RICHMOND, B.C.–S.U. Moon loved manufacturing so much that a decade ago he set out on his own to start a contract manufacturing business.  Ten years, 40 employees and millions in annual revenue later, Moon's Foreseeson contract manufacturing company flourishes near Vancouver.  But he's not so enamored with electronics manufacturing that he doesn't grasp the competitive realities around him–notably that the

(Odometer: 31,350 miles) BURNABY, B.C.–You can build an engineering company, you can compete with startups, and you can live in a world where the Chinese "give away" design.  That's the word from Bruce Stevens, CEO of PDE (Pacific Design Engineering) here, not far from Vancouver, where a couple of dozen engineers work in an environment that celebrates great design and

DALLAS–Nothing is ever small in Texas, whether it's livestock or technology solutions.  That thought was probably running through Mark Doucet's mind as he pondered a better way to deliver high-bandwidth communications systems a few years ago.  When the concept for what would become Skyfiber first germinated with him, Doucet was looking at competitive wireless communications systems the size of refrigerators

BOULDER, Colo.–As an engineer, you know that air safety has never been better. As a passenger, you may think, in the deep recesses of your mind, otherwise. Fortunately there are companies like Droplet Measurement Technologies, here, which are in the business of engineering even safer skies and calmer passengers. Droplet, founded 25 years ago by two engineers and an atmospheric

SANTA CLARA, Calif.–Anytime EE Times has done an engineers' career survey, most of the respondents say they dream of doing a startup. In reality, only 5 percent ever do one, for whatever reason. The founders of Memoir Systems here are part of not only the 5 percent, but another unusual startup characteristic: Their technology addresses a broad system-design problem, rather

(Mileage: 26,688 miles) "Tonight, tonight the strip's just right I wanna blow 'em off in my first heat Summer's here and the time is right For racin' in the street" –Bruce Springsteen OREM, Utah–Engineers can be a pleasant, friendly lot… until it comes to cars. No sooner had we set foot inside of Computrol, an EMS provider here, than the gauntlet

ADDISON, Texas–In many ways, it's hard to comprehend the impact of or even quantify counterfeiting. In the old days, it was all about currency and then counterfeiting spread to consumer goods and electronics. Today, its rough embrace has stretched to pharmaceuticals, not only a potentially profitable business for the black hats but life-threatening for unsuspecting consumers.  This is the street fight

COLLEGE PARK, Md.–Oh to be a kid again! Well, not so much a kid but a college student. We've written a lot on Drive for Innovation about the maker movement and the hands-on activities or curricula that are flourishing in universities (whether it's New York Institute of Technology, San Jose State, UMass Amherst, Penn or Arizona State).  Here at the

(Odometer: 31,109 miles) VANCOUVER, B.C.–On the road, we ran into cool technologies and cool places to work engineering magic. Rarely did we find both at the same spot. But then we pulled into Saturna Green Systems here. Tucked inside a small pedestrian office mall in the trendy Gastown district, Saturna Green is trying to take the anxiety out of driving