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T+L 35

United Arab Emirates vice president and prime minister; ruler of Dubai
www.sheikhmohammed.com

Innovation Establishing a tourism-dependent economic model in the Middle East
Backstory Last year, 5.8 million travelers visited Dubai—more than triple the number of 10 years before, when Sheikh Mohammed (then crown prince) began transforming the city from a mere airport hub into a luxury destination. In 1995, the sheikh—who became ruler in Dubai this January, after the death of his brother Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid al Maktoum—initiated Destination Dubai, a series of ongoing tourism-development projects including Burj Al Arab, the tallest hotel in the world; The Palm, three man-made islands that will hold a total of 60 luxury hotels and 5,000 villas (the first, Palm Island, Jumeirah, should be finished this year); and a $4.1 billion expansion of Dubai International Airport.

President and CEO, Fairfield Language Technologies, Harrisonburg, Virginia
www.rosettastone.com

Innovation Simulated language immersion
Backstory Rosetta Stone, which uses interactive lessons to link language with images, has seen a revenue growth of 400 percent since Adams joined the company three years ago. Last September, he brokered a deal with the U.S. Army, which now provides the company's Web-based platform to soldiers and reservists around the world. Adams even convinced language giant Berlitz to use the software in its classes and online. The CD-ROM's (and accompanying online lessons) are now available for 29 languages, including Farsi and Arabic, and are sold at domestic and international airports. "We don't translate," Adams says. "We go straight to the meaning."

Chairman and CEO, HiEnergy Technologies, Irvine, California
www.hienergyinc.com

Innovation Perfecting explosives-detection technology
Backstory "You can't fight twenty-first—century terrorism with nineteenth-century technology," says Maglich, an experimental nuclear-particle physicist. Maglich has developed SIEGMA (Sensor for Improvised Explosives by Gamma Rays), an aluminum suitcase that analyzes the contents of a closed container (even one made of steel) and can detect explosives, biological agents, and drugs—with a 97.5 percent success rate. In January, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority acquired two SIEGMA suitcases to check unattended bags. Two other transit authorities have expressed interest in the technology, as has Miami International Airport.

Chairman of easyGroup, London
www.easy.com

Innovation Making stylish travel affordable
Backstory Although rooms at the two easyHotels in London and Basel aren't spacious (they average 70 square feet), they cost less than $100 per night. Guests on easyCruise, which sails in the Caribbean as well as along the French and Italian rivieras, pay about $50 a night for a cabin. The easyGroup empire now encompasses 15 products, including easyBus and easyInternetcafé. Next year, Haji-Ioannou will launch more easyHotels, one of which he hopes will be in Dubai, and is plotting a new easyCruise itinerary, from Miami into small ports in the Bahamas.

Associate technical fellow, Connexion by Boeing, Seattle
www.connexionbyboeing.com

Innovation E-mail at 35,000 feet
Backstory Parkman heads the crew of engineers at Connexion, the group placing high-speed Internet access on board Lufthansa, SAS, El Al, and a growing number of other commercial airlines. Among Parkman's breakthroughs: making sure signals between earth-orbiting satellites and their "moving targets" (i.e., airplanes) connect, and communicating with a satellite transponder using one signal (which speeds connection time). Next up, by year's end: using satellite links to enable broadband connections for cell phones on international flights.

Chairman, Living Designs Group and Living Spa Company, Taos
www.livingmachines.com

Innovation The green spa movement
Backstory In the late 1980's, Worrell gathered a team of engineers, architects, and ecological designers to produce sustainable ecosystems for resorts, offices, and even entire communities. The team built El Monte Sagrado, the first true eco-resort in the United States. Worrell's latest project, the Living Spa Company, will help spas go green. The group has already consulted with Three Sisters Mountain Village Resort in Alberta, Canada, on its spa and designed a water-treatment system for Rancho La Puerta Health Spa in Baja, Mexico. Living Spa will also use a rigorous set of standards to accredit spas around the world.

Head of food and beverages, Singapore Airlines, Singapore
www.singaporeair.com

Innovation Raising the bar for airline food
Backstory Singapore Airlines owes its long-standing reputation for superb in-flight dining to chef-turned-executive Freidanck. Travelers in first or business class dine on cuisine that has been tested in a pressure-, temperature-, and humidity-controlled space that simulates a plane at 39,000 feet (an altitude at which your taste buds are dulled by 30 percent). Freidanck micromanages the process, from analyzing how bread stands up to turbulence, to building his own chocolate laboratory (his mission: thwart cocoa-butter separation, or "bloomed" chocolates). Next, he's creating menus for the much ballyhooed launch of the Airbus A380, which Singapore debuts later this year.