While he was working there, in the years 1933-37, his first brilliant invention was a form of neon called “modulated light transmission system” This won a prize at the 1933 Paris Exhibition He was described as a “student inventor of genius”. In the land of the “economic miracle” the Japanese themselves coined the term “economic animal” to define what they perceived as their role in the jungle of international trade and industry. Masaru Ibuka, electronics engineer and industrialist: born Nikko, Japan 11 April 1908; founder, Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo (later Sony Corporation) 1946, president 1950-71, chairman 1971-76, honorary chairman 1990-94, chief adviser 1994-97; twice married (one son, two daughters); died Tokyo 19 December 1997. The French group already has a large presence in the area, having acquired Ennemix, a local quarry group, last year in its first move into the UK market.Sources believe that Lafarge has offered to sell the businesses in order to get the green light for its takeover.. Earlier this month the European Commission passed the deal back to the UK competition authorities following a surprise request to scrutinise the bid from John Battle, the Industry Minister, following a recommendation from the director general of fair trading.
Mr Battle raised concerns that the deal would give Lafarge a stranglehold over the ready-mix concrete market in the Midlands. The DTI is also creating a merged division dealing with engineering, manufacturing and the car industry, to include the existing aerospace department..

Lafarge, the French building giant, is preparing to sell its ready-mix concrete quarries in Norwich and Leicester in order to get its pounds 1.8bn bid for Redland past the UK competition authorities The move should remove the final obstacle to the takeover. No replacement has been appointed.Other changes announced at the DTI last week include confirmation of the departure of John Michell, head of gas, and a new head of the competitiveness unit. She joined Oftel from the DTI as director of competition in 1991 and became Mr Cruickshank’s deputy in 1994. Senior officials are thought to have advised against some recent policy initiatives, including the review of the wholesale electricity trading market and the moratorium on applications to build gas-fired power stations.A DTI spokesman said: “This is an appropriate move to reinforce senior management in that area.”Ms Walker’s departure will be seen as a considerable loss at Oftel, coming just two months before Don Cruickshank, the regulator leaves his post. The role, which starts on 19 January, will leapfrog the three existing civil servants responsible for coal, electricity and energy policy.
The appointment is another indication of ministers’ frustration with some DTI civil servants over the handling of the coal crisis.

Anna Walker, the deputy telecommunications regulator at Oftel, the watchdog, is being drafted into the DTI in a new capacity as deputy director general of energy. and why.David Miles is Professor of Finance at Imperial College, University of London and an economic adviser to Merrill Lynch.. Ministers have moved to assert their authority at the Department of Trade and Industry with the first sweeping reorganisation of civil service posts, including a new appointment to beef up the response to the coal crisis. And there is a much longer tradition of politicians being prey to the dark forces of foreign financiers.So the next time you hear someone pontificating about globalisation ask yourself just what they are trying to make you believe … I am old enough to remember Labour politicians in the mid-1960s blaming many of the country’s economic ills on the Gnomes of Zurich – the faceless operators of the global levers of economic power. It is far from obvious that in the period since 1960 there has been such a change in technology.In fact, claims about globalisation are themselves not particularly new. In those four decades the following were invented; the telephone, the internal combustion engine, the microphone, the electric locomotive, the motor car, the aeroplane, the radio transmitter.