The convergence of knowledge in the 21st Century is enabling breakthroughs (not the incremental improvements) to come from sources not directly related to the area receiving the value. This is further proof of one of my innovation principles that we must look in all directions for ideas and innovation for our needs. Specifically in places that are ancillary or even obscure.
Here are a few examples I have come across:
(1) Mark Bear, a basic scientist, similar to a researcher involved in first principle scientific R&D, has made discovery about a system in the brain that regulates synapses. The direct results is drug being tested on humans with autism that are producing results with one dose. Read / listen to details here.
(2) I call this example "Adjacency To Be". This article here and here in The Economist (Sept, 2008) talks about how the Large Hadron Collider will provide insights into areas that were not planned. Yet the Economist also states, "The Large Hadron Collider, ... is a grand project that could yield all sorts of discoveries. Yet the easiest way to sell it to politicians was to frame it as a search for a single particle, the Higgs boson."
Sunday, March 11, 2012
From Davos 2007 - Collaboration for innovation
This is interesting and entertaining to watch, five years ago seems exceptionally far. The topic is Web 2.0 and collaboration, includes Bill Gates and a few other CEOs:
Collaboration - The relative of innovation in continual redefinition and the understanding of it being as expansive or as limited as the knowledge of the descriptor, currently enjoys large number of white papers, Web 2.0 applications, etc. written in its praise and dismissal.
This video from Davos 2007 is a good discussion to highlight some of the considerations associated with Web 2.0 based Collaboration.
Collaboration - The relative of innovation in continual redefinition and the understanding of it being as expansive or as limited as the knowledge of the descriptor, currently enjoys large number of white papers, Web 2.0 applications, etc. written in its praise and dismissal.
This video from Davos 2007 is a good discussion to highlight some of the considerations associated with Web 2.0 based Collaboration.
State owned - The East India Company
State owned companies have been around since commerce began. Today:
"State-controlled companies account for 80% of the market capitalisation of the Chinese stockmarket, more than 60% of Russia’s, and 35% of Brazil’s. They make up 19 of the world’s 100 biggest multinational companies and 28 of the top 100 among emerging markets. World-class state companies can be found in almost every industry. China Mobile serves 600m customers. Saudi Arabia’s SABIC is one of the world’s most profitable chemical companies. Emirates airlines is growing at 20% a year. Thirteen of the world’s biggest oil companies are state-controlled. So is the world’s biggest natural-gas company, Gazprom."
One to learn from is The East India Company, its opportunistic creation, its transformation, its impact on government and civilian life, and finally its demise. The article "The Company that ruled the waves" here in The Economist provides valuable insights into what can be learned from the Company, both good and not so good:
"The Company was a model of economy and austerity that modern managers would do well to emulate. For the first 20 years of its life it operated out of the home of its governor, Sir Thomas Smythe. Even when it had become the world’s greatest commercial operation it remained remarkably lean. It ruled millions of people from a tiny headquarters, staffed by 159 in 1785 and 241 in 1813. Its managers reiterated the importance of frugality, economy and simplicity with a metronomic frequency, and imposed periodic bouts of austerity: in 1816, for example, they turned Saturday from a half to a full working day and abolished the staff’s annual turtle feast."
The article highlights the management techniques of the Company:
"It forced its employees to post a large bond in case they went off the rails, and bombarded them with detailed instructions about things like the precise stiffness of packaging. But it also leavened control with freedom. Employees were allowed not only to choose how to fulfil their orders, but also to trade on their own account. This ensured that the Company was not one but two organisations: a hierarchy with its centre of gravity in London and a franchise of independent entrepreneurs with innumerable centres of gravity scattered across the east."
Yet, with growing power the company and associated action, "Adam Smith denounced the Company as a bloodstained monopoly: “burdensome”, “useless” and responsible for grotesque massacres in Bengal."
I will recap The Economist's special report "State Capitalism" on this blog in the future.
"State-controlled companies account for 80% of the market capitalisation of the Chinese stockmarket, more than 60% of Russia’s, and 35% of Brazil’s. They make up 19 of the world’s 100 biggest multinational companies and 28 of the top 100 among emerging markets. World-class state companies can be found in almost every industry. China Mobile serves 600m customers. Saudi Arabia’s SABIC is one of the world’s most profitable chemical companies. Emirates airlines is growing at 20% a year. Thirteen of the world’s biggest oil companies are state-controlled. So is the world’s biggest natural-gas company, Gazprom."
One to learn from is The East India Company, its opportunistic creation, its transformation, its impact on government and civilian life, and finally its demise. The article "The Company that ruled the waves" here in The Economist provides valuable insights into what can be learned from the Company, both good and not so good:
"The Company was a model of economy and austerity that modern managers would do well to emulate. For the first 20 years of its life it operated out of the home of its governor, Sir Thomas Smythe. Even when it had become the world’s greatest commercial operation it remained remarkably lean. It ruled millions of people from a tiny headquarters, staffed by 159 in 1785 and 241 in 1813. Its managers reiterated the importance of frugality, economy and simplicity with a metronomic frequency, and imposed periodic bouts of austerity: in 1816, for example, they turned Saturday from a half to a full working day and abolished the staff’s annual turtle feast."
The article highlights the management techniques of the Company:
"It forced its employees to post a large bond in case they went off the rails, and bombarded them with detailed instructions about things like the precise stiffness of packaging. But it also leavened control with freedom. Employees were allowed not only to choose how to fulfil their orders, but also to trade on their own account. This ensured that the Company was not one but two organisations: a hierarchy with its centre of gravity in London and a franchise of independent entrepreneurs with innumerable centres of gravity scattered across the east."
Yet, with growing power the company and associated action, "Adam Smith denounced the Company as a bloodstained monopoly: “burdensome”, “useless” and responsible for grotesque massacres in Bengal."
I will recap The Economist's special report "State Capitalism" on this blog in the future.
What is the reality of "Made in China"?
Is your Apple iPad completely manufactured in China? "The trade gap between America and China is much exaggerated" says The Economist here.
"According to a study by the Personal Computing Industry Centre, each iPad sold in America adds $275, the total production cost, to America’s trade deficit with China, yet the value of the actual work performed in China accounts for only $10. Using these numbers, The Economist estimates that iPads accounted for around $4 billion of America’s reported trade deficit with China in 2011; but if China’s exports were measured on a value-added basis, the deficit was only $150m."
See information on Personal Computing Industry Centre here.
The article concludes, "Pascal Lamy, the head of the World Trade Organisation, has suggested that if trade statistics reflected true domestic content, America’s deficit with China might be more than halved."
"According to a study by the Personal Computing Industry Centre, each iPad sold in America adds $275, the total production cost, to America’s trade deficit with China, yet the value of the actual work performed in China accounts for only $10. Using these numbers, The Economist estimates that iPads accounted for around $4 billion of America’s reported trade deficit with China in 2011; but if China’s exports were measured on a value-added basis, the deficit was only $150m."
See information on Personal Computing Industry Centre here.
The article concludes, "Pascal Lamy, the head of the World Trade Organisation, has suggested that if trade statistics reflected true domestic content, America’s deficit with China might be more than halved."
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Open Fields Driving Innovation
Though the online community has just come through a bit of a resolution on Stop Online Piracy Act, an article in The Economist provides a few interesting insights:
"Critics, who include big companies like Google as well as start-ups and all manner of geeks, argue that the law could put a heavy burden on smaller American sites, stifle innovation and enable censorship, and that DNS filtering could disrupt the internet’s addressing system, causing security problems."
The openness of the internet has allowed exploration and creation of completely new sectors, such as gaming and online gaming, which has for example furthered modeling and simulation in manufacturing by leaps and bounds, in visualization, massive storage systems, physics engines, etc.
Complete article here.
"Critics, who include big companies like Google as well as start-ups and all manner of geeks, argue that the law could put a heavy burden on smaller American sites, stifle innovation and enable censorship, and that DNS filtering could disrupt the internet’s addressing system, causing security problems."
The openness of the internet has allowed exploration and creation of completely new sectors, such as gaming and online gaming, which has for example furthered modeling and simulation in manufacturing by leaps and bounds, in visualization, massive storage systems, physics engines, etc.
Complete article here.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Fostering innovation-led clusters
Excellent research and findings from the Economist Intelligence Unit, "Fostering innovation-led clusters; A review of leading global practices" here. The research and approach are documented here. Some of the key findings are:
- Government has a crucial role to play; so does the market.
- Clusters are about collaboration, not just locating firms in the same place.
- Talent is the single most important factor in developing successful clusters.
- Governments need to work to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship.
- Clusters work best when they are focused and can compete.
- Governments can do much to create an attractive business environment—and a good place to live.
- A strong local market will help attract R&D investment, but is not crucial for global success.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Venture Capital and It's Poor Future
From the Wall Street Journal, "Facing Up to Venture Capital's Slow Future" here. Finally, the newspaper has got it right.
Thinking Next to the Box
Wall Street Journal talks about "Embodied Metaphors and Creative 'Acts,'" a forth coming book on Psychological Science by Angela Leung and six other authors.
"Just how potent is the metaphor "thinking outside the box"? Researchers built a 5-by-5-by-5-foot box to find out.
"People pondering creative puzzles while being allowed to depart whenever they wished from a rectangular path had more creative answers than those hewing to the path or seated."
Test subjects were given a 10-question word-association test often used to measure one kind of creativity (sample item: What one word links "measure," "worm," "video"?). As they answered, participants sat inside or outside the box or sat in a room sans box.
People sitting outside the box answered more questions correctly than either of the other two groups (and the difference couldn't be explained by claustrophobia or confusion, both of which were measured). Creativity seemed to be spurred by acting out a familiar figure of speech, the researchers said.
In a variation, people pondering creative puzzles while being allowed to depart whenever they wished from a rectangular path had more creative answers than those hewing to the path or seated."
"Just how potent is the metaphor "thinking outside the box"? Researchers built a 5-by-5-by-5-foot box to find out.
"People pondering creative puzzles while being allowed to depart whenever they wished from a rectangular path had more creative answers than those hewing to the path or seated."
Test subjects were given a 10-question word-association test often used to measure one kind of creativity (sample item: What one word links "measure," "worm," "video"?). As they answered, participants sat inside or outside the box or sat in a room sans box.
People sitting outside the box answered more questions correctly than either of the other two groups (and the difference couldn't be explained by claustrophobia or confusion, both of which were measured). Creativity seemed to be spurred by acting out a familiar figure of speech, the researchers said.
In a variation, people pondering creative puzzles while being allowed to depart whenever they wished from a rectangular path had more creative answers than those hewing to the path or seated."
Procter & Gamble - Sorry, No Storm Clouds
I have had a great opportunity to work with multiple Global Fortune 100 companies. A recent article about one of them, Procter & Gamble, in Wall Street Journal "Storm Clouds Loom on P&G's Horizon" here, put a smile on my face.
Of all the multinationals, P&G is one that has no "storm clouds" to worry about. Having led innovation at P&G for five years, I know for a fact that the core of the company (product lines, R&D, and enabling organizations), its bank balance, its employees and values, yet most importantly, its leadership simply have shown again and again over the last 150 years that - it is not a survivor, it is simply a leader among CPG.
Of all the multinationals, P&G is one that has no "storm clouds" to worry about. Having led innovation at P&G for five years, I know for a fact that the core of the company (product lines, R&D, and enabling organizations), its bank balance, its employees and values, yet most importantly, its leadership simply have shown again and again over the last 150 years that - it is not a survivor, it is simply a leader among CPG.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Solar Panels From Agriculture Waste
From Popular Science:
"His chemical cocktail extracts the photosynthesizing molecules from plant matter--including chlorophyll--and stabilizes them such that they can be spread on a glass substrate. Said substrate is coated in nanowires and titanium dioxide 'sponges' that help convert photons to electrons and then ferry those electrons away as current."
See the complete article here.
"His chemical cocktail extracts the photosynthesizing molecules from plant matter--including chlorophyll--and stabilizes them such that they can be spread on a glass substrate. Said substrate is coated in nanowires and titanium dioxide 'sponges' that help convert photons to electrons and then ferry those electrons away as current."
See the complete article here.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Uniersity of Oklahoma Prepares Students for Developing Countries
The Oklahoman (1/18, Allen) reported, "Beginning in May," the University of Oklahoma "will offer a field methods course designed to help prepare students to work in those developing regions, said" David Sabatini, "the director of OU's Water Technologies for Emerging Regions Center, or WaTER Center, a part of the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science." The problem, Sabatini "said, has been that students were leaving the university and signing up with the Peace Corps, the US Agency for International Development and other nongovernmental organizations without being properly trained to work in developing countries." The Oklahoman reports, "Students will learn to build aboveground composting latrines, drill wells by hand and test for contaminants in a stream."
Sunday, January 22, 2012
China Update
Via good friend Mr. Tony Tsai, EVP - Chief Marketing & Innovation Officer, The Beijing Hualian Group:
"Xie Guozhong: next year may be most unstable year for world economy in past 20 yearsDec. 22, Xie Guozhong, a director of Rosetta Stone Capital Ltd. and independent economist, said that next year may be the most unstable year for the world economy in the past 20 years. It is impossible for the outflow of hot money to overwhelm China. However, the real estate bubble in mainland China is breaking and the bubble exaggerated economic growth."
"Ministry of Commerce: China's foreign trade situation to be more complicated and serious this yearJan. 9 at the National Trade Promotion Work Conference in Beijing, Vice Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan said that trade friction on products exported from China has intensified since last year. Besides labor intensive industries, such as light chemical, textile and steel, other industries, such as telecommunications and photovoltaic, have also been influenced. China's foreign trade situation will be more complicated and serious this year."
"GDP exceeded RMB1tr last year; GDP to grow by 10% this yearJan. 8 at the Shenzhen NPC Conference, Shenzhen Mayor Xu Qin said the GDP in Shenzhen exceeded RMB1tr in 2011. The GDP in Shenzhen will remain at 10% this year."
"Bank of Communications: China's GDP growth in 2012 to reach 8.5%According to the "Outlook of China's Macroeconomics and Finance in 2012" issued by the Finance Research Center of Bank of Communications of China, China's GDP growth in 2012 will reach 8.5%. GDP growth in the four quarters of 2012 are predicted to be 8%, 8.3%, 8.7% and 9%, respectively."
"Total value of China's imports and exports was US$3.64tr in 2011; trade surplus declined by 14.5%Jan. 10, according to statistics issued by the General Administration of Customs, the total value of China's imports and exports was US$3.64tr in 2011, a 22.5% increase from 2010. This includes exports worth US$1.89tr, a 20.3% increase, and imports worth US$1.74tr, a 24.9% increase from 2010. The trade surplus was US$155.14b, a 14.5% or US$26.37b decrease from 2010."
"Xie Guozhong: next year may be most unstable year for world economy in past 20 yearsDec. 22, Xie Guozhong, a director of Rosetta Stone Capital Ltd. and independent economist, said that next year may be the most unstable year for the world economy in the past 20 years. It is impossible for the outflow of hot money to overwhelm China. However, the real estate bubble in mainland China is breaking and the bubble exaggerated economic growth."
"Ministry of Commerce: China's foreign trade situation to be more complicated and serious this yearJan. 9 at the National Trade Promotion Work Conference in Beijing, Vice Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan said that trade friction on products exported from China has intensified since last year. Besides labor intensive industries, such as light chemical, textile and steel, other industries, such as telecommunications and photovoltaic, have also been influenced. China's foreign trade situation will be more complicated and serious this year."
"GDP exceeded RMB1tr last year; GDP to grow by 10% this yearJan. 8 at the Shenzhen NPC Conference, Shenzhen Mayor Xu Qin said the GDP in Shenzhen exceeded RMB1tr in 2011. The GDP in Shenzhen will remain at 10% this year."
"Bank of Communications: China's GDP growth in 2012 to reach 8.5%According to the "Outlook of China's Macroeconomics and Finance in 2012" issued by the Finance Research Center of Bank of Communications of China, China's GDP growth in 2012 will reach 8.5%. GDP growth in the four quarters of 2012 are predicted to be 8%, 8.3%, 8.7% and 9%, respectively."
"Total value of China's imports and exports was US$3.64tr in 2011; trade surplus declined by 14.5%Jan. 10, according to statistics issued by the General Administration of Customs, the total value of China's imports and exports was US$3.64tr in 2011, a 22.5% increase from 2010. This includes exports worth US$1.89tr, a 20.3% increase, and imports worth US$1.74tr, a 24.9% increase from 2010. The trade surplus was US$155.14b, a 14.5% or US$26.37b decrease from 2010."
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