Tag Archives: America

Innovation [2010-05-25]

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Another week and another collection of interesting ideas from around the internet.

As always, thoughts and/or comments are greatly appreciated.

  • Innovation and R&D [The Economist]
    The Economist provides two interactive visualisations that show the future of innovation taking shape. We can see a strong link between the number of international patents that a country is granted and the amount that it spends on research and development. A 2007 snapshot shows this clearly, and also that America and Japan led the pack.
  • McLaren wins the innovation race [timkastelle.org]
    McLaren shows us how to leverage lessons learnt in Formula 1 in other domains, such as air traffic control and health care, making them the masters of extending current competencies into new fields.
  • The creative process gone wrong [Bob Sutton]
    It seems that the very tools we often use to manage the creative, innovation process can be the source of the process’s biggest problems.
  • What if the very theory that underlies why we need patents is wrong? [techdirt]
    Our current patent system was designed for an earlier, gentler age. A number of pundits are – quite rightly – pointing out that the system is tremendously obsolete in terms of actually promoting the progress, and is set up in a way that favors a concept of innovation and invention that may not be how the world actually works today.

Innovation [2009-11-30]

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Another week and another collection of interesting ideas from around the internet.

As always, thoughts and/or comments are greatly appreciated.

  • Patent Volume Isn’t the Best Innovation Gauge [BusinessWeek: Innovate]
    Patent volume isn’t necessarily a valid proxy for innovation. A study by the Patent Board, an intellectual-property consultancy, shows there are other—and better—ways to quantify innovation. Ranked by sheer volume, Honda Motor is No. 1, with 54. That’s almost twice second-place Panasonic, which has 28. Ranked by other metrics, though, Honda isn’t a leader.
  • The Downside of Seeking Common Ground [strategy+business]
    People’s tendency to find common ground in conversation by focusing on what’s familiar can stifle the most innovative thinkers.
  • Is America Losing Its Mojo? [Newsweek]
    Innovation is as American as baseball and apple pie. But some traditions can’t be trademarked.
  • Innovation relies on synthesis [Innovate on Purpose]
    We often talk about the importance of combining disparate skills or capabilities when innovating, or holding two diametrically opposing ideas and finding the happy medium. What should be obvious is that one of the most important skills from an innovation perspective is the act and insight of synthesis.

Innovation [2009-11-16]

Mailing List, old Innovation, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Another week and another collection of interesting ideas from around the internet.

As always, thoughts and/or comments are greatly appreciated.

  • Warren Buffett’s bet against innovation [BusinessWeek: Innovate]
    In proclaiming an “all-in wager on the economic future of the United States, Warren Buffett just paid $44 billion for a 19th century technology platform, a railroad, that carries 20th century goods—coal, agriculture, imports from Asia, petroleum. This is a vision of an America mired in the past and in economic and political decline. And Buffett just might be right. He has a great track record betting against innovation.
  • Embracing Innovation: a new methodology for feature film production in Australia [Centre for Screen Business]
    Do too many Australian films fall into a budgetary ‘no-man’s land’ – not big enough to compete with the US studios, yet too big to stand a chance of commercial viability in a market flooded with independent films? Robert Connolly’s recommendations provide us with valuable grist for the mill as we, in the IT industry, work our way through the current evolutionary phase our industry is going through, driven by the shift from large, on premises applications to a future increasingly dominated by cloud solutions. His approach to the problem is also an excellent model of how to engage with the wholesale transformation of an industry.
  • 10 examples of minimum viable products [Venture Hacks]
    Brilliant products are rarely the result of brilliant ideas. Most products start small, as minimum viable products, and then grow as the customers and developers work together to learn what the product should be.
  • What do the crowds know about innovation? [Innovate on Purpose]
    Companies use different strategies and techniques for crowdsourcing ideas. All of these approaches help gather ideas from the crowd, but they also serve as trend spotting and public relations opportunities as well, and some companies might be more interested in these secondary effects. As Henry Ford pointed out, “If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.”