The Innovation Insider

Outsourcing Innovation : Partnering With Experts

admin — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 01:10:06 +0000

If you want to innovate in your company, organization, or association, one way is to outsource your innovation by partnering with experts. This is a great way to research new product ideas, marketing campaigns, and a host of other valued-added solutions for your customers and clients. In fact, if you do it right, you can even partner with a collection of experts and they can be your research team. Stay tuned for more thoughts on how to outsource your innovation!

THE NEWEST IDEA FOR LONG DISTANCE FLIGHTS THAT GOES UP TO MACH 5 IS ON THE DRAWING BOARDS

admin — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:39:01 +0000

Yes, new jetliner that could fly many more times as fast as the Concorde, burn only hydrogen and get you from Brussels to Sydney in four hours is on the drawing boards for the future. The plane is Reaction Engine’s A2 concept, a Mach 5 (3,400 mph) aircraft for 300 passengers. It is being funded by the European Union’s Long Term Advanced Propulsion Concepts and technologies project. If they build it the plane will produce virtually no carbon emissions. In examining the record and performance of the Concorde the engineers today say that it could not fly far enough to do trans-Pacific routes and its engines were efficient at only Mach 0.9. The gas mileage was also horrible and the passenger capacity was small as well.

The new engine, named the A2, operates on two modes—a combination of turbojet and ramjet propulsion systems. Once the plane takes off and reaches Mach 2.5 the second mode takes over and it can reach cruising speed over the Pacific of Mach 5. Joseph Schetz, a hypersonic propulsion expert at Virginia Tech when interviewed said, “there’s nothing fundamentally unsound about the A2’s plans. Whether it’s doable or not is a whole other conversation”.

The engineers will face crucial design obstacles including building heat exchangers that are reliable enough for hypersonic flights. Another huge challenge will be manufacturing hydrogen fuel on a large scale without emitting carbon in the process. Another potential problem is that the engineers had to design the craft without windows for the 300 passengers. The type they would have to use that are standard on the space shuttle would be too heavy for it and would cause construction and fuel excesses, as well. But in our foreseeable future we could very well see the A2 as the new long flight airliner of choice.

THE FAMILIAR BLOOD OR URINE TESTS COULD BE SUPPLANTED BY A SPIT TEST FOR MANY OF OUR DISEASES

admin — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:35:43 +0000

U.S. researchers at five universities have identified 1,116 unique proteins found in human saliva glands. The U. of Rochester, Scripps Research Institute, U. of Southern California, U of California San Francisco U. of California Los Angeles have all been searching for ways to diagnose disease potential in human saliva. A recent discovery they said could usher in a wave of convenient, spit-based diagnostic tests that could be done without the need for a single drop of blood being drawn. As many as 20 percent of the proteins that are found in saliva are also found in blood, according to Fred Hagen, a researcher at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York who worked on the study. This is potentially a large field that has many clinical implications in the area of disease diagnostics.

The researchers have hopes that saliva-based tests could be used to diagnose cancer, heart disease, diabetes and a number of other conditions. Early analysis has already turned up a number of proteins with known roles in Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s and Parkinson’s diseases; breast, colorectal and pancreatic cancer and diabetes. They collected saliva from 23 healthy men and women of several races and tested saliva samples using some form of mass spectrometry, which determines the identity of proteins based on measurements of their mass and charge. Like a genome, which lists all of the genes in an organism, a proteome is a complete map of proteins. While genes provide the instruction manual, proteins carry out the instructions by regulating cellular processes. Already there are saliva-based antibody tests to detect human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, and hepatitis infections. This protein map will provide new targets.

The researchers envision in the future that spitting in a tube and looking for a marker like a breast cancer marker could potentially be done at home and maybe eliminate some mammograms. This information has been made publicly available, and it’s expected that a number of research groups will be picking their favorite targets and developing their own tests. That is the intent — to create a wealth of data to stimulate more research and increase the chances of producing better diagnostic tests.

WHAT IS INNOVATION AND HOW DO YOU NURTURE IT IN YOUR COMPANY

admin — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 11:35:11 +0000

Many great companies of today and in the past have remained in their top respective industry segments because of INNOVATION within. There are large ones like GE and McDonalds and very small ones, maybe just like your own. There are many definitions OF INNOVATION you can choose from: “the act of introducing something new”, “the successful exploitation of new ideas”, the Peter Drucker one—“change that creates a new dimension of performance. Whichever one you choose, they will all mean the same. In economics, business and government policy,- something new - must be substantially different, not an insignificant change. In economics the change must increase value, customer value, or producer value. Innovations are intended to make someone better off, and the succession of many innovations grows the whole economy. The term innovation may refer to both radical and incremental changes to products, processes or services. The often unspoken goal of innovation is to solve a problem. An important distinction is normally made between invention and innovation. Invention is the first occurrence of an idea for a new product or process, while innovation is the first attempt to carry it out into practice. An innovation is not an innovation until someone successfully implements and makes money on an idea. Extracting the essential concept of innovation from these other closely linked notions is no easy thing.
There are a number of types of innovation that have been identified by business school teachers: Business model innovation, Marketing innovation, Organizational innnovation, Process, Product, Service, Supply chain, Substantial, Financial, Incremental Breakthrough or radical, New technological systems, Social. Eric von Hippel has identified end-user innovation as by far the most important and critical in his classic book on the subject, Sources of Innovation. Innovation by businesses is achieved in many ways, with much attention now given to formal research and development for “breakthrough innovations.” But innovations may be developed by less formal on-the-job modifications of practice, through exchange and combination of professional experience and by many other routes. Stefan Thomke of Harvard Business School has written a definitive book on the importance of experimentation. Experimentation Matters argues that every company’s ability to innovate depends on a series of experiments [successful or not], that help create new products and services or improve old ones. Once innovation occurs, innovations may be spread from the innovator to other individuals and groups. This process has been studied extensively in the scholarly literature from a variety of viewpoints, most notably in Everett Rogers’ classic book, The Diffusion of Innovations.
One driver for innovation programs in corporations is to achieve growth objectives. Companies cannot grow through cost reduction and re-engineering alone. Innovation is the key element in providing aggressive top-line growth, and for increasing bottom-line results. Systematic programs of organizational innovation are most frequently driven by: Improved quality, Creation of new markets, Extension of the product range, Reduced labour costs, Improved production processes, Reduced materials, Reduced environmental damage, Replacement of products/services, Reduced energy consumption, Conformance to regulations. There is often failure in organized company programs too before success is achieved. Some research quotes failure rates of fifty percent while other research quotes as high as ninety percent of innovation has no impact on organisational goals. So do not be discouraged. The following are common across all organizations at some stage in their life cycle. Here are the five top failure problems: Poor goal definition. Poor alignment of actions to goals, Poor participation in teams, Poor monitoring of results, Poor communication and access to information.

The 2008 Innovation Series…

admin — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 17:26:20 +0000

Yes! Yes! Yes! Many of you have been asking if we’re going to be doing our 2008 Innovation series, and of course, the answer is Yes.

Remember… as Peter Drucker has emphatically said… 1 of the 4 Top areas of business is Innovation; and if you don’t stay on top of the who, what, and how of innovation, you’ll end up in the dust!

And we, at The Innovation Insider are fully committed to giving you what you need to take your enterprise to the next level using the latest cutting edge Innovation Strategies! We’re Looking forward to having you join us.

The amazing caffeinated donut

admin — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 04:35:36 +0000

As CNN points out, the latest product innovation appearing at the corner coffee shop just might be a super-caffeinated donut:

“A molecular scientist who moonlights as a café owner [has] developed a way to add caffeine to baked goods, one that eliminates the natural, bitter taste of caffeine… The amount of caffeine in his creations can vary, but Bohannon can easily put 100 milligrams of caffeine — the equivalent of a 5-ounce cup of drip-brewed coffee — into the treats he plans to market under the “Buzz Donuts” and “Buzzed Bagels” names.”

This is more than a half-baked idea (pun intended) — there are already plans afoot to sell these caffeinated creations to companies like Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks. Nutritionists, of course, are aghast at the idea of doing anything to encourage the development a “super caffeine generation” that consumes way too many calories and way too much caffeine.

[image: Buzz Donut via AP]

London braces for a Silicon Valley invasion

admin — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 04:19:05 +0000

As Camille Ricketts of the Wall Street Journal points out, Silicon Valley is “establishing an outpost in London, bringing its laid-back office culture - including company gyms, relaxed dress and office kitchens full of snacks - with it.” (The eating habits are particularly difficult for the Brits to understand - they can’t seem to figure out why Americans are always stuffing their faces with snacks and soda in the office, yet don’t seem to have any special inclination to hang out at the local pub to have bangers and mash or a proper pint). Anyway, the flow of talent and know-how from Silicon Valley to London has been accelerating over the past 12 months:

“Just last year, about 30 California companies opened offices here, and nearly one of every three U.S. companies in London hails from California, including Apple, Google and MySpace. London also has become an attractive springboard for smaller tech companies from the state that are seeking a European toehold. In fact, if California were a country, it would rank second — after the rest of the U.S. and before Canada — as a place of origin for foreign companies setting up shop in London, according to Think London, a nonprofit consultancy that recruits foreign companies to the city.”

[image: Londonist]

The U.S. is the world’s most innovative nation

admin — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 04:22:17 +0000

According to a study of global innovation conducted by French business school INSEAD, the U.S. is the world’s most innovative nation by a large margin. Germany was a distant second, while the U.K., Japan and France rounded out the top five. The United Arab Emirates (#14) was the only country in the Top 15 that wasn’t European, Asian or North American.

The World Business/INSEAD Innovation Index 2007, researched by Professor Soumitra Dutta and sponsored by BT, ranks nations according to their innovation performance. The ranking takes into account several categories of evaluation: institutions and policies; infrastructure; human capacity; technological sophistication; and business markets and capital. The study also factors in knowledge, competitiveness and wealth. Data for comprising the ranking was based on information provided by, among others, the World Bank and the World Economic Forum.

[image: We’re #1!]

Disruptive innovation on the ski slopes

admin — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 02:30:24 +0000

Clayton Christensen’s Innoblog points to an article in the New York Times (”Snowbound Neverland”) describing a disruptive new business model for the ski resort industry being developed by Echo Mountain Park in Colorado:

“Echo is a new resort built exclusively for freestyle snowboarders and skiers. It is much smaller than traditional resorts, covering just 50 acres with a vertical drop of 600 feet, miniscule for Colorado. There are no groomed runs, no gondolas, no moguls; Echo is 100% terrain park, all jumps, rails, and half pipe. It is relatively cheap and easy to operate since there is much less need for snow coverage and maintenance and it can handle considerably higher utilization than its competitors (many more freestylers fit on a slope at a time since they tend to congregate around jumps, watching their friends and taking turns). It is more skate park on snow than downhill resort.

This approach is much more economically viable than, say, building another Vail, and it is also perfectly targeted at the fastest growing segment of the winter sports industry – the youth market. Prices are low ($35 vs. $70-plus at competing resorts), the entire park is lighted so lifts run until 9pm daily, and the mountain is a quick 30 minute drive from Denver. The cafeteria sells microwavable burritos and Red Bull, and kids crowd around video game consoles while they eat. The resort operators field user requests and suggestions online, actively adding and subtracting features according to popularity. The décor, music, and atmosphere targets the young.

Jerry Pettit, Echo’s owner, sums it up: “It’s nothing against places like Aspen, but the young people we consulted early on told us they can’t afford to pay $75 for a lift ticket or $14 for a buffalo burger…What kept coming back to us was: ‘Keep it inexpensive. Make it for us.’”

Anyway, over at Flickr, there’s a cool collection of snowboarding pics by photographer Matthew Staver that were taken at the opening of the Echo Mountain snowboard park in March 2006.

[image: Snowboarding at Echo Mountain Park by Matthew Staver]

The new Canadian spy coins

admin — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 04:22:52 +0000

Apparently, the U.S. Defense Department is growing increasingly concerned about Canadian coins embedded with tiny RFID transmitter devices that could be used to conduct double top-secret espionage operations against the U.S. In fact, the government has even sent out warnings to its defense contractors about the sinister Canadian spy coins:

“The government said the mysterious coins were found planted on U.S. contractors with classified security clearances on at least three separate occasions between October 2005 and January 2006 as the contractors traveled through Canada. Intelligence and technology experts said such transmitters, if they exist, could be used to surreptitiously track the movements of people carrying the spy coins. The U.S. report doesn’t suggest who might be tracking American defense contractors or why. It also doesn’t describe how the Pentagon discovered the ruse, how the transmitters might function or even which Canadian currency contained them. Further details were secret, according to the U.S. Defense Security Service, which issued the warning to the Pentagon’s classified contractors. The government insists the incidents happened, and the risk was genuine.”

Of course, the U.S. doesn’t actually believe that our respectable neighbors to the North have anything to do with these spy coins. Instead, all clues seem to point to China, Russia or France - experts claim that all of them “actively run espionage operations inside Canada with enough sophistication to produce such technology.” The idea of Canadians spying on Americans: “Unthinkable.” At least, that’s the official word from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

[image: The Spy Who Came In From the Canadian Cold]