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.
4,502 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Is not the same ting
That thing we call Science
https://lopezoliverx.medium.com/is-not-the-same-ting-49d2498574b4
I suspect that as with religion: We don’t know what we mean when we talk about religion; Nor do we know what we talk about when we talk about science. And that ting we call science is not the same thing for everyone.
Science is on the one hand a philosophical approach to life, which allows us to put some order into the world we experience. That allows us to recognize what is likely to be known systematically, verifiable with the observations of the world, from what is not. That endeavor that seeks to identify what is an invariant objective of what is not. In this way this ting Science is a sensor, an instrument that allows us to explore the objective part of our reality. If one adopts this instrument as the main tool of interpretation of the world, then some are constrain to having a critical thought, to asking for evidence to weigh the narratives, to contrast their own and others ideas with the balance of observation and experimentation
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ground-Breaking Research Finds 11 Multidimensional Universe Inside the Human Brain
https://siamtoo.com/6524/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://finlandiagroup.fi/ajankohtaista/syoksykierre-ja-miten-se-oikaistiin
Tomi Engdahl says:
New bioremediation material can clean ‘forever chemicals’
https://phys.org/news/2022-07-bioremediation-material-chemicals.html
A novel bioremediation technology for cleaning up per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, chemical pollutants that threaten human health and ecosystem sustainability, has been developed by Texas A&M AgriLife researchers. The material has potential for commercial application for disposing of PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
BLOTS ON A FIELD?
A neuroscience image sleuth finds signs of fabrication in scores of Alzheimer’s articles, threatening a reigning theory of the disease
https://www.science.org/content/article/potential-fabrication-research-images-threatens-key-theory-alzheimers-disease
Tomi Engdahl says:
Scientists: Earth Endangered by New Strain of Fact-Resistant Humans
https://siamtoo.com/8262/
Tomi Engdahl says:
There Are Too Few Women in Computer Science and Engineering
It’s not that they aren’t interested; it’s the culture of these fields and how they exclude women and girls
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/there-are-too-few-women-in-computer-science-and-engineering/#Echobox=1658940223
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.iflscience.com/improved-catalyst-can-destroy-forever-chemicals-with-just-sunlight-64611
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://spectrum.ieee.org/best-semiconductor-boron-arsenide?utm_campaign=RebelMouse&socialux=facebook&share_id=7156297&utm_medium=social&utm_content=IEEE+Spectrum&utm_source=facebook
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Century of Avnet Technology
To coincide with Retro Tech Month here at Hackster, we’re bringing you a history of Avnet’s coolest tech from the past 100 years.
https://www.hackster.io/news/a-century-of-avnet-technology-3487b4127988
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/07/boosting-one-gene-in-rice-yields-more-grain-using-less-fertilizer/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Flexible device hugs pipes, turning waste heat into electricity
It could help us recapture energy that’s otherwise lost.
https://www.freethink.com/technology/waste-heat#Echobox=1658762194
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mathematicians suggest the “37% rule” for your life’s biggest decisions
When making any tough decision, the key is not to be overly exploratory or exploitative.
https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/the-37-percent-rule/#Echobox=1658722978
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.science.org/content/article/reality-doesn-t-exist-until-you-measure-it-quantum-parlor-trick-confirms
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://spectrum.ieee.org/acoustic-integrated-circuit
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://scitechdaily.com/mit-discovers-semiconductor-that-can-perform-far-better-than-silicon/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://metro.co.uk/2022/07/19/scientists-are-working-on-a-drug-that-lets-you-live-for-200-years-17025734/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Scientists Turn Nuclear Waste Into Diamond Batteries That Could Last For Thousands Of Years
http://blog.sci-nature.com/2022/07/scientists-turn-nuclear-waste-into.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://phys.org/news/2022-07-roboticists-alternative-physics.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Meet Vivoo, the at-home urine tests for personalized nutrition and lifestyle advice with wearable integration and so much more.
https://vivoo.io/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://phys.org/news/2022-08-nickelate-superconductors-intrinsically-magnetic.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
THE UNSUNG INVENTOR WHO CHASED THE LED RAINBOW
LEDs came only in shades of red—until George Craford expanded the palette
https://spectrum.ieee.org/yellow-led-inventor?share_id=7149794
Tomi Engdahl says:
Earth recorded its shortest day on record recently. And that could affect our clocks
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2022-08-02/earth-shortest-day-may-lead-to-leap-second-deletion/101289964
Some days fly by faster than others, and it’s not a figment of your imagination.
According to the people who watch the world’s clocks for a living, June 29 this year was one of those days.
Earth completed one spin in 1.59 milliseconds less than 24 hours, making it the shortest day since the dawn of atomic clocks.
On July 26, Earth shaved 1.50 milliseconds off 24 hours.
If the trend gathers pace, timekeepers may need to create the first ever negative leap second to keep our clocks synchronised with the planet’s rotation.
What impact will this have on us and our computers?
If the current rate of drift continues, we may need to delete a second in a few years.
“We’ve never had one of these deletion events before,” says Michael Wouters, who is in charge of standards, and time and frequency at the National Measurement Institute.
With the way the Earth wobbles all over the shop, it is hard to predict when this may happen.
“Leap seconds are only now announced six months in advance, because trying to predict even further than that is very difficult,” Dr Wouters says.
“But [deletion of a leap second] probably won’t happen for another 8 to 10 years at the current rate of drift.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
In DNA, scientists find solution to building superconductor that could transform technology
https://phys.org/news/2022-08-dna-scientists-solution-superconductor-technology.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://physicsworld.com/a/bipolar-transistors-go-organic/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Exceeding 100 percent quantum efficiency in the photocurrent of a hybrid inorganic-organic semiconductor
https://phys.org/news/2022-08-exceeding-percent-quantum-efficiency-photocurrent.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenaebarnes/2022/07/28/a-disposable-battery-thats-charged-using-water-a-group-of-scientists-just-created-one/
Tomi Engdahl says:
OrganEx-laitteeseen perustuva menetelmä voi osoittautua jonain päivänä yhtä merkittäväksi keksinnöksi kuin painelu–puhalluselvytys tai hengityskone aikanaan, Duken yliopiston tutkija Nita Farahany sanoo.
”Ällistyttävä tutkimus” – Sikojen elintoimintoja palautettiin kuoleman jälkeen laitteella, joka voi ”muuttaa käsitystämme kuoleman määritelmästä”
https://tekniikanmaailma.fi/allistyttava-tutkimus-sikojen-elintoimintoja-palautettiin-kuoleman-jalkeen-laitteella-joka-voi-muuttaa-kasitystamme-kuoleman-maaritelmasta/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1659612515
Kun sydän lakkaa pumppaamasta verta, verenkierto pysähtyy ja hapen kulkeminen elimille lakkaa. Toisin sanoen eläin kuolee, ja ruumiin mätäneminen alkaa miltei välittömästi. Kuolemaa on tähän asti pidetty jokaisen eläimen viimeisenä vaiheena, josta ei ole paluuta. Mutta nyt tuore sioilla tehty tutkimus asettaa tuon ajatuksen kyseenalaiseksi.
Amerikkalaisen Yalen lääketieteellisen yliopiston tutkijat raportoivat nimittäin onnistuneensa käynnistämään uudelleen kuolleiden sikojen elimiä. Nature-tiedelehti kirjoittaa tutkimuksen voivan muuttaa käsitystämme kuoleman luonteesta ja määritelmästä.
Pig organs partially revived in dead animals — researchers are stunned
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-02112-0
Scientists warn that the findings aren’t yet clinically relevant but say the research raises ethical questions about the definition of death.
Researchers have restored1 circulation and cellular activity in the vital organs of pigs, such as the heart and brain, one hour after the animals died. The research challenges the idea that cardiac death — which occurs when blood circulation and oxygenation stops — is irreversible, and raises ethical questions about the definition of death. The work follows 2019 experiments2 by the same scientists in which they revived the disembodied brains of pigs four hours after the animals died, calling into question the idea that brain death is final.
The latest experiments are “stunning”, says Nita Farahany, a neuroethicist at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.
In the work, published on 3 August in Nature1, researchers connected pigs that had been dead for one hour to a system called OrganEx that pumped a blood substitute throughout the animals’ bodies. The solution — containing the animals’ blood and 13 compounds such as anticoagulants — slowed the decomposition of the bodies and quickly restored some organ function, such as heart contraction and activity in the liver and kidneys. Although OrganEx helped to preserve the integrity of some brain tissue, researchers did not observe any coordinated brain activity that would indicate the animals had regained any consciousness or sentience.
As with the 2019 paper, the study is likely to reinvigorate a debate about the definition of death and the ethics of post-mortem organ donation. The authors warn that these results do not show that the pigs have somehow been reanimated after death, especially in the absence of electrical activity in the brain. “We made cells do something they weren’t able to do” when the animals were dead,
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fritz Haber: The Nobel Prize-Winning Terrible Human Being Who Saved Half Of Humanity
Fritz Haber saved half of humanity, but is responsible for so many excruciating deaths.
https://www.iflscience.com/fritz-haber-the-nobel-prize-winning-terrible-human-being-who-saved-half-of-humanity-64717
Haber, known for his work feeding the world, is also known as the father of chemical warfare.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Stentrodes: A Way To Insert Brain Electrodes Without Invasive Surgery
https://hackaday.com/2022/08/04/stentrodes-a-way-to-insert-brain-electrodes-without-invasive-surgery/
When we think of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) that use electrodes, we usually think of Utah arrays that are placed directly on the brain during open brain surgery, or with thin electrodes spliced into the exposed brain as postulated by Neuralink. While Utah arrays and kin as a practical concept date back to the 1980s, a more recent concept called Stentrodes – for stent-electrode array – seeks to do away with the need for invasive brain surgery.
As the name suggests, this approach uses stents that are inserted via the blood vessels, where they are expanded and thus firmly placed inside a blood vessel inside the brain. Since each of these stents also features an electrode array, these can be used to record neural activity in nearby neural clusters, as well as induce activity through electrical stimulation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stent-electrode_recording_array
Tomi Engdahl says:
Postimerkin kokoinen tarra kuvaa sisäelimiä ultraäänellä
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/13836-postimerkin-kokoinen-tarra-kuvaa-sisaeelimiae-ultraaeaenellae
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.aivopankki.fi/fi_FI/home/aivoterveys/podcast-musiikki-muistisairauden-etenemista-vastaan.html?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paid%26social&utm_campaign=musiikki&fbclid=IwAR0iypNf_60iDxTDgjcX8vSfBuW5F8w3UvbjmEzK3CkHjHIGaNJoAe8gq_0
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://computerengineeringforbabies.com/
Tomi Engdahl says:
It’s no secret that we love science… and we also think it can save the world!
Check out our article that explores the problems science has solved and why it will continue to do so: https://www.arduino.cc/education/how-science-will-save-the-world
Tomi Engdahl says:
Whether by choosing topics heretofore underexplored, selecting important problems, charting new territory, or leveraging existing skills, great innovators have a knack for positioning themselves in the right place at the right time.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/markmurphy/2022/08/11/where-do-great-innovators-get-their-ideas-five-tips-from-a-nobel-prize-winner/?sh=116679da7177&utm_source=ForbesMainFacebook&utm_campaign=socialflowForbesMainFB&utm_medium=social
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/08/12/young-inventor-builds-motor-without-rare-earths/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Carl Sagan’s 1995 Prediction Of America’s Future Is Worryingly Accurate
He definitely had access to a time machine…
https://www.iflscience.com/-64822
Tomi Engdahl says:
BLAST Synapses Show Promise for Neural Networks and Brain-Machine Interface Efforts
Operating well below the energy required of biological synapses, never mind electronic components, BLASTs could power future prosthetics.
https://www.hackster.io/news/blast-synapses-show-promise-for-neural-networks-and-brain-machine-interface-efforts-1e0682e02d24
Tomi Engdahl says:
Messages From Underwater: Researchers Reveal Two Water-Air Communication Methods
https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/news/messages-from-underwater-researchers-reveal-two-water-air-communication-methods/
Tomi Engdahl says:
AI feat helps machines learn at speed of light without supervision
Researchers discover how to use light instead of electricity to advance artificial intelligence.
https://bigthink.com/the-future/ai-feat-helps-machines-learn-at-speed-of-light-without-supervision/#Echobox=1659862236
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.iflscience.com/why-do-we-wake-around-3am-and-dwell-on-our-fears-and-shortcomings-61297
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nano diamond batteries could last thousands of years
Utilizing nuclear waste converted to diamonds, this company’s batteries will reportedly last thousands of years in some cases.
https://bigthink.com/the-present/nano-diamond-battery/#Echobox=1659922998-1
Tomi Engdahl says:
Whirlpools Of Electricity Observed For The First Time
https://www.iflscience.com/whirlpools-of-electricity-observed-for-the-first-time-64399
The predicted capacity of moving electrons to form vortices has finally been observed, and might be put to use creating less power-hungry electronic devices.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Maapallon pyöriminen on kiihtynyt, ja se voi liittyä jäätiköiden sulamiseen
Toisin kuin yleisesti luullaan, vuorokauden mitta ei ole vakio.
https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-12563666
Tomi Engdahl says:
Researchers explore a new connection between topology and quantum entanglement
https://phys.org/news/2022-08-explore-topology-quantum-entanglement.html
Topology and entanglement are two powerful principles for characterizing the structure of complex quantum states. In a new paper in the journal Physical Review X, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania establish a relationship between the two.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.iflscience.com/easy-method-to-help-spot-a-liar-shown-in-new-research-63739
Tomi Engdahl says:
Protective coating material self-heals in 30 minutes when exposed to sunlight
https://phys.org/news/2022-08-coating-material-self-heals-minutes-exposed.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
No More Invasive Surgery—This Pacemaker Dissolves Instead Temporary pacemakers are often vital but dangerous to remove when their jobs are done
https://spectrum.ieee.org/dissolvable-pacemaker?share_id=7172788
Tomi Engdahl says:
Low pressure, high stakes: Physicists make major gains in race for room-temperature superconductivity
https://phys.org/news/2022-08-pressure-high-stakes-physicists-major.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Combined Battery and Solar Cell Can Drive Wearables for Tens of Minutes After Just 30s of Sunlight
With one of these on your next wearable, as little as 30 seconds of sunlight could keep your device topped up.
https://www.hackster.io/news/combined-battery-and-solar-cell-can-drive-wearables-for-tens-of-minutes-after-just-30s-of-sunlight-ae762b93cc97