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Advanced School For Innovators, Part I
2007-06-21 00:12:00
Tomorrow I’m heading to Estes Park, CO for a rare opportunity to learn advanced innovation skills with a select group of School for Innovators graduates.  Hard to resist a classroom that looks like this:   Training his held at the historic Elkhorn Lodge, right beside a sacred Native American site called Old Man Mountain.  It involves 12 ...
More About: Business , Innovation , Creativity , Part

Self-Healing Materials
2007-06-20 20:37:00
Taking a cue from nature, materials scientists and engineers are using nanotech to create a new generation of self-healing materials.  This has the potential to be one of the most revolutionary innovations of the information age.  Imagine a automotive coating that repairs corrosion and minor dints/dings by itself.  Clothing that heals its own rips and ...
More About: Business , Nanotechnology , Innovation , Healing , Creativity

Pareto Analysis of Two Diet Plans
2007-06-20 02:17:00
This past Mother’s Day I was looking for a book on metabolism in a bookstore.  I found a book called Ultrametabolism and leafed through it.  It went beyond explaining how metabolism works by structuring an entire diet plan around it.  I went ahead and bought it and, after reading, made a mindmap to try and ...
More About: Health , Diet , Analysis , Innovation , Creativity

Why We Need Electric Cars, Part II
2007-06-19 04:12:00
In the first installment I discussed the three main paths we are taking to rid ourselves of the need for oil, concluding that the electron economy holds more promise than either the biofuel or hydrogen economy.  I also talked about some innovations on the supply side that will make electricity more renewable.  This installment discusses ...
More About: Business , Cars , Nanotechnology , Innovation , Part

New Addition to Arsenal - Evaluating Ideas
2007-06-18 21:40:00
This topic has been coming up correspondence so here is a tool for assessing ideas.  Over on the Arsenal page.
More About: Ideas , Business , Innovation , Creativity

Bruce Lee: Master of Innovation
2007-06-15 06:29:00
A few years ago, when my stepson was still studying Tae Kwon Do, I bought him a book written by Bruce Lee entitled, “Jeet Kune Do - Bruce Lee ’s Commentaries on the Martial Way.”  A master of Gung Fu, Lee decided that any fighting ’style’ brings with it limitations.  The book describes in detail how Lee ...
More About: Innovation , Creativity , Master

BusinessWeek?s 50 Most Innovative Companies
2007-06-14 19:08:00
Here’s a big table showing the whole ball of wax. I guess I don’t understand their interpretation of ‘innovation.’  What they have here is a bunch of large, well-established market leaders.  Looking through the list, I can’t really see companies with breakthrough products or services.  The iPod wasn’t the first MP3 player, it was an improvement.  ...
More About: Business , Companies , Innovation , Creativity , Nova

Why We Need Electric Cars, Part I
2007-06-14 17:43:00
The most important part of the innovative process, arguably, is finding the right problem to solve.  The competition between visions for our automotive future indicate that not everyone is trying to solve the same problem, and as a result we seem to be wasting a great deal of effort on low-quality solutions.  If we can all ...
More About: Business , Cars , Innovation , Creativity , Part

Patenting Life
2007-06-13 04:58:00
I’ve been deluged with articles about the J. Craig Venter Institute and their desire to, well, patent life itself.  Curiously, there is no news release on their website about this but, here is the crux of the matter: Craig Venter of Synthetic Genomics Inc., says his 500-strong research team has figured out exactly which genes provide the ...
More About: Business , Life , Biotechnology , Innovation , Creativity

New Addition to Arsenal - Morphological Analysis/Matrix
2007-06-13 00:40:00
Using a morphological matrix, you can generate scads of ideas for improving and modifying things.  Over on the Arsenal page.
More About: Business , Analysis , Innovation , Creativity

Another Electric Car - Altairnano Phoenix
2007-06-11 22:59:00
Last week, Altairnano unveiled its all-electric SUV, dubbed Phoenix , in Reno, Nevada.  Altairnano’s contribution is the development of a fast-recharge lithium battery - they farm out the construction of the vehicle to an unnamed Korean manufacturer.  Debuting with an SUV has pros and cons - SUVs are in demand, but a Prius sized vehicle would have ...
More About: Business , Innovation , Electric , Nano

New Addition to Arsenal - FCB Grid
2007-06-11 22:03:00
The FCB Grid helps determine ‘holes’ in markets and spurs ideas for new product applications.  At the Arsenal page.
More About: Business , Innovation , Creativity

New Additions to Arsenal - Pareto Principle and Force Field Analysis
2007-06-11 18:57:00
These two tools are related, and can both be used for strategic planning, determining core competencies, and focusing effort for improvement.  Can be found on the Arsenal page.
More About: Business , Analysis , Innovation , Force

Who Speaks For Innovation?
2007-06-11 17:27:00
I began writing this post last week but wasn’t sure where I was headed - now my thinking has crystalized.  It all started with the Business Week article regarding the effect of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) on 3M’s innovation processes.   Something about the 3M situation bothered me.  After I wrote about the Institute for Systems Biology,  my perspective on innovation ...
More About: Innovation , Creativity , Nova , Peak

Volt! Volt! Volt!
2007-06-08 00:21:00
Electric cars have been springing up here and there the last few years but none have received as much publicity as the GM Volt.  One of my newsfeeds deals with electric cars and whenever there’s a Volt press release I get the equivalent of newsfeed spam - ‘Volt! Volt! Volt! Volt!’  Not nearly as much ...
More About: Business , Nanotechnology , Innovation , Creativity