Innovation
Global Investor Focus, 02/2007 Credit Suisse
Global Investor Focus, 02/2007
Credit Suisse
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GLOBAL INVESTOR FOCUS<br />
<strong>Innovation</strong> — 0<br />
One nanometer measures 0.000000001 meters. The relation between<br />
1 meter and 1 nanometer corresponds to that between the diameter of<br />
the earth and that of a hazelnut. The fact that we have been able to<br />
penetrate this world of ultrasmall particles in the first place is down to<br />
a groundbreaking innovation: the development of the scanning tunneling<br />
microscope. Thanks to this, it is now possible to make these<br />
microelements usable. They could lead to revolutionary advances in<br />
medicine, with nanoparticles being used as tiny markers to make individual<br />
genes, proteins or even small molecules visible and to track<br />
them in cells. Credit Suisse recognized the potential of this key technology<br />
at a very early stage and is now making connections between<br />
investors and scientists.<br />
For innovation to occur in the first place, the right basic conditions<br />
are of vital importance. These conditions also include the interplay<br />
between science and economics. Only those who succeed in getting<br />
knowledge out of the laboratories and into the market quickly are able<br />
to survive in the long term in the face of intense competition. Investors<br />
in particular play an important part when it comes to providing access<br />
to the market for promising developments in research.<br />
History shows that innovation has always been an important driver<br />
of economic growth and continues to be so. The Asian countries with<br />
their rapidly burgeoning economies provide a very good example of<br />
this from recent history. They show very clearly what a spirit of innovation<br />
can achieve, and that it pays to take entrepreneurial risks in order<br />
to foster progress and growth.<br />
This is very much in the spirit of the “tradition to innovate” to which<br />
Credit Suisse feels it has been committed for over 150 years. For us,<br />
as a global financial services institution, the challenge is also to make<br />
these developments in research and industry useful to investors by<br />
looking ahead in order to identify future trends, asking critical questions<br />
and seeking dialog with our clients. Which is precisely what we<br />
also want to do with this current edition of Global Investor Focus.<br />
Photo: Hans Schürmann<br />
Arthur Vayloyan<br />
Head Private Banking Investment Services and Products