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:

    Syntyykö yrityksessäsi ideoita vai innovaatioita?
    https://www.talouselama.fi/kumppaniblogit/accenture/syntyyko-yrityksessasi-ideoita-vai-innovaatioita/64456213-79da-32e3-bc52-ccd4b6ed6135

    Innovaatio-onnistujia yhdistää kolme asiaa:

    1. Fokus on siirretty ideoinnista tulokseen ja suuren organisatorisen muutoksen tavoitteluun innovaatioiden avulla.

    2. Ymmärretään, että idea on aito innovaatio vasta sitten, kun se tuottaa viivan alle positiivisen tuloksen.

    3. Pienen ja vähittäin tapahtuvan parantamisen sijaan tavoitellaan heti merkittävää parannusta. Tätä kutsutaan Moonshot-ajatteluksi, joka pitää tuoda innovaatioagendan ytimeen. Kaikista ideoista ei synny uutta Amazon Web Services -palvelua, mutta sitä pitää tavoitella

    Reply
  2. Tomi Engdahl says:

    A Future of Genetically Engineered Children Is Closer Than You’d Think
    https://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article/future-genetically-engineered-children-closer-youd-think

    US scientists edited a human embryo for the first time. That’s just the beginning.

    Genetically modified babies given go ahead by UK ethics body
    https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/jul/17/genetically-modified-babies-given-go-ahead-by-uk-ethics-body

    The Nuffield Council on Bioethics says changing the DNA of a human embryo could be ‘morally permissible’ if it is in the child’s best interests

    Reply
  3. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Genetically modifying future children isn’t just wrong. It would harm all of us
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/17/genetically-modifying-future-children-embryos-nuffield-council-bioethics

    Genome editing for human embryos is an unnecessary threat to society. Why has the Nuffield Council of Bioethics endorsed it?

    Chinese scientist claims to have created ‘world’s first genetically edited babies’
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/11/26/chinese-scientist-creates-worlds-first-genetically-edited-babies/

    A Chinese researcher claims he helped make the world’s first genetically edited babies – twin girls whose DNA he said he altered with a powerful new tool capable of rewriting the very blueprint of life.

    Reply
  4. Tomi Engdahl says:

    World’s first gene-edited babies created in China, claims scientist
    https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/nov/26/worlds-first-gene-edited-babies-created-in-china-claims-scientist

    Unconfirmed scientific breakthrough sparks ethical and moral concerns

    EXCLUSIVE: Chinese scientists are creating CRISPR babies
    https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612458/exclusive-chinese-scientists-are-creating-crispr-babies/

    A daring effort is under way to create the first children whose DNA has been tailored using gene editing.

    Reply
  5. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Companies using safety to improve productivity, profitability
    https://www.controleng.com/articles/companies-using-safety-to-improve-productivity-profitability/

    A survey from LNS Research finds companies are using safety to improve productivity and profitability as well as mitigate risks. The study also found there are plenty of areas for companies to improve.

    According to a survey by LNS Research, industrial companies are using safety to not only mitigate risks but also to improve productivity and profitability. Organizations are using the three core elements of safety maturity–safety culture, procedures and technologies–to avoid safety incidents and improve business performance. In addition, risk management increasingly includes safety and security risks.

    Reply
  6. Tomi Engdahl says:

    The Future of Weapons Engineering
    https://www.eeweb.com/profile/alorphillips/articles/the-future-of-weapons-engineering

    Hopefully, with the help of engineers, future wars can be fought in a more peaceful way with smarter weapons that protect the interests of soldiers and civilians alike

    Reply
  7. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Entering the World of the Mini Makers
    https://www.electropages.com/2018/11/entering-world-mini-makers/?utm_campaign=&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=article&utm_content=Entering+the+World+of+the+Mini+Makers

    In a time where there are increasing concerns all across Europe about filling the growing number of STEM-related jobs and how to go about addressing the widening skills gap, there is more impetus than ever to encourage both young children and teenagers to become more engineering savvy. Consequently, we have seen a considerable surge in the educational toy market over the last few years, with a plethora of exciting new product offerings coming to the fore.

    Getting ‘hands-on’ with technology is not actually that new of course. I grew up in the days when Meccano was at the height of its popularity – with most boys my age owning kits. Things have moved on significantly though. Back then, Meccano solely catered for would-be mechanical engineers and was predominantly male-focused. Now the objective is to encompass a broader spectrum of engineering disciplines – and also appeal, in equal proportions, to both males and females alike.

    Produced by a mixture of established brands and newer firms, a diverse range of child-friendly maker platforms has emerged. Despite each one taking its own distinctive form, all of them tend to share common goals. These are to make technological creativity more accessible, elevate the levels of engagement (whether this is in a classroom environment or back home) and, as much as possible, keep the barriers to entry low (so kids that aren’t put off at an early stage, because everything looks too complicated).

    Reply
  8. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Why there’s no such thing as a gifted child
    https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/jul/25/no-such-thing-as-a-gifted-child-einstein-iq

    Even Einstein was unexceptional in his youth. Now a new book questions our fixation with IQ and says adults can help almost any child become gifted

    Reply
  9. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Intel’s Faith McCreary considers some of the pain points in IIoT and the transformation to Industry 4.0 plus five strategies for making it easier.

    Five Strategies for Leading an Intelligent Factory Transformation
    https://blogs.intel.com/iot/2018/12/03/five-strategies-for-leading-an-intelligent-factory-transformation/

    For leaders working to engage their entire workforce in support of intelligent factory transformation, here are five strategies to consider:

    1. Share the vision of the intelligent factory and the path forward with everyone in your organization, including line workers and managers.
    2. Engage workers who may be impacted by change.
    3. Connect and integrate processes and involve stakeholders at all levels, inside and outside of the company. Industry 4.0 and the IIOT technologies that support it are not static solutions.
    4. Invest in ongoing workforce training. Education and training will prepare workers for technology transformation while helping to ensure the cultural and behavioral evolution needed to support change. Leaders committed to Industry 4.0 need to avoid the misconception that training will increase attrition rates, and instead view workforce training as part of the company’s investment in building new skills.
    5. Prepare for change by making the intelligent factory transformation part of a new company mindset. As we discussed in another recent blog post, change is constant.

    The Intelligent Factory Transformation Is a Journey, Not a Destination
    https://blogs.intel.com/iot/2018/11/21/the-intelligent-factory-transformation-is-a-journey-not-a-destination/

    Reply
  10. Tomi Engdahl says:

    EIT announces two winning innovation communities in manufacturing and urban mobility
    https://eit.europa.eu/newsroom/eit-announces-two-innovation-communities-manufacturing-urban-mobility

    Two dynamic new partnerships join Europe’s largest innovation network. They will bring Europe’s innovators together to create a better and more sustainable future for citizens.

    Reply
  11. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Geniuses Who Were Actually Terrible People
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UQA_pX5Ds0

    Sometimes it seems like the world has far too many jerks and not enough geniuses. However, it turns out that being a jerk and being a genius aren’t mutually exclusive. In fact, some of the most famous minds in history have belonged to some of humanity’s most colossal creeps. Here’s a look at some geniuses who were actually terrible people…

    Reply
  12. Tomi Engdahl says:

    The Untold Truth Of Jamie Hyneman From Mythbusters
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5gML5bibjc

    Reply
  13. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Nick Statt / The Verge:
    Report: Facebook renamed Building 8, its hardware skunkworks lab, to Portal after the device launched, moved more experimental projects to Facebook Reality Labs

    Facebook fractures its secretive hardware division
    https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/14/18141524/facebook-building-8-reality-labs-ar-vr-portal-skunkworks-hardware-division

    The hardware group is now focused on Portal and other projects, while far-off ideas are part of Reality Labs

    Reply
  14. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Laskennallinen ajattelu helpottaa osaamiskuilua
    http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/8885-laskennallinen-ajattelu-helpottaa-osaamiskuilua

    Nykynuoret käyttävät sujuvasti älykästä tekniikkaa, mutta osaavatko he ratkoa ongelmia? Ehkäpä kaikille lapsille pitäisi opettaa tietotekniikasta tuttua laskennallista ajattelua.

    Arvioiden mukaan 65 prosenttia peruskouluun menevistä lapsista tulee lopulta työskentelemään tehtävissä, joita ei vielä edes ole. Ikävä kyllä monissa osissa maailmaa ei opeteta niitä taitoja, joita tässä uudessa työelämässä tarvitaan, vaan pääpaino on edelleen oppiainepohjaisessa opiskelussa

    Reply
  15. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Bet your job, bet your values
    https://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/measure-of-things/4461382/Bet-your-job–bet-your-values

    At EDI Con 2017 in Boston, Scott McMorrow gave a keynote speech titled “Bet your Job.” Scott described how we stake our jobs on every project we undertake. He gave an example of engineers at a big corporation who worked on a project that they knew would not work, but no one spoke up. Can you imagine sitting in a meeting where you’re reviewing a product design with colleagues, seeing a fatal flaw, and plowing forward anyway, then later saying that you knew it would fail all along?

    Scott closed his speech with a fun piece of irony: “Working for a company gives the illusion of security. Self-employment gives the illusion of freedom.” In my speech this year, “Innovation, Incorporation, and Integrity,” I tried to expand on Scott’s Bet Your Job theme.

    I begin with a simple question: Why do you go to work?

    Your answer probably doesn’t refer to love of traffic or cubicles, and might indicate your need for money. If we take a close look, you don’t actually need very much money.

    All you actually need is:

    A few pounds of food each day
    Shelter to sleep in
    companionship
    activity that yields a sense of accomplishment

    One of the things that I learned from writing my neuroscience book is that both companionship and a sense of accomplishment are every bit as necessary to human existence as food and shelter. Without all four, human beings cease to be human.

    Because most of us derive our sense of accomplishment by working for corporations, I propose that corporations exist to fulfill that need. Sure, they need to make money to survive, but that’s not why you’re there. Let me rephrase that: if you only work at your job to make money, then you can and should do something else. Sports teams don’t exist to score points, or win or lose, they exist to play and so do you.

    An excellent reason to work for a corporation, large or small, is access to the overhead you need—equipment, support, other people to collaborate with, medical insurance, and, as Scott said last year, “The illusion of security”—to innovate, to fulfill your promise, to contribute, and to change the world. And don’t knock the illusion of security until you’ve gone without it. But don’t kid yourself either. You can be laid off at any time. If you’re so important to the company that they can’t succeed without you, sell your shares because no one should invest in a company that sits on a single-point-of-failure.

    When your goals align with those of the corporation, you’re good for the company and the company is good for you and best of all you help each other pursue greatness.

    Sometimes your goals don’t align with those of the corporation and you get in the rut: it’s a boring job, sometimes interesting, but you get paid the money you need to goof off on your own time. I experienced this when I pumped gas at a Shell Station during college summers.

    When your employer’s goals contradict your values
    When the corporation compels you to do something that you believe should not be done, not only will you lose that sense of accomplishment, but you’ll lose self-respect. Without self-respect, you’re not likely to earn the respect of the people you care about.

    What if you have responsibilities like a mortgage, debt, and children to support?
    We all participate in the economy. In its most basic state, the economy is what people buy and sell, where they go and what they do. The economy is the visceral expression of a culture’s values.

    History shows that civilization itself—the principles of freedom, equality, and fraternity—is fragile. Ninety-nine percent of human history has had pyramid-shaped economies

    Reply
  16. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Over 65 percent of new developers are self-taught. I’m surprised it’s not 100 percent
    https://thenextweb.com/dd/2018/12/11/over-65-percent-of-new-developers-are-self-taught-im-surprised-its-not-100-percent/

    HackerRank today published the 2018 edition of its Student Developer Report. The survey, which looks at educational and language trends across over 10,000 students, has some interesting findings, the most fascinating of which is that over 65 percent of students are self-taught.

    27.39 percent said they learned to code via self-directed learning. A further 37.70 percent said they learned via a combination of school and individual study. Only 31.90 percent said they only learned to code at school.

    Reply
  17. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Aikuisten aivot eivät enää toimi normaalisti – oireina on muistin pätkiminen ja keskittymiskyvyn katoaminen, ja se huolettaa aivotutkijoita
    Kiire ja tekemisen jatkuvat keskeytymiset voivat aiheuttaa tilan, jota kutsutaan ADT:ksi
    https://www.aamulehti.fi/a/201240340?c=1522737894164

    Reply
  18. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Kun palvelu menee tunteisiin
    https://www.siili.com/fi/tarinat/kun-palvelu-menee-tunteisiin?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=rekry-tarinat-liikenne-data&utm_content=kun-palvelu-menee-tunteisiin-pagepost

    Ennen riitti, että palvelu toimii. Nyt ja tulevaisuudessa digitaalisten palveluiden kilpailuetutekijät syntyvät asioista, joita ennen pidettiin jopa huuhaana: luodaan palveluita, jotka ottavat käyttäjänsä tunteet huomioon.

    Reply
  19. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Design Thinking Puts the Problem in Focus – Selling Solutions Instead of Inventions
    https://www.aaltoee.com/aalto-leaders-insight/2018/design-thinking-puts-the-problem-in-focus-selling-solutions-instead-of-inventions

    Tomi Sundberg, CEO of Leinolift, and Antti Kujala, Director at Amer Sports, apply design thinking to their work. “Finding a genuine problem means getting to ideate solutions around it. This results in better, usable ideas.”

    Reply
  20. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Put down your phone if you want to innovate
    https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/28/put-down-your-phone-if-you-want-to-innovate/?utm_source=tcfbpage&sr_share=facebook

    We are living in an interstitial period. In the early 1980s we entered an era of desktop computing that culminated in the dot-com crash — a financial bubble that we bolstered with Y2K consulting fees and hardware expenditures

    That last interstitial era, an era during which computers got smaller, weirder, thinner and more powerful, ushered us, after a long period of boredom, into the mobile era in which we now exist.

    If you want to help innovate in the next decade, it’s time to admit that phones, like desktop PCs before them, are a dead-end.

    We create and then brush up against the edges of our creation every decade. The speed at which we improve — but not innovate — is increasing

    We are limited by the use cases afforded by our current technology.

    In 2019 a phone is a phone and cannot truly interact with us as long as it remains a separate part of our bodies.

    We’re heading into a new year (and a new CES) and we can expect more of the same. It is safe and comfortable to remain in the screen-hand-eye nexus, creating VR devices that are essentially phones slapped to our faces and big computers that now masquerade as TVs. What, however, is the next step?

    Reply
  21. Tomi Engdahl says:

    I’m a Developer. I Won’t Teach My Kids to Code, and Neither Should You.
    https://slate.com/human-interest/2018/12/against-teaching-kids-to-code-creativity-problem-solving.html?fbclid=IwAR19LXYrF8_Z38Pe-iJuZz02Icmts4kRQ3xbTOwDwwyhXoORFvNNG79G0F0

    It’s easy to see why parents push coding on their children. What better way to prepare our kids for a future ruled by software than by training them how to build it? If everything is going to be automated, it’s much safer to be the one doing the automating. And if learning to code is good, then learning earlier is better. But while these products may teach kids specific coding languages, they actually have very little to do with the work of creating software.

    A former co-worker of mine was trained at a coding boot camp with the motto “Coding Is the New Literacy.” That sentiment is at the heart of all the programming books and games.

    That is, of course, ridiculous. Coding is not the new literacy. While most parents are literate and know to read to their kids, most are not programmers and have no idea what kind of skills a programmer needs. Coding books for kids present coding as a set of problems with “correct” solutions.

    But that is not the way programming works. Programming is messy. Programming is a mix of creativity and determination. Being a developer is about more than syntax, and certain skills can only be taught to the very young.

    I ran the code again to replace the broken servers. Hours later, a different group failed.

    There wasn’t a syntax problem. If there had been, the servers would never have been built in the first place. The problem was much deeper. Isolating and solving it took several weeks and many nights of interrupted sleep.

    Coding is like that. Try something. See if it works. Try again. If a problem was straightforward, it would be automated or at least solved with some open-source code. All that’s left is the difficult task of creating something unique. There are no books that teach you how to solve a problem no one has seen before. This is why I don’t want my kids to learn syntax. I want them to learn to solve problems, to dive deep into an issue, to be creative. So how do we teach that?

    Reply
  22. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Embrace innovation in 2019 – Innovation Checklists for executives and employees
    https://innovationcloud.com/blog/embrace-innovation-in-2019-innovation-checklists-for-executives-and-employees/?vis=fbpost2812

    Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, a small-business owner, or innovation manager at the large corporation, this is a perfect moment to plan your business and innovation strategy and to motivate your employees to be more innovative. As you go through your business planning, it’s important to consider and include factors of innovation process itself, such as:

    Innovation strategy or action plan to align innovation objectives with company objectives, to utilize and/or allocate resources for innovation and define metrics for measuring innovation impact.
    People or your most valuable asset with the capability and potential to be creative and innovative. The realization of this potential sets in motion when you create an environment that motivates and, at the same time, enables your employees to innovate.
    Technology or emerging and established technologies that support and facilitates an end-to-end innovation management process.
    Impact or metrics and indicators to measure innovation progress and further guide the decision-making process.

    Reply
  23. Tomi Engdahl says:

    The case against human rights
    https://www.theguardian.com/news/2014/dec/04/-sp-case-against-human-rights?CMP=share_btn_fb

    Many believe that international human rights law is one of our greatest moral achievements. But there is little evidence that it is effective. A radically different approach is long overdue

    The use of “human rights” in English-language books has increased 200-fold since 1940, and is used today 100 times more often than terms such as “constitutional rights” and “natural rights”. Although people have always criticised governments, it is only in recent decades that they have begun to do so in the distinctive idiom of human rights.

    Many people argue that the incorporation of the idea of human rights into international law is one of the great moral achievements of human history. Because human rights law gives rights to all people regardless of nationality, it deprives governments of their traditional riposte when foreigners criticise them for abusing their citizens – namely “sovereignty” (which is law-speak for “none of your business”). Thus, international human rights law provides people with invaluable protections against the power of the state.

    The truth is that human rights law has failed to accomplish its objectives.

    The human rights movement shares something in common with the hubris of development economics, which in previous decades tried (and failed) to alleviate poverty by imposing top-down solutions on developing countries.

    The universal declaration was not a treaty in the formal sense: no one at the time believed that it created legally binding obligations

    Each of the six major human rights treaties has been ratified by more than 150 countries, yet many of them remain hostile to human rights. This raises the nagging question of how much human rights law has actually influenced the behaviour of governments.

    Reply
  24. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Investors and entrepreneurs need to address the mental health crisis in startups
    https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/30/investors-and-entrepreneurs-need-to-address-the-mental-health-crisis-in-startup-culture/?utm_source=tcfbpage&sr_share=facebook

    Colin Kroll was the co-founder of Vine and HQ Trivia, both consumer sensations that brought joy to millions; Anthony Bourdain had been a chef, journalist and philosopher who brought understanding and connectedness to millions of lives; Robin Williams built a career as a brilliant comedian and actor.

    What these three share in common is that they were all people at the pinnacle of their industry and they all died too soon. Their premature loss is a tragedy.

    The most brilliant and creative amongst us are sometimes the most troubled, and nowhere is that clearer than in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

    Reply
  25. Tomi Engdahl says:

    IQ is largely a pseudoscientific swindle
    https://medium.com/incerto/iq-is-largely-a-pseudoscientific-swindle-f131c101ba39
    https://medium.com/incerto

    Background : “IQ” is a stale test meant to measure mental capacity but in fact mostly measures extreme unintelligence (learning difficulties), as well as, to a lesser extent, a form of intelligence, stripped of 2nd order effects. It is via negativa not via positiva. Designed for learning disabilities, it ends up selecting for exam-takers, paper shufflers, obedient IYIs (intellectuals yet idiots), ill adapted for “real life”

    Reply
  26. Tomi Engdahl says:

    FORGET BOOKS, HELSINKI’S NEW LIBRARY HAS LASER CUTTERS AND 3D PRINTERS
    https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/design/new-library-helsinki-3d-printer-laser-cutter-digital-technology-architecture-a8692496.html

    The new central library is one of the most anticipated public projects in Finland for years, an ambitious attempt to reinvent the library for its population’s future needs

    Reply
  27. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Tom Chivers / New Statesman:
    UK’s Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health says that there is little evidence to support claims that screen time is harmful for children’s health

    Stop scaremongering about kids spending time on their phones
    https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2019/01/stop-scaremongering-about-kids-spending-time-their-phones

    Correlation does not equal causation when it comes to screen time.

    Reply
  28. Tomi Engdahl says:

    6 Soft Skills Needed to Drive Digital Transformation
    https://www.smartsheet.com/blog/6-soft-skills-needed-drive-digital-transformation?utm_source=TechMeme&utm_medium=sponcon&utm_campaign=transform

    Here are six soft skills IT leaders must look for when building teams for digital transformation.
    1. Critical Thinking

    When it comes to new undertakings, critical thinking is a skill that helps people define and solve new problems that come their way. It involves conceptualizing, synthesizing, and analyzing data, as well as the ability to reason and draw conclusions from those analyses. It’s essential for business survival.

    2. Complex Communication

    Digital transformation can require complex changes that require buy-in across an organization. Your team must be able to take technical terms and explain them — in writing and through speech — in a way that the rest of the business can understand.

    3. Creativity

    Creativity isn’t just being able to draw amazing pictures or write thought-provoking short stories. Creative people can look at a problem and think of new ways to solve it in ways that often seem off-the-wall at first glance. They aren’t afraid to take a risk during the thinking and brainstorming phase.

    4. Collaboration

    These days, work is inherently collaborative. You need team members who are willing to work with others — listen to their ideas, brainstorm, communicate, take feedback, and be willing to share the spotlight.

    5. Flexibility and Adaptability

    Regardless of how organized you are, your digital transformation will not always go according to plan. Some tasks will take longer than expected. New challenges will arise. The end result may look completely different from what you imagined when you started.

    6. Productivity and Accountability

    To meet your goals around digital transformation in a timely manner, you need people who can get a lot done quickly. You know the type: everyone else wonders how they seem to find more hours in the day than everyone else. And equally important, you need people accountable for their work.

    Reply
  29. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Is It Time to Make Human Workers More Efficient?
    https://www.designnews.com/automation-motion-control/it-time-make-human-workers-more-efficient/23644164759971?ADTRK=UBM&elq_mid=6940&elq_cid=876648

    Upon determining that 72% of manufacturing tasks are done by humans, researchers say their study reveals a need for greater investment in human efficiency.

    Reply
  30. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Inside China’s Silicon Valley: From copycats to innovation
    https://edition.cnn.com/2018/11/22/tech/china-tech-innovation-shenzhen/index.html

    You can find the parts here for almost any consumer electronics device you can think of, like portable power banks and drones.

    To be sure, there is copycatting going on here. The designs of Apple (AAPL) or Samsung devices are regularly ripped off. Intellectual property rights, one of the US government’s biggest bugbears with China, are nonexistent. But there’s invention at work, too. Some people are trying to use the parts to come up with new and improved versions of existing gadgets.
    The whirling, chaotic market highlights how innovation sometimes works in China. Experts say viewing the country as just a vast manufacturing base for products designed by foreign companies is outdated and misguided.

    “There’s a ton of innovations at a huge scale that are happening in China,” said Christian Grewell, a business professor at NYU Shanghai. “They are just happening very, very quickly and without the knowledge of the rest of us.”

    Reply
  31. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Katrina Brooker / Fast Company:
    A behind-the-scenes look at Masayoshi Son’s investment strategy, which is driven by the belief that computers will run the planet more intelligently than humans

    The most powerful person in Silicon Valley
    https://www.fastcompany.com/90285552/the-most-powerful-person-in-silicon-valley

    Billionaire Masayoshi Son–not Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, or Mark Zuckerberg–has the most audacious vision for an AI-powered utopia where machines control how we live. And he’s spending hundreds of billions of dollars to realize it. Are you ready to live in Masa World?

    Reply
  32. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Technology is a WOMAN’S game in CHINA!
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcnChnrHwXg

    ou’ll see young women coding, soldering and selling all sorts of technology in the tech markets of Mainland China, this is very different to the traditionally male dominated tech industry in the west. That isn’t to say that women are not in the minority here, but they’re a big part of the technology game, especially in China’s silicon valley of hardware, Shenzhen. I meet up and speak to the most famous female Maker and Coder Naomi “SexyCyborg” Wu and we go for an adventure around China’s biggest technology market. Come and join us to find out how women are holding up half the sky in the Chinese technology sector.

    Reply
  33. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Digitalization and innovation driving manufacturing’s future
    https://www.controleng.com/articles/digitalization-and-innovation-driving-manufacturings-future/

    Manufacturing is in the midst of the fourth industrial revolution—known as Industrie 4.0—and constant plant-floor changes are forcing companies to keep up with the rapid pace or risk getting lost and falling behind.

    Reply
  34. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Ion-Driven Model Aircraft Flies without Moving Parts
    https://www.powerelectronics.com/alternative-energy/ion-driven-model-aircraft-flies-without-moving-parts?NL=ED-003&Issue=ED-003_20190116_ED-003_146&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_2_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=22707&utm_medium=email&elq2=46c514e4eec74fb68c916afc1c0fa587

    Disproving the “it can’t be done” conventional wisdom, an MIT team has built and flown an aircraft with 5-meter span that’s powered by a silent ion-based sonic wind operating at 40 kV.

    Reply
  35. Tomi Engdahl says:

    BETTER & FASTER: Innovation Keynote Speaker Jeremy Gutsche’s Top Speech on Innovation
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFshvhzcCVw

    Innovation keynote speaker Jeremy Gutsche’s (http://www.JeremyGutsche.com) top speech on innovation and creativity based on his New York Times Bestselling book, BETTER and FASTER. Learn how to be BETTER at adapting to change and FASTER at finding new business ideas. This keynote speech is one of his most-requested TED Talks style speeches from his list of about ten speech topics.

    Jeremy Gutsche is the CEO of Trend Hunter and the award-winning author of “Exploiting Chaos: 150 Ways to Spark Innovation.”

    Reply
  36. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch:
    Trump signs the OPEN Government Data Act, asking federal agencies to default to making data public when possible and publishing it in a machine-readable format — The federal government produces one hell of a lot of data, but despite desultory lurches towards usability there’s little guarantee …

    Transparency-seeking OPEN Government Data Act signed into law
    https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/15/transparency-seeking-open-government-data-act-signed-into-law/

    Reply
  37. Tomi Engdahl says:

    The art of innovation | Guy Kawasaki | TEDxBerkeley
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mtjatz9r-Vc

    Guy Kawasaki at TEDxBerkeley 2014: “Rethink. Redefine. Recreate.” His talk is titled “The Art of Innovation.”

    Guy Kawasaki is a special advisor to the Motorola business unit of Google. He is also the author of APE, What the Plus!, Enchantment, and nine other books. Previously, he was the chief evangelist of Apple.

    Reply

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