New York SBDC Research Network

From the Harvard Business Review : How often do you consider the air quality in your office and how it affects employees and their productivity? Chances are it’s not often. There is a tendency to assume that, as long as commonly used standards for air quality are met, it won’t be an issue. But these standards aren’t very high. One common international standard that governs how much air is brought in from outside, “Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Quality,” does not even purport to assure “healthy” air quality. In the 1970s, efforts to conserve energy in the U.S. included tightening up buildings and reducing ventilation rates so buildings didn’t have to bring as much fresh air inside. This inadvertently led to a buildup of indoor pollutants and the birth of a phenomenon known as “sick building syndrome,” a set of symptoms such as eye irritation, headaches, coughing, and chest tightness that is still an issue today... We found that breathing better air led to significantly bett...

From BPlans.com : A recent analysis from the World Green Building Council concluded that there is “overwhelming evidence” linking office design with productivity and wellness. But that’s nothing new, right? There has long been evidence to suggest that this is the case. We all know that our productivity levels drop when we feel uncomfortable—whether it’s the temperature, the atmosphere, or the noise levels, we need to be relaxed and comfortable to work at our best. With this in mind, it’s important that your office design is set up to be the best possible working environment it can be—to make your employees comfortable, relaxed, and productive...

Desktime is an application that offers a marketplace for office space. If a company or building has a desk available, they can advertise it and those in need of desk space can locate it via this site. Right now it looks they only have listings for Austin and Chicago but it looks like a good idea. I wonder if things like this will take off. It seems like it would appeal on a number of levels: efficiency, non-wasteful approach, crowd-sourcing, network-encouraging opportunity. Like most things, its success will depend on populating the database. If this were tied in with a site like Linkedin, or Twitter you might be able to join forces with a limited network to share resources. I read an article about this on Springwise , a site that tracks innovative business ideas.