The offices of Numenta are above a bookstore in Menlo Park, CA. The startup has one of the most ambitious goals imaginable: building computers that work like the brain.
Numenta represents classic Silicon Valley game-changing ambition. No surprise considering that one of the founders is Jeff Hawkins. He's a serial inventor who produced the first tablet computer, GridPad; the first successful handheld computer, PalmPilot; and the first successful smartphone, Treo.
Hawkins, a sandy-haired 51-year-old, is financing Numenta largely with his own savings. "The work we're doing is technically very hard. It would be very difficult to get it funded in the typical Silicon Valley way," he says.
There's a minitrend emerging in the Valley: Some of yesterday's inventors are resurfacing with bold ideas, which, like Hawkins, they're funding themselves. But there's a limit to how much self-funded innovation entrepreneurs can do.
The world economic meltdown might actually have some positive effects. In times of crisis people sometimes set off is bold new directions. This shock might prompt action on the tech front from the federal government. The America Competes Act , which was passed by Congress in 2007 but was never funded, called for increased money for university research, improvements in math and science education, and corporate R&D tax incentives. Tech leaders say now is the time to act. "We have chosen not to compete," says Intel Chairman Craig R. Barrett. "You cut off your future if you don't invest."
Source: BUSINESSWEEK, January 12, 2009