But Paul Herrling, head of corporate research at Novartis, says such investments could go far, as the firm does not expect to do the costly bits of drug development, such as clinical trials, itself.

ECONOMIST: Drug firms are starting to tackle tropical diseases

Perhaps all the talk of customer development, lean startups, crowdsourcing, and the myriad bits of startup lingo has obscured the simplest truth: Starting is about problem-identifying and problem-solving.

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Jolicloud is a French development which likewise uses bits of Linux that have been tweaked to run on netbooks with tiny screens and limited storage.

ECONOMIST: Google goes in search of an instant operating system

The development of satellite-based mobile-telephony is creating demand for new bits of the radio spectrum.

ECONOMIST: Aircraft navigation

The cryptographic token, in development for a year at MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms, is the size of a postage stamp and as thick as a credit card.

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