Our trip to Chengdu, the provincial capital of hard hit Sichuan Province, has been canceled, or, at the very least, significantly altered. Chinese officials initially hoped to receive us but the situation is worse than they expected.

The State Department today also issued this travel alert:

“Although the Chengdu airport is open, scheduling flights, particularly outbound flights, remains difficult.  The airport in Jiuzhaigou, close to the epicenter, is closed for all but emergency services.  Ground transportation throughout the region is also not yet operating normally.  Road conditions in the areas of impact are problematic, with many roads difficult to pass.  The only rail-line service currently in operation is from Chengdu to Shaanxi.  Telephone service near the epicenter is still poor, although some text messages and cell phone calls seem to be going through.  Telephone service for the rest of Sichuan generally seems to be back to normal.”

Today, we spoke to Wang Hongju, mayor of Chongqing municipality, which directly borders Sichuan Province, about 312 km from the epicenter in Wenchuan County. The city, along with the surrounding rural areas, is the largest municipality in the world with over 30 million people. Until 1997, Chongqinq, a teeming industrial city that served as China’s wartime capital against Japanese forces in World War II, was part of Sichuan Province. Today, the municipality is controlled directly by the central government in Beijing while Sichuan answers to its own provincial government.

Chongqing experienced an earthquake registering about 5 on the Richter scale. According to the mayor, 14 people died and 300 were injured, about 40 of them seriously. Four buildings collapsed and another 14,000 buildings had cracks and other structural damages. 51 reservoirs are leaking water. But compared to Sichuan Province, where as many as 50,000 people are believed dead, “the situation in Chongqing is not as serious,” Hongju said.

“What we are doing now is to help Sichuan Province,” he said.

About 500 police from Chongqing were the first to arrived in Wenchuan County, delivering steel bridges, food like high energy biscuits and instant noodles, and gloves to the area. In some cases, the police had to hike two days by foot to reach the affected areas. In addition, Chongqing citizens are donating blood and money to the relief efforts, Hongju said.

“We are keeping close contact with Sichuan and what they need, we will provide what we can,” the mayor said.

As for Chongqing’s own response to the earthquake, Hongju said he was generally pleased. Although city buildings can withstand a quake up to six on the Richter scale, Chongqing city does not directly experience earthquakes. But as Monday’s catastrophe shows, the area receives tremors from Sichuan, which lies on a fault line and is more prone to quakes.

Still, the quake exposed two problems in Chongqing. Many of the buildings in the rural areas are at least 20 years old and should either be strengthened or demolished, Hongju said. The second problem, and perhaps more serious for this developing municipality, is the fragile state of its telecommunications infrastructure, which was overwhelmed immediately after the quake.

“In the first four hours [after the quake], communications were not smooth,”Hongju said. “This is something that we need to work on. This is key for the public to get to know the actual situation and for the government to direct the rescue work.”

We made it to Chongqing last night. I still don’t about Chengdu…the city’s airport is closed to all planes except relief flights.  The government is ordering 60,000 People’s Liberation Army troops to the area. At Beijing International Airport. I saw crowds of soldiers and civilians, presumably relief workers or volunteers, with boxes of supplies waiting at the Chengdu check-in desk. Running water is apparently still a problem in Chengdu. Some residents are temporarily moving to Chongqing until the situation improves.

More later…

More information on the quake from China Daily, the country’s top English language newspaper:

The latest official death toll has climbed to over 8,300. Beichuan county of Mianyang City, about 160 km northwest of the provincial capital of Chengdu, took the brunt of the quake with over 3,000 dead and 10,000 injured.

45 died and 600 were injured in Chengdu, 50 dead in the major nearby city of Chongqing.

In Dujiangyen, 50 middle students died when their school building collapsed, hundreds feared trapped in the rubble.

The epicenter was located at Wenchuan, about 100 km northwest of Chengdu, with a population of 111,800. The city is also home to the Wolong Nature Reserve, the country’s leading research and breeding base for giant pandas.

Major disruptions in communications, transportation links, and electricity.

“You see traffic jams, no running water, power outages, everyone sitting in the streets and patients evacuated from hospitals sitting outside and waiting,” said Ronen Medzini, an Israeli student.

“Houses were swaying like crazy…Big cracks appeared on building walls,” said Zhang Wei, a tourist from Beijing, who was staying at a hotel in Chengdu.

I guess we might not make it to Chengdu after all.

As you read this, your trusty Patent Pending blogger/reporter is in Beijing, trying to make sense of what turned out to be a rather crazy day in China. And I’m not even talking about Tibet or the Olympics.

EARTHQUAKE!!!!

First, a little recap. I’m part of a group of 12 Asian and American journalists traveling to Beijing and the western regions of Chongqing municipality and Sichuan Province to study growth and economic development issues.

While many people are familiar with the red hot economic growth of eastern coastal cities like Beijing and Shanghai, the Chinese government over the past several years has devoted considerable time and resources to spurring economic development in western regions like Chongqing and Sichuan Province, whose capital is Chengdu, about a two day drive west from Beijing.

But that all important quest for economic growth has come at a price: corruption, widening gap between rich and poor, environmental damage. As a result, angry residents have launched a series of protests, not to bring down the Chinese central government but rather to appeal to the country’s senior leadership to address their grievances. Not surprisingly, the prospect of mass protests and instability does not sit well with China’s leaders, especially when the country hosting the Olympic Games in August.

Case in point: I learned today that residents in Chengdu are planning a massive demonstration June 1 against a planned petro chemical plant about 30 km from the city. To avoid trouble, people are calling the demonstration a “stroll,” in which protesters will walk silently through the city wearing surgeon-like masks. There was a smaller “stroll” just a few days ago.

The authorities tolerated that protest. It’s not clear how they will react on June 1. Word has been spreading through text messages- protesters are careful not to display any organized leadership. The Chinese government has imposed a news blackout on the event. Our planned meetings with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the National Development and Reform Commission, the two agencies responsible for approving the petro chemical plant, were suddenly canceled.

But now, the Chinese have more pressing matters to address. A powerful 7.8 earthquake today struck near Chengdu. According to state radio, at least 45 people are dead in Chengdu and another 20 or so perished in nearby Chongqing. Boy, did we pick a good time to visit both cities!

A smaller quake also hit Beijing today. I didn’t feel any shaking but I did notice a big chandelier perilously swing side to side over my head at a museum. Thinking it was just the wind, I continue to read a plaque in blissful ignorance until someone later told me it was an earthquake. Duh.

So now it looks like our trip to Chengdu is up in the air. I hope we can go, since this is an area that very few Western journalists get to see. Stay tuned for more details.

In the meantime, I will continue to blog about my experiences in China. And if today is any indication, the next two weeks promises to be quite eventful.

Minnesota is not simply the land of sub zero winters and 10,000 lakes. The state is pretty good at inventing stuff. Some profound (pacemaker), some clever (Post-It note), some fun (Tilt-a-Whirl), and some creepy (bobblehead).

In honor of Minnesota’s 150 year anniversary, the Minneapolis Central Public Library is hosting an exhibit titled “Minnovation: 150 Years of Ingenuity” that features some of the best products and ideas to spring from local minds. The exhibit runs from May to August 17.

So in the spirit of the moment, Patent Pending has come up with its own highly subjective Top Ten Greatest Minnesota Inventions of All Time. (Sources: Minneapolis Central Public Library, various company websites, and www.50states.com)

Feel free to disagree with me. Did I leave anything out?

10. Toaster- The first Automatic Pop-up toaster was marketed in June 1926 by McGraw Electric Co. in Minneapolis under the name Toastmaster. The retail price was $13.50.

9. Snowmobile- Edgar and Allen Hetteen and David Johnson of Roseau were among the first to build a practical snowmobile in 1955-1956. Their company, Hetteen Hoist & Derrick Co., became Polaris Industries, a major snowmobile manufacturer.

8. Tilt-a-Whirl- Herbert Sellner, a woodworker and maker of water slides, invented the Tilt-A-Whirl in 1926, at his Faribault  home. Over the next year, the first 14 Tilt-A-Whirls were built in Herbert’s basement and yard. In 1927, Sellner Manufacturing opened its factory in Faribault, and the ride debuted that year at the Minnesota State Fair.

7. Scotch/masking tape- 3M engineer Richard Drew invented the first masking tape in 1925, a two-inch-wide tan paper tape with a pressure sensitive adhesive backing. Five years later, Drew developed Scotch tape, the world’s first transparent cellophane adhesive tape.

6. Rollerblades- Minnesota students Scott and Brennan Olson invented he first commercially successful in-line Roller Skates in 1980, when they were looking for a way to practice hockey during the off-season. Their design was an ice hockey boot with 3 inline wheels instead of a blade.

5. Post-it Notes- 3M scientist Art Fry was seeking a way to keep bookmarks in his bible in place when he created post-it notes. He wanted to have them stick, but not leave a residue. He remembered that another 3M scientist, Spencer Silver, had created an
adhesive that wasn’t that strong. Fry applied the weak adhesive to his bookmarks and discovered that they stayed in place, but also came off easily. He called his invention the post-it note and since then multiple versions of the product has appeared in retail stores around the world.

4. Spam- The world’s best known Mystery Meat, made by Austin-based Hormel Food Corp., made its debut in 1937. World War II saw the largest use of Spam with GIs eating Spam for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Surpluses of Spam from the soldiers’ supplies made their way into native diets in Asia. Consequently, Spam is a unique part of the history and effects of U.S. influence in the Pacific.

3. Retractable seat belt- Dr. James J. Ryan, a mechanical engineering professor at the University of Minnesota, improved seat belt designs in the 1950s by strapping himself into the test cars and sleds. In 1963, Ryan, nicknamed “Crash,” received a patent for a self-tensioning retractable safety seat belt.

2. Handled shopping bag- Walter Deubener and his wife Lydia owned a small grocery
store in St. Paul that relied on a cash-and-carry method instead of the typical home delivery service. Walter noticed that customers struggled to carry the many boxes and parcels they purchased. Walter tried many things to solve this problem and was finally inspired with the idea for a paper handled bag. Walter patented the product in 1919 and started a bag manufacturing company. By 1927 millions of bags had been sold.

And the greatest Minnesota invention of all time is…(drum roll please)

1. Twister- Was there ever any doubt? Guyer Reynolds hired Neil Rabens and Charles Foley to develop the Twister game in 1964. Milton Bradley released the game in 1966, but its sales were initially low. The game became wildly popular, especially with adults, when host Johnny Carson and Eva Gabor played it on the “Tonight Show” on May 3, 1966. By the end of that year over 3 million copies of the game had been sold. Twister was the first game to use humans as game pieces. There was some initial controversy over Twister and its rumored “sexual” appeal as adults had to climb over, under and around each other to play the game. The creators defended the game saying, “dirty mind, dirty game; Clean mind, clean game.”

My only experience with Texas Instruments was using its calculator during seventh grade algebra class. I don’t remember being too impressed, especially when I discovered the calculator would not automatically spit out the answers during pop quizzes.

Fortunately, the world is much bigger than junior high math. For Dallas-based TI, which generated nearly $14 billion in sales last year, is a major player in medical technology. The company makes semiconductor chips used in everything from ultrasound machines to pacemakers.

And that’s only the beginning, insists CEO Richard Templeton, who was in St. Paul today chatting with customers. (St. Jude Medical and Medtronic are some local companies that work with TI.) The chip maker is collaborating on some pretty “cool but I wonder if it will ever work” technology like an implantable device that restores partial eyesight, a gastric pacemaker that uses electric shocks to curb appetites, and sensors that measure and regulate blood pressure.

Templeton is passionate about this stuff; “Fascinating” frequently comes out of his mouth. The company recently announced a $15 million initiative to fund medical technology research at universities around the world. Here are edited excerpts from our conversation.

On the future of medical technology:

“Take a look at the computer industry in the 1950s when IBM analyzed the world and concluded the world would need 5 computers. Here we are 50 years later and there are probably five computers per person. Semiconductor technology simply revolutionized computing and it revolutionized communications. And I believe that the next big one in front of us is the ability for semi-conducting technology to revolutionize health care. That ranges from everything from the world of imaging, providing doctors the ability to see and operate in a clear path, the ability to augment devices around the body for patient comfort and convenience when they are getting health care.”

“I think one of the most fascinating areas is getting the health care out to the patient. We have these concepts where health care is delivered to people in these big hospitals. Well, there are lot of people who don’t live near big hospitals. And lastly, you will be embedding more semi-conducting technology into the body, to help treat diseases, repair damage from accidents. Take a look at the great work that is happening with [electricity] to treat depression, eating disorder, smoking.”

On how medical devices are getting smaller:

“A cell phone was never thought to have the market place it became until we miniturized it, took the power down, you now have the talk time and battery life. Take those parallels and start applying them to this world. This whole idea of taking this whole piece of equipment like an ultrasound machine and it’s no longer in a hospital or a big clinic. But it’s now actually out at the point of use. We got people who believe that this could end up in the ambulance, with the EMS technicians.”

“Take a look at outpatient care. Someone who has surgery done. Usually, the ability to be moved or driven to a checkup is tough because you are incapacitated from the surgery. You need help from another family member just to go into the hospital. And if everything is okay, you go home. Why can’t that be done with a wireless unit that is just on your belt and transmits that information back and the only time that you have to go to the hospital is when you have an issue? Not for regular maintenance or a regular check up. These are things that until you can get the electronics small enough, portable enough, with long enough battery life, you couldn’t imagine that type of procedure.”

“Then go down to the medical device market. And if you watch the battery life, that is the most demanding specification that medical device makers have. The idea of opening up a patient every five or six years, to change out their defibrillator is a pretty tough practice. The things you can do to get that power usage lower or give the customer mores processing performance for the same power, all become pretty desirable.”

On the conditions that create innovation:

“You need great people and that is usually the combination of companies and universities and it can vary depending on the city and location. It does take funding. But the good thing about venture capitalists is that if they find bright people, they will show up.”

“I do think that states can play a role in this. You can create a friendly environment for investors to get this work done. It could be tax credits. It could be some common shared facilities so that the small startups can use them on a pro-rated basis. I don’t believe the states have to be involved (in funding startup directly). What you need are those (above) elements to operate. Funding can usually be solved but barriers, limitations, facilities, those are the things that states can help on.”

As the state’s only patent librarian, Walt Johnson helps would- be Thomas Edisons at the Minneapolis Central Public Library to search patents for similar inventions. Johnson, an Augsburg College and University of Wisconsin graduate who’s worked full-time at the library since 1994, teaches two classes a month at the library: the first Wednesday, 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., and the second Saturday, 10 a..m. to 11 a.m. You can reach him at 612-630-6101 or wjohnson@hclib.org.

Did you ever want to be an inventor?

I had a couple of ideas along the way (glow in the dark TV remote control, cast kick stand) but I don’t have the patience and perseverance to do my own search because one, it’s very time consuming and it can be very expensive too. Some people say getting a patent is the easy part of it. It’s the marketing and manufacturing that can be really tough.

What do patents say about us?

You can trace the development of the country by the patents. Initially, they were all very agriculture because that’s what was the main industry in the country. Then you see automobiles starting to take off, it kind of moved from agriculture to mechanical type things. And now of course, it’s all electronic. A lot of chemical related things too. You can see how technology changed the country over the years.

Who are typical inventors?

I can’t say there is one. It’s a real variety. Most people just have their regular day jobs too but have something in the back of their minds that they want to check out…a solution to an every day problem or concern. The shopping cart was patented in the 1920s and to me that seems like such an obvious thing. But when it first came out, grocery stores had to hire people to push the carts so that other people would start to get the idea. It’s a simple idea but it’s something we use every day now that we take for granted.

What’s the most common misunderstanding people have about patents?

I think some people might get inspired and think I’m going to go out and a get a patent and get a million dollars and I try to gently let them know that generally that’s not how it works.

Do you ever come across some wacky ideas?

I get that question a lot. It’s pretty much everyday items. Some general things like a juice box holder for an automobile. I haven’t had anyone come up with a time and space machine. They are pretty down to earth solid things. It can be very simple and straightforward. I did have someone call once and she wouldn’t say what it was but she claimed it would bring about world peace.

Interesting comments from Philip Wright, managing partner of Eden Prairie-based BrokerBank Securities Inc. Do you agree?

The State of Minnesota is sorely missing risk-takers these days.  Innovation is there, but the financiers want surethings and vc’s are usually owned by very conservative investors with limited time horizons.  Almost all will not invest until there are strong revenues.  In addition, we are now in a recession.  This is the time whenVC’s should be investing heavily, but they are still thinking about three to four years ago.  The “Venture” aspect has been lost and going public in an ipo is almost impossible due to some very onerous regulatory requirements made for big companies but shoved down on small companies.  Politicians created this mess.  That is why things are weak and will continue to be weak until there is leadership to create a healthy investment environment.  Our sister State of Wisconsin offers very good tax incentives to the financiers of start-ups in that state.  Why are we not doing this here ?  We will just lose more jobs.  That is our solution.  Could Medtronic have been able to raise funds in this environment if it were starting up ???  Not a chance.

Venture capital numbers can be a tricky thing to interpret. On the one hand, investing money in an unproven startup is always risky, no matter if it’s during an economic boom or recession. Plus it takes several years for a startup to develop into a company that investors can either take public or sell to another buyer. So VC numbers are not exactly the best indicator of the current market as say the S&P 500 Index.

“Despite the current economic downturn in the United States. venture capitalists are still putting money to work across multiple industries and stages of development,” said Mark Heesen, president of the National Venture Capital Association. “The continued interest in the life sciences and clean technology industries, as well the traditional IT sectors, reflects the long term investment horizon that the venture industry has always embraced.”

Still. the relentlessly upbeat sound bites from the NVCA is getting kind of annoying. For one thing, venture capital is not immune to the economy. Mr. Heeson is sounding suspiciously like a company asking investors to ignore its bad quarterly results and focus on the “long term” picture.

During the recent first quarter, VC invested $7.1 billion into startups, a 8.5 percent drop from the fourth quarter. The numbers of dollars flowing into first sequence financing fell 27 percent to $1.6 billion during this period.

The NVCA took great pains to note that first quarters are typically slow. Nevertheless, both declines were the first 4Q to 1Q drop in over three years.
There’s strong correlation between the Nasdaq index, which consists of smaller, newer companies, and the VC community, said Jay Hare, a partner at accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers’ technology industry group in Minneapolis. The Nasdaq is down 12 percent since early December. So it stands to reason that even VCs, for all of their money and long term perspective, are pulling back from a weak economy.

Here’s how the top ten states made out in VC investment in the first quarter. Notice how Minnesota ranks far below this list.

1. California- $3.45 billion

2. Massachusetts- $697.9 million

3. New York- $406.9 million

4. Texas $361.4 million

5. Washington state- $314.8 million

6. Colorado- $297.7 million

7. Georgia - $167.7 million

8. Maryland- $165.7 million

9. Pennsylvania- $157.7 million

10. Florida- $115.5 million

17. Minnesota- $60.1 million