Searching for innovation

Innovation is about finding a better way of doing something. Like many of the new development buzzwords (which many of them are over-used on many business documents), the concept of innovation originates from the world of business. It refers to the generation of new products through the process of creative entrepreneurship, putting it into production, and diffusing it more widely through increased sales. Innovation can be viewed as t he application of better solutions that meet new requirements, in-articulated needs, or existing market needs. This is accomplished through more effective products, processes, services, technologies, or ideas that are readily available to markets, governments and society. The term innovation can be defined as something original and, as a consequence, new, that “breaks into” the market or society.

Innoveracy: Misunderstanding Innovation article points out that  there is a form of ignorance which seems to be universal: the inability to understand the concept and role of innovation. The way this is exhibited is in the misuse of the term and the inability to discern the difference between novelty, creation, invention and innovation. The result is a failure to understand the causes of success and failure in business and hence the conditions that lead to economic growth. The definition of innovation is easy to find but it seems to be hard to understand.  Here is a simple taxonomy of related activities that put innovation in context:

  • Novelty: Something new
  • Creation: Something new and valuable
  • Invention: Something new, having potential value through utility
  • Innovation: Something new and uniquely useful

The taxonomy is illustrated with the following diagram.

The differences are also evident in the mechanisms that exist to protect the works: Novelties are usually not protectable, Creations are protected by copyright or trademark, Inventions can be protected for a limited time through patents (or kept secret) and Innovations can be protected through market competition but are not defensible through legal means.

Innovation is a lot of talked about nowdays as essential to businesses to do. Is innovation essential for development work? article tells that innovation has become central to the way development organisations go about their work. In November 2011, Bill Gates told the G20 that innovation was the key to development. Donors increasingly stress innovation as a key condition for funding, and many civil society organisations emphasise that innovation is central to the work they do.

Some innovation ideas are pretty simple, and some are much more complicated and even sound crazy when heard first. The is place for crazy sounding ideas: venture capitalists are gravely concerned that the tech startups they’re investing in just aren’t crazy enough:

 

Not all development problems require new solutions, sometimes you just need to use old things in a slightly new way. Development innovations may involve devising technology (such as a nanotech water treatment kit), creating a new approach (such as microfinance), finding a better way of delivering public services (such as one-stop egovernment service centres), identifying ways of working with communities (such as participation), or generating a management technique (such as organisation learning).

Theorists of innovation identify innovation itself as a brief moment of creativity, to be followed by the main routine work of producing and selling the innovation. When it comes to development, things are more complicated. Innovation needs to be viewed as tool, not master. Innovation is a process, not a one time event. Genuine innovation is valuable but rare.

There are many views on the innovation and innvation process. I try to collect together there some views I have found on-line. Hopefully they help you more than confuze. Managing complexity and reducing risk article has this drawing which I think pretty well describes innovation as done in product development:

8 essential practices of successful innovation from The Innovator’s Way shows essential practices in innovation process. Those practices are all integrated into a non-sequential, coherent whole and style in the person of the innovator.

In the IT work there is lots of work where a little thinking can be a source of innovation. Automating IT processes can be a huge time saver or it can fail depending on situation. XKCD comic strip Automation as illustrates this:

XKCD Automation

System integration is a critical element in project design article has an interesting project cost influence graphic. The recommendation is to involve a system integrator early in project design to help ensure high-quality projects that satisfy project requirements. Of course this article tries to market system integration services, but has also valid points to consider.

Core Contributor Loop (CTTDC) from Art Journal blog posting Blog Is The New Black tries to link inventing an idea to theory of entrepreneurship. It is essential to tune the engine by making improvements in product, marketing, code, design and operations.

 

 

 

 

4,464 Comments

  1. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Microdosing Magic Mushrooms Could Spark Creativity And Boost Cognitive Skills, Claims New Study
    https://www.iflscience.com/brain/microdosing-magic-mushrooms-could-spark-creativity-and-boost-cognitive-skills/

    Advocates of microdosing claim that taking teeny doses of magic mushrooms and other psychedelic substances can inspire creative thought, boost your mood, and even enhance your cognitive function, all without the risk of a so-called “bad trip”.

    While a small handful of trials have looked into microdosing LSD, the new small-scale study is the first of its kind to experimentally investigate microdosing of magic mushrooms and its cognitive-enhancing effects within a natural setting.

    the researchers claim that they observed some subtly profound changes to their guinea pigs.

    “Our results suggest that consuming a microdose of truffles allowed participants to create more out-of-the-box alternative solutions for a problem, thus providing preliminary support for the assumption that microdosing improves divergent thinking,”

    Reply
  2. Tomi Engdahl says:

    High Levels Of Stress Could Literally Shrink Your Brain
    https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/high-levels-of-stress-may-shrink-the-brain-and-affect-memory/

    A new study has found that higher levels of cortisol (a hormone linked to stress) in middle-aged people is associated with smaller brain volumes. These individuals also tend to do much worse on memory and cognitive tests.

    the team note it’s important that physicians keep an eye on the level of cortisol in patients and that they counsel them on ways to reduce stress, such as getting enough sleep and doing moderate exercise.

    Reply
  3. Tomi Engdahl says:

    The Rodney Brooks Rules for Predicting a Technology’s Commercial Success
    https://spectrum.ieee.org/at-work/innovation/the-rodney-brooks-rules-for-predicting-a-technologys-commercial-success

    Building electric cars and reusable rockets is fairly easy. Building a nuclear fusion reactor, flying cars, self-driving cars, or a Hyperloop system is very hard. What makes the difference?

    The answer, in a word, is experience. The difference between the possible and the practical can only be discovered by trying things out. Therefore, even though the physics suggests that a thing will work, if it has not even been demonstrated in the lab you can consider that thing to be a long way off. If it has been demonstrated in prototypes only, then it is still distant. If versions have been deployed at scale, and most of the necessary refinements are of an evolutionary character, then perhaps it may become available fairly soon. Even then, if no one wants to use the thing, it will languish in the warehouse, no matter how much enthusiasm there is among the technologists who developed it.

    It’s well worth considering what makes a potential technology easy or hard to develop, because a mistake can lead to unwise decisions.

    Reply
  4. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Smart marketplaces bridge the implicit and complex
    https://techcrunch.com/2018/10/23/smart-marketplaces-the-next-of-marketplace-generation-is-intelligent/?utm_source=tcfbpage&sr_share=facebook

    Marketplace businesses are intrinsically linked to the technologies that enable them. There would be no Craigslist without email/SMTP, no eBay without the graphical browser and no Uber without location services and ubiquitous smartphones. As enabling technologies have evolved, marketplaces have grown to facilitate increasingly complex exchanges in new environments and industries. The next level? They will get smart: goodbye marketplace 1.0, hello smarketplace.

    Reply
  5. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Creativity is risky (and other truths open leaders need to hear)
    https://opensource.com/open-organization/18/10/open-leader-creativity-guide?sc_cid=7016000000127ECAAY

    Creativity is critical for innovative workplaces. But what is it—and how does it really work?

    Reply
  6. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Researchers Find The Key To Success In Education – And It’s Extremely Depressing
    https://www.iflscience.com/editors-blog/researchers-find-the-key-to-success-in-education-and-it-s-extremely-depressing/

    What’s the key to success: Your intelligence? Your kindness? The power of your will? Your determination and hard work? Unfortunately, it looks like your success in education is most likely decided on the size of your parent’s bank account.

    First up, they found that raw genetic variants associated with the potential to achieve in education were spread relatively evenly across people from socioeconomic backgrounds

    In the simplest terms possible, the least smart children of wealthy parents are more likely to graduate from college than most smart kids from low-income families.

    Of course, there is no single “smart gene”. Intelligence is governed by hundreds and hundreds of genes, combined with their fiddly interactions with each other and the environment.

    Reply
  7. Tomi Engdahl says:

    All Things Open draws thousands as tech world prepares for more disruption
    https://www.wraltechwire.com/2018/10/24/all-things-open-draws-thousands-as-tech-world-prepares-for-more-disruption/

    Get ready for the continuing wave of tech disruption.

    That was the driving message behind this year’s All Things Open conference.

    “When you look around the world, people are gaining access to the internet that didn’t have it before,” says ATO’s chairperson and founder Todd Lewis. “It’s increasing exponentially.”

    Just look at the numbers: More than 4.2 billion people are now active internet users – over half of the world’s population

    Reply
  8. Tomi Engdahl says:

    High Levels Of Stress Could Literally Shrink Your Brain
    https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/high-levels-of-stress-may-shrink-the-brain-and-affect-memory/

    A new study has found that higher levels of cortisol (a hormone linked to stress) in middle-aged people is associated with smaller brain volumes. These individuals also tend to do much worse on memory and cognitive tests.

    Reply
  9. Tomi Engdahl says:

    The Digital Gap Between Rich and Poor Kids Is Not What We Expected
    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/26/style/digital-divide-screens-schools.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article

    America’s public schools are still touting devices with screens — even offering digital-only preschools. The rich are banning screens from class altogether.

    The parents in Overland Park, Kan., were fed up. They wanted their children off screens, but they needed strength in numbers. First, because no one wants their kid to be the lone weird one without a phone. And second, because taking the phone away from a middle schooler is actually very, very tough.

    For the last six months, at night in school libraries across Overland Park, a suburb of Kansas City, Mo., about 150 parents have been meeting to talk about one thing: how to get their kids off screens.

    It wasn’t long ago that the worry was that rich students would have access to the internet earlier, gaining tech skills and creating a digital divide.

    But now, as Silicon Valley’s parents increasingly panic over the impact screens have on their children and move toward screen-free lifestyles, worries over a new digital divide are rising. It could happen that the children of poorer and middle-class parents will be raised by screens, while the children of Silicon Valley’s elite will be going back to wooden toys and the luxury of human interaction.

    This is already playing out.

    Reply
  10. Tomi Engdahl says:

    How Video Games Can Be Used to Improve Diagnosis and Treatment Methods
    https://www.mddionline.com/how-video-games-can-be-used-improve-diagnosis-and-treatment-methods?ADTRK=UBM&elq_mid=6341&elq_cid=876648

    Using the latest in virtual and augmented reality technology, an award winning medical technology company is creating lifelike video game simulations to help train physicians and improve diagnosis and treatment methods.

    Reply
  11. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Could Reimbursement for AI Solutions Really Be That Tricky?
    https://www.mddionline.com/could-reimbursement-ai-solutions-really-be-tricky

    Eric Hargan, Deputy Secretary for Health and Human Services, spoke with MD+DI during Cleveland Clinic’s 2018 Medical Innovation Summit about the difficulties of reimbursement for AI solutions.

    “The process by which software is integrated into medical care is a hard thing to quantify,” Hargan told MD+DI from the media room at the Innovation Summit. “Normally if you have software embedded in – say a pacemaker – it’s easy to know what the software is doing. But when you venture out where technology is starting to do things like possibly analyze a disease state or support clinical decisions, you end up with something where the program in itself is seeming to participate in medicine. It’s analyzing and diagnosing things.”

    He added, “how do we deal with that? From a reimbursement point of view, how do we have an AI [solution] go through a set of medical records and have them to say this is highlighting potential medical issues and looking at past decisions that were made for a patient. How do we pay for that, what is the value that’s being provided by the AI?”

    Reply
  12. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Spinal Implant Helps Three Paralyzed Men Walk Again
    https://science.slashdot.org/story/18/10/31/2313217/spinal-implant-helps-three-paralyzed-men-walk-again?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot%2Fto+%28%28Title%29Slashdot+%28rdf%29%29

    Doctors in Switzerland have used an electrical device to help three paralyzed men walk again. The device was inserted around the men’s spines to boost the signals from their brains to their legs. The study has been published in the journal Nature.

    Spinal implant helps three paralysed men walk again
    https://www.bbc.com/news/health-46043924

    Reply
  13. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Alaska’s Universal Basic Income Doesn’t Increase Unemployment
    https://news.slashdot.org/story/18/10/31/2244240/alaskas-universal-basic-income-doesnt-increase-unemployment?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot%2Fto+%28%28Title%29Slashdot+%28rdf%29%29

    With Alaska’s gubernatorial election coming up, Business Insider brings up a report from earlier this year which finds that the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend — the only large-scale universal basic income program in the U.S. — doesn’t increase unemployment like many feared.

    Reply
  14. Tomi Engdahl says:

    National Academies Report Says Sexual Harassment Is a Threat to Engineering
    https://spectrum.ieee.org/at-work/tech-careers/national-academies-report-says-sexual-harassment-is-a-threat-to-engineering

    The engineering community has been working for decades to increase the representation of women in universities and in the profession, but progress has been slow. In the United States, just 21 percent of engineering bachelor’s degrees go to women, and only 11 percent of practicing engineers are women. While the problem is complex, we must recognize that one significant factor is sexual harassment, which creates hostile education and work environments and pushes women out of the field.

    Authoritative studies have documented that from 20 to 50 percent of women students experience sexual harassment in higher education.

    Reply
  15. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Robots Keep Workers off Dangerous Tasks
    https://www.designnews.com/automation-motion-control/robots-keep-workers-dangerous-tasks/139411803159701?ADTRK=UBM&elq_mid=6390&elq_cid=876648

    As robots scan the inside of milk tanks for cracks that can hide bacteria, they are taking on dangerous work that was previously done by human workers.

    Reply
  16. Tomi Engdahl says:

    How Does Bill Gates’s Ingenious, Waterless, Life-Saving Toilet Work?
    https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a24747871/bill-gates-life-saving-toilet/

    More than two billion people don’t have access to safe, clean sanitation systems. This toilet might be a big step toward fixing that.

    Reply
  17. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Sundar Pichai of Google: ‘Technology Doesn’t Solve Humanity’s Problems’
    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/08/business/sundar-pichai-google-corner-office.html

    Growing up in India, he slept on the floor of a house without a refrigerator. Today, the chief executive is steering Google through the most turbulent period in its history.

    Reply
  18. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Developers are the new kingdom builders
    https://opensource.com/article/18/11/new-kingdom-builders?sc_cid=7016000000127ECAAY

    Today’s developers aren’t just kingmakers; thanks to blockchain, they’re building their own kingdoms.

    Reply
  19. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Wall Street Journal:
    A look at the tug of war between the data driven tech team and the relationship-oriented Hollywood team at Netflix — As the company plunges deeper into originals, its L.A. wing is doing the once-unthinkable: overriding the metrics — Netflix Inc.’s executives were torn.

    At Netflix, Who Wins When It’s Hollywood vs. the Algorithm?
    https://www.wsj.com/articles/at-netflix-who-wins-when-its-hollywood-vs-the-algorithm-1541826015?mod=pls_whats_news_us_business_f

    As the company plunges deeper into originals, its L.A. wing is doing the once-unthinkable: overriding the metrics

    Reply
  20. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Orangutans Show “Astonishing” Tool-Making Ability To Bend Wire Into Hooks
    https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/orangutans-show-astonishing-toolmaking-ability-to-bend-wire-into-hooks/

    A study in the journal Scientific Reports has described how orangutans were able to create hooks from wire to reach the handle of a basket, a surprising skill that even some human children find difficult.

    Reply
  21. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Putting the Science in Fiction
    https://www.eeweb.com/profile/max-maxfield/articles/putting-the-science-in-fiction?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=ad&utm_medium=EDNFunFriday-20181109

    I do understand that — unlike engineers — fiction authors cannot be expected to know everything, but all I’m asking is that they check their facts

    I love science and I love technology, both of which tend to pop up all over the place in a wide range of fictional genres, including science fiction, fantasy, thrillers, mysteries, and more.

    Although spotting the errors with Steve was fun in its own way, it really niggles me when I see an obvious mistake pertaining to science or technology in a book or film, like hearing the roar of a rocket’s engines when your point of view is outside the ship in the vacuum of space or watching someone on Earth engaged in a video conference call with someone on Mars with zero time lag.

    Of course, I do understand that — unlike engineers — fiction authors cannot be expected to know everything, but all I’m asking is that they check their facts and avoid the more obvious errors. All of which begs the question: Where can they go to check their facts?

    Until recently, the main port of call for many writers was Google, which can be exceedingly useful on many occasions and unexpectedly useless on others. Now, there’s a new resource in the form of a book — Putting the Science in Fiction.

    Putting the Science in Fiction: Expert Advice for Writing with Authenticity in Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Other Genres
    https://www.amazon.com/dp/1440353387

    Science and technology have starring roles in a wide range of genres–science fiction, fantasy, thriller, mystery, and more. Unfortunately, many depictions of technical subjects in literature, film, and television are pure fiction. A basic understanding of biology, physics, engineering, and medicine will help you create more realistic stories that satisfy discerning readers.

    Reply
  22. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Global Surgical cuts product development time in half with Zemax Virtual Prototyping
    https://www.zemax.com/resources/customer-stories/global-surgical?elqTrackId=a1f8cb72964f49cea4fb6dc98edf9049

    Global Surgical streamlined workflows and produced a successful physical prototype months ahead of schedule using modern virtual prototyping.

    Reply
  23. Tomi Engdahl says:

    10 Ways Technology Is Changing Football
    New technology has moved into helmets, stadiums, and television broadcasts.
    https://www.designnews.com/electronics-test/10-ways-technology-changing-football?ADTRK=UBM&elq_mid=6471&elq_cid=876648

    Reply
  24. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Lloyds bank to cut 6,000 jobs to create 8,000 digital ones
    https://www.itpro.co.uk/digital-transformation/32301/lloyds-bank-switches-focus-digital-jobs

    The bank says that 75% of staff will be expected to move into new IT-based roles

    Lloyds banking group is planning a major overhaul to its workforce by pushing its digital operations with 2,000 new IT-based positions.

    As part of the plan, 6,000 jobs will be cut in order to create 8,000 new digital roles and Lloyds said that 75% of the affected staff will be expected to move into these new positions.

    Some specialist roles will also be recruited externally, such as data scientists and software engineers.

    Reply
  25. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Autodesk Partners with the History Chanel on Project Impossible
    https://www.designnews.com/design-hardware-software/autodesk-partners-history-chanel-on-project-impossible/132778755559756?ADTRK=UBM&elq_mid=6522&elq_cid=876648

    The Project Impossible series covers major projects that reveal the most amazing capabilities of modern engineering.

    The original series from the History Channel, Project Impossible, follows a new generation of engineering projects that were considered unthinkable just a few years ago. Each episode features an in-depth look into the ambitious projects that are transforming our world by highlighting the people, tools, and technologies that are critical to their success. One episode dives into the dangerous task of demolishing massive structures made up of concrete and steel.

    Reply
  26. Tomi Engdahl says:

    SURVEILLANCE KILLS FREEDOM BY KILLING EXPERIMENTATION
    https://www.wired.com/story/mcsweeneys-excerpt-the-right-to-experiment/

    We know that surveillance has a chilling effect on freedom. People change their behavior when they live their lives under surveillance. They are less likely to speak freely and act individually. They self-censor. They become conformist. This is obviously true for government surveillance, but is true for corporate surveillance as well. We simply aren’t as willing to be our individual selves when others are watching.

    Reply
  27. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Leaning into IPD: A primer for engineers
    https://www.csemag.com/single-article/leaning-into-ipd-a-primer-for-engineers/c4f7ce76ae0b0c19aa226dcc688fe54c.html?OCVALIDATE=

    Integrated project delivery (IPD) is aimed at more directly connecting what the end users are expecting to get and what actually gets built for them, while at the same time minimizing lifecycle costs and shortening the overall schedule.

    Rather than detail what the workflow for a traditional design-bid-build (D-B-B) delivery method looks like and then detail out what an integrated project delivery (IPD) method looks like, we’ll dive directly into how IPD is different.

    First, there’s the team that will include the owner, architect, engineer, and contractors. The formation of the team by the owner is critical, especially if most of the team members haven’t worked on a project together before. In fact, the formation of the team becomes especially critical if most of the team members haven’t worked on a project that’s used an IPD method.

    Respect among all the team members is paramount to build trust so that the intense communication required can happen as naturally and as easily as possible. The team needs to very quickly get to a point where proactive integration replaces reactive coordination. These principles will apply not only to all the folks on each team who are typically involved at the beginning of a project, but also to the other team members that will participate throughout the project including specialists, designers, and field staff.

    How to sell IPD

    One way to sell IPD to engineers is to stress that they’ll become more cost-conscious and practical problem-solvers as a result of working closely with the contractors. They’ll become more aware of constructability issues, in general, and more aware of site-specific issues, in particular-especially if the contractors on the team happen to be the “incumbent” contractors at the facility.

    To sell IPD to contractors, stress that they’ll learn more about system design; in fact, they should be invited into early phase meetings with the “end users” of the project, which should deepen their understanding of the design intent of the project.

    This extra insight available to both the engineers and the contractors will benefit the owner because the owners’ level of uncertainty related to what they’ll eventually end up with should be minimized.

    Reply
  28. Tomi Engdahl says:

    People sleep too little

    Univajeinen yhteiskunta ei opi eikä naura
    https://op.media/chydenius/megatrendit/univajeinen-yhteiskunta-ei-opi-eika-naura-9219e3b744854f0d844699c7384c0b1f

    Lähes puolet maailman ihmisistä nukkuu kroonisesti liian vähän. Miten se näkyy työpaikoilla ja koko yhteiskunnassa?

    Reply
  29. Tomi Engdahl says:

    HP Proposes ‘VR Snacking’ as a Solution for Engineering Workflows
    https://www.designnews.com/design-hardware-software/hp-proposes-vr-snacking-solution-engineering-workflows/163156313759831?ADTRK=UBM&elq_mid=6575&elq_cid=876648

    Opera Glass, a new proof of concept from HP Labs, aims to more seamlessly blend virtual reality into design engineering workflows.

    Reply
  30. Tomi Engdahl says:

    DesignCon: Go Because I Need To; Stay Because I Want To
    https://www.designnews.com/content/designcon-go-because-i-need-stay-because-i-want/189381360959818?ADTRK=UBM&elq_mid=6575&elq_cid=876648

    There are few events in the engineering calendar quite like DesignCon, as much for the serious nature of design issues and problems as the environment in which they’re being addressed and solved.

    Reply
  31. Tomi Engdahl says:

    25 Dying Professions You Should Avoid
    https://www.workandmoney.com/s/dying-professions-83f89af396e34d92?utm_campaign=dyingprofessions-829d3379ced54543&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=out&utm_term=CNN+Edition+%28Turner+International%29

    John Pugliano, author of “The Robots are Coming: A Human’s Survival Guide to Profiting in the Age of Automation,” sees plenty of white collar jobs that will be threatened by automation.

    “Bottom line, any routine job that can easily be defined by a mathematical or logic equation will be at risk,” Pugliano said. “Opportunity will be [there] for those that can create new produces/services or solve/fix unexpected problems.”

    Reply
  32. Tomi Engdahl says:

    26 Surprising Things That Can Make You Successful
    https://www.iflscience.com/editors-blog/26-surprising-things-that-can-make-you-successful/

    Sure, we all know that an Ivy League education, a stint at a blue-chip firm, and stellar sales skills can help us get ahead. But it may surprise you just how many other, seemingly random variables can contribute to your professional success.

    From the month you were born to your comedic timing, the weirdest quirks can affect how successful you’ll ultimately be.

    Reply
  33. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Ingenious Construction Workers That Are At Another Level
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJzvpuBk8o8

    ‘Ingenious’? Maybe.
    ‘Construction Workers’? Definitely.
    ‘At Another Level’? Not even close.

    Ill take construction methods that have been around for over 10 years Alex.

    Reply
  34. Tomi Engdahl says:

    An Airplane With No Moving Parts
    https://spectrum.ieee.org/cars-that-think/transportation/air/an-airplane-with-no-moving-parts

    MIT researchers have flown the first airplane that has no moving parts. The aircraft, packed with lithium-ion batteries, used an ion thruster to fly the 60 meters that were available in the indoor flight area.

    Reply
  35. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Overcoming Gender Stereotypes In Tech
    https://semiengineering.com/overcoming-gender-stereotypes-in-tech/

    Problems run deeper in organizations than a survey of top executives would indicate.

    Gender inequality in the workplace is more complex and deep-rooted than most studies have shown, and efforts to address those issues are only scratching the surface.

    The problem runs deeper than just moving women into upper management. It extends all the way through organizations in ways that aren’t always obvious.

    “I’ve been talking to senior women in engineering and junior women in engineering, and sadly there is a big divide,”

    Reply
  36. Tomi Engdahl says:

    global businesses are increasingly turning to cloud video communications as the optimal solution for fostering relationships and engendering a culture of innovation and agility

    Reply
  37. Tomi Engdahl says:

    How to build STEM toys
    It’s hard to fix the world, but we should try
    https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/01/how-to-build-stem-toys/

    Reply
  38. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Silicon Valley used to have a monopoly on the idea, manufacturing and distribution of innovation. No longer.

    The innovation supply chain: How ideas traverse continents and transform economies
    https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/27/the-innovation-supply-chain-how-ideas-traverse-continents-and-transform-economies/?sr_share=facebook&utm_source=tcfbpage

    While Westerners often associate the invention of calculus with 17th century European luminaries like Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz, its theoretical foundations actually stretch back millennia. Fundamental theorems appear in ancient Egyptian work from 1820 BC, and later influences sprout from Babylonian, Ancient Greek, Chinese and Middle Eastern texts.

    Such is the nature of the world’s biggest ideas — concepts that arise in one corner of the world provide the scaffolding for future advancements. Realizing the true potential of any idea takes time and requires input from diverse cultures and perspectives.

    Technological innovation is no exception.

    In the tech world today, this is playing out in three important ways:

    ideas improve when they become global;
    the best ideas are increasingly starting internationally; and
    testing globally is a differentiated strategy

    Reply

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

*