innovation. This is where an agent (person or company) develops an innovation for their own (personal or in-house) use because existing products do not meet their needs. End-user13 innovation is, by far, the most important and critical source of innovation. In addition, the famous robotics engineer Joseph F. Engelberger asserts that innovations require only three things: 1) a recognized need; 2) competent people with relevant technology; and 3) financial support.

Innovation by businesses is achieved in many ways, with much attention now

given to formal research and development (R&D)14 for "breakthrough innovations."

R&D help spur on patents and other scientific innovations that leads to productive

growth in such areas as industry, medicine, engineering, and government. Yet,

innovations can be developed by less formal on-the-job modifications of practice,

through exchange and combination of professional experience and by many other

routes. The more radical and revolutionary innovations tend to emerge from R&D,

while more incremental innovations may emerge from practice – but there are many exceptions to each of these trends.

An important innovation factor includes customers buying products or using

services. As a result, firms may incorporate users in focus groups (user centred

approach), work closely with so called lead users (lead user approach) or users might adapt their products themselves. Regarding this user innovation, a great deal of innovation is done by those actually implementing and using technologies and

products as part of their normal activities. In most of the times user innovators have some personal record motivating them. Sometimes user-innovators may become entrepreneurs, selling their product, they may choose to trade their innovation in exchange for other innovations, or they may be adopted by their suppliers.

Nowadays, they may also choose to freely reveal their innovations, using methods

like open source. In such networks of innovation the users or communities of users

can further develop technologies and reinvent their social meaning.

Официально-деловой

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES

Brussels, 10.10.2007

COM(2007) 575 final

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN

PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL

COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

An Integrated Maritime Policy for the European Union

{COM(2007) 574 final)}

{SEC(2007) 1278}

{SEC(2007) 1279}

{SEC(2007) 1280}

{SEC(2007) 1283}

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN

PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL

COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

An Integrated Maritime Policy for the European Union

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The seas are Europe's lifeblood. Europe's maritime spaces and its coasts are central to its wellbeing and prosperity – they are Europe's trade routes, climate regulator, sources of food, energy and resources, and a favoured site for its citizens' residence and recreation.

Our interactions with the sea are more intense, more varied, and create more value for Europe than ever before. Yet the strain is showing. We are at a crossroads in our relationship with the oceans.

On the one hand technology and know-how allow us to extract ever more value from the sea, and more and more people flow to Europe's coasts to benefit from that value. On the other hand, the cumulated effect of all this activity is leading to conflicts of use and to the deterioration of the marine environment that everything else depends on.

Europe must respond to this challenge; in a context of rapid globalisation and climate change the urgency is great.

The European Commission has recognised this, and launched a comprehensive consultation and analysis of how Europe relates to the sea . It has triggered a massive response from stakeholders that reveals clearly the enormous potential of the seas, and the scale of the challenge if we are to realise that potential sustainably. It has also provided a wealth of ideas as to how Europe can rise to meet this challenge.

Building on this valuable input the Commission proposes an Integrated Maritime Policy for the European Union, based on the clear recognition that all matters relating to Europe's oceans and seas are interlinked, and that sea-related policies must develop in a joined-up way if we are to reap the desired results.

This integrated, inter-sectoral approach was strongly endorsed by all stakeholders. Applying it will require reinforced cooperation and effective coordination of all sea-related policies at the different decision-making levels.

An Integrated Maritime Policy will enhance Europe's capacity to face the challenges of globalisation and competitiveness, climate change, degradation of the marine environment, maritime safety and security, and energy security and sustainability. It must be based on excellence in marine research, technology and innovation, and will be anchored in the Lisbon agenda for jobs and growth, and the Gothenburg agenda for sustainability.

An EU Integrated Maritime Policy will:

• Change the way we make policy and take decisions – at every level compartmentalised policy development and decision-making are no longer adequate. Interactions must be understood and taken into account; common tools developed; synergies identified and exploited; and conflicts avoided or resolved.

• Develop and deliver a programme of work – action under the different sectoral policies must develop in a coherent policy framework. The Action Plan accompanying this communication gives a clear idea of the variety and magnitude of the work ahead. The following projects are of particular importance :

• A European Maritime Transport Space without barriers

• A European Strategy for Marine Research

• National integrated maritime policies to be developed by Member States

• An European network for maritime surveillance

• A Roadmap towards maritime spatial planning by Member States

• A Strategy to mitigate the effects of Climate Change on coastal regions

• Reduction of CO2 emissions and pollution by shipping

• Elimination of pirate fishing and destructive high seas bottom trawling

• An European network of maritime clusters

• A review of EU labour law exemptions for the shipping and fishing sectors

This Communication lays the foundation for the governance framework and cross-sectoral tools necessary for an EU Integrated Maritime Policy and sets out the main actions that the Commission will pursue during the course of this mandate. These actions will be guided by the principles of subsidiarity and competitiveness, the ecosystem approach, and stakeholder participation.

Публицистический

Take fifteen unemployed young people and a celebrity chef, put them together in a kitchen for a year and sit back and watch the drama unfold. Jamie Oliver is the celebrity chef. His idea was to train a team of unemployed kids with an interest in and a passion for food and to open a first class restaurant in London to be run by them.

Jamie Oliver is a phenomenon in the UK, where his TV series shows him in his trendy apartments, cooking fashionable recipes for his cool friends. He is also seen riding his scooter and going shopping at local markets. He became so famous for his lifestyle that the supermarket chain Sainsbury’s offered him a fee of over two million pounds to star in their television adverts. They claim that this has resulted in 20 % increase in their profits.

Cooking has always been a part of Jamie Oliver’s life. His father runs a pub and restaurant in Essex (South-East England), and while he was growing up, Jamie helped out in the kitchen, where he gained valuable experience before going on to train as a professional chef and work in famous Italian restaurants in London. Jamie Oliver is very rich because of his TV shows and adverts and his successful cookery books. However, he remains in touch with his roots, and his down-to-earth style and cheeky humor have made him popular with people of all ages. He wanted to give a little back and help inspire others, so he decided to invent in a long-term plan to help disadvantaged young people to learn about the catering industry.

His restaurant is called Fifteen, reflecting both the address, 15 Westland Place, London, and the number of novices he recruited. They were chosen from 1.000 applicants, and the whole process was filmed for a five-part documentary. It wasn’t easy – the restaurant went over budget, and it looked as if the team wouldn’t learn to be chefs in time.

The restaurant did open and is still in business. All its goes to a charity called Cheeky Chops, aim at producing 30 professional chefs a year. Jamie invested £1.3 million in the venture and put his own house at risk to finance it. He wants to set similar schemes in New York and Sydney. And what about Jamie’s recipe for success? Determination, passion, enthusiasm and a hands-on approach.

Разговорный

Tracy: Hello, Mark! How are you? Have not seen you for ages!

Mark: Hello, Tracy! Just wonderful! Glad to see you.

T: So do I. What are you doing here? I thought you had left the city after the exams.

M: I was going, but the plans have changed, and here I am.

T: It’s a surprise to see you in the Sports complex. I did not know that you are fond of sports.

M: And I'm not fond of it. I certainly do gymnastics and all that, but I'm not a big fan. And here I am because my girl goes in for figure skating. So I am waiting here the end of her training. And what are you doing here?

T: Shame on you, Mark. You forgot that I have been doing tennis for a long time.

M: Oh, I'm sorry. I completely forgot. And how are you getting on?

T: I’ve already participated in the city tournament and won the second prize.

M: Terrific! You're doing great! I was always surprised at people like you. How do you have enough willpower not to give up all these workouts?

T: It helps to spend free time and at the same time do something useful for your health. And what do you do when you have a free minute?

M: Well, I also found an interesting occupation for myself. I write poems. Even when I wait for my girl from training, and I have inspiration, I can write a couple of lines.

T: This is also an interesting way to spend time usefully. Something like training for the brain. Some time ago I also tried to write poems, but failed, so I fixed myself just on reading. And what else do you like to do? I mean active rest.

M: To talk about active rest, I love summer sports, such as diving. If I am lucky enough to have holiday in summer, then I certainly go to the place where I can dive.

T: That's not bad either. Well, I should go. My training is in 5 minutes. I was glad to see.

M: So was I. Good luck to you.

T: Thank you. You too.

Художественный

At eighteen the young clerk realized there was little future for him in his native Germany. Scraping up enough money for the passage, he made the long journey across the Atlantic to America, where his two older brothers had preceded him. He was disappointed to discover that his brothers were peddlers, not millionaires in New York. But with no skill or trade, and only a few words of English, he was forced to become a peddler as well. He learned quickly and soon began to earn a decent living. Although his brothers seemed content with their lives, he knew that America offered far greater potential. When he heard that gold had been discovered in California, he took his savings, bought all the merchandise he could, and sailed on a ship to San Francisco.

There was such a need of goods of all kinds that he sold almost everything as soon as he arrived. He had nothing left to sell except several rolls of light canvas with which he intended to make tents for the miners. He bought a wagon, loaded it with his rolls of material, and set out to sell it. But when one of the first miners told him of a special problem, he suddenly got an idea. It was then that one of the great success stories of America was born.

Nowhere in San Francisco could the miners find clothing which was strong enough to withstand the wear and tear of the rocky terrain where they looked for gold. The young immigrant went to a tailor and had all of his material, a light canvas called “denim,” made into pants in several sizes. He sold them all in one day, then began improving his new product. Leaming that the pockets often tore from the weight of heavy rocks, he got the idea of fixing the pockets in place with copper rivets.

As the years went by, the pants he made became extremely popular throughout the West. He died a wealthy man, having founded a company which today is known all over the world. It all began with a few rolls of material in the back of a wagon owned by a little peddler named Levi Strauss. (From “America’s Great” by Gene Moss)

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