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:
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.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Modern Civilization Relies on This Crystal-Growing Method
https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-institute/ieee-history/modern-civilization-relies-on-this-crystalgrowing-method
Tomi Engdahl says:
RIP George Laurer – inventor of barcode
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_J._Laurer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_J._Laurer)
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why the ‘Queen of Shitty Robots’ Renounced Her Crown
https://www.wired.com/story/simone-giertz-build-what-you-want/#
YouTuber Simone Giertz gave up wildly popular but barely functioning machines and confronted her fears of imperfection (while facing her own mortality and making an awesome Truckla EV).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Elon Musk to the Young and Ambitious: Skills Matter More Than Degrees
https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/why-elon-musk-doesnt-care-about-college-degrees.html
But super-entrepreneur Elon Musk has a message for both degree-obsessed young people and companies desperate to hire them: chill out already.
When asked in a 2014 interview about what university degrees he looks for on a resume, Musk explained that though credentials can be a nice signal of someone’s abilities, they are absolutely not a prerequisite for achieving incredible things (or getting hired by Musk).
Given, as Musk points out, that some of the best-known names in tech — from Bill Gates to Larry Ellison to Steve Jobs — failed to graduate, the fact that greatness and gold-plated degrees don’t always go together seems hard to argue with.
What to study and how to study it are more important than where to study it and for how long.
The best teachers are on the internet. The best books are on the internet. The best peers are on the internet.
The tools for learning are abundant. It’s the desire to learn that’s scarce.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Gatekeepers: Heavy burden of decision making explained
https://innovationcloud.com/blog/the-gatekeepers-heavy-burden-of-decision-making-explained.html?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=gatekeepers&utm_content=finland
“Your Innovation-Project has been rejected for the phase business plan”. Cold shower…. Hundreds of questions at the same time, yet only one explodes in your head: What we did wrong?
How one man has so much power to stop the progress of the innovation-project with one NO?!?
He is set as a gatekeeper on the Business assessment review phase of the innovation-project, therefore, he has all the necessary power to approve or reject the progress of the innovation-project.
Worldwide companies embraced a structured product development process to better organize their development activities, more accurately predict weak spots and react faster to any alert. All that with the aim to bring their innovation to the market on time and within a defined budget. The best-practice companies are using a proven and structured development process based on Phase-Gate methodology.
The review or decision-making phase represents a point where gatekeepers or your decision-makers have to decide whether to stop the innovation-project or move it to the next working phase.
Whichever product development system and/or structure your company established, it must invariably have Gatekeepers. Their power is centered around approving innovation-project phases, based on their knowledge and expertise. Gatekeeper represents a person responsible for deciding whether your innovation-project should continue with its development and move to the next stage. His approval is needed in order to move forward.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Gatekeepers’ job is to review innovation-project progress at each of the decision-points and to make ‘Go’/‘No-Go’ or ‘Kill’ decisions based on the information provided. Their decision has to be objective and fact-based, as well as to provide meaningful feedback to the innovation team executing the activities and to enable them to keep up with the progress of their innovation-project. It is also his job to react accordingly if something needs to be corrected and adjusted.
https://innovationcloud.com/blog/the-gatekeepers-heavy-burden-of-decision-making-explained.html?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=gatekeepers&utm_content=finland
Tomi Engdahl says:
Stop Thinking In Tasks And To-Dos. Start Thinking In Outcomes
https://www.forbes.com/sites/marcelasapone/2018/07/24/stop-thinking-in-tasks-and-to-dos-start-thinking-in-outcomes/?utm_source=FACEBOOK&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Malorie/#6d616c6f7269
Tomi Engdahl says:
Matemaatikko kehitteli uuden tavan ratkaista toiseen asteen yhtälöitä ja hämmästyi siitä, että tätä ei ole keksitty 4 000 vuoteen
https://tekniikanmaailma.fi/matemaatikko-kehitteli-uuden-tavan-ratkaista-toiseen-asteen-yhtaloita-ja-hammastyi-siita-etta-tata-ei-ole-keksitty-4-000-vuoteen/
Tomi Engdahl says:
System integrators claim their role in the digital transformation
System integrators are taking on digital transformation as it becomes more realistic and attainable.
https://www.controleng.com/articles/system-integrators-claim-their-role-in-the-digital-transformation/
Tomi Engdahl says:
The 48-hour meeting rule
No, I won’t schedule meetings for Q2, thanks
https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/18/the-48-hour-meeting-rule/?tpcc=ECFB2019
Over the past few months, I have increasingly instituted a rule that I won’t schedule any form of catch-up meeting, source meeting, dinner meeting, fundraise advice meeting, or what have you more than 48 hours in advance. While I haven’t made this a religious conviction and maintain some flexibility, it frankly has been one of the most liberating decisions I have ever made.
The general premise underlying this model of course is spontaneity. Startups, innovation, and the news cycle happen in real-time, and are never aligned with your agenda planned eight weeks ago
Tomi Engdahl says:
The global top 20 cities for innovation and technology
Take a look at the cities that rise to the top of the tech world. Some of the cities on this list are quite a surprise.
https://www.designnews.com/automation-motion-control/global-top-20-cities-innovation-and-technology?ADTRK=InformaMarkets&elq_mid=11553&elq_cid=876648
What are the best cities for innovation and technology? Silicon Valley certainly comes to mind, but how about Atlanta or Vienna? Sydney? The business site Business Insider did an analysis of the best cities for technology entrepreneurs. Here’s their list of the top 20.
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Prize for the GPS Inventors
https://www.eeweb.com/profile/nitin/articles/a-prize-for-the-gps-inventors?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=link&utm_medium=EEWebEngInsp-20191219
The four engineers who invented the GPS system have received the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, a prestigious engineering accolade with a £1 million prize that celebrates the global benefit of engineering innovation on humanity. They received the award from Prince Charles at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace in London last week.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Top 10 2019 engineering, science, and technology awards
Luminaries from 2019 were awarded for their work in cosmology, photonics, GPS systems, video processing, semiconductors, brain neurons and more.
https://www.designnews.com/electronics-test/top-10-2019-engineering-science-and-technology-awards?ADTRK=InformaMarkets&elq_mid=11568&elq_cid=876648
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cool and super cool 3D printed projects
Here’s a look back at several cool hobbyist-level gadgets and a few super cool printed car projects.
https://www.designnews.com/3d-printing/cool-and-super-cool-3d-printed-projects/180614978762044?ADTRK=InformaMarkets&elq_mid=11568&elq_cid=876648
Tomi Engdahl says:
If you lack new ideas these 7 sources of innovation opportunities can spark your inspiration!
Searching for innovative opportunities? These 7 sources will boost your creativity
https://innovationcloud.com/blog/searching-for-innovative-opportunities-these-7-sources-will-boost-your-creativity.html?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=blog_tr_lookalike&utm_content=innovation_opportunities_fi
To gain a deeper understanding of innovation, we must understand where innovative ideas come from. Peter F. Drucker, known as the father of modern management, suggested that purposeful, systematic innovation begins with the analysis of the opportunities and classifies “Seven Sources of Innovative Opportunity”.
The first four sources of innovative ideas are described as the “symptoms” that happen within the business or industry. They are considered to be reliable indicators of changes that have already taken place or which can occur with little effort. The second set of sources for innovative opportunity are classified as the ones involving changes outside the business or industry.
following seven sources of innovative opportunities:
1. THE UNEXPECTED
2. THE INCONGRUITY
3. INNOVATION BASED ON PROCESS NEEDS
4. CHANGES IN INDUSTRY STRUCTURE OR MARKET STRUCTURE
5. DEMOGRAPHICS
6. CHANGES IN PERCEPTION, MOOD AND MEANING
7. NEW KNOWLEDGE, BOTH SCIENTIFIC AND NONSCIENTIFIC
Are you applying new knowledge to generate new ideas?
“This is a new era of opportunity, but only for those who are willing to accept change as an opportunity, not for those who are afraid of it”.
Peter Drucker
Tomi Engdahl says:
Innovation & Tech Today — Fall 2019
The world is a curious place and we at Innovation & Tech Today love nothing more than exploring its mysteries and discoveries.
https://issuu.com/innovationandtech/docs/i_t_fall2019_digital
Tomi Engdahl says:
If you adhere to these and similar principals, you can achieve anything you want-subsequently, making you a successful and unstoppable force.
How To Be Highly Successful And Unstoppable
http://on.forbes.com/61811XZ5Z
Tomi Engdahl says:
Just as Feynman diagrams changed the way physicists think about particle physics, these researchers claim their graphics-based shorthand will change the way mathematicians think about vector calculus.
How to turn the complex mathematics of vector calculus into simple pictures
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/614704/how-to-turn-the-complex-mathematics-of-vector-calculus-into-simple-pictures/
Feynman diagrams revolutionized particle physics. Now mathematicians want to do the same for vector calculus.
Feynman diagrams have had a huge impact in physics. They are pictorial representations of the mathematics that describe the interaction between subatomic particles. Mathematically, each interaction is an infinite series, so even simple interactions between particles are fantastically complex to write down in this way.
Feynman’s genius was to represent these series with simple lines in a graphical format, allowing scientists to think about particle physics in new and exciting ways.
Feynman and others immediately began to extend their ideas using this graphical shorthand. Indeed, the American physicist Frank Wilcjek, who worked with Feynman in the 1980s, once wrote: “The calculations that eventually got me a Nobel Prize in 2004 would have been literally unthinkable without Feynman diagrams.“
Of course, many other areas of physics rely on complex mathematics. And that raises the interesting question of whether graphics-based innovations could simplify these calculations and perhaps kick-start a new era of innovation, just as Feynman did.
“We anticipate that graphical vector calculus will lower the barriers in learning and practicing vector calculus, as Feynman diagrams did in quantum field theory,”
more or less everything in the universe can be described in terms of vector fields—electromagnetic fields, gravitational fields, fluid flow, and so on.
That’s why every physics and engineering undergraduate spends many happy hours struggling with the mathematics and the arcane notation that it requires. The problem is that vector fields are intricate entities—they assign a single vector to every point in three-dimensional space and can themselves be representations of more complex mathematical objects called differentiable manifolds. So at its very simplest, a vector field can be an infinite list of vectors.
The advance that Kim and colleagues have made is to develop a graphics-based notation that replaces the index notation. They represent a vector as a box with a line attached to it. By contrast, a scalar has no lines extending from it.
Kim and co show how their notation turns complex mathematical expressions into relatively simple graphics, just like Feynman diagrams. “The language is highly intuitive and automatically simplifies tensorial expressions,” they say.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.iflscience.com/brain/dark-humor-is-indicative-of-a-high-iq-according-to-study/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Engineers reveal ‘invincible’ autonomous robot insect that can’t be flattened
https://www.siliconrepublic.com/machines/invincible-robotic-insect
A team in Switzerland has created a soft robotic insect that can withstand a multitude of hits from a flyswatter.
Tomi Engdahl says:
New Exhibition Reveals A 3,600-Year-Old Disposable Cup
https://www.iflscience.com/editors-blog/new-exhibition-reveals-a-3-600-year-old-disposable-cup/
Tomi Engdahl says:
3 ways to train your brain to perform better under pressure
Life is filled with high-pressure situations. But you can teach your brain to perform better in these scenarios.
https://www.fastcompany.com/90438410/3-ways-to-train-your-brain-to-perform-better-under-pressure?partner=forbes
Tomi Engdahl says:
Going to the theatre will be like nothing you’ve experienced before. This digital innovation in arts and culture, with a little help from new technologies, will take you to a different dimension thanks to VR (virtual reality), AR (augmented reality) and MR (mixed reality). Different kinds of special effects, designed to improve audience experience, have been around probably since the very beginning of storytelling and theatre.
https://innovationcloud.com/blog/experience-theatre-through-the-lens-of-innovation.html?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=storytelling&utm_content=finland
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why You Should Teach Your Kids To Swear, According To Science
https://www.iflscience.com/editors-blog/why-you-should-teach-your-kids-to-swear-according-to-science/
Scientific research that seems to support the idea that swearing is inherently good certainly seems to appeal to the masses. It’s unclear why, but perhaps there’s something fun about authoritative science types suggesting that we can break social rules like that in a public setting.
Tomi Engdahl says:
45 places you can download tens of thousands books, plays and other literary texts completely legally for free
https://nothingintherulebook.com/2017/01/10/55-places-you-can-download-tens-of-thousands-books-plays-and-other-literary-texts-completely-legally-for-free/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Make 3 Goals For 2020 — No More, No Less
https://www.forbes.com/sites/briannawiest/2019/12/03/make-3-goals-for-2020–no-more-no-less/
There’s a principle that I like to live by, and it is this: if you cannot explain your work in a sentence, you are not clear about what you do.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Most Important Invention of the 20th Century: Transistors
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuFlISa73Sw
Tomi Engdahl says:
“What we all have in common is time and our humanity. What we do with those two things defines who we are,” says billionaire investor, Dr. Herbie Wertheim. http://on.forbes.com/61831VRjU
Tomi Engdahl says:
Surprising Tech Habits Of Highly Successful People
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2019/12/19/surprising-tech-habits-of-highly-successful-people/
Interestingly, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and other tech gurus were and are reportedly very strict about their children’s technology use. That should make us think long and hard about our own use, and what we teach our children about the intersection of technology and life.
There’s no escaping technology today, but how we interact with our devices and the time we devote to engaging with them influences our success and our own perceptions of our success, including how accomplished we feel about our physical health, family, and financial situation.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The 48-hour meeting rule
No, I won’t schedule meetings for Q2, thanks
https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/18/the-48-hour-meeting-rule/
Over the past few months, I have increasingly instituted a rule that I won’t schedule any form of catch-up meeting, source meeting, dinner meeting, fundraise advice meeting, or what have you more than 48 hours in advance. While I haven’t made this a religious conviction and maintain some flexibility, it frankly has been one of the most liberating decisions I have ever made.
The general premise underlying this model of course is spontaneity. Startups, innovation, and the news cycle happen in real-time, and are never aligned with your agenda planned eight weeks ago. The more you plan your weeks out in advance, the less you are able to take advantage of opportunities in the moment, and that’s a huge compromise — or at least, it has been in my own experience.
Tomi Engdahl says:
When it comes to our physical world, scientific research indicates that size really does matter.
Mind-Bending “Quantum Darwinism” Theory Passes Experimental Tests
http://www.futurism.com/quantum-darwinism-theory-experimental-tests
When it comes to our physical world, scientific research indicates that size really does matter.
While “big” objects, anything from a grain of sand to a galaxy, abide by one set of rules — classical physics — tiny objects, such as atoms and particles, abide by an entirely different set, a discovery that gave birth to quantum physics around 1900.
Scientists have been on the hunt for a way to reconcile these two disparate physics for decades. And now, a theory first proposed by Polish theoretical physicist Wojciech Zurek in 2003 is starting to gain traction as a potential source of enlightenment: quantum Darwinism.
That’s where the idea of Darwinism comes into play: only the “fittest” state — the one best suited for its particular environment — survives the process of decoherence.
“The main idea of quantum Darwinism is that we almost never do any direct measurement on anything,” Zurek told The Foundational Questions Institute in 2008. “[The environment] is like a big advertising billboard, which floats multiple copies of the information about our universe all over the place.”
Quantum Darwinism, an Idea to Explain Objective Reality, Passes First Tests
https://www.quantamagazine.org/quantum-darwinism-an-idea-to-explain-objective-reality-passes-first-tests-20190722/
Three experiments have vetted quantum Darwinism, a theory that explains how quantum possibilities can give rise to objective, classical reality.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bill Gates Wants You to Watch These 9 TED Talks
You can read what Gates called “one of the most important” books he’s ever read, or you can watch these short but amazing TED Talks
https://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/bill-gates-wants-you-to-watch-these-9-ted-talks.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Here are some #tips on #writing conference papers that everyone can understand https://buff.ly/2Qssy5B
Write conference papers that everyone can understand
https://www.edn.com/write-conference-papers-that-everyone-can-understand/?utm_content=bufferdd5cb&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
a simple lowest bar: Write it so that Einstein could understand it. Al Einstein was a smart guy, he can figure out pretty much anything if you give him a chance, but if you write in a language that he can’t possibly figure out, you have failed him. And not just him, you’ve failed your colleagues, your alma mater, your friends, your children, and worse yet, you’ve failed me.
PCB, TLA, ISI, FFS, FFE, WTF, NVM [1] – if you pepper your paper with undefined TLAs, even Bert Einstein won’t get it.
Jargon is exclusionary.
If you speak in jargon that I don’t understand, you’re carving me out of your world. When you carve people out of your world, your world gets smaller and smaller until your tiny little world is an echo chamber where your own ideas bounce back at you. It might make you feel big, real big, a real big solipsist [2].
Exclusionary policies are antithetical to innovation.
The tools of innovation grow incrementally, but when tools are brought from one field to another the innovations themselves advance in great leaps. Think disruption.
So, do you stop the meeting and ask “What does &*# stand for?” Or do you muddle along hoping against hope that you’ll either figure it out or someone will mention it or it will appear on a PowerPoint slide? Hey, don’t kid me, we both know that you’re more likely to go for the ride than advertise your ignorance.
But this guy was the “expert.” He was out on a limb and had to know.
said, “Can someone please define &*#?”
You can guess what happened.
Silence. All eyes turned to him. A distraught look of pure disappointment came over the lead engineer’s face
A woman near the door whispered the answer
The Raider fan said, “Why the hell didn’t you just say so?” He went to the white board and started drawing feedback loops based on neural networks and explained how the parameters could be trained in simulation and then applied in hardware. Ten minutes. Problem solved.
When you say (or think) “someone who doesn’t know what the acronyms mean won’t understand it anyway” you’re committing a sin against humanity because the success of this species is built on communication even more than the opposable thumb.
You should write it so that a graduate student in mathematics, physics, and a fresh off the BSEE (bachelor of science in electrical engineering) can understand it, but barring that, FFS, write it so that Einstein could understand it.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Growth often comes from product innovation. And yet, too often we see innovation that happens in vacuum–where new products are developed without any significant input from marketing or external customer insight.
Is Marketing Talent Wasted in Tech?
http://on.forbes.com/61801kZww
Growth often comes from product innovation. And yet, too often we see innovation that happens in vacuum – where new products are developed without any significant input from marketing or external customer insight.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft Wants Schoolchildren Playing Minecraft To Learn Math
https://news.slashdot.org/story/19/12/30/0226229/microsoft-wants-schoolchildren-playing-minecraft-to-learn-math?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot%2Fto+%28%28Title%29Slashdot+%28rdf%29%29
A Microsoft blog post notes the company has lined up K-12 educators to sing the praises of Minecraft Education Edition at the Future of Education Technology Conference, where it’ll also be pitching Microsoft Education in general. A 2019 Recap of Minecraft: Education Edition (and an accompanying video) highlight Microsoft’s success in getting teachers to use Minecraft to teach subjects across the K-12 curriculum, not just Hour of Code tutorials.
https://education.minecraft.net/blog/our-2019-recap-of-minecraft-education-edition/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Design Sprint
https://www.meom.fi/design-sprint/
Design Sprint on GV:n luoma 5-päiväinen menetelmä liiketoiminnan ongelmien ratkaisemiseksi, uusien tuotteiden luomiseksi tai nykyisten parantamiseksi.
Tomi Engdahl says:
10 consumer technology breakthroughs from 2019
https://www.edn.com/10-consumer-technology-breakthroughs-from-2019/
Device autonomy
Wi-Fi advancements
5G cellular
AMD’s CPU resurrection
7 nm semiconductor processing
Voice interfaces
Personal health monitoring
Mainstream general-purpose GPU
High-capacity, inexpensive SSDs
Streaming content
Tomi Engdahl says:
Top Transportation Technology to Know in 2020
https://www.altexsoft.com/blog/new-transportation-technology/
Tomi Engdahl says:
20 innovation-related statistics that we can learn from in 2020
https://innovationcloud.com/blog/20-innovationrelated-statistics-that-we-can-learn-from-in-2020.html?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=blog_tr_lookalike&utm_content=20stats_fi
Tomi Engdahl says:
Doctors Identify 40 Different Treatments That Bring Little Or No Benefit To The Patient
https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/doctors-identify-40-different-treatments-that-bring-little-or-no-benefit-to-the-patient/
Tomi Engdahl says:
The 14 most important design ideas of the decade, according to the experts
https://www.fastcompany.com/90442092/the-14-most-important-design-ideas-of-the-decade-according-to-the-experts?partner=forbes
Designers and curators from Apple, Adobe, Pentagram, Wolff Olins, Cooper Hewitt, and more consider their industry’s legacy in the 2010s.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wild design for incredible infinity pool that takes up entire roof of skyscraper
https://boingboing.net/2019/06/10/wild-design-for-incredible-inf.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nonprofit organization offers #engineers grants to develop #technology to reduce CO₂ emissions #design #electronics #solar #data #climatechange https://buff.ly/2s1hrs0
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Best Way To Make Tea Is To Microwave It, According To Science
https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/best-way-make-tea-microwave-according-science/
Tomi Engdahl says:
13 Foods That Aren’t What You think They Are
https://www.iflscience.com/editors-blog/13-foods-that-arent-what-you-think-they-are/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Eilakaisla Design Sprint
https://www.meom.fi/asiakastarinat/eilakaisla-design-sprint-uusi-digitaalinen-liiketoiminta-weople-sai-alkunsa-viiden-paivan-sprintista/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Insulin is unaffordable for millions. These ‘biology nerds’ want to fix that
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/dateline/insulin-is-unaffordable-for-millions-these-biology-nerds-want-to-fix-that
DIY biologists from around the world hope their research will drive down the cost of insulin.
In some parts of the world, a month’s supply of insulin costs hundreds of dollars.
Alex is part of the Open Insulin Project that aims to generate research that will be the basis for the generic production of life-saving drug. The ultimate goal for biohackers like Alex is to disrupt the business model of major pharmaceutical companies.
Alex and the team have created their own synthetic bacteria — dubbed “Winsulin” — and have “taught” four different types of bacteria to produce insulin.
Why is insulin so expensive?
It was discovered in 1921 by Canadian scientists — Frederick Banting, John Macleod and Charles Best — who sold the patent for for just three Canadian dollars.
Now, millions of people around the world rely on the drug, and the cost has been skyrocketing for decades. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), of the 65 million type 2 diabetics, only half are able to access insulin, largely due to high prices.
Three manufacturers – Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi – control most of the global market for the drug
The price of just one 10-milliliter vial of Lantus — one of the most popular insulins on the market – has shot up from just $35 in 2001 to $270 today.
“More and more young adults are going to die. Because they can’t afford their healthcare,”
Hope for a generic brand
The WHO stepped in last week and said it would begin testing and approving cheaper versions of insulin to encourage more generic drug makers to enter the market, forcing manufacturers to lower their prices.
Once the generic version passes the safety tests, it is introduced into the global marketplace at a cheaper rate, driving down the price of the drug.
In 2001, the WHO used similar tactics to make HIV/AIDS drugs more affordable.
“Diabetes is on the rise globally, and rising faster in low-income countries,”
Biohackers proving insulin is cheap to make
Alex said it is unrealistic diabetics would use their products, but he hopes by raising awareness of the low cost of production
“We are decades away from insulin being reasonably priced for everyone in the world. We might see a cure for diabetes before then,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Is reuse of old tech with new name is called modern innovation?
This is clearly the way to invent “new” well tested technology.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hacking biology!
Now, a team of scientists at the University of Vermont and Tufts University in Massachusetts has used a supercomputer to design novel lifeforms with specific functions. The new, AI-designed biological bots crawl around a petri dish, spontaneously self-organize and heal themselves.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-human-os/biomedical/devices/aidesigned-living-robots-crawl-heal-themselves
Tomi Engdahl says:
Alexis C. Madrigal / The Atlantic:
As tech becomes the dominant force in the modern economy, Silicon Valley’s culture since 1970s of nimble startups successfully challenging incumbents is fading — Once upon a time, in the notorious start-up cradle, small was beautiful. — For decades, whole regions, nations even …
Silicon Valley Abandons the Culture That Made It the Envy of the World
Once upon a time, in the notorious start-up cradle, small was beautiful.
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/01/why-silicon-valley-and-big-tech-dont-innovate-anymore/604969/
For decades, whole regions, nations even, have tried to model themselves on a particular ideal of innovation, the lifeblood of the modern economy. From Apple to Facebook, Silicon Valley’s freewheeling ecosystem of new, nimble corporations created massive wealth and retilted the world’s economic axis. Silicon Valley meant young companies scrambling to create the next great thing, and that scramble delivered new products to the world, so innovation became linked to start-ups.
AnnaLee Saxenian, a professor at the UC Berkeley School of Information, literally wrote the book on what differentiated the Valley from other centers of technology (particularly New England’s Route 128). The key words were decentralized and fluid.
Then the post-dot-com generation of companies became the most ubiquitous and valuable corporations in the world, and Silicon Valley’s rhetoric began to change. Over time, the leaders of Facebook and Google, specifically, began to argue a new line: The most innovative, competitive companies are not small and nimble, but big and rich with user data. The real game isn’t among American internet companies; it’s global, and pits American giants against Chinese corporations, governments, and values. In competition with such power, small will lose, or so the executives warn when facing down antitrust action.
Sandberg said on CNBC last year. “That while people are concerned with the size and power of tech companies, there’s also a concern in the United States with the size and power of Chinese companies, and the realization that these companies are not going to be broken up.”
Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google, said much the same last year. “Chinese companies are growing faster, they have higher valuations, and they have more users than their non-Chinese counterparts,”
“Advocacy of the small, innovative firm and entrepreneurial ecosystem is giving way to more and more justifications for bigness (scale economics, competitive advantage, etc.),” Saxenian wrote to me in an email. “The big is beautiful line is coming especially from the large companies (Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple) that are threatened by antitrust and need to justify their scale.”
This sort of talk prompts one obvious, knee-jerk response: It’s simply hypocrisy. When Google and Facebook were start-ups, their executives said start-ups were good. Now that Google and Facebook are huge, their executives say huge companies are good. It’s cynical, if not unexpected.
But there’s a more troubling possibility. Maybe something has changed about the nature of innovation, at least in software.
Google, Facebook, and their ilk “have become enormous by swallowing small companies, so the network is no longer the network but the octopus,”
This could alter the course of technological development, not just corporate structures. Quantitative research suggests that big companies do different kinds of R&D than their more modest counterparts. Instead of coming up with new products, they come up with process improvements. “If the nature of innovation is distorted toward selling to an incumbent, you’re going to get more feature-driven innovation rather than systemic disruption,”
Even though small firms have been responsible for many of the Valley’s most successful products and services, large firms have deep roots there too.
“The story the Valley told about itself has been very much a small-is-beautiful story since the 1970s,” O’Mara told me. “It has a politics—this Vietnam-era rejection of the military-industrial complex, rejection of the mainframe, Big Business, Big Government, big universities.”
This led people to take risks and launch new projects and firms. Entrepreneurs from all over the world migrated to a place where people understood why they wanted to start companies. And the idea even embedded itself right near the heart of the Valley, at Google. The company’s slogan, “Don’t be evil”, had a particular meaning when it was adopted around the millennium. In the classic Valley mind-set, “evil is bigness of all kinds,” O’Mara said.
What happens when you find yourself becoming the thing you said was evil? So far, the Valley response has been to find a bigger evil, which is to say China. “China is building its own internet focused on very different values, and is now exporting their vision of the internet to other countries,” Zuckerberg said in a highly publicized policy speech at Georgetown University last year. “Until recently, the internet in almost every country outside China has been defined by American platforms with strong free-expression values. There’s no guarantee these values will win out.”