Bridge Pavilion | courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects
From VCs to MDs, everyone who's anyone in the fast-growing biotech business -- and a lot of nobodies too -- will be at the sector's biggest event; attendance is expected to top 20,000. Celebrating "healing, fueling, and feeding the world," this year's summit will feature discussions on patent protection and the latest technology. Also on the schedule are keynote addresses from two well-known biotechnology heavyweights, former secretary of state Colin Powell and California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Their scientific contributions might just be overshadowed by those of Francis Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, who's planning to present initial results from the Cancer Genome Atlas, a project that is using DNA sequencing to assess the causes of cancer. -- BB
monday, june 16
Read
Bottlemania
By Elizabeth Royte
As Fast Company highlighted one year ago, in a feature called "Message in a Bottle," cracking open a bottle of water these days can be a political statement. And if you can't make it to Zaragoza for this summer's water-themed world expo, then pick up a copy of Bottlemania, by Elizabeth Royte, the author of Garbage Land, who digs further into the story of our most valuable natural resource. The most fascinating part of the book is Royte's absorbing account of a Maine town's David-and-Goliath battle against Nestlé, the owner of Poland Spring and Perrier waters. Though Royte's case for drinkable reclaimed sewage water ("toilet to tap") is less than convincing, her book is ultimately an insightful, well-reasoned look at the problems of packaging a resource we think of as cost-free into a product that we have to pay for. -- Beth Adams
monday, june 23
Network
Women in Business Conference
Atlanta
The 2,000-plus businesswomen who will gather at this four-day conference are serious about networking -- featured prominently on the timetable are MatchMaker Meetings, a sort of speed dating for companies. They're also serious about business, if the keynoter is any sign. Chin-Ning Chu, author of The Art of War for Women, will teach attendees how to apply The Art of War, the famed sixth century B.C. military treatise by Sun Tzu, to the workplace. As conference cochair Nancy Williams explains, Chu's focus will be "understanding your competitor, who is your enemy," because "going into business is like going into war."-- BB
thursday, june 26
Rock Out
Summerfest
Milwaukee
As the world's largest music festival, Summerfest has quite the reputation to uphold not just as an 11-day party with an outstanding sound track but also as an economic engine. Nearly a million fans are expected at this year's music marathon on the shores of Lake Michigan. Big-name talents Tim McGraw, Tom Petty, and Stevie Wonder will headline a program that includes hundreds of other acts, including Keller Williams, Thievery Corporation, and Rodrigo y Gabriela. One name in lights will be perennial sponsor
friday, june 27
Watch
Wall-E
Directed by Andrew Stanton
The earth is empty, save for one trash-compacting robot. That's the idea behind Pixar's ninth feature film, WALL-E, which has been 14 years in the making. It's the brainchild of writer-director Andrew Stanton, the creative genius behind Finding Nemo. He hatched the idea -- "What if mankind had to leave Earth, and somebody forgot to turn the last robot off?" -- during a frighteningly productive business lunch in 1994, the same meeting of minds that dreamed up A Bug's Life and Monsters, Inc. A film about a janitorial robot was thought to have slender commercial appeal, and the concept was shelved -- until now. Eight straight box-office hits later, Pixar has proved it can pull off quirky projects. (Vermin in the kitchen? $615 million worldwide.) Hello, WALL-E.-- Ellen Gibson
saturday, june 28
Eat
IFT 08
New Orleans
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